05.04.08
Q colicked - It’s March - Spring has arrived!
Please understand the following is my experience and not to be taken as advice. If you suspect your horse is colicking call a vet, do not self medicate and hide symptoms - better debt than death.
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To know the arrival of Spring some people rely on the direction of flying geese, others on groundhogs, catepillars, squirrels tails and crocuses. I own a horse who is a weather colicker.
Weather Colicker. Before Q (Quintin) I never heard of such a thing.
I personally do not look forward to the seasons changing because of it. Horses have colics because of as many conditions as you can think of such as stress, feed changes, etc. A weather colicker is a horse who colics when the weather changes. Q prefers to announce seasons changing - Spring and Fall to Summer and Winter. Spring is the worst by far.
For those of you who don’t know what a colic is– simply put it’s any stomach pain, sometimes so severe it might cause a horse to injure himself trying to getting rid of it. This can be by rolling, thrashing, slamming up against walls etc. They will beat themselves into injury, worst scenario twist an intestine which is remedied by surgury or death or both. They can also hurt you as the handler, and that can result in death.
Luckily Q is a drama queen. He usually starts acting up before we hit critical; other horses, the stoic ones, will not show anything until it almost too late to do anything.
The month of March - all was well except for two different storm systems hitting the coast within hours of each other. The second would change the temperature and barometric pressure dramatically which is what you don’t want to hear with a weather colicker. Everything was fine that afternoon. I was hopeful. It looked like we would get through the storms cycles with bank account intact, and then………..
Q and the gang were in stalls because of the heavy rains and wind. I fed them a scoop of mash and some hay. I made sure everyone had clean water and stripped them of the blankets. At 6pm the barn temperature was in the 40’s and the temperature was on the way up outside.
The second downpour had started signaling the second storm had arrived. I decided to pick the stalls before leaving rather than drive in the blinding rain. Got to the last horse’s stall and heard the groan, double bang and groan and the rolling.
Didn’t have to look to know it was Q and he was rolling and thrashing- NOT good. When Q colicks the signs are for lack of a better term dead eyes, cold nose, phlegming and he will just drop to the ground. When you check his gums by pressing with your finger the spot will stay white instead of returning to its normal pink. If he is really full blown into a colic he has no pink gums just pale and unresponsive skin. You also hope for gut sounds.
I knew it wouldn’t be good when I saw he hadn’t eaten his mash. First had to get him up. Luckily this time he did manage it after a couple of tries and there was no need to use a crop or rope to incite his survival instinct to get him to his feet. Checked for gut sounds and none in one quarter, minimal in the rest. He was also very sensitive to the touch near the hindquarters, pinning his ears back. No gum responsiveness. Colic plan in motion- we walk, periodically stopping to determine if will he stay calm and not try to roll.
Because of the storm we started walking up and down the aisle which is no easy task since all the other horses have their opinions, from “OH Poor Quintie” to “Come near my stall and you die.” Moving is critical it keeps them from rolling and thrashing but Q’s gone down in barn aisles so you need to be aware of what he’s doing at all times. You don’t want them thrashing not only because of the cuts and bruises they can get but more importantly because they can twist part of their free floating intestines and if there’s a blockage involved twist that as well, making the colic worse.
Q has banged himself up against walls and anything else to beat the pain out of himself. When nothing else is available he tries to bite the pain out of himself and whoever is around him.
You hope the walking will get things moving in the gut. Sometimes it’s gas, sometimes it is a solid impaction, sometimes cramping and then there’s the “who knows but it hurts.” The latter is probably the worst, your horse will attack you if in enough pain.
We walked. Every few minutes we’d stop and I’d see how frantic or calm he was. It was going to be a long night he was frantic. I was alone and needed to get him under control before chancing the run to a phone to call a vet.
We would stop and he would immediately start pawing, phlegming and weaving - not to mention his determination to lay down and roll - all are not good signs. I checked for gut sounds and gum responsiveness for the second time with no better results. I decided to call a vet - better debt than dead horse - but not having a cell phone we needed to walk more before I could leave him. If he’ll just lay down and be quiet I’ll let him.
We tried many times, he wouldn’t stay up but finally he laid down, stayed still and just moaned. He laid on his side, one of the worst positions to see a horse in since they look so defeated and desperate. I ran up to the house and called the vet then went back to the barn Q - was in the same position. Luckily Annemarie, Q’s doctor, got there about an hour after I called since she was nearby at another colic. (Weather colickers are not as rare as you would think). My friend Margie also had come back to the barn - I had to call her for the house phone number which I couldn’t remember in order to give it to the vet’s answering service.
I will not give Q any drug for the pain when he colicks suddenly unless absolutely necessary. As long as I can keep him from injuring himself and others all he’ll get is my mom’s tonic of flat coke and oil for a bellyache, but that is all. It is my opinion that my medicating him could mask what’s really wrong from the vet, make it appear he’s getting over it when he’s not or worse interfere with treatment the vet will give him.
When AnneMarie arrived the evaluation began as soon as his condition was determined. He was given a shot of sedative known as “ace” (Acepromazine or Acetylpromazine). It quickily put him into LaLa Land. He slumped as AnneMarie put on the 3 foot glove to cover her arm as she reached down the butt hole to remove any blockage within reach.
Next a tube was put through his nose and down into his stomach. Sometimes he has a lot of blood come out through his nose and mouth as this is done. This time we were lucky the tube went in easily and with no flowing blood. First task was to pump out some stomach content to determine what we could be dealing with and then to have a gallon of mineral oil and a full pail of warm water pumped in to get things moving. He then was given another shot for the pain - of banamine.
He was walked back to his stall unsteadily and sweating profusely.
It was assumed he was having a gas colic more than anything else but we would have to wait until around 2am to be sure. That’s when all the meds would wear off and hopefully his gut would have started moving from the treatments and the pain would have passed, along with other things. The irony is the pain killers can slow down the gut too.
I wrapped a horse blanket around me and dozed, one ear alert to any movement or sound from Q. About 1am he start waking up from the “ACE” snorting. He still had some banamine in his system (reducing the pain) but was clear eyed and demanding. He looked indignant as if to say “where is my food!” He had been passing some gas but no poop. He had grumbling in the stomach (a good sign); the gas was there but moving. He was calm but cranky and hungry. He was not very pleased at all that only few handfuls of hay but no grain were in his stall, and that’s what he’d get periodically.
I always hold my breath for the days following a colic. We moved away from this one steadily without incident. Now I just look forward to the next change in season and set aside ten dollars a week to the vet emergency fund. What can I say - some people have Christmas Clubs, I have a Horse Emergency Account.
In Closing:
Please remember colic is dangerous and can be deadly. Colic is a warning sign of something physically going on with your horse that could kill him. Unless you are one of the experts out there, please don’t be a horseowner saying I should have called the vet sooner.
Signs of Colic
The horse lies down and gets back up repeatedly.
The horse bends his head and neck towards his abdomen, sometimes biting at his gut.
The horse paws the ground.
The horse attempts to kick his abdominal area.
The horse stretches, as if assuming an urination position.
The horse rolls around on the ground repeatedly.
There is a lack of normal manure quantities passed.
The horse curls his upper lip (phlegming), sweats profusely or breathes rapidly.
references:
Acepromazine
banamine (flunixin)
horse colic
addressing horse colic
Other stories about Q (Quintin)
