The Pee Dee: My first Colic

This weekend was a tough weekend for me. My horse, Storm, who I have had for no more than 2 months got sick and had sand colic.

Saturday afternoon I took Storm out of his pasture to get him ready for a ride. We normally stay in the round-pin or around the house, just because he is still a little boogery out on the trails... hence us riding like Seabiscuit several weeks back.

Well, I noticed he wasn't feeling very well when we were riding, so we quit. Then it was time for a bath because he is oh so pretty when he is clean. During his bath, he wasn't acting right. So that was weird.

Afterwards we always hang out around the grassy areas of the barn and he'll eat while he dries in the sun. Well, he wasn't eating grass. He also wasn't eating treats. I told everyone... something's wrong. But I'm always a worry-wart so normally it doesn't mean much. This time it did.

Storm had returned to his pasture, and I was getting all of my tack, and when I came back, two girls out there had a halter on him. I was wondering why in the world they had my horse... well he was laying down, they had heard me say I thought something was wrong, and the only thing it looked like was he was trying to colic. We took him off the lead rope and he went right back to laying down. So I hooked him back up and started pulling. He didn't want to move but once the other girls came around him he got up and then it was off to walking.

I called the vet, who has never seen my horse before, and I will say Dr. Coker was my savior... me and Storm both. My horse and I walked around his pasture for about an hour. Once the vet arrived, the exam started immediately... and so did my emotions. I was so worried about him. He is like my child, only really large. It's amazing how in such a short period of time you can fall in love with an animal.

Dr. Coker tubed him... and if you're not familiar with that... that's when you stick a tube through their nose, into their stomach, and siphen out what's inside. Watching that just hurt my feelings, Storm looked so pathetic and sad.

Come to find out, my horse had a lot of sand in his stomach and that's what caused him to colic. He is on a strict remedy now and he is on his way to recovery, but I'm still watching him like a hawk. Two nights of checking on him every few hours will leave you tired... but it was worth it to know he was doing ok. Couldn't sleep otherwise.

Colic is a very scary thing when it comes to horses. It can happen at any moment, night or day, with someone there to see it or not. I've heard some horror stories of horses dying, but thankfully my story turned out to be the better one if you will.

And since I'm new to owning a horse, though been around them for years, I've never been there when one tried to colic. Now I can say I have. Hopefully it will be a long long time before I see another.

Here's a picture of my little... well thousand plus baby.