Michen
Well-Known Member
I can't quite believe I am writing another thread like this less than two years after loosing Torres, a horse I very much still cry for. I know a lot of you have seen things on facebook but here is what happened. Maybe it will help to write it all down.
Just over a week ago Basil got a kick to the leg above the knee, it was very swollen and the vet immediately called. The swelling went down by Wednesday and he was sound in walk and trot but the area was a little warm so he was rested regardless. On Saturday afternoon I got the random call that he was colicing. B has a large hernia from a abdominal surgery that he had three/four years ago where he ate some wire and got severe peritonitis. He has never, ever coliced since and nor has it presented him with any problems. The vet came out and found he was very gassy, within half an hour he had gone from looking horrendous to back to his normal bouncy self. She did however check the leg and find some lumps that she wasn't sure was soft tissue but she was relatively unconcerned though we decided we would x ray on Monday.
He remained fine (on starvation) all night. He did a big poo in the morning. I bought him copious bottles of ice tea to get him drinking (he loves it). I sat outside his stable and hand fed him soaked hay, small mouthful at a time to trickle feed him. He seemed great, chirpy and his usual self until late morning where he went downhill again. Vet back who this time found a slight impaction. He went straight on the lorry and to the nearest vet hospital.
I can't even begin to describe what was a hellish afternoon. Basil is not insured for anything colic related because of his previous surgery but the vet felt we were a while off needing think about that. They x rayed the leg to make sure that, to the bets of our knowledge, there was no fracture and it was clean. He was lunged, he got worse and on re scan it was a clear cut case of put him down or try the surgery. I always said I would never put a horse through colic surgery, I've read the horror stories. I've seen the statistics about re colic. I know how painful it is for them. But I have to say that in that moment there was just no way I could put that horse down without trying, regardless of cost.
He went in, they found the twist. She warned me it would be not easy post op given his hernia and adhesions from the previous surgery. But that the surgery went as well as it possibly could have for what was a serious colic and his bowel was in good nick as we got in there quickly. I was so relieved he made it through the surgery, I was fully expecting a call to say they couldn't even fix him. But he did make it and they did fix him.
The vet called me an hour later whilst I was waiting for confirmation he had stood up ok from the anaesthetic to ask for permission to put him to sleep, his leg had shattered as he got up.
I cannot even begin to put into words how I currently feel. I knew there was a small risk that there was a hairline fracture there that wasn't showing on x ray yet but it seemed so small, so unlikely that he could be so unlucky. I feel completely wrecked with guilt that he woke up confused, in pain and for his leg to be the thing that got him. Dying in hospital with no familiar faces and a broken leg. I questioned the decision to put him through surgery every second, but I would do it again in a heartbeat if in reality if I thought there was even a slim chance that pony could be saved.
I loved Torres, I am so glad he came to me and I'm so happy I had even a short amount of time with him. He was adored and I still feel desperately sad that he couldn't be fixed.
But Basil was just my best mate, my absolute partner in crime. He made life so endlessly fun and in 15 years of horses I have never met one with such a humorous and beautiful personality. We read each other like clock work, you never really felt like you were "riding" Basil, merely a passenger on one of his adventures or ideas. He reduced me to tears after many a cross country because of his honesty and trust. He had such an incredible joy for life given he had already had a very tough past medically, it was truly amazing to see him blossom.
The majority of the decisions about life that I have made in the last year have been around Basil. He was the biggest, best part of my life and that is always a precarious position to be in with an animal so fragile. I have loved every second with him. I loved the horsey life he gave me and I was immensely looking forward to our first "proper" season British Eventing but mostly I just loved him being around and would have been grateful for him just being an oversized pet dog.
Losing Torres was incredibly hard but losing Basil is not something I think I will ever get over and it's left me wondering exactly how life can be so cruel. For now I will close this horsey chapter of my life, maybe one day I will feel differently.
There is so much more I want to be able to say about my wonderful boy but for now I just have no more words. Xxx
Just over a week ago Basil got a kick to the leg above the knee, it was very swollen and the vet immediately called. The swelling went down by Wednesday and he was sound in walk and trot but the area was a little warm so he was rested regardless. On Saturday afternoon I got the random call that he was colicing. B has a large hernia from a abdominal surgery that he had three/four years ago where he ate some wire and got severe peritonitis. He has never, ever coliced since and nor has it presented him with any problems. The vet came out and found he was very gassy, within half an hour he had gone from looking horrendous to back to his normal bouncy self. She did however check the leg and find some lumps that she wasn't sure was soft tissue but she was relatively unconcerned though we decided we would x ray on Monday.
He remained fine (on starvation) all night. He did a big poo in the morning. I bought him copious bottles of ice tea to get him drinking (he loves it). I sat outside his stable and hand fed him soaked hay, small mouthful at a time to trickle feed him. He seemed great, chirpy and his usual self until late morning where he went downhill again. Vet back who this time found a slight impaction. He went straight on the lorry and to the nearest vet hospital.
I can't even begin to describe what was a hellish afternoon. Basil is not insured for anything colic related because of his previous surgery but the vet felt we were a while off needing think about that. They x rayed the leg to make sure that, to the bets of our knowledge, there was no fracture and it was clean. He was lunged, he got worse and on re scan it was a clear cut case of put him down or try the surgery. I always said I would never put a horse through colic surgery, I've read the horror stories. I've seen the statistics about re colic. I know how painful it is for them. But I have to say that in that moment there was just no way I could put that horse down without trying, regardless of cost.
He went in, they found the twist. She warned me it would be not easy post op given his hernia and adhesions from the previous surgery. But that the surgery went as well as it possibly could have for what was a serious colic and his bowel was in good nick as we got in there quickly. I was so relieved he made it through the surgery, I was fully expecting a call to say they couldn't even fix him. But he did make it and they did fix him.
The vet called me an hour later whilst I was waiting for confirmation he had stood up ok from the anaesthetic to ask for permission to put him to sleep, his leg had shattered as he got up.
I cannot even begin to put into words how I currently feel. I knew there was a small risk that there was a hairline fracture there that wasn't showing on x ray yet but it seemed so small, so unlikely that he could be so unlucky. I feel completely wrecked with guilt that he woke up confused, in pain and for his leg to be the thing that got him. Dying in hospital with no familiar faces and a broken leg. I questioned the decision to put him through surgery every second, but I would do it again in a heartbeat if in reality if I thought there was even a slim chance that pony could be saved.
I loved Torres, I am so glad he came to me and I'm so happy I had even a short amount of time with him. He was adored and I still feel desperately sad that he couldn't be fixed.
But Basil was just my best mate, my absolute partner in crime. He made life so endlessly fun and in 15 years of horses I have never met one with such a humorous and beautiful personality. We read each other like clock work, you never really felt like you were "riding" Basil, merely a passenger on one of his adventures or ideas. He reduced me to tears after many a cross country because of his honesty and trust. He had such an incredible joy for life given he had already had a very tough past medically, it was truly amazing to see him blossom.
The majority of the decisions about life that I have made in the last year have been around Basil. He was the biggest, best part of my life and that is always a precarious position to be in with an animal so fragile. I have loved every second with him. I loved the horsey life he gave me and I was immensely looking forward to our first "proper" season British Eventing but mostly I just loved him being around and would have been grateful for him just being an oversized pet dog.
Losing Torres was incredibly hard but losing Basil is not something I think I will ever get over and it's left me wondering exactly how life can be so cruel. For now I will close this horsey chapter of my life, maybe one day I will feel differently.
There is so much more I want to be able to say about my wonderful boy but for now I just have no more words. Xxx
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