Not in a happy place

Second update: It's now noon and Gabe just passed a gigantic pile of manure! Yay! Only new moms and horse owners get excited about poop, but that was the MOST exciting bowel movement I've witnessed in a while. *grin* He's definitely feeling better. I've given him a couple of very, very small meals of hot, soaked beet pulp, he drank about half a bucket of the warm water I offered him and then hit the water tank for more water. I knew he was feeling more like his silly self when he started harassing me while I was cleaning out his run-in...trying to steal my pitchfork, knocking over the wheelbarrow, resting his chin on my shoulder and making sure he's standing RIGHT where I need to clean. Thank goodness! Thank you guys for keeping him in your thoughts and prayers, I really, really appreciate it.

As much as I complain about my job, it sure is nice having one where I can occasionally work from home if I need to. I helps even more when two of your bosses are horse people and have their own horses. I decided to go ahead and work from home today, just in case. I'd be worthless at the office anyway and worried all day. At least at home I can see him from my computer so all I have to do is glance up to check on him.

First update: It's now 9 a.m. The vet has been out, checked him, did a rectal exam and administered a drug that relaxes their smooth muscles. I don't remember what it's called. The rectal exam was good...she couldn't find an impaction, the rectal walls felt normal and the manure in his rectum was actually quite wet. He is VERY gassy though. She tried twice to pass the oil tube into his stomach and he wasn't cooperating and refused to swallow the tube, so he didn't get oiled. I'm going to wait a half hour for some of the sedative to wear off and bring him a couple of buckets of warm water and a few handfuls of well-soaked beet pulp. He's nosing around in his run-in for a few wisps of hay now. He can't have his ration of hay until later tonight and then he can only have about half of it.

I really should just learn to keep my mouth shut. But, of course, I can't. And it bites me in the butt. Here I was all "my horses are healthy and happy," and pretty darn proud of how healthy and happy my horses are.

And then I go out to feed this morning and Gabe is colicking. Colic scares the holy living crap out of me. I don't mess around with it. We have lost two horses in the past seven years to colic, so trust me when I say I don't believe there are any "minor" colics.

Of course I'm freaking out and bawling my eyes out. My wonderful hubby just hugs me and comforts me and tells me that he isn't colicking because of something I did or didn't do, it just happens sometimes. But I see my big, beautiful Gabe in pain and all I can think of is how horribly devastating it was to watch Heidi and Star die because I couldn't help them and the vet got there too late. Heidi died in Robert's arms as the vet was on his way. And that's all I can think about.

I called the poor vet at 6 a.m. this morning, I'm pretty sure I woke her up. Fortunately I had one 500 mg dose of banamine granules left so she told me to dose him and just keep an eye on him. I dosed him at 6:30 a.m. and it's now 7:30 a.m. He looks more comfortable but I know it's just the bananime. His capillary refill is a tad slow but his gums are pink. His temperature is 99.4, which is normal.

I just got off the phone with the vet and she should be here in about 20 minutes to give him a going over and oil him up.

He's out there walking around, and he looks more comfortable, but I'm not going to let myself feel any better about it because everything can go downhill in a very short time. At least he's not rolling, and it doesn't look like he was rolling, so maybe we will be okay, maybe.

Please cross your fingers for us.