Same as last night...

After staying up four out of five nights with Faith this week, this post is going to be short and unedited because I'm exhausted, it's 3 hours past my bedtime, and I can actually hear my pillow calling my name right now...

Faith is having another bout of colic tonight. This will make #3 this week. She was a tad more grouchy today than usual, but seemed comfortable overall. Although she didn't eat quite as much as she normally does, she finished her grain and ate a decent amount of hay throughout the day. I spent time grooming and rewrapping her as I normally do each evening, and she was eager for her dinner at 6:30pm.

When I returned at 9:00pm, Faith was down in her stall. She was laying on her right side, facing away from the stall door. I went in with her and noticed she was sweaty around her abdomen and hindquarters again. She kept looking back at her abdomen, obviously in greater discomfort than she was the night before. I quickly went upstairs to change into my barn boots, and while I was in the house I heard a crashing sound and loud banging. I ran back downstairs to find her now laying on her left side, with her front foot wedged in between the stall door and the wooden lip in the doorway. I am unfortunately home alone tonight, so this situation was just my luck...

One phone call and three minutes later, I had a my dad and a friend of mine helping me. I had a shot of tranq in one hand in case she panicked, and a shot of banamine in the other. (Tranq'ing her is the absolute last thing I want to do with her, but at the same time I didn't want her panicking and injuring herself.) We managed to slide the door open and Faith remained quiet and stayed put. I got a halter on her, gave her the banamine, and let her rest for a few minutes so it would take effect. Since one of her front hooves was on the cement aisle, we dragged a rubber mat over for more traction.

She decided to get up on her own a few minutes later, without any forewarning. It was a valiant set of efforts on her part, as each of her legs went in every direction and she nearly landed on top of me when all was said and done. She appeared weak as she staggered out of her stall, but regained her composure after a few steps. She stood on the crossties while I checked her TPR & CRT, and all were within normal limits. Her breathing is still more labored than normal.

Dr. George is fairly certain that this is related to her heat cycle, but is also concerned about possible stomach ulcers. He said he will come look at her tomorrow definitely, or tonight if I thought there was a problem, but she appears stable and comfortable for now. I will call back when the clinic opens in the morning to see if he can come out in the afternoon.

And thank you to everyone who has posted comments about their mares having bad heat cycles. Although I'm sure it's not fun for you at all, it makes me feel so relieved to think that all of this could be attributed to a hormonal imbalance, and not something worse. Thanks again!

That fluffy pillow is screaming my name now, so I'm off to bed! Unfortunately only to get up in 2 hours and check on her again...


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