be positive
Well-Known Member
2 very different experiences, to balance out the colic surgery thread.
I have had a successful experience with colic surgery, not sending the horse in at the time was never considered as he did not present as a normal colic, no sign of impaction or twisted gut, the vet after 24 hours treating him was of the opinion it may be acute grass sickness so he was sent off for treatment, on examination it was found to be an intussusception, he was operated on, came through well, then had a build up of fluid so underwent a second op, so 2 GAs in 48hours, he then made good progress and came home.
In hindsight maybe it was not something to put a horse through but once they are in the hands on the vets you feel somewhat powerless and a bit out of the loop, at that time, over 25 years ago, owners were discouraged from visiting critically ill horses so we relied on daily phone updates, anyway he came home looking poor but otherwise fine, he had a good appetite, had no problems with box rest, enjoyed his numerous walks out for grass each day, made a complete recovery and led a normal active life for the next 12 years, he did have a few minor colics and then one major colic when it was obvious something catastrophic had happened so I called it a day.
My more recent experience with a horse having surgery was far less satisfactory, what should have been a relatively minor op, standing, ended up with a seriously injured horse, badly traumatised taking many months to recover, what happened has never been explained, it seems that they used a chifney to lead him about and when doing the unnecessary trot ups, flexion tests and nerve blocks, he had already had a clear diagnosis and I had been told he was not having anything other than a scan and then the op, so what should have been a simple surgical procedure ended up with a horse returning unable to drink for 2 months, his whole face swollen, his mouth lacerated and bruised inside, extremely distressed and he also started cribbing, he had GG as ulcers were suspected, the cribbing soon stopped, this is a very condensed version of what happened but has had an effect on what I would now do with my horses if they require inpatient treatment .
His leg healed well but mentally he is still not the horse he was, I had his jaw xrayed 18 months later and it showed an area of "trauma" in other words fractures that had healed, following this experience I will never let a horse of mine go away, he is the only one insured but if treatment cannot be done here he will be pts rather than let him go anywhere as I think the stress would tip him over the edge and it would not be fair to him, I let him down once by leaving him, it will not happen again.
I have had a successful experience with colic surgery, not sending the horse in at the time was never considered as he did not present as a normal colic, no sign of impaction or twisted gut, the vet after 24 hours treating him was of the opinion it may be acute grass sickness so he was sent off for treatment, on examination it was found to be an intussusception, he was operated on, came through well, then had a build up of fluid so underwent a second op, so 2 GAs in 48hours, he then made good progress and came home.
In hindsight maybe it was not something to put a horse through but once they are in the hands on the vets you feel somewhat powerless and a bit out of the loop, at that time, over 25 years ago, owners were discouraged from visiting critically ill horses so we relied on daily phone updates, anyway he came home looking poor but otherwise fine, he had a good appetite, had no problems with box rest, enjoyed his numerous walks out for grass each day, made a complete recovery and led a normal active life for the next 12 years, he did have a few minor colics and then one major colic when it was obvious something catastrophic had happened so I called it a day.
My more recent experience with a horse having surgery was far less satisfactory, what should have been a relatively minor op, standing, ended up with a seriously injured horse, badly traumatised taking many months to recover, what happened has never been explained, it seems that they used a chifney to lead him about and when doing the unnecessary trot ups, flexion tests and nerve blocks, he had already had a clear diagnosis and I had been told he was not having anything other than a scan and then the op, so what should have been a simple surgical procedure ended up with a horse returning unable to drink for 2 months, his whole face swollen, his mouth lacerated and bruised inside, extremely distressed and he also started cribbing, he had GG as ulcers were suspected, the cribbing soon stopped, this is a very condensed version of what happened but has had an effect on what I would now do with my horses if they require inpatient treatment .
His leg healed well but mentally he is still not the horse he was, I had his jaw xrayed 18 months later and it showed an area of "trauma" in other words fractures that had healed, following this experience I will never let a horse of mine go away, he is the only one insured but if treatment cannot be done here he will be pts rather than let him go anywhere as I think the stress would tip him over the edge and it would not be fair to him, I let him down once by leaving him, it will not happen again.