A tough morning on the farm

[RichZ]

We moved from the suburbs of Long Island to a small farm in upstate NY, 9 months ago to fulfill a lifelong dream. I've developed a morning routine, before showering and getting dressed for work. I feed our two 175 pound dogs, and take them out to their penned play area, feed and water our chickens, feed and water our goats, and check on the three horses that belong to our friends, but live with us. This morning, as I got done feeding the goats, I heard a horrific cry coming from the horse stall. Chance, a very large Belgian/Arabian mare was down in the stall, moaning, screaming and farting very loudly! Kid, an Arabian gelding was trying to groom and comfort her, and Sprite, a 24 year old thoroughbreed mare was standing by obviously distressed. To my inexperienced eyes it looked like colic, and I knew she should get up, so I ran into the stall to try to get her up. She got halfway up (into a sitting position, like a dog), and then she started to collapse on top of me. Chance weighs over 1500 pounds, and I had a mental flash of my wife walking into the stall later, finding me dead and crushed, with Chance dead on top of me. Not a good way to start the morning. I managed to lay her down as gently as possible, (just shows what adrenalin can allow you to do in an emergency) and she started moaning and screaming again. I thought, this is more than colic!! She's dying!! I ran into the house to call my friend to come right over. She lives less than 5 minutes away. My wife called the vet. We were both fighting back tears, as we love all our animals (even though the horses aren't truly ours). Our friend Eileen arrived, and said "Don't worry, this happens to Chance periodically. It's colic, she should be OK when we get her up." We got her up, and Eileen walked her. In 15 minutes, she was eating, and ready to create some sort of mischief, as she usually does. Everything turned out OK, but it just showed me, that we have alot to learn living on the farm!!! Of course its worth it!!!
(Cowboydoc! I sure could have used your sage advise this morning!!!!)

Rich

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Rich,

I'm glad everything with Chance and you worked out the way it did...

You'll be a farmer yet... see it just takes some common horse sense.../w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[cowboydoc]

Rich,
You did the right things. Nothing more I could have told you. You were right to try and get her up. Alot of times they won't get up without some prodding though. I almost lost my stud horse a couple years ago with it. He was down and wouldn't get up for anything. We finally hooked the loader bucket to him and lifted him up and started walking him. Vet said no doubt that saved his life. Always best to call a vet if it's your horse. The worst thing that can happen is they will twist a gut. Basically what happens is that the stomach flips and kinks the intestine. It's a surgical emergency. Pretty routine now but even five years ago it was usually fatal. Glad all turned out ok for you.

 

[skent]

Hey Rich, What kind of hogs you got. Do you butcher them yourself? We been doing it for years and it's something we look forward to year after year. (mmmmmm fresh scrapple!)

Steve

 

[JATO_RaT]

Rich, I could feel for you in your moment of distress. Hurt animals tear me up. Rat...

 

[gordon]

Rich, the worst thing is when something like that happens and you have no idea what's wrong. Just glad the owner was close by. Something like that is enough to scare the tar out of you and then some. Glad the horse didn't land on you and everything worked out allright. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Steve, I bet alot of the posters here don't even know what scrapple is. If it's cooked right I love it if it's too soft don't really care for it. The Mrs. will eat it crisp or soggy.

Gordon

 

[RichZ]

Thanks, Rat, I'm the same way. I love animals, and when they're hurt or sick, they just look at you, and you know that they want you to make it all better. Only trouble is, they can't talk and tell you where it hurts. That's what makes it so tough. It sure makes you feel good when you can make them all better!!

Rich