Say a prayer for our Sora....

[Carol Nelson]

She's been off her feed all day...it's been miserable, wet, rainy and cold, and she has a waterproof blanket on but she's not eating much at all. She's pooped, and has gut sounds or she would've gone to the vet. I would've put her in the barn but she likes to be with her daughter, Condesa. I believe she will go into a stall tonight though.
We've had some nasty powdery hay. :mad: I'm believing that's the cause. Thankfully today we found better. She's had two doses of Banamine.
Keep her in your thoughts, she's the bay mare in the opening page of our website...she's a Cappy daughter and a real Cadillac...we love her dearly.

[Pasomom]

Prayers going out to your girl. Keep checking on her! Hope she will be fine in the AM.

[Linda Y]

Oh, geez, Carol. :( I will certainly send out prayers.
It is no wonder they aren't ALL sick with this screwy weather. Mine haven't been dry in days, and it has alternated between cold and windy and just cold. I had 3 rolls of hay and am down to my last one that I am trying to save for the REALLY bad weather in Feb.
Sure glad you found some decent hay.

[PasoJoy]

Oh No, hope she will be OK... :(

[CarolU]

You know Carol, three of my horses did something similar about a month ago, Bruiser, Zar, then Rosie, one after the other. They went off their feed, woudn't eat their pellets, would nibble on their hay, stood off by themselves, gut sounds fine. I gave them bute. It only lasted a day and a half (just enough to scare me death) but were all fine after that.

I hope your Sora has the same thing and will be fine tomorrow.

[JennLM]

Sorry Sora is feeling ill and hope she recovers soon.

[motorgypsy]

May she get well really soon and stay well!!!!

[Jasfino]

Praying for her.. and I hope she is much better come morning. ((hugs))

[Barbwire]

How is she today, Carol?

[LynnG]

Carol, did you check her vital signs... and temperature? How about some probiotic paste...if it was that bad hay? Hope she is feeling better?

[Terri]

Yes, please tell us how she is doing today. Been though this lots of times with Mico. Ugh, they can drive you nuts!

[Carol Nelson]

We put her in a stall last night...she pooped three little piles after that..nerves, of course. And now she pooped this morning. I finally got to bed at 1:00 and then at 2:00 a.m. I woke up to hear her daughter calling for her...but I didn't hear Sora calling back...so up I get to get dressed and toddle out to peek at her (I am so glad we built that barn close to the house). She was fine...alert...but still hadn't eaten. I am so sure it was the hay that I could bank on it...but now she won't touch anything...grass, alfalfa...nothing. Yes, she will be given Probiotics this morning.
Thankfully we did find a guy with some wonderful hay for 7.50 a bale...he has 600 some left...I'm thinking of going for broke and buying it all...there goes my new software program... :roll: :-?
I believe this is the 14th or 15th day of rain...sigh...but at least it isn't terribly cold. The barn is full of horses.

[DSDECKERT]

Carol - did you try some bran mash? Anything to get her eating again.....poor baby.

The weather this year is WEIRD.

[Terry Wallace]

If you buy that hay and she still won't eat...it will be time to consult a vet.
You don't want her getting "too empty" if this is not a mild colic episode.

On the subject of soft ware...are you looking at a horse-keeping program by chance? If so....do tell! I have been looking & looking...I want one that will also store ID photos of each horse.

Seems like there is a lot of cabin fever this year...I had a lady calling to book one of my stallions already last night...people are thinking about breeding.... or wishing for SPRING!

Supposed to SNOW again on Saturday..... :cry:

PS...start a new thread on software if you like..if its horse software....don't mean to hijack your Sora thread... ;-)

[DebbieS]

Poor girl. Hope she's feeling better soon.
Prayers from SD!

[lalecl]

Prayers headed your way FAST!!!!! IPFYH

[Carol Nelson]

Sora is eating more this morning... She is pooping regular...small amounts, but about as much as she takes in, I guess. No diarrhea. Balls are firm but not hard, nice and moist. I really think it was a combination of things, the cold, rainy weather and she is like Red, she doesn't build a thick heavy winter coat, the poor quality hay, probably not drinking like she should but she has two water buckets available to her and we heavily salt her grain. Just a bunch of different things working against her.
I really struggle with myself stalling a horse that is colicing. You want them to be able to move around as much as possible. But in her case, she was just standing in the rain, head down, shivering even though she had a blanket on...and so the best alternative for her was to stall her. The rain is supposed to quit later today so if the temps stay constant she will go out again.
There is one other thing it could also be...Sora gets extreme cramps when she goes into heat. She has exhibited colic symptoms before when in season. I did notice she was staring at Red with a kind of glassy-eyed look this morning (she's right across the aisle from him). Since Danzarina also was exhibiting signs of heat this week, I'm wondering if Sora could be.
I don't give bran mashes...since I don't give them regularly...even when they have just foaled...I don't give them to a sick horse. I had a horse colic badly on a bran mash back when I was a green horse owner. I don't change a horse's diet when they're sick...I may decrease it but I don't change it. Banamine, probiotics, and walking seems to bring most of them out of it.
And Terry...the best horse software I found is EquineMax...which is advertised in THE HORSE. It seems to do all, is easy, and has everything I want but of course, it's pricey. :roll:
There is a thread on it...in the General Chit Chat Forum a week or so ago.
I'm glad I didn't order it now...

whoops...forgot to post the website on the software program:

http://www.equinemax.com/

[LynnG]

Have you consulted with your vet?

[Carol Nelson]

Not yet since I am seeing gradual improvement. I've had this happen before with my horses and bad hay. Used to happen a lot just after I moved here. I feel sure that is the biggest culprit right now..it was pretty obvious, looking at the hay. Also many of the other horses were refusing to eat from that particular bale. We pulled it out of all of their pens.
And she is eating the new hay where she would not even touch the other.
Believe me, if she takes a turn for the worse, she will be in a trailer heading to the vet.

[Carol Nelson]

Great news...I just went out and checked on her and gave her a flake of the new hay...she ran to the feed window and about grabbed it out of my hands. She's now wolfing it down like there is no tomorrow.
She had also pooped more...
I THINK we're out of the woods...she'll go back outside as soon as this rain quits.

[PasoJoy]

Yahoo! Glad to hear it :D

[CarolU]

Yeah, it sounds a lot like what I had here, the AQR (Ain't Quite Right) syndrome.

[dana]

Darn kids, sure keep the worry factor up. this weather sure is playing havoc with the animals.

[DSDECKERT]

YA-HOO!!!!!!! Great news

[Moniece Dickerson]

Prayers on the way from me too!!I think Terry is right...if you buy that hay and she'll not eat it the vet might be necessary.I'm so sorry,I feel so terrible for her AND you!!!!Your friend,Moniece

[PasoPerson38]

Carol sorry to hear about your girl!
Prayers going out that she will feel better a.s.a.p!
:hug I bet the rainy weather doesn't help....when we get days of rain continuously down here about half our barn goes bananas with minor colic.

[Laura S]

Wonderful news! I'm glad she's doing better.

[motorgypsy]

So glad she is feeling better!! They do scare you to death!!

We don't do bran mashes either. If we need wet and warm we add warm water to their grain which is beet pulp based and really soaks the stuff up. In Florida we do add a pint of dry psyllium aka metamucil to their grain once a month or so because of the problem with sand. You might do a float just to see if she has much sand. Usually if they have hay and pasture 24/7 they pass the sand right on out though.

Has she been palpated? One of our mares tends to be a bit colicy and she has one ovary larger than the other. But no problem with her pregnancy. We have so little light here they don't even come in season. It's great I have to say!!

[Carol Nelson]

Lo and behold...I believe that Ms. Sora is in heat...because now Ms. Bunny is showing signs. You see, all of my mares will cycle somewhere in the same time frame.
Before all of you privately deduce that I should have rushed her to the vet, let me just say that with 23 horses on the place, you don't necessarily rush each problem to the vet because you never know when the BIG one will hit.
And because this is the only thing we do, and we are with the horses 24/7 and know them inside and out, we can usually diagnose a situation in pretty short order and tell if it's something we can handle or a vet needs to handle.
My vet and I have worked elbow to elbow together for six years now and she understands that I'm not going to over or under react to a situation. She is happy to give me the meds to treat my own horses within the realm of reason.
If you're relatively new to horsedom, I don't recommend waiting as long as we did to see the outcome. But we know this mare...immediately we knew when something was WRONG...and took action to remedy it, and also now we are understanding more why it happened. I'm sure not saying we're infallible...and won't be wrong someday...and I pray that day comes a long time down the road...but it's not as though we're greenhorns out here.
And Sora isn't out of the woods totally yet...we're still keeping a close eye on her for any unfavorable changes...but I think we dodged the bullet one more time anyway. ;-)

[pnalley]

Well Carol I can only say this about your horsekeeping skills

I did notice she was staring at Red with a kind of glassy-eyed look this morning

DUHHH
Shoot, I look at Red's photos; with a glassy -eyed look, whatcha expect from a mare??????????????????

PS
I'm happy to hear she's just hormonal!

[Carol Nelson]

:lol: Glad to hear it, Paula! ;-)

[pprpaso3]

Carol,

Glad to hear your mare is doing better. My 3 year old is acting kinda funny today too. She was rolling more than usual but is eating fine. JUst something strange in her eye. I never thought about the heat cycle and I did notice Frost is talking to her. It is so darn cold here and we are going down to 6 tonight.

I also like beet pulp (MG mentioned it). I have to bring hot water out to make it this time of year. It freezes in the barn. Beet pulp has a lot of fiber and they saw digests similar to hay(takes longer in the intestinal track). I hear it is good to help keep them hydrated in hot weather and really cold when they may not be drinking as they should. I wish I could find the grain with the beet pulp pellets......which brand is it?

Hope your mare is out of the woods soon.....