Cowboy Cure

I had a long day yesterday. We had two colics at work. The first in the afternoon, was a mare a week post-foaling. Her bowels were very gas-distended, no motility on the right side, and she was quite uncomfortable. After some painkillers, fluids, etc., she was still not totally happy, and the gas bubble was not going away. Luckily she was a "surgical candidate", which, around work, means that the owner is willing to pay mucho bucks to send her to a hospital and possibly have surgery, which usually ends up being around $12,000 if all goes well (and hopefully the horse makes it). The trailer was prepared. D, the boss, decided to try the "cowboy cure" before going to the extreme of a 3 1/2 hour drive to the hospital. We loaded the mare (and baby) into the trailer, and D drove her around for 1/2 hour to try to bounce the mare around to help her pass the gas through. The mare came back with motility restored to her right side, and she layed down in her stall, quiet. After a while she stood up and was fine- hooray, no major displacement or torsion! We continued fluids on her, for good measure, and she is essentially cured.

Now, that was the first colic. I got off work at 10pm, and at 11, got a call from C, who works overnight. She had found our second colic rolling in soupy mud. I met them at the barn. The mare was covered head to tail in a layer of thick, wet mud. She had gone down three times on the way to the barn. While I grabbed a stethoscope, banamine, and a sedative, C wiped the mud from a spot on the mare's jugular groove, so I had a clear spot to get a vein. The mare went down, but didn't roll, so I got a heart rate on her then. It was 68- quite high. I gave her the banamine to alleviate pain, and a sedative to get her to be still enough for me to place an IV catheter and so she wouldn't roll. She had very little gut motility, a temp of 101.7, but mucous membranes still pink and good cap refill, and she did not look like she was bloating, yet. Called Dr. B to get the go ahead on what needed to be done and so she could coordinate calling farm manager, owner, hospital, and other help. C and I hosed down the mares neck to take most of the mud off in order to have a cleaner place for a catheter, scrubbed, and I got the catheter in. The sutures always take the longest and I got one in place before the mare so bad that C could no longer hold her still enough for me to continue. That's fine, catheter is in, start running fluids with Ca, put super glue to help keep catheter in place, mare wants to roll, catheter not staying secure, mare is pulling fluid line out with her thrashing, stop fluids, rescue fluid line, give more sedative, get mare up, catheter is still good (whew), put another suture in, reconnect line. The additional sedative kept the mare standing well enough that C could hold the mare and squeeze in fluids while I grabbed the guaifenesin (gg: a pain killer and gut relaxer). Mare going down again, stop fluids, connect gg, pump gg in. The mare stayed quietly recombent now- good. Stop gg, reconnect fluids, give more painkiller/ sedative IM to have a longer effect. Meanwhile, we thought that she was a surgical candidate, that she was insured, so S was called to transport her to the hospital. No answer. D can't take her because he hasn't really slept in a couple days, so M was called and was on her way. C squeezed in more fluids, I got contact info for Dr. B and the hospital, but wait, emergency clause was from 2006 and said "do not ship". Crap, is she or isn't she insured? Dr. called owners and no, mare is no longer insured. Last year's hospital stay sucked up all the insurance money and owners can't afford to ship her again. Crap, crap, crap. This means we have to give supportive care until the mare either gets better or worse, and when they get worse, they don't usually make it. So, try a "cowboy cure". It worked earlier, and what have we got to lose? Squeeze in one last liter of fluid before she gets on trailer, send C to check on emminently foaling mares, yep, one has just started to foal, C stays with foaling mare, M shows up, mare is standing, take vitals: HR is 48 and no motility, C calls to say she is putting second foaling mare in foaling barn, throw colic mare in horse trailer, M drives off with her, quickly go to foaling barn, calling Dr. on the way with update. It was all very crazy, but all acute colics are. As the trailer pulled back up after a 45 min trip, I expected the mare to be either the same as when she left or upside down. She was totally quiet and standing. We put her in her stall and she acted normal and looked for something to eat, a good sign. She started to get some gut sounds back about a half hour later. I got home by 3 am, sure she would make it through the night. Yep, bright and happy today (still on fluids), and finally passed some manure this afternoon. You've never seen a person so happy to see manure!