Sick Children Are No Fun

There's nothing like sitting up late into the night with a sick 1100 lb animal to make you rethink your life.

"Remember how easy it was when you boarded, and there was always someone else around to check on your horse?'

"Did I really need that nap while she was out grazing and getting into who knows what?"

"If I have to call the field services vet in, this is going to get really expensive... why do I own these animals, anyway?"

On the other hoof- er, hand- it is an amazing feeling knowing that said 1100 lb animal trusts you enough to find comfort in your presence.

Chica possibly had a touch of gas colic last night. I let the dogs outside around 8:00, and I noticed that she was laying down in her pen. I walked over and looked at her, and she did not look abnormal. That's when I noticed that she had not eaten all of her hay.

Ring, alarm bells. If there is a horse that eats her hay (and then some), it's Chica.

It noted that it was unusual, but then she clambered to her feet, walked over, and started munching on her hay again.

I watched her for a few minutes, and she seemed ok. She was eating maybe a little lackadaisically, but she did have gut noises, and she was eating.

I went off to the store to pick up a few things (mostly completely unnecessary things- aka 3 movies from the $5 dvd bin in Walmart), and when I got back, Chica was down again.

Saddest picture of Chica ever, due to her blinking at the flash on my phone's camera.

Interestingly enough, so was her buddy:

Sienna was also blinded by the light.

There was still a pile of hay left. At this point, I was really getting worried. I sat next to her and stroked her face for a little while, talking to her and praying. Eventually she stood back up again. Her stomach was making lots of loud gurgling noises- which seemed better than it not making any noises at all- but occasionally it would make these rumblings that sounded like they moved from her gut up through her chest, to her mouth. She would make this groaning sound, almost like she was burping with her mouth closed- if horses could burp, that is.

I called Texas A&M's large animal clinic, and I have to say, I was impressed. The lady with the answering service was very courteous, and the doctor called me almost immediately after I spoke with her. She was polite and gave me lots of advice, free of charge. She even called me this morning to see how Chica was doing today.

I stayed up fairly late and kept an eye on Chica. She seemed to perk up around 11 PM- she wasn't quite as lethargic, and she took notice of what was going on around her more. Her stomach was still quite loud, but she was passing gas, so things were moving along in the intestinal tract.

I looked out my window around 12:15 AM or so and checked on her again, and she was still standing and walking around a little. At about 5:30 this morning she was scrounging around, looking for dropped hay. At feeding time, she was pacing from the feed shed back to her feed pan, wondering why she wasn't being fed. I gave her a flake of hay, and then checked on her during my lunch break. She seemed pretty much back to her normal self. Her stomach was still making some noise, but there were poop piles all around.

Colic can be a scary thing in horses- it is a situation that can come on and then deteriorate rapidly. I thank God so much that it did not get any worse and that Chica trusts me enough to let me poke and prod her, take her temperature, walk her around and around, hug her- all while she's not feeling well.

And I was so impressed with Sienna- rather than wonder off by herself and graze, she stayed with her the entire night. I knew Chica was feeling better when I got home from lunch because Sienna was no longer next to her.

Apparently my horses share a bond that was deeper than I realized- how can I ever separate them now?