horsehug
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- Nov 30, 2002
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I haven't felt like posting this on here til now. But I have some very sad news about our little dream come true appy filly, Wish Upon a Star.
She was fine Monday night when I fed about 7 PM right before dark. She had never been sick a day in her life.
But the next morning when I went out to feed around 9 AM, she was lying in the sunny part of her pen outside the barn, like she liked to do in the mornings, but she did not get up when her mom Starbright started talking to me and when I walked into the pen. I was so afraid it meant things were not right.......... and when I got to her she was lying there dead.
She had not been weaned yet and would have turned 5 months on November 1. She is the one we took on visits to the nursing home twice and walked with her mom and dad in our parade. She was so sweet and so beautiful. I could not believe it when she was born! And now this is hard to believe also.
She did not appear to have rolled or been in any kind of distress........ very similar to the way we found my tiny stallion Cream of the Crop 4 years ago. So it sure did not look like it was colic of any kind. But this time I decided to find out just what happened if it was at all possible so I took her to my vet to do a necropsy.
After he did it, he called and talked to me. He said she had a large torsion (very twisted large bowel and cecum) and it was completely black. He could not explain why her coat was still clean and she had not appeared to have rolled. But it might be that she lay down and stood up a few times because of pain, instead of rolling. Although he did say when there is a total twist, they "can" die sooner than with an impaction. It cuts off the blood supply to the large intestine.
I am still so sad to have lost her but glad it was not a colic caused by
anything I was feeding her. There was no impaction, just the twisted gut.
I asked him if there is anything I can do to prevent this and he said,
No....to just keep doing what I am doing. He said it is always hard to know what might make their intestines twist inside...... it sometimes just happens from playing, frolicking or many possible kinds of horse
movements....... totally impossible to predict.
He is a genuinely good kind caring country vet and friend. He has been there for me many times over the last 20 years, sometimes in the middle of the night for foaling, or other problems. And he always tells me, "Those that don't have them, don't lose them". It can be hard at times like this......... but so far I have always decided I still want to have them. And I am glad little Wish is no longer in pain. I sure will miss her. And I will never forget her.
Here are a few pix of her.
Susan O.
She was fine Monday night when I fed about 7 PM right before dark. She had never been sick a day in her life.
But the next morning when I went out to feed around 9 AM, she was lying in the sunny part of her pen outside the barn, like she liked to do in the mornings, but she did not get up when her mom Starbright started talking to me and when I walked into the pen. I was so afraid it meant things were not right.......... and when I got to her she was lying there dead.
She had not been weaned yet and would have turned 5 months on November 1. She is the one we took on visits to the nursing home twice and walked with her mom and dad in our parade. She was so sweet and so beautiful. I could not believe it when she was born! And now this is hard to believe also.
She did not appear to have rolled or been in any kind of distress........ very similar to the way we found my tiny stallion Cream of the Crop 4 years ago. So it sure did not look like it was colic of any kind. But this time I decided to find out just what happened if it was at all possible so I took her to my vet to do a necropsy.
After he did it, he called and talked to me. He said she had a large torsion (very twisted large bowel and cecum) and it was completely black. He could not explain why her coat was still clean and she had not appeared to have rolled. But it might be that she lay down and stood up a few times because of pain, instead of rolling. Although he did say when there is a total twist, they "can" die sooner than with an impaction. It cuts off the blood supply to the large intestine.
I am still so sad to have lost her but glad it was not a colic caused by
anything I was feeding her. There was no impaction, just the twisted gut.
I asked him if there is anything I can do to prevent this and he said,
No....to just keep doing what I am doing. He said it is always hard to know what might make their intestines twist inside...... it sometimes just happens from playing, frolicking or many possible kinds of horse
movements....... totally impossible to predict.
He is a genuinely good kind caring country vet and friend. He has been there for me many times over the last 20 years, sometimes in the middle of the night for foaling, or other problems. And he always tells me, "Those that don't have them, don't lose them". It can be hard at times like this......... but so far I have always decided I still want to have them. And I am glad little Wish is no longer in pain. I sure will miss her. And I will never forget her.
Here are a few pix of her.
Susan O.
ray
