Queen Coliced Again

Queen coliced again tonight. I'm wracking my brain to figure out what triggered it. I haven't had her out on grass this week except once and that was early in the week (when these pics were taken). Since then she's been stuck in the drylot. It can't be the bale because we pushed a bale in mid week and she coliced early in the week on a different bale.

I'm stumped. The only thing I can think of is that it's weather related. The only thing is that we didn't really have any bad weather Sunday night although it had rained the day before and the weather was sort of iffy. Today the weather has been stormy and not the greatest. So that's the only thing I can think of.

I pulled her out of the pen thinking she was fine, but after wandering around for a little bit, she ended up lying down. She also sort of kicked at her belly (if she could kick). I gave her a dose of banamine and kept a close eye on her. She seemed to perk up a lot after the banamine.

We are supposed to get more severe weather overnight and I didn't want her to have to deal with it. So I ended up putting her in the barn with Mayhem for company. When I went to let her out of the pen, she was standing in the corner as close to Mayhem as she could get. So I figured Mayhem would be the best bet to keep Queen happy and hopefully comfortable.

That was around 7pm. I checked on her again at 10pm and she seemed alittle bit better but not her 100% self. Luckily she did come over and take a big drink of water, which I'll take as a good sign. I worry about leaving her in the barn because of her arthritis but I dont' want her to deal with any weather right now. She already has a hard time keeping warm and drying off.

I guess I better start preparing myself for the inevitable that will come at some point in time. I have been keeping my head in the sand on that thought but after watching her colic twice in one week, I better get myself prepared. I have to realize that she is 34 years old and won't live forever. She always goes down hill starting in March/April and she's looking pretty tough right now even with the grain she's getting (although none tonight because of the colic episode).

I think she knew I was upset tonight and wanted to comfort me instead of the other way around. Here she is not feeling the greatest yet she's standing right next to me trying to make me feel better. I don't know of any other horse that would do that (heck, not sure I know of too many people that would do that either).

I'll check on her again in a couple of hours to see if she's drank any more and to see if she's feeling any better. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it's just weather colic. If she colics again, I'll have to see what the vet says/suggests. I know someone suggested I try probiotics and I have two containers of it but I've never had much luck seeing any changes or improvements. But I may try it just to see. I'm not out anything by trying it anyway.

Queen's colic on top of another request to take an old warrior which we had to decline is more than I can handle. Also knowing that I avoided another two horse auctions today didn't help matters. I'll admit my spirits are in the dumps right now so I'll apologize if I seem a crabby or unreceptive to ideas. It's all just more than I can physically and emotionally handle right now.