Colic

Sunday was beautiful. Bright, sunny, not too warm with just enough breeze to remove the bugs without removing the horse-brains. I put off visiting the ponies until evening when I'd done my house chores and would be able to ride for an hour or so without feeling guilty about leaving everything else unattended.

Calling up the horses was a simple matter of yelling "come o-on" over the hill, and in they thundered.... well, almost. One of the usual leaders was absent. Lace, one of the senior mares, straggled in most of the way up to the lot and laid down(!). Not good.

I shut the gate on the group and walked out. Urging got her back up and moving to the gate where she laid down again. So not good! After getting her back on her feet, I couldn't hear strong gut sounds and her breathing was a bit shallow and more tellingly, she didn't join the others for grain. On the plus side, her feet weren't noticeably warm, and she wasn't overly distressed (no sweating, or trembling). Still, Lace is perky and opinionated: she's lead mare, not a follower, and she does not willingly miss a meal. A quick trip to the barn for a halter and we started walking.

A vet visit produced a diagnosis of mild colic, and a banamine shot, tubal application of a gallon of mineral oil and a lot of walking later, she went back out with the herd a much perkier mare. She went scavenging in the grain buckets for potential missed crumbs before rejoining the bunch!

So much for my riding plans, but it was good to see them all upright and perky tonight, and I'm very glad I went out late on Sunday evening. There's no telling if Lace would have been noticed in the far field until it was too late to do anything. I'm also grateful the vet was willing and available to come out on a Sunday evening when he wasn't on call. We probably could have walked through it, but I never like leaving that sort of thing to chance.