Loss of CLG Cowboy Kisses to "Swamp Cancer" a Blow to CVFC

It's official that the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Company has lost three mares so far this year.  Two did not appear for the Spring Round-Up in April, and haven't been seen in months, and yesterday, 11 June, the attending veterinarian decided it was best to put down (euthanize) CLG Cowboy Kisses. 

   The first mare to be missed was Carol's Little Freedom, a bay tobiano with one blue eye, born on 22 July 1999.  Her sire was Hurricane, and her dam was Silk and Lace.  She was last seen in early March of 2019. She had been in Hoppy's herd for the last three years.  She was a Buy Back from Carol Smith.  (**Photo by DSC Photography**)

   The second mare to leave us was Cody's Little Jigsaw Puzzle, a bay tobiano, born 5 June 2013.  There are two possible sires for her, Wild Thing, or Tornado's Prince of Tides; her dam was Dakota Sky's Cody Two Socks.  She was a Buy Back who brought a bid of $4,000.  She was in Tornado's Legacy's herd and was definitely with foal when she disappeared a few days before Spring Round-Up in April.  It was assumed she had gone apart to foal and would soon reappear.  Unfortunately, it didn't happen that way.

Jigsaw is at left; Sweetheart at right

  On Wednesday afternoon, 10 July, it was reported that CLG Cowboy Kisses had been spotted with a nasty-looking wound to her hind leg by a client on the Refuge Bus Tour.  It was reported to the CVFC and they asked Darcy Cole to pinpoint her location on Thursday morning so the Saltwater Cowboys could bring her in by trailer to be seen by a veterinarian at the Carnival Grounds.  Darcy found her, and the cowboys and vet were alerted.  She was trailered to Chincoteague, where the CVFC Pony Committee members and the veterinarian decided that the most humane thing to do was to euthanize her.  CLG Cowboy Kisses was  golden palomino, sired by Chief Golden Eagle, and out of Pony Ladies' Sweet Surprise.  She was first seen on 8 April 2017, and the Chincoteague Legacy Group paid $15,000 for this promising Buy Back filly.
   CLG Cowboy Kisses had received all three of the Equine Pythiosis  ("Swamp Cancer") vaccinations given to all members of the CVFC herds.  It was with great sorrow that the attending veterinarian and the CVFC members decided that the cause of the terrible wound to Cowboy Kisses was due to an infection caused by Equine Pythiosis....

CLG Cowboy Kisses at right, in front