I finished and went over to try and get him up, already suspecting the dreaded colic {You might as well call it horse bane}. I took me a couple shots of pulling and pushing at him before he reluctantly got to his feet. His head drooped and he looked like a little kid who'd eaten too much Halloween candy. It was so sad. He pushed his fuzzy little head against me as if to say I don't feel good. I stayed for a minute to just watch him and see if I was right about colic.
He was on his feet for about five minutes but kept stepping out uncomfortably. Then his knees buckled and he went to rolling and kicking again.
Classic signs of colic.
I ran home and got Da and the colic kit {the stomach tube, milk of mag, buckets, etc...} and played assistant vet for the next hour and a half.
I will spare you the rather unglamorous details, which I'm sure you'll appreciate if you're reading this while eating :) Suffice it to say that poor Dudders didn't like having a tube up his nose and so milk of magnesium went everywhere {which is why you never wear your good coat to the barn}.
As far as I know he's doing a little better this evening{8:30} and I think any danger he may have been in is past, but I'll check on him again in an hour or so.
I haven't written a single word today because of this and music lessons, and unless Double Stuff is completely better by tomorrow, I most likely won't get a chance then either. Not so great for my word count :/
I just got an email from my violin teacher with another performance possibility for this and/or next month. I've tallied up all my music concerts and special deals {like a radio spot. Pretty cool!} and it comes to seven or eight gigs in the next 30 days.
I'm deciding right here and now that I'm just going to try and finish my novel by the end of the month and just forget about the word count -- I have quite enough to stress over at the moment! Maybe I'll hope back on the word wagon later on, but for now I just want to take one day at a time and not worry about tomorrow, if that's possible. :)
So say a prayer for my family{and fur-child} and I'll keep you updated on Double Stuff.
-Gwyn
Hope your horse gets better soon... :( Praying for ya.
ReplyDeleteAw, poor Double Stuff :( But I wish I knew how to deal with colic! :D
ReplyDeleteGood luck writing! Sounds like you have a crazy life at the moment...
Don't let a silly thing like NaNo stress you out. If other more important things are going on then it just isn't worth stressing over. You can catch up later or try again next year. Your horse and grandpa are a lot more important.
ReplyDeleteI had never heard of using milk of magnesia for colic before. That's interesting.
One thing I wanted to tell you about is Benamine. It is a pain reliever/anti-inflammatory for horses. If you give it to them when you suspect colic it can get rid of a lot of the discomfort (which can help prevent the dangerous rolling and twisting) and helps with their anxiety. In certain cases, Benamine has even shown to counter the toxins released into the bloodstream from the intestines during an episode of colic. Like most drugs there are possible side effect such as ulcers, but I've never known it to cause a problem when used for colic. Keep in mind though it doesn't cure the colic, it just helps with pain and anxiety. It's handy to keep a tube around. Please keep us updated. I hope he's okay.
Yikes...colic isn't fun. We lost 2 horses to it, both we found a too late and by the time the vet got to our home (which is nearly an hours drive from town) their insides were all twisted up and leaking...so we had to put them down. It was very sad. I hope Double Stuff gets better quickly! It's good you caught him early.
ReplyDeleteSqueaks.