Tuesday I went out with The Susk. Those who know understand what a forward mare she is, loves to be out ´pounding dirt´. It was a gentle ride, with 2 km´s at her stonking walk as a warm up, whereupon she stopped dead. Pawing the ground she refused to move, even to turn back for home! We sat, we chatted, and after a few short minutes she walked on. Another kilometer and I asked for trot. TWB willingly obliged, but it totally lacked her usual va va voom. Taking into consideration her winter coat well and truly coming in, and another un-seasonally warm day, even for The Susk she began to sweat, a lot. Two kilometers further and again she stopped. Her breathing irregular I dismounted immediately and began to head for home. TWB literally leaned on me as she insisted on a fast pace and I tried to keep her at a steady walk. My alarm bells were telling me colic, whilst my head was trying to be heard and win over the noise. "Our horses never have empty intestines, they live in happy herds, stress is not a word in our equine vocabulary - WE HAVE NEVER HAD A COLIC AT OUR STABLES".
Arriving back at the yard, saddle dumped somewhere at the entrance, The Susk began pawing frenetically at the sand of the arena, I walked her on, towards the shower and the necessary implements to check her temperature and pulse. Temp 38.7ºC. Pulse 51 bpm. Respiration 85 pm.
I telephoned my vet, relaying this information along with the denying words "tell me I´m just panicking and this can not possibly be a colic". His answer; "I don´t need to tell you".
Showered, cooled, 20 minutes later her temp dropped to 37.6, pulse to 44 and respiration to 40, so I felt I could permit a roll if The Susk wanted. Say what you will, I knew I would find the superhuman strength to haul her back to her feet if she didn´t do so of her own accord. In the past I have spent many a night walking horses of other people, keeping them on their feet until a vet came (when horse vets where more few and far between and slower to respond as well!)**
35 minutes of pawing and circling passed before she finally dropped. As she did so TWB let out the most almighty large gas explosion! "That´s it" I thought. "Just major trapped gas. Now she´ll be fine". TWB didn´t want to get up, but it didn´t take much coaxing to get her on her feet. That girl is sharp. I swear self-preservation in the less ´manufactured´ breeds is far stronger. Whilst all this went on TWB defecated twice and urinated once. Her feces were healthily moist, not at all dry or strained.
Temp now 36.6, Pulse 41 and Respiration 36, the vet arrived (Hat´s off to Javi). It didn´t take much to ascertain she had a small impaction on her right side. Her response to the exploratory made it quite obvious. 7 liters of greasy water later (vaseline) I took her for a gentle walk, and from there on in I ignored my vets advise (!). He told me not to give her anything to eat***. Accustomed to ad-lib hay I turned her back out with her paddock mates, and the hay that was in their feeder. He told me to walk her ´for ages´. **I don´t remember from where the information came, but I heard it more than once, from qualified sources, that you can ´over walk´ a colic. So again, after a gentle 10 minutes, at her chosen pace, I turned The Susk back out with her friends.
On Thursday evening, over 2 days later, I offered Susk her usual bucket feed for the first time since ´the incident´. This is not cereal based, contains long fibers, so I was not concerned it would have ill effect after that time. One, disdainful bite, and she walked away. The same when offered breakfast Friday, lunch Friday, dinner Friday. Total disinterest. Only this morning, Saturday, has she eaten her short feed. {I reiterate, I am sure the more ´natural´ the breed the more natural instincts they have.} TWB knew, as much as she usually devours her bucket feeds, that she did not need it. I didn´t. TWB knew far better than me, mere out-of-touch-with-nature-so-called-intelligent-species.
This was an extremely mild colic. It would go undetected by many owners, through no fault of their own. We are talking of the most unstressy, unstressed horse I have ever known (apart from Hearty Farty), living in a herd, in a huge paddock with a constant supply of forage.
EV Suska is still a part of the family, but sadly #espiritudelviento did not get off so lightly this week. Besides Mumu Mama coming up hopping lame the following day - due to a screw well and truly in the sole of a hoof (Cheers neighbours doing building work next to her paddock!) - fortunately her soles are so thick that the 1cm long culprit (the screw was longer but the washer still on it and half way down stopped it penetrating further!) didn´t hit live tissue, we have a devastating event to share;
Redheart Cateaster, lovingly known at home as Easter, was the youngest filly in the UK of our stallion Kiss My Finest Heart. My dear friend, and her breeder, Paula Cooper of #redheartappaloosas informed me that despite valiant attempts at the equine hospital they could not save her from colic this Friday the 13th. We are all heartbroken. She was one of "ours". This is also a very sad day for the Foundation Appaloosa breed. Easter has well and truly left her legacy in her short 18 months of life with 7 firsts and 5 seconds of the 14 competitions she entered, also reserve champion and an International title. Husbandry second to none, with, like us, herd environment and ad-lib forage, again, there is no rhythm or reason behind this death. The wind will be forever beneath your wings little one. R.I.P. Hugs are not enough for you, Paula and your girls.
***I would love to hear opinions from vets regarding not giving a horse anything to eat when it has suffered a colic. My questions and thoughts are this;
When did colic start being diagnosed? Was it when horses were in real work? When horses were being fed some 6/7/8 kilos of oats a day to supplement their hay as they pounded the streets or fields for 8+ hours a day? Due to the nature of oats (or barley?) I can understand the advise ´no food´. But it is ´no food´ that is a big cause of colic. An empty gut twists or sticks. Or too long a time between feed causes a blockage. Are vets saying "no food" because that is what they were taught from times past, without thinking out the full significance of this and connotations for todays equine? Does no food really mean no short feed, but still forage, but it goes unexplained due to assumption? Assumption that all horse owners are feeding their horses many kilos of crapinabag, they are kept in solitary confinement and given very few kilos of hay/forage!