Close call

Yesterday afternoon, I got the call every horse owner dreads. Cash was colicking, they'd gotten him in the trailer but he was down, and they were on their way to the vet but it didn't look good.

Quite possibly my favorite picture of us. Photo courtesy of Lauren.

I waited by the phone for an hour for news. When I finally got the call, the prognosis was mixed. He'd been choking, but deep in his chest, which was why it had presented as colic. He'd managed to clear the choke on his own in the trailer, but they had pulled 9 liters of reflux from his stomach and his blood numbers weren't great, so there was a very real chance that he would colic. We'd just have to wait and see how it played out.

I managed to sit on my hands for another four hours, after texting the people I knew would be most concerned about him. Hubby and I talked about how far we were willing to go with treatment if he did end up colicking. I did the math - I've owned Cash for 20 years, and in that time he's probably been to the vet at least 40-50 times for colic*, and the majority of those times he needed IV fluids to re-hydrate and pull through.

Luckily, by 9 pm he was eating, drinking, and pooping, so we didn't have to make any decisions. He stayed overnight for surveillance, but is on his way back to Paint Creek Ranch (and his Reddums, who was apparently looking for him last night) this morning.

Visiting last summer. He looks pretty good for 27!

Because of the excellent care and attentiveness from the folks at Paint Creek Ranch, Cash has managed to dodge another one. I cannot thank the staff there enough for taking such good care of him and getting him to the vet so quickly. Maybe he'll make it to 28 after all!

* He's a chronic colicker and has had this problem since before I got him. He doesn't have ulcers, is on nearly 24/7 turnout with his BFF Reddums, gets his feed soaked, etc. etc. Our vet suspects an internal problem, such as lipomas, but it's impossible to know without opening him up.