Sunday, November 8, 2009

Groundhog Day

Oh look, it's Poco and Ja... wait a minute!
Unless Jaz has morphed into a
seal bay, grown a hand and a half,
and regrown his manhood,
that is not Jaz.

Who is that
and what's he doing here?

I'm glad you asked.

I just brought the Boyz home
from Heather's yesterday,
where they have been
since Jaz colicked
on October 28th.


I got up this morning,
had a few chores to do
before Mr. Fry got home,
then it was going to be spa day
for the filthy ponies.

I was making waffles
when Mr. Fry arrived.
I asked if he had seen Jaz,
when he drove in,
because I hadn't seen him
since early this morning.

He said Jaz was laying out
by the run-in shed.

Nooooooo!

I looked out the dining room window
and there he was again, lying
in that position.

I felt like I was in a movie.

I uttered a rhyming vulgar interjection
that has to do with
sex and waterfowl.

I waited until the cooking waffle
could be removed from the iron,
shut it off, left everything,
and ran outside.

Jaz wasn't shivering this time, but he
was obviously in distress.
I got him up,
tried to get him to drink
some warm Gatorade,
to no avail.
Little toot isn't drinking enough again.

Zero gut sounds.

We walked until he was
finally able to squeeze out
a couple hard turds.

Gave him a light dose of Banamine,
then took him out to the round pen
and made him trot to get the drug in
his system faster.
He stopped twice more to push out a
few hard turds.

All this time,
I was on the phone, trying to
get hold of my vet...
then any vet.
The emergency vet on my regular vet's
answering machine is freakin' 30 miles away,
and was already on a call
another 20 miles farther.

I got hold of the other
guy I normally call,
and his brother was in a
horrific car accident, so
he was on his way to Oklahoma.
Poor man apologized
that he wasn't able to help.
I said I'd say a prayer for his brother.

Between all these calls,
I was on the phone with Heather,
who had been directing
me the whole time.

Since he seemed to be able to
stand still without
dropping and rolling,
she said to put him in the
round pen with water and see
how he did.
He was okay for a few minutes,
then he started backing his way around,
seemingly undecided as to
whether he wanted to roll some more.

Faint gut sounds,
but only on one side.

Mike had already hitched up
the trailer for me hours before.

I loaded Jaz up and headed
to Whitesboro.
I decided not to take Poco,
who was, of course, fretting.

Heather listened with a stethescope
and heard nada.
She gave him a stout shot
of Banamine.
I walked him until the
meds kicked in.

Better gut sounds.
He was one stoned pony,
and was quite comfy when I left.
It was a 50/50 chance
that he'd be fine or ...

I couldn't come back
empty-trailered, or
Poco would worry himself to death.

Scorch is a two-year old stallion
I've blogged about here and here.
I was present at his birth.

He and Poco have played
bite-the-face
over the fence, so
we decided to give it a shot.


He's already more than 16hh
and just as sweet as they come.

Appy characteristics from his sire.


Soaked with sweat from
playing with the new kid.

Nita called awhile ago
to say that as the
Banamine wore off,
Jaz's condition regressed.
Fortunately, they were
able to get a local vet out.
Thanks be to God, he says
it's just gas colic.
He didn't tube him again.

My vet had recommended adding
bran to Jaz's diet
when he colicked this last time.
I bought it but never even had
a chance to give it to him.

The vet tonight also recommended bran
and a supplement that is like
the grass minerals they already get,
but includes a medicine for horses
that do this regularly.
He says keep him on it from
October thru Spring
and it should prevent it.
I can live with that.

I am so grateful to have
such good friends.
I know they treat my horses
like their own,
which, in fact, Jaz used to be.
There is nothing I could have done
that they would not do.

All is well.
I need to go back to work
just to get some rest.

Oh yeah.
I finished making waffles
at 6:30 pm.

23 comments:

West Side of Straight said...

Glad things started to look better, and that you finally got the waffles done. We've been in that situation several times when we had kids and horses at home. Have been up all night walking a horse with colic. He is now at "Living It Up Country" girls'. Thank goodness for Banamine! Good luck to you!

Desert Rose said...

You poor cowgirl!!! nothing is worse than this kind of thing. So glad it sounds like it's getting better!

Unknown said...

How terrible! Glad you got to him in time. I hope the minerals work.

Waffles are the 24 hour food. Good thing.

RoSe said...

Holy Moley, Good thing I don't know about any of this stuff besides the waffles. Hang n there my friend.

cowgirljlynn said...

Glad everything is ok. I love waffles!!

Laughing Orca Ranch said...

Whew! Stressful! I was holding my breath until the end and I read that Jazz is ok. I hope he gets through this and never goes through it again...for his sake and yours. whew!

Handsome stallion. Is he going to be a stud, or are there plans to geld him?

~Lisa

Paint Girl said...

I am so happy to hear that Jaz is doing better! So scary!! You do have wonderful friends for helping you out.
That stallion is beautiful, love his mane!

Leah Fry said...

Thanks for the good wishes. No middle-of-the-night phone calls either.

Scorch is a registered Tiger Horse. His services have been in demand literally since the day he was born, so he will remain intact.

Anonymous said...

Colic is very scary. My mare Maisie has had two impaction colics and she also tends not to drink well in the winter. We do heated buckets - she's one of those that likes warm water - and she also gets table salt (uniodized) added to her feed 2x a day - she's on 1/2 Tbsp. per dose but can go as high as 1 Tbsp. Good luck, and hope he feels better soon.

Mrs. Mom said...

Wow Leah- poor Jazz, poor YOU, and poor Poco!! I sure hope that handsome fellow of yours is able to sort out how to control that tummy of his better.

Should we all chip in and get you a steady supply of Banamine, just in case? ;) (I'm KIDDING!! Working off the theory that if you have tons of it on hand, you wont need it!!)

Nice Tiger colt too. THat mane had me drooling!!

the7msn said...

Man that just sucks. I colic myself when one of my guys isn't right - take care of yourself and I'll be hoping this is the last of these episodes for your Jaz.

AareneX said...

Oh, thank heavens he's okay!

Did anybody tell you the trick about driving a gas colick-y horse around in the trailer? The trick is to aim for the potholes. Since horses can't burp up the gas, the bumping around in the trailer helps them expel the gas southward.

This doesn't do a thing for any other kind of colic, of course, but it's an idea for you if you have to transport him anyhow.

Of course, maybe he just wanted some of those waffles...?

Michelle said...

Sorry to hear, that is no fun for sure. Glad he's doing a bit better and you have great friends and support. Oh, and the new dude is HANDSOME!! Oh, boy!

Laura said...

Oh wow - poor Jazz and poor you! You had quite the rough day! Hope the bran supplement helps Jazz....

Leah Fry said...

My vet only half jokingly says he prescribes a trailer ride for any horse suspected of having colic or in its early stages.

He's doing fine now. Poco and Scorch seem to be getting on well, too. I checked Scorch out just to make sure he didn't injure himself on anything or Poco didn't beat him up too bad. There's not a mark on him.

Poco, on the other hand, is SNOT-TY! Even Jaz is not as submissive as Scorch. Poco really thinks he's macho stuff. I'm sure I'll have my hands full. But, that's how it is with him and me sometimes — a battle of wills.

manymisadventures said...

Yikes, that sounds awfully nerve-wracking. Glad to hear he's doing okay now, though. Poor guy!

Poco is such a character :) I'm sure it's a pain in the ass a lot of times, but you gotta love a horse with personality!

Nuzzling Muzzles said...

Ugh. What a day for both of you. Lostine went through a stage where she was having gas colic on every holiday. So, instead of getting a rest from work, I spent the holiday trying to get her bowel moving. It's a lot of hard work. However, since I started giving her a mix of grain, bran, and psyllium every once in a while, she hasn't had any incidents.

Once Upon an Equine said...

What a stressful day. I bet those waffles tasted good after a long day like that. Glad Jaz pulled through. Scorch is very handsome.

City girl turned Country Girl said...

Oh Leah!! How stressful for you!!! I am glad he's doing better!! I am not up to date on what is causing this issue...Is it the grass there?? Early this year I had one of my geldings go down and we went back and forth for a few days with the Vet thinking he was colicky then maybe he was impacted...So we took him to an Equine Specialty hospital where he ultimately stayed for 3 or 4 days and they told us to put Metamucil in his feed 2 x day while he is having the problem then 1 time a week after as it would prevent it from happening again..

Gotta agree with the Banamine!! Every horse owner should have a few doses on hand at all times!!

phaedra96 said...

So sorry about the colic episodes. We have dealt with a few over the years but only one ended badly. As for the Banamine, a sure way to never need it is to have it on hand. I threw some out a while ago that was expired over a year! And so it goes............

Chelsi said...

I am so sorry you are having trouble with him again...but am also glad you have good people around to help you, makes all the difference in the world, doesnt it? I hope that bran helps ease things along, I know some folks here put a lot of stock in feeding ground flax because it does the same as bran but has the Omega's too.

Esther Garvi said...

What a day!! I'm so sorry for what you had to go through but glad that Jaz is doing well again!
Give him a big hug from me, will you?

BrownEyed Cowgirl said...

I'm sorry to read Jaz is having troubles. But glad to hear you have plenty of good help with him.

I sure hope what the vet recommends helps him.

Related Posts Widget for Blogs by LinkWithin