From Laura:
I went to see Whisper today at 11:30. She was standing up, and munching on her hay. The little Miss was very bright eyed, and met me at the stall door. (She must have known that I was accompanied by an apple.) After she ate her apple, she promptly attempted to mug me for another one (which I did not have.) I don’t advocate a horse being pushy at all…but for Whisper I have to make an exception 
I also noticed that the rented sling was hanging outside her stall, so I ran it back to Mt Vernon after I left Whisper.
*****
Dr. Mollott called me and said Whisper had gotten up mostly by herself (she did have someone at her head and another holding her tail but she did most of the work herself). It wasn’t pretty, but she did it and I think it is a huge accomplishment! So far our bill is at about $1200, so not too bad and I am hoping that after a couple more days she will be getting up and down on her own regularly and we can bring her home.
She wears the sling still all the time. At night she is hooked up and she seems to know when she is and does not try to lie down. During the day they unhook her so she can lie down and rest at will, and help her up as needed.
Also — she still has an elevated heart rate of 50–60, but her heart enzyme tests came back totally normal. There are still a couple of tests they are waiting for but so far they are chalking it all up to her extreme weakness and the effort it takes her to stay up and around. All in all, she is doing fairly well. No more issues with her body temperature either now that she is in a heated barn!
