So my colicky horse was worse than we first thought. My dad checked on him at 5:30pm and he was laying down again and had been trying to roll. So he got him and started walking him. I came over and gave him another shot of muscle relaxer and called the owner to let her know. I’ve said before horses can’t vomit, so what goes in their mouth must come out the back end. He had been trying to poop, which is normally a good sign, and finally did, twice. But he continued to want to roll (which they do because they think it will make their tummy feel better) so we called the vet. He arrived at 9:30pm gave him a tranquilizer, an anti-sporadic medication and another muscle relaxer. He then palpated him, which is basically sticking one’s gloved arm into the horse’s rectum to see if everything is where it is supposed to be. What happens when the horse rolls is that they can displace or even twist an intestine. He has displaced his cecum.
I had to check on him every hour to see how he was doing. He laid down at about 10:45 and didn’t get up until around 5am this morning. I didn’t get to even rest my head until nearly 2am. So far he’s quiet and is relaxing. He ate a handful of hay this morning. I’m not sure if we are out of the woods yet. We’ll have to see if that cecum goes back where it belongs and we need to also see if he poops. Fun stuff! It rained last night and still this morning so that’s not really helped this situation.
On another note, I took my mare, Sonora, to the vet this morning to see if she is in foal. She is! I’m so excited! WE will check her again at around 40 days and then we should see a heartbeat and the start of what will be her first baby! YAY!
guess what – THE SUN IS SHINING THE SUN IS SHINING!!!
Sweet horse… that stinks. I hope he is okay!
Jennifer,
I’m learning so much about horses from reading this blog. So is it possible that the Secum will never find its place again? Can a horse die from this?
I am reading this over my morning coffee and bagel, so the vomit/poop talk kinda scared me, LOL.
I did not even know the terminology like “foal.” As I stated before, there is a stable here in my neighborhood. Yesterday three riders passed my house and when they do, my dogs go haywire.
Plus, when we take our walks and pass the horse stables, the horses run to the road before the fence stops them to try and greet my dogs. Not sure if it’s a nice or mean greet, LOL.
Plus sometimes they get loose and run around the neighborhood, that’s actually kind of useful in funny neighborhood stories.
I’ve never been on a horse but heard it’s nice. You might just inspire me to try it out.