What did you do today?

[Nanno]

Apparently it's a very bad year for colicking horses. The vet said so when she came to attend my friend's mare. She said she had thirteen consecutive days around Christmas when she couldn't do her normal routine because she was rushing from one colic to the next. I think it's the crazy weather swings we've been having. We've had days in the high 50's/low 60's turn to nights of 15* or less in a matter of hours. Then it swings back up again two days later.

Last night was my Jet's turn for a bellyache. Thank goodness it was a mild case and I noticed. In fact, Jet made sure I noticed! It was after dark and he kept following me as I went around my chores. I didn't take much notice until he walked ahead of me, parked himself directly in my headlamp beam, turned to look at his belly, then gave me a very pointed stare. It was pretty obvious what he was telling me, but to make absolutely sure he wasn't just itchy, I walked off and waited for him to do it again. He did it two more times right away, and he was very sure to stay in my headlamp beam so I could see. I finished chores and took him to the house so I could get his temperature. It was only 102*, but if a horse has an elevated temperature when it's as cold as it was last night, you know something is going wrong. I could hear only a few slight belly sounds. I walked him up and down and kept an eye on him for a couple of hours. He never looked distressed, but his temperature went up to 103* and he started pinning his ears at me when I touched his belly.

So at around 10:15 I hitched up the trailer and took him for a ride on dirt roads for about 20 minutes and then checked on him. I've heard that a trailer ride on dirt roads can loosen up a horse with a minor obstruction or some gas, and I'm happy to say that it worked! There were two piles in the trailer when I stopped to check on him, so we turned around and went home. There was a third pile by the time I unloaded him. His temperature had already gone down to 101.8 despite the fact that he'd gotten pretty worked up about being dragged away from home late at night. I toweled the sweat off him and left him blanketed for the night and he was right as rain this morning. Thank goodness the episode was mild and was over quickly! I hope I get better sleep tonight. Naturally I was up watching him until after 1:00, and then I was up to check him a couple more times after that. I'm a little tired.