Baby it's cold outside

I moved South here to avoid some of the winter, it did NOT work! It was 7 degrees this morning, Yes 7. At least the sun is out today, it helps my mood anyway.

I went out to visit Frank last evening after work, it was a balmy 24 degrees. I realized what I hate about boarding him. His bucket was frozen solid. No water, danger, danger. How long I wondered had he been without water??? I went to banging and chipping to clean it out and then offered him fresh water. He gulped down half a bucket quickly, this told me he had been without probably since morning. Sigh.... I cannot afford him to be sick again. I turned him out briefly and cleaned his stall, he was enjoying rolling in the snow with his blanket on and had himself a little jog around the paddock. Then the real fun began. You see I haven't pulled his shoes yet and the snow pack in his feet was a challenge. I must remember the pam tonight.
It took me 15 minutes to remove the ice jam in there, Frank was not thrilled about me playing Klondike digger down there either.

I hunted down the barn owner and told her I was bringing out a heated bucket for Frank. The whole frozen water thing bothers me, especially with the latest colic episode. She was OK with it so tonight's job is to go out and bring the bucket and pam for the feet.

I leave you with my favorite view:












Oh how I long for these days again. Winter go away!


Happy trails......

Where does the time go?

Hi friends!

I have been away too long......

I am finally catching up your blogs and what has been happening in your worlds.

Mine has been ....well, chaotic. It always is, think I thrive on that.

The weather has turned cold and it is not my favorite time of year. Frank is not getting ridden near as much as I would like but alas I am only one person. One person working full time, raising two little hell yun boys and trying to fit a whole lot more in. Frank had a terrible bout of gas colic a few weeks ago and I don't mind telling you that it scared me BAD. It started with a call from my barn owner that Frank was down and she thought he was colicing. I told her I was grabbing some banamine and heading over. She called me in route and asked me how much longer I would be as he was throwing himself to the ground and thrashing. Not 10 minutes had passed and I was major concerned now. I drove like a mad woman and arrived to find Frank wet with sweat and panting. He was in obvious distress. He would only walk when threatened with a whip and then he would invert himself into a V and throw himself on the ground right at me. He managed to drag me down twice caught off guard. After 20 minutes the banamine did not seem to be helping and I called a vet.
His vitals were good, normal heart rate, pink in the gums and passing poo. However, it was clear he was in pain and I was taking no chances. The vet arrived in 15 minutes and we palpated him and he was clear, next the reflux test and his stomach showed normal. He had stopped sweating by now but was clearly still in pain. The vet gave me two options, shoot him up with more pain meds or take a trip to the clinic. I opted for the clinic. When the trailer was pulled around he let out a whinny and lots of gas, a good sign said the vet. Thank goodness I live and board Frank only 20 minutes from Haygard Equine Clinic. We left him loose in the trailer should he go down again, fortunately he did not. When we arrived at the clinic he seemed somewhat more alert and not throwing himself down anymore. The vet and assistants were very nice and let me be involved in all his tests. First they ultra sounded his intestines and spleen and found all to be good. Next they set up an IV drip for he was somewhat dehydrated. They decided to monitor him and let the pain med wear off before anymore testing. I stayed until 2 am and called it a night when he appeared OK. The vet called me at 7:30 am and told me he was stable and that they were going to oil him and see if he passed the oil. Luckily he did and was fine the rest of the day, I picked him up at 5:30 and took him home. The vet's told me that 4 more horses came in that day with same symptoms. There was a real big weather change that day and I really think they may have had something to do with it, he has never been ill before in the least. Happy to tell you he is all good and back to normal. I have a large vet bill for Christmas but it could have been so much worse if we had done surgery.

Which leads me to this question for you. Do you have colic insurance? A plan in case you get that lovely question, is surgery and option? Just curious.


Happy trails.......