A Monday to Forget

The alarm rang at 6 am and nothing made me think that this Monday, yesterday, would be different from any other - the weather was brisk, the horses were grazing in their fields, but making their way to the gates for breakfast.  Mucking stalls is my workout, my morning therapy and I was working away, almost done, when I noticed that April was lying down in the field.  She had been standing near the gate 30 minutes earlier.  This is not good, I thought to myself as I made my way over to see what was going on.  The morning went quickly downhill from there.

(April in her field a few years ago)

When I reached her she was covered in sweat and clearly in distress.  She got up and was able to walk to her stall.  As soon as she got there she became agitated again and I was able to get 10cc of Banamine in her (the drug to have on hand for days like this).   But it did not seem to help her much yet.  The vet was called, hubby was called from work and the mare continued to unravel.  It was a terrifying experience. She went down on her back at one point was cast against the wall of her stall, all four legs in the air, eyes rolled to the back her head, sighing in pain, occasionally neighing for help.  I was helpless.  She did not want to get up.  I thought she was dying in front of my eyes.  As I paced the driveway waiting for the vet, loud banging noises echoed from the barn.  Running back inside, April had managed to get herself back up again and the fear in her eyes has abated at least for now.  Maybe she heard my pleas for her to live, not to leave us, how much we loved her and wanted her with us.  Who knows?

It was as awful a morning as I can remember.  The mare had displaced her colon like she had done in 2018.  In 2018 she had surgery (or she would have died).  I put her on the trailer for the hour's ride to the vet clinic where she would spend the night and hopefully recover without surgery.  As of this morning the prognosis is good.  April is the only horse I have owned that has suffered from colic and like everything she does, she does it big.  She is better, the fluids, the trailer ride, the drugs, all helped her.  Please go hug your horses today. You never know if you will wake-up to this or something even worse.  This story looks like it will have a happy ending.  And we all want that, right?  Stay safe.  Be thankful for every day.