Wednesday, March 07, 2007

Scary Moments for Farley

Tonight I was making dinner for Sierra and Landon. (Carlos was at the church with Ken and Lisa at a meeting - Alexia and Jordan were at work and Taylor was over at his cousin's. ) Also, I asked Lisa if I could keep Ava so she was here with us. Anyways, I had just put dinner on the table when I received a phone call from my friend LeAnna. She lives across the street and has a 7 acre farm. This is where Farley has been staying until I get the farm behind us. She informed me that Farley was starting to colic . . .For my non-horsey friend you might ask what is colic?


Colic in horses is defined as abdominal pain, but it is a clinical sign or a symptom rather than a diagnosis. The term colic can encompass all forms of gastrointestinal conditions which cause pain as well as other causes of abdominal pain not involving the gastrointestinal tract. There are a variety of different causes of colic, some of which require surgical intervention and can prove fatal. Colic surgery is usually an expensive procedure as it is major abdominal surgery. Among domesticated horses, colic is a major cause of premature death.
Here is a picture of my baby - Farley

LeAnna said she found him on the ground. She was able to get him up . . that is when she called me. I told her that I couldn't leave at this time because I had no one to watch the kids. So, I asked her to give him some Bantomine which is some medicine that would help with the colic. She also said she would bring him in the barn. I then got off the phone and decided to get the kids situation and then take Ava and go over there. But by that time she was hungry so I called Leanna back and told her I had to feed Ava and then I would be over. Well, about 30 minutes went by when she called me back . . . she told me the best news - "Farley had pooped" I was like "Thank you Jesus!!!". I had been praying so hard for him to poop. She said he was now eating and doing much better.


I am so thankful that Leanna had walked out to the pasture when she did. Thank you Thank you Leanna!!!!! You were a life saver or I guess I should say a horse saver. Here is a picture of Leanna and her horse Cloud.

After Lisa picked up the baby and Carlos got home - Carlos and I headed over to the barn to check on him. As soon as he saw me he ran up to the fence . . .he looked wonderful!!! Here is a picture that I took of him tonight! You can see the moon above him.

Here he is right up at the fence.
By the way, Ava was amazingly good! She just hung out with us and talked and cooed and smiled. After I fed her the bottle she ended up falling asleep around 7:45 and she stayed asleep until Lisa got here around 9:45. Here she is asleep on our couch! What a little angel!


Thanks again Leanna for being there for Farley. You really helped me out! Farley and I owe you BIG TIME!!!!!

12 comments:

jennifer said...

Colic can be scary, Emily! I'm so glad that Farley recovered so quickly. He's beautiful!

Emily said...

Thanks Jennifer!

Anonymous said...

I am so glad Farley is okay!! Colic is something we horse owners all live in fear of, isn't it. He is a lovely horse.

Emily said...

Karen, this is the first time he has ever even attempted to colic. He has had two owners before me. His original owner had him from the beginning. She also trained him as a race horse. I am not sure if he ever coliced with her but I know the second owner had told me that he had not ever coliced with her. I have had Farley for 5 years and this is our first episode. I am just so thankful my friend caught it early!!!

Diann said...

We had horses when I was in high school and colic is sooo scarey. I am so glad he is okay.

Diann

Unknown said...

I'm so glad Farley is okay. We lost a horse to colic. She was fine in the morning when we fed her, then we all loaded other horses up for a horse show. It was a long day and when we arrived at the barn at around 7 p.m., she was dead. :^( It was so sad.

Joshua's horse had what they called spastic colic one time. He lay down and Brooke got him up and walked him for a really long time (because every time they'd put him in his stall, he'd lay down again). Finally the vet arrived and said if she hadn't kept walking him, he surely would have died.

I never knew colic could be so scary for horses! I know you are thankful your friend was there and could help.

Emily said...

Thanks Diann and Ginger! Colic is the one thing that I think horse owners fear the most.

Ginger . . I am so sorry to hear about your horse that died of colic. . .how sad!

I understand about the whole walking thing . . that is what I told Leanna . . I said don't let him down . . we have to keep him walking until he poops!! Thankfully, he did even though he wanted to go back down again.

Jodi said...

Oh this must have been so scary! Glad to hear that Farley is ok now.

Emily said...

Thanks Jodi - I saw him today and he was a-ok!!!

Kathy in WA said...

Just catching up on the blog. Wow, I had no idea colic was even something horses deal with at all much less the seriousness of it. Praise God for his timing in sending a friend over. Certainly makes you thankful, doesn't it!

Emily said...

Amen to the Kathy a big Amen!!!

Cynthia said...

So glad all ended well.