After a week off of riding due to rain, I had three great rides in a row with Mazzy on Saturday, Sunday and yesterday. She is on the upswing right now and feeling better, stronger, and much easier every time I ride her.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
It is so hard to see a beloved friend go
After a week off of riding due to rain, I had three great rides in a row with Mazzy on Saturday, Sunday and yesterday. She is on the upswing right now and feeling better, stronger, and much easier every time I ride her.
Posted by Five O'Clock Somewhere at 10:39 PM 4 comments
Wednesday, March 23, 2011
In Loving Memory
They say some horses leave hoofprints on our hearts, I, however say only a few are actually capable of sailing away with them.
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The Rainbow Bridge For Horses
Author Unknown
By the edge of a woods, at the foot of a hill,
is a lush, green meadow where time stands still.
Where the friends of man and woman do run,
when their time on earth is over and done.
For here, between this world and the next,
is a place where beloved creatures find rest.
On this golden land, they wait and they play,
til The Rainbow Bridge they cross over one day.
No more do they suffer, in pain or in sadness,
for here they are whole, their lives filled with gladness.
Their limbs are restored, their health renewed.
Their bodies have healed with strength imbued.
They trot through the grass without even a care,
til one day they whinny and sniff at the air.
All ears prick forward, eyes sharp and alert.
Then all of a sudden, one breaks from the herd.
For just at that second, there's no room for remorse.
As they see each other...one person...one horse.
So they run to each other, these friends from long past
The time of their parting is over at last.
The sadness they felt while they were apart
has turned to joy once more in each heart.
They nuzzle with a love that will last forever.
And then, side-by-side, they cross over...together.
Posted by Five O'Clock Somewhere at 9:20 PM 13 comments
Labels: Kylie
Sunday, March 20, 2011
A better day
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It's been well-documented that over 90% of race horses and over 60% of performance horses (hunter/jumpers, dressage, endurance and western) have ulcers. Even small changes in the routine of a recreational horse can cause ulcers in as little as five days. The signs of ulcers in horses include poor performance (often mistaken for musculoskeletal or back pain), behavioral issues (poor attitude, resistance, girthiness), colic and loss of weight or condition.
Here are some diet and management tips to reduce the risk of ulcers in your horse:
■Provide pasture turnout--this is the best method of preventing ulcers!
■Provide constant access to hay—keeping hay in front of your horse is next best
■Provide hay frequently—if free-choice hay is not an option, feeding it four to six times a day is an acceptable substitute
■Use alfalfa hay—the protein and calcium in hay help reduce stomach acid
■Limit fasting periods—keeping food in the stomach at all times protects it from acid which causes ulcers
■Limit grain feeding—sweet feeds especially lead to heavy acid production
■Provide “down time”—heavy exercise is a risk factor for ulcers so include less intense work days and even rest days in your training and showing plan
■Reduce stress—allow social interaction with other horses and keep the feed, turnout, and exercise schedule as regular as possible
■Limit NSAIDS—anti-inflammatories like phenylbutazone have been linked to ulcers, so give the smallest amount necessary for the shortest time possible.
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Posted by Five O'Clock Somewhere at 2:47 PM 5 comments
Labels: Horses, Kylie, veterinarian
Saturday, March 19, 2011
A step back
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Posted by Five O'Clock Somewhere at 5:54 PM 4 comments
Labels: Horses, Kylie, veterinarian
Friday, March 18, 2011
Day four after surgery
I think I have been home for about 10 hours total, including sleep for the past 5 days. Of course, all of this has happened during the busy time at work, quarter end, so no chance for any time off there. And I still need to get Mazzy out the days my trainer doesn't ride her, so no break there, but I am still managing to make it out to the equine hospital each night, driving 125 miles a day to get it all done.
The reflux stopped, so Kylie was able to graze a little yesterday. I'm talking on grass as long as astroturf, so a very little. It went through but she has diarreah. I guess its good that at least it made it through. However, she was moved to the isolation barn because of risk of Salmonellosis. During a colic episode, your horse's immune system may become compromised and any bacteria or organism they carry in thier gut can no longer be controlled. The salmonella bacterium, in particular, which all horses carry, can flourish and cause severe diarrhea. Not sure if that is what is going on here, but if so, they don't want it to get any of the other horses to get sick.
She's looking brighter everyday. After I grazed her for a few minutes and took her for a walk, we went over to her new home in the isolation barn. I picked her out a stall that had a window so she could watch the baseball game. She was mezmorized. Her face was glued up against the window watching every play. She forgot I was there. I'm glad she has something to keep her busy.
Watching Baseball
Her view
After the first 72 hours, other long-term complications can set in. Scar tissue formation, adhesions and intestinal constriction may decrease the motility of the intestines and cause more colics. Persistent diarrhea from salmonella infections, microflora imbalance or inflammation of the lining of the colon, is a possibility. Horses may become hard keepers and require additional supplements to maintain. Hernias or infections along the incision line on the belly are also possible.
Posted by Five O'Clock Somewhere at 9:00 AM 3 comments
Labels: Horse, Kylie, veterinarian
Thursday, March 17, 2011
Post Colic Surgery
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On Sunday and Monday, Kylie had gastric reflux pooling in her stomach. She had to be refluxed every 4 hours or so (obtaining stomach contents via a tube, threaded down through the nasal passage). It means slow motility of her system, which is not totally unexpected, but things better start moving along soon. I was there Monday night when they refluxed her and the girl commented on what a great patient she has been. Most horses need a lip chain in order for them to get the tube down thier nose, alot of horses need sedation, but Kylie just stands there and lets them do it. They told me one horse wouldn't let them do it no matter how heavily sedated he was, and he died. After they felt like they got most of it they took her in for an ultrasound, because they said she "hides" it. Hehe. It must take alot of training to read an ultrasound, because as much as they explained what we were looking at it just looked like a blur to me. No food or water yet until the reflux stops.
I got to take her for a walk Monday night. It was nice to get her some fresh air and not have to breathe in the stench of DMSO. I smell it even when I am not with her. She was alert and more comfortable. There is a baseball field behind the hospital facility and she was very interested in the all the bright lights a screams coming from over there. She whinnied to them a few times cheering them on.
Every hour counts for the next five days. I hope she sticks to the vet's plan for survival.
Posted by Five O'Clock Somewhere at 9:30 AM 3 comments
Labels: Horse, Kylie, veterinarian
Wednesday, March 16, 2011
Colic continued
Well the good news is Kylie made it through surgery. BUT she has a long, winding, very difficult road ahead of her. She got up after an hour, which the doc said was pretty normal after being in surgery for so long. He removed 95% of her colon (large intestine), which they can live without if they survive all the potential complications from surgery. I feel so awful seeing Kylie this way. Her eyes are swollen from being on her back for so long during surgery. She is still out of it, and has IVs hanging from the ceiling attached to her, huge bandages around her belly, she has a Hannible Lechter leather muzzle on so she doesn't eat her staw bedding, and she stinks almost unbearably of DMSO (smells like rotting garlic and onion). It is overwhelming to see her like this. Just a day ago I was riding and jumping her happy and free. The vet told me that heart rate (HR) at 24 hours after surgery was significantly associated with survival. Thankfully, Kylie's is in the range for survival.
The term "colic" means only "pain in the abdomen" or "pain in the belly". There are many causes for such pain, ranging from the mild and inconsequential to the life-threatening or fatal. One of the problems with equine colic is that it can be very difficult in the early stages to distinguish the mild from the potentially fatal. This is why all cases of abdominal pain should be taken seriously right from the onset. Some horses are so painful on presentation at the hospital that there is no question surgery is needed, this was our case.
Kylie had the most severe form of colic - a twisted bowel, these types of colic cause a total blockage of the intestine and require immediate surgery if the horse is to survive. Not only is gas and food material trapped inside the twisted gut, but blood supply is cut off, causing damage or death to the intestine. As the gut dies, toxins are released into the body, causing severe illness or even death. For some horses, pain medication helps keep them quiet for approximately an hour. But some horses are so painful that the drugs seem to help very little. Horses can die from this type of colic within a few hours. So thankfully my friend noticed there was a problem!!! The cause for this type of colic is poorly understood, so I have no idea why this happened to her.
The large intestine fills a significant part of the abdomen. The total length of the large intestine is about 25 feet, but it holds approximately 30 gallons of material - twice as much as the small intestine. Surprisingly, this large unwieldy structure is tethered to the body wall at only two points: at its beginning (where it joins the small intestine and caecum) and at its end (where it joins the short, narrow small colon which leads to the anus). With only two immobile points, the large intestine lies in the abdomen in a neatly-arranged double-U formation, one "U" stacked on top of the other. This arrangement entails the food making it round a number of 180 bends (known as "flexures") in the intestine. In addition to these problems the only thing that holds the colon in place is bulk. So a hungry horse without access to forage and an empty colon is a prime candidate for a twisted gut.
So many challenges lie ahead...
The first 72 hours after surgery are the most critical. This is when the intestines are trying to reorganize themselves from being manipulated, cut open, et cetera. As a result the intestines sometimes stop moving, which is very painful for the horse. Also, if the circulation to the intestines was cut off for too long, the lining of the intestines sometimes reacts by becoming inflamed, or dies, resulting in severe diarrhea. If the horse had intestine cut out, the site of reattachment may fail, causing either another blockage or rupture at the site. After surgery the horse’s immune system is compromised from stress, and infection is a concern. Laminitis, may also occur.
Posted by Five O'Clock Somewhere at 11:56 AM 5 comments
Labels: Horse, Kylie, veterinarian
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The Dreaded Colic
I know I have been gone for a long time. It is due to a horribly long commute which is eating up all of my spare time. Commuting 17 1/2 hours a week + riding every night = no time for blogging. It actually doesn't leave much spare time for anything. No time to make jewelry either :-(. But I wanted to document this awful event I am trying to live through.
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I got a call on Friday afternoon from a friend who said Kylie didn't look right. She got up and down a few times and was lifting her lip. She took her out and walked her for a while. I asked her to show her to the barn manager and get her feedback. The barn manager took her vitals and they seemed normal. I called my vet and she was a couple of hours away so she told me to give her 10cc of Banamine IV and if she still didn't seem right to get another vet out. The Banamine seemed to make her content for about an hour, and then she layed down again right at feeding time. My friend recognized this as a red flag and notified the barn manager, who said as long as she wasn't rolling that she was fine. NOT TRUE. Thankfully, my friend followed her instinct and decided to start walking her again. At this point I was trying to get there, but friday rush hour traffic in LA is brutal. Within a half an hour Kylie started going down hill fast. I got another call as I sit stuck in traffic that she was now trying to lay down while my friend was walking her. She told the barn manager, who apparently had something far more important to attend to becasue she got in her car and left. This I find to be a HUGE problem, since the horse was getting worse and the girl walking her was just being nice and had no responsibility to the horse, but I will deal with this later. I had a vet on the way and I was trying to brave the traffic and get there as soon as I could. By the time I got there around 6, Kylie was in bad shape. Her legs were buckling and she was trying very hard to lay down. The vet showed up soon after and gave her some sedatives to make her more comfortable. He oiled her and palpated her. I continued to walk her for a while hoping things would work themselves out. The vet said as soon as the drugs start wearing off in 20 min, if she is still uncomfortable I needed to get her to the hospital. He gave me another shot to give her right before she got on the trailer to keep her comfortable for the ride there. When the drugs started wearing off she was even worse, and I could tell in major distress. We had to kept her walking for a while until my husband showed up with the truck. That was a challenge. I am so grateful my friend was there to help me and to have noticed there was a problem to begin with. She saved her life. I gave her the shot and she reluctantly loaded on the trailer. By the time we hit the end of the driveway the shot wore off and she was not a happy traveler. It was the worst trailer ride of my life. She thrashed the whole way there, and I could hear her trying to go down. Nothing we could do but get there as fast as possible. Luckily the hospital is only 30 min. away. When we pulled in I was afraid I was going to open the trailer to a pile of body parts. It wasn't that bad but when she got off the trailer she wanted to go down BAD. They gave her some more drugs to ease the pain but they wouldn't hold for more than 2 min. The vet said I needed to make a choice right then, put her down or surgery and I didn't have 5 min to decide.
Surgery....
After a few hours, the surgeon came out to talk to me. It wasn't good news. On a scale of one to ten, it was a ten. Her large intestine was twisted like a wrung towel. He needed to do a colon resectioning to remove most of it. The chance of survival was 50/50 if that. Oh boy! Not what I wanted to hear. I looked around for second wondering if someone could pinch me and wake me up from this nightmare. Then I looked through the window to my precious baby upside down on the operating table with all of her guts outside her body. I said ok do whatever you have to do.
to be continued....
Posted by Five O'Clock Somewhere at 11:02 PM 9 comments
Labels: Horses, veterinarian