01/03/2025
Colic knows no holidays!
I suppose it’s a bit late, but today we got a true Christmas miracle. It all started the Sunday before Christmas when we realized Dublin had no manure in his stall. This was not good, not good at all. Katie immediately put a call into the vet. She instructed us to consider Dublin on colic watch. We put him in a small area to monitor his manure and his comfort level. Typically horses who are having a colic episode will paw, bite at their sides or roll. Thankfully at this point Dublin seemed quite comfortable and was just pi**ed off because he couldn’t have anything to eat. The next day when he still had no manure Dr Mende came out. We were devastated to hear he had an impaction colic. A devastating, at least to us, diagnosis. Dublin is 30 years old. This was going to difficult for him to overcome
Honestly, I don’t even remember all that happened with the holidays happening at the same time it’s all kinda a blur. We spent our Christmas morning and day taking Dublin on trailer rides. The hope was, the joseling would help him pass manure. It’s something horse people do. Over the last 11 days Dublin has taken at least a dozen or so trailer rides. Usually we would get a little manure, but sometimes not. After 2 more visits from Dr Mende she told us his impaction was moving. Unfortunatley on her third visit it had moved to the worst place in his intestine to work its way through. On Tuesday we were told if it hadn’t resolved in 48 hours, which was today, we would have to consider it wasn’t going to. I could tell she was not very hopeful. If the impaction didn’t pass, that meant euthanasia. Obviously we haven’t slept much worrying.
Dr Mende was to come back today. I was convinced it was going to be a very bad day. I canceled a personal doctor's appointment so I could be there because I didn’t want Katie to be by herself just in case. We all held our breath, when the vet was done with her exam she said those magical words, “it’s all gone.” I really thought we were all going to cry. It was obvious we were all thinking the worst.
Dublin’s recovery is all because of Katie. She has practically slept in the barn for 10 days. She has set alarms to give him his sloppy wet meals every 2 hours, walked him around the ring to keep him moving, taken him on many trailer rides and prayed non-stop. She really believed he could recover, when I had huge doubts. Katie had lots of help too. A big thank you to Amie, Lillie, and Tony who hung out at the barn with Katie and kept her hope and spirits up. Thank you too to Dr Mende who answered our questions and inquired multiple times a day about Dublin, even on Christmas day.
It took a village and a Christmas miracle, but Dublin is doing well and Katie’s sleeping in her own bed tonight. Life is good at Dun-Pikin Farm. Come Ride With Us!
Cindy 🐴
