Well, the Mountain Mettle Endurance ride did not go as I had planned today. My sweet horse Phlame colic ed at the end of the ride. Thanks to the fast actions of the ride vets he is at Littleton Large Animal Hospital recovering tonight.
It started as a glorious day, and Phlame had never felt stronger or more eager to go. The ride start was the best we have ever had, and he seemed to be in top form. At the vet check, he was not drinking at first, but soon recovered and passed with all "A"s except for a" B" for impulsion which is pretty normal for Phlame, as he is really layed back. Phlame will pretty much always let me know that he is tired and slow down and take care of him self. Out of the vet hold he was moving out big time, and at the first water he drank with gusto. As we traveled down the mountain, his stride was big and he never tripped or acted tired. There were some riders on our tail and he was doing a few "happy bucks" and tossing his head with the shear joy of the day. But as time went on , I did have a feeling in my gut. I just did not think that we could keep this up , a couple times he acted like he would like to slow down, but then would quickly start up again. At the last water stop, he would not drink or eat. My gut was talking to me again, this is not good ...we need to walk in I thought to myself. I walked him in hand and then mounted and walked a bit more. Several horses were coming up behind us and galloped by he immediately broke into a canter ,and I thought well he can't feel that bad and we just had a few more miles to go. Hummm, Carol listen to your gut, don't let outside feelings and emotions cloud what you know, no drinking and eating is a bad thing! As we came in my friend and I were in the top 10 and heart rates went down pretty quickly and we even moved up a notch in our placings because of quick heart rate recovery. But it was clear to me right away that Phlame was not right, I hoped that I could cool him down and get him eating and drinking before our final vet check, he didn't look "bad" and he rolled and picked at the grass a little, but would not drink and soon he was laying down with his nose to his side and eyes closed like he wanted a nap. I sent for the vet and steps were quickly taken to help him. He just was not coming back, and my heart ached to see him hurting, he is such a trooper. Every ride there are lessons learned, some are harder learned than others. He seems to be out of the woods and hopefully will be coming home tomorrow or the next day. The vets called his type of colic ileus ,where the small intestines stop moving and there is a reflux from the stomach. IV fluids and tubing to evac the stomach, pain meds and ultra sound to "see" what is going on. Attached is an article on Colic in Endurance horses. Search, learn, grow. Follow what you know is true, learn from your mistakes, be happy.
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