Pearlsasinger
Up in the clouds
We went out about 6.30 to bring the horses in for their tea and wondered why the new horse wasn't doing her usual push and shove to come in 2nd - in fact she just stood stock still and let the 2 who usually follow her come in and didn't even seem to notice.
When she got into her stable, she refused to eat her haylage and started lying down, standing up, lying down again , breathing heavily and moving her back legs uneasily when she was standing up - all early signs of colic.
So (and this is why I'm furious) I rang our usual vet only to hear a message telling me that the surgery was shut until Monday and giving an emergency number for a practice over 20 miles away. I rang only to find that it was a small animal vet. So I rang a different local vet and fortunately one of their vets could come out to us. This is the 2nd time I've had to do this in an emergency.
When he got here, after going to a lambing, the mare was eating haylage quite happily and had passed some dung. He gave her a thorough examination, laughed when he listened to her gut because all was working well - thank goodness! And left saying in reply to our apologies that he would far rather it was that way round than that he had to treat an ill horse. I can only think that she is definitely not a stoic.
We have decided that we do not want to be put in this position again, so are going to change vets to the practice that came out tonight, only trouble is there is one vet there that I NEVER want on our yard. The vet who came tonight was great with the mare and made friends with her before doing anything else. We would certainly be happy to see him again.
When she got into her stable, she refused to eat her haylage and started lying down, standing up, lying down again , breathing heavily and moving her back legs uneasily when she was standing up - all early signs of colic.
So (and this is why I'm furious) I rang our usual vet only to hear a message telling me that the surgery was shut until Monday and giving an emergency number for a practice over 20 miles away. I rang only to find that it was a small animal vet. So I rang a different local vet and fortunately one of their vets could come out to us. This is the 2nd time I've had to do this in an emergency.
When he got here, after going to a lambing, the mare was eating haylage quite happily and had passed some dung. He gave her a thorough examination, laughed when he listened to her gut because all was working well - thank goodness! And left saying in reply to our apologies that he would far rather it was that way round than that he had to treat an ill horse. I can only think that she is definitely not a stoic.
We have decided that we do not want to be put in this position again, so are going to change vets to the practice that came out tonight, only trouble is there is one vet there that I NEVER want on our yard. The vet who came tonight was great with the mare and made friends with her before doing anything else. We would certainly be happy to see him again.
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