Just A Spot Of Colic

The real question here is, which is it "colicing" or "colicking"? I go with the latter when furiously texting all my people that Yankee is surely going to die from colic. Vets? Beuller?

If you're not friends with me on FB or follow me on insta (ottb_eventing) you might be unaware that my angelface had a brief tiff with colic on Monday night.

You know how when you're a parent (be it of a dogchild, horsebeast, or actual human spawn) you just KNOW when something is wrong, like, the second it happens. I had been sitting in my room (not in the barn) on the computer doing stuff for work and I just got this FEELING, like, "I should go check on the horses" even though it wasn't close to dinner time. I didn't. I brushed it off.

Wrong move.

 When I went to feed, Yanks didn't move when I rustled the feed buckets, his ears flopped and he just stood there like "Hai, I'm dying". OK. Yeah..

 

 

 

Me. On the phone with vet.

NO hesitation. I called the vet immediately. He wasn't outright colicking with telltale signs (sweating, kicking, rolling, etc) but I KNEW this wasn't my horse. He was not feeling good at all and I wanted to vet to come out. Luckily he was close, so I just paced around and cleaned, and rolled polos and did the stalls and watched the chickens and ducks wondering WHERE THE ACTUAL FUCK IS MY VET MY HORSE IS DYING FOR SURE, when really it had only been 20 minutes.

In real life I waited less than an hour but it felt like an eternity. The whole time Yankee just stood in his doorway with his head down and ears flopping, not moving an inch. It was unbearable. Of COURSE my mind was racing.

Me. Everyday. With all the things.

Vet was very reassuring, telling me I did the right thing calling him out. Yankee was mildly colicking, vet jargon, rabble rabble, caught it early, would get worse before it got better, need to stay up all night, walk every hour, monitor etc etc. Good??

If any of you have ever had a horse colic on you, its HELL. Hard to describe. It could really go either way. They could be fine, or not, and the waiting is the worst.

This still almost makes me cry,

 I've had 3 of my own horses colic, and one I was watching for a friend and let me tell you, I do not wish that on anyone. My mom made Yankee colic horribly in 2009 by feeding him a scoop of DRY beet pulp while I was out of state. He almost died and she didn't tell me until a month later. THANKS MOM.

I spent all night at the barn. Reading my ipad inbetween coddling Yankee, brushing him, freaking out he wouldn't get better and slowly dying from anxiety and lack of sleep. He finally pooped at 4 am and I have never been more happy to see shit in my life. HORSE PEOPLE ARE FREAKS.

Gradually he improved, but there for a while, I really had no idea.

I now have FULL respect for real human moms because I got zero sleep and was still expected to function the next day. nope. Literally impossible. I felt like I was colicking. I still feel like hell two days later, just from staying up one night, worrying.

YANKEE YOU ARE MY PROBLEM CHILD, but I am glad you are here still.

Hug your horses. Seriously. Right meow.