This morning when I went in to muck out Chloe's stall, I found her standing hunched and weak in the corner. The farrier had been out on Monday and warned us that one of her hooves was hot which is the first warning signs of founder so we kept her indoors and monitored her diet. So thinking her state might have to do with depression from being away from her herd and pain in her foot, I watched her carefully nevertheless while Farm Girl pulled her out to groom her. She had intended to ride her, but she was so off that we decided to give her another days rest. Sometimes after a farrier's visit, a horse's feet can hurt enough that it is uncomfortable for them to walk.
But as I watched her I noticed she tried to paw her belly with first one hind leg than the other. She appeared more lethargic than depressed and then Farm Girl pointed out her front legs. There was manure down the fronts of them but not on any other legs or any part of her body, as if she had kneeled down to pray. Since we know horse's don't pray, I suspected she had fallen to her knees but gotten back up. Sure enough when Farm Girl put her back into her stall, the first thing she did was go down on her knees again as if she were about to roll, but got back up instead. Not sure if she simply lacked the room to roll, I had Farm Girl take her outside so she could do so out there.
But ten minutes later and she still hadn't roll, we put her in the small pasture with the minis thinking that she may not want to roll while on the end of a lead rope. But still no roll. It was about then that I started to suspect colic. The only signs I knew to look for was if a horse rolled or wanted to roll. In severe cases, they will drop to roll but never get back up. I decided to move her into the big pasture where I would be able to keep an eye on her better from the house then in the barn or the small pasture. We went back into the house, updated Oldest about her horse's condition (who was occupied with a client and was her reason for not coming out to the barn at that time) while Farm Girl did some research into colic.
Sure enough the signs we had seen: lethargic, attempting to paw her belly, attempting to roll, were all signs of colic. What severity I had no idea. Periodically, as we were discussing this I would glance out the window see Chloe grazing and didn't feel so panicked. Then Oldest proclaims, "What is she doing now?" I glance out to see Chloe lying on her side at the top of the pasture on the only little bit of snow still left out there. Like lightening me and Farm Girl sprung to our feet, shoved our feet into our boots, shrugged into our coats and ran out the door minus hat and mitts in below freezing temperatures with a high windchill, while calling over our shoulder to Oldest to call the vet.
I flew across the yard, threw myself under the pasture fence, then ran down a sloppy and muddy pasture hill only to run back up the other side, hollering Chloe's name as I did. I truly believed I would find her dead or near to. But as I ascended the pasture hill and looked up, I saw her now sitting up and looking at me. It took me back for a sec and honestly wondered if she had just lied down for an afternoon nap. Which would be really odd since she had just gone out to pasture not twenty minutes before, I hardly thought she would have been tired from grazing in that short period of time. But she is old, and who knows!
To be on the safe side, I grabbed her halter and dragged her to her feet. Thankfully, she got up just as Farm Girl comes running up the pasture hill with lead rope in hand in case we needed to haul her to her feet. Again I wondered if I had overreact since she had willingly gotten to her feet. But then Oldest, with phone in hand, shouted from the pasture fence that we needed to keep her walking. The vet was coming but we had to keep her walking. We were lucky apparently to have gotten her back up onto her feet.
We took Chloe back out of the pasture and brought her around to the back yard where we walked her until she no longer stumbled. Then we walked her some more. Taking turns as we did.
The vet eventually arrived and we brought her into the barn where he could examine her and sure enough she had a minor bout of colic. Minor, however untreated could have increased severely. I asked if we had overreacted and he assured me we had done the right thing in calling him. He fed a tube up her nose that seemed to go on forever and administered mineral oil into her belly that should help pass gas within hours if not the next day or two. I'm not certain what caused her colic or if there is any relation between colic and founder, but the vet immediately suspected the frozen grass out in the pasture so we are to keep her in the barn overnight and tomorrow. The farrier suspected the wet grass after the January thaw we had over the weekend, so who knows maybe there is a relation afterall.
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