Disaster Recovery

With the natural disasters on steroids in North America right now, disaster recovery is on everyone's mind.  There are all kinds of disaster recoveries, from having to look wonderful when you feel terrible, to finding the right outfit to replace the one you had decided on at the last minute, to finding a quick substitute for the main dish you just burned for your dinner party. And then there are the really unexpected disasters........

On Sunday morning, I got up very early after a very late night and turned the horses out at 6 am as we had been out very late at a wedding.  It was still very cool and they were out until noon.  At 2 pm a friend came over and we were walking through the barn when we both noticed April looking very funny. We pulled her out of the stall and she was clearly in distress.  My friend walked her while I went for the Banamine. 10cc in the mouth had little effect 20 minutes later.  The vet came out and to cut to the chase, the horse was shipped to the vet clinic that afternoon.  When we arrived at 6 pm the horse was still in distress and I could feel her moving wildly in the trailer the last 20 minutes of the hour plus drive.  Baby April was quickly prepped for surgery and thank goodness we have great vet care where I live. She weighed in at 1620 pounds (no lie) and I can say now that she is doing well.  A displaced colon was the root cause of her distress and it is so awful to see an animal that you truly love be in so much pain.  You feel helpless.  But so far, the news is positive, the prognosis is good and the vet care is fabulous!  We are lucky.