Cold Morning Fright

Yesterday morning was the coldest day of the year so far. It was a very brisk 8F when I bundled up to head out for my morning walk with the dogs. Brrrr! I'm glad I had dug up my fleece lined jeans from LL Bean. Those things are great, but I could have also used some thermals under them.

After walking the dogs, I fed the horses. Lance was there, whinnying to me as I walked from the barn to the boy's stalls with their grain. I dumped his grain, then went in to Jeeves's stall and dumped the grain in his bucket....then I froze. Jeeves didn't move. He didn't come over mug me for any carrots or mints that I might have in my pants. He didn't come over to eat his grain. He just stood there up against the center partition. Then, he swung his head around and nipped at his flank. Eeeek!

I will admit to a brief, self-indulgent thought about how much I wanted to go in to the warm house and sit down by the wood stove with my morning cup of tea instead of deal with a sick horse. But, one look into Jeeves's worried eyes and all selfish thoughts quickly left my mind. He pawed a bit, then swung his head around to nip at his flank again. There was plenty of manure in the stall and he had eaten most of the hay that I had given him the night before. Knowing that there was not an immediate emergency, I went ahead and fed the girls, then brought hay back to soak for Lance to eat while I took care of Jeeves. By the time I came back in to Jeeves's stall with his halter and lead, he was over by his feed tub. I offered him a piece of carrot, which he half-heartedly nibbled.

On went the halter and I led him up to the frozen arena to hand walk him. Did I mention how cold it was yesterday morning? Did I mention there was a stiff breeze and the wind chill was well below 0F? I pulled my hat down lower over my forehead, pulled the gator up higher over my cheeks, leaving just enough room for my now teary eyes. Soon, I had little icicles on my eye lashes to match the little icicles on Jeeves's whiskers. :-) The sun was just poking up over the horizon and there were enough clouds to make for a beautiful, bright orange sun rise. At least it was beautiful, despite the cold.

By the time we made one lap around the arena, Jeeves was gently nudging my shoulder. Another couple of laps and he was nipping at my coat sleeve. I changed directions (hey, have to be symetrical, even when handwalking!) and after a couple of laps he was bouncing around at the end of the lead, calling to Lance, who was quite put out about NOT being put out. The girls started screaming in their paddock because the boys weren't out and they couldn't flirt with them over the fence. I'm glad it was a weekday so my neighbors were awake and heading out to work.

So, with Jeeves obviously feeling better, I brought him back to his stall where he started eating a flake of hay I brought him. I decided to leave him in (with access to his in/out paddock) until I saw that he passed manure, just to be safe. Then, I went in the house, stripped off all my layers, fed the dogs and cats and curled up next to the wood stove with my very delicious cup of tea. It tasted so good, especially knowing that Jeeves was feeling better and being able to look out the window and see him munching his hay in front of his stall. He passed manure about an hour later, at which point I put the boys out with more hay and he's been perfectly fine since then.

It's time like this that I both hate and love having him in my backyard. I hate being the only one to find a sick horse, to be the sole person responsible for figuring out what to do. But, I am also glad that I am able to care for him myself, much easier than if he were somewhere else. I've been at barns where the owners will get a call to come down and take care of their own horse. Unless the horse is in a crisis mode, no one will do anything until the owner gets there. So a mildly colicy horse will be left in a stall where he might get worse. A little handwalking immediately, as I did yesterday with Jeeves, might resolve the situation without the need for any further intervention.

This little incident was also a reminder to me to check my emergency supplies. I wasn't sure if I had Milk of Magnesia handy. I do have one syringe of banamine, which I would not give unless my vet told me to. I do need to get some banamine paste, just to have on hand.

I was nervous about going to be last night. But, their stalls are not far from my bedroom window. Despite the cold, I always at least crack my window at night, so I hoped I would hear something if he took ill. But, I awoke this morning, threw on my fleece lined jeans and trotted right out there to see that he was standing outside in the snow flurries, looking peaceful and relaxed. Phew. It was still bitterly cold this morning, but it was a much better start to the day.