Urgent Help Needed for Cactus Non Profit Lesson Horse in ICU

Cactus is a well-loved lesson horse at Bar Star Ranch & Rescue (a Nebraska 501c3). He has been diagnosed with bilateral pneumonia and infection is working into his blood stream. Fluid measures 10 cm on his rt lung and 8 cm on the left. He is a very sick boy, in ICU at K State and essentially fighting for his life. 7 liters of fluid were taken off his right lung this evening and that still left the fluid measurement at 9 cm.

Treatment is costly, estimated at $5000 or more in just the first few days. We estimate a week or more under the care of the K State Vet Hospital. He is looking at a long road to recovery even after we reach the point he can come home.

We are still a young non-profit providing horse lessons, clinics and events to people in our Lincoln, NE area. We work to offer a safe outlet for youth to develop their self-esteem and confidence and we work with rehab & older horses to offer them a second career.

We do not yet have a strong following of donors or grant funding, so your consideration in supporting veterinary care for Cactus is greatly appreciated to help us get him the care he needs and get him home. Your donations are tax deductible and will go strictly to his vet expenses.

Cactus is loved by his lesson kids and although he has a quirky personality, he loves his kids and will do most anything for them.

He is in good spirits, but fighting a huge battle. We are praying he responds quickly to treatments. This came on quickly and took no time becoming an emergency situation.

2.13.25 Update

I just received an update on Cactus. They are considering a chest tube to help control fluid. He needs time to see if the antibiotics and anti-toxins they are giving will help him head the right direction, but his conditioning is severe.

I am receiving messages and see shared posts of people talking about his impact in their lives. He's a quirky goofy guy who found his calling with these kids. And if you'd known his watchy, pull back-- if you approach with a blanket or from the wrong angle-- self and seen him transform to the guy he is today...you'd love him as much as these kids do.

We are all piecing together signs and none of us saw this coming. He performed at our rodeo on Sunday. Halfway thru the girls noticed him breathing a little hard and gave him Air Power. I was just thinking maybe dust from the hay bale was bothering him. Then Monday he wouldn't eat.

Dr. Adam Gengenbach came out Monday evening and evaluated/treated him. Nothing about his symptoms was conclusive to anything. Tuesday he was no better and we all decided he needed hospitalization.

We still had no idea what we were dealing with and I admit, I was naive when I saw the ultrasound and the pneumonia. I thought, oh good, and few meds and fluids and he'll be on the right track. Not to be. He was already becoming toxic (infrction spreading to his blood). He never once showed signs of how sick he truly is. And his (still) snorty self has been the absolute best patient, never moving during any of his exams or treatments, showing a kind loving eye and letting them do what needs to be done.

Any donations toward his care in ICU are appreciated and they are tax deductible through our non-profit, Bar Star Ranch & Rescue.

The Bar Star Kids and I thank you for your consideration to his care. At the end of all this, I will provide a reconciliation for where your funds were used.

2.13.25 Update

Today, I had make the tough decision to let Cactus go. I want to thank everyone for their support, their kind words, sharing my posts, checking in on me...all of the things.

Cactus was a very sick guy. And so stoic, we didn't know anything was wrong until he quit eating and by then infection was running amok. He was diagnosed with plueropneumonia and he was endotoxic, bacteria had invaded his bloodstream, and he was given a less than 40% chance of survival, even after he would possibly come home and a slim chance of being rideable again. The vets were talking plasma transfusions and chest tubes and at his age of 19, I didn't think it was too fair to him. He'd stayed strong and stoic until the end; the best I could is let him go while he was still fighting.

I raised this guy. He was by a grandson of Shining Spark who was out of Jessie's Red, a decorated Pitzer mare. He was always quirky, watchy on the ground, and cautious of his surroundings and people approaching. Once you were on his back, he was golden.

Way back when I started him, I couldn't touch him. I put him in my round pen and had to use a long whip to touch him and rubbed him with it until I could work my way up to my hands touching him. When it came to haltering, I had to put it on from the offside. He wouldnt allow you to approach from the near side. From my first ride on him, there was never a spook or a buck and you could ride him anywhere just by giving him the direction.

When I got divorced, he sat in the pasture for a number of years, essentially. I had always had a soft spot for l him, so he didn't sell when I sold a bunch of my colts. One summer, I told Maddie Blair and Jess Dybdal it was time for him to have a job. They both put a lot of time on him that summer. And from some videos I saw, they had quite the fun with him. He was always a challenge to see how Bar Star broke he could be.

Maddie started hauling him to some exhibitions and I thought she was absolutely crazy when she told me she'd ridden him from the Fairgrounds to the gas station and held another horse while her friend went inside. I fully expected him to be scared of absolutely everything. Nope. He was rock solid. As he proved to always be.

Lucy Wacker played a big part in his early Bar Star years by helping ride and season him. Her goal was to get him over the fly spray bottle. She never succeeded.

Maddie and I tried to make a rope horse out of him but his neck was too noodly and everytime a person wanted to throw, he'd swing his head into your way. We all gave up. Roping wasn't his calling.

He found that calling though, with the Bar Star Kids. After seeing him pull back at the fence for approaching from the wrong angle with a saddle pad, or snorting and blowing backwards because of a pool noodle or a spray bottle, many thought I was crazy thinking he'd be a lesson horse.

But I knew how solid he was. And he just needed more time tied to the Bar Star Fence getting an education. (You know the type of education...loud kids, busy kids, tractors coming at the fence, dogs, cats, dogs who bite & chase, manure forks picking the ground behind him and heaven forbid one touches his feet.)

Once a kid was on his back, he took amazing care of them. And with time, he quit spooking quite as much and eventually it became a rare occurrence. The kids all helped teach him the speed events patterns by riding him during lessons. He taught so many of them how to become better riders. He was mostly used with the intermediate kids so he helped up their horsemanship skills.

He was the goofiest oddball of a horse...noodle necked, long weak patterns, shitty feet, weak back...and HARD to catch, unless your were Livvy (Amy Amy Williamson Thompson). Livvy was his girl. She could walk up to him most anywhere and catch him. (Her treat training may have had something to do with it.) Cactus and Livvy made a great team and she cared so much for him that she bought him a blanket at Christmas time so he stayed warm and he was the only horse on the farm to have his name embroidered on a blanket.

So, his time here came to a close today and there are many sad hearts in our Bar Star Family. But his memories will still be here and we will all tell little stories about the goofy moments we witnessed with him.

His story with us is truly a great story for what Bar Star Ranch & Rescue (501c3) is all about. I work with the kids and the horses to develop their full potential, to build their confidence, self esteem, & life skills to help them have a successful place in the world. These kids learned so much more than riding when they worked with him. They had to learn how to "read" and understand a horse. The kids helped teach him and, in return, they learned and grew and he found his true calling.

Thank you for your prayers for Cactus. He's probably in Heaven's corral with my Grandpa & Dad looking him over. They liked the quirky ones, too.

Even though Cactus has passed on, the vet bills remain. Anything you can offer in support of his care is appreciated!