Susan and Minnie, one of my equine partners.

Do you dig in your heels and try to fix it?

Do you squeal and freeze?

Do you look for the lesson?

My reaction used to be to squeal and freeze.

As I’ve spoken to others who have horses this shouldn’t have been unexpected. I have used alfalfa pellets before without any problems. Yet I don’t feel like this mare is out of the woods yet.

Last Wednesday I changed what I was feeding my mares. I added alfalfa pellets. Not that my mares weren’t doing alright with what they were being fed – I felt the alfalfa pellets would be a benefit.

Sunday morning when I went out to feed, I noticed that one of them was breathing rather shallow and rapid. She was in distress. I assumed that it was colic and went to get some banamine paste that I had at the house.

When I got back with it, I realized that she was choking – an emergency. I didn’t think it would help to use the oral banamine as she probably wouldn’t be able to swallow it.

I tried calling a vet – his number went to voice mail and said the mailbox was full. I tried another vet – her number went to voice mail, so I left a message. This was shortly before 11:30 on a Sunday so I waited thinking they were possibly in church and had their ringers turned off. After about an hour I tried the vet who I had left the message with again. Again, I left a message and tried her husband’s number that was in her message. I waited some more.

At this point I was desperate. I’d been standing with her for quite a while, massaging her throat hoping that would help. I don’t know if it helped her, but it helped me. Finally, I tried the first vet with little hope that I’d get anything except the message saying his mailbox was full. He answered!

She had walked to the other end of my small pasture, so I decided I’d slowly work our way back to the barn. She wouldn’t have it. She’d take a few steps then stop. If she took more than a few she’d start coughing and watery feed would come out of her nose and mouth. I don’t know if that hurt her worse than me, but I couldn’t bear watching this. I continued to try to move her a few steps at a time. We hadn’t even gotten halfway there when the vet arrived roughly an hour later.

He gave her some banamine (IV I think), sedation, and a muscle relaxant. Then gave it a little time to work while he readied what he needed to put in a nasogastric tube to see if the blockage would clear. When he attempted to pass the tube. She wouldn’t have it. So, he gave her more sedation. He’d only given her half a dose the first time so now she had a full dose.

This time he got the tube in and discovered the blockage was at her chest. He tried to flush the blockage down. It wouldn’t move however mixture of feed and water was coming out of the tube and he thought that was better than nothing. He did this a few times then he needed more water, and he added some mineral oil to it. After a few more times he felt like he got the blockage cleared and used all the mineral oil he had to help it pass through.

She still didn’t want to move so I let the sedation wear off for about an hour and tried to move her to the barn. Again, when she took more than a few steps she would cough so I wasn’t very inclined to force her hoping that she would come up for water. We did get far enough that she was by her buddies. I was exhausted, sun and windburned, and hungry. I’d feed the others and come back to check on her later.

I had been tired all week thinking that I might have picked up a bug from my grandson who had been sick when I had seen him the Friday before. I think the stress from Sunday was too much for me and Monday I felt horrible.

I went out to feed Monday morning, and she hadn’t moved. I took her mushy food to her hoping she’d follow her buddies to the water as well or maybe she already had.

Finally, when I checked on her later that day she was up at the waterer. She still hadn’t eaten so I moved her feed closer to her. I would see her put her mouth in the water and play around a bit but didn’t know if she was really drinking so I went to check her, and it seemed like she was more hydrated than she had been before the vet left so I left her alone.

This morning (Tuesday) she still hadn’t eaten. It’s not something I can force her to do. I’ll continue to monitor her. I don’t think she’s out of the woods yet.

When unexpected events come into my life all I can do is be still and listen to what it is telling me. I’m learning to follow my intuition.

Sometimes we need to Learn To Be Still.

Make a Connection in the comments below.

Onward!