Update on Brentina's Condition

Dressage Olympian Debbie McDonald's mare, Brentina, continues to improve after her colic surgery February 10 in California.

February 12, 2009 — Brentina continues to improve after her colic surgery (see Brentina Undergoes Colic Surgery) and finally was able to eat four small meals of soaked timothy pellets today.

Here’s the greeting Brentina sent from the vet hospital to Debbie. |

The 18-year-old mare remains in the veterinary clinic, where she will stay for at least another 11 days to ensure she gets the best of care while Debbie McDonald is at a show.

“We’re optimistic, obviously, though there are still things that can happen. She definitely looks more like herself, she’s in her stall pinning her ears because she’s hungry. Her temperature and heart rate are normal,” Debbie reported.

Plans called for taking out one IV and the drain on Friday if everything is all right.

“I’m so excited,” said Debbie, who can finally take a deep breath.

“When she comes home, she’ll be on feeding every four hours until we know that things are back to normal,” said Debbie.

“Probably pretty much the rest of her life, we’ll be careful. As she’s getting older, her teeth have some cracks in them and I’m not sure that some of that might have contributed to this whole thing. I don’t know if she’s chewing her food as well as she was,” Debbie suggested.

This is great news for Debbie and her River Grove Farm team; Brentina’s owners, Peggy and Parry Thomas and all of Brentina’s fans. Let’s hope this wonderful mare’s recovery continues uneventfully.

As Debbie noted, “All I and the Thomas family want for her is to finally enjoy retirement. She has worked so hard and done so much that a green pasture is what she deserves.”

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