Ernie is doing OK. He's still anxious most of the time, but I was actually able to turn him and Stella out SEPARATELY (yes, as in NOT together) for the first time since, well, ever, last week. It was a much welcome relief for LBM, who has been bullied by Ernie when they're out together. He herds her around, bites her rump for no reason, and is a general annoyance to her. I'm all for herd behavior and letting horses be horses, but this was getting to be too much and Stella was coming in with bite marks and a few kick marks on her hind end. She would become frantic because she won't fight back, and would just run the pasture until I brought them in. That's not OK with me. It's one of the biggest issues I had with these two, so I decided "what the hell" and put them out in separate pastures next to each other. Surprisingly, nobody died. Ernie walked the fence slowly for a few seconds, realized there was a fence there, figured out Stella wasn't going to run far far away, and went right to grazing. I watched in pure disbelief for most of the morning, but they were quiet until I brought them in that afternoon. The second day was a little harder; I'm guessing it's because the idea wasn't new to Ernie anymore, so he paced the fence much more, but he never became frantic. I just ignored him. He has a tendency to act upset when he knows someone is around to pay attention. Eventually he realizes he's not going to get what he wants and stops.
On that same day, Stella also had her first colic of the year, luckily not the worst I've seen from her but another wake-up call all the same. I need to figure out something to put her on: I don't think a probiotic is necessarily what I need, but there's a part of me that doubts she has ulcers, either. She's only 4, and hasn't been put through stressful training, however she is high energy and can be anxious at times. I'm thinking about having her scoped and seeing if there is anything. I also have the option of putting her on something right away: I've been thinking of a stomach soother or something that coats the stomach. Her colics are always gas-related, so I'm not really worried about it a ton but I don't like that it keeps happening. Something like Stomach Soother, which I've heard good things about. It deals with digestive upset caused by environmental issues as well as other triggers, which this episode was certainly related to. It got really hot, in the low 70's, which is warmer than it's been. Stella is really sensitive to heat, always has been, and I think the warmth may have had a lot to do with the colic.
I've thought about Gastro-Guard, but I'm not sure I need to go with something that strong just yet. I've also thought about something like Probios, but again, I think I'm dealing with a stomach lining issue, not necessarily a hindgut problem. I'm going to talk with Dr. B. more, but I've got to do something to prevent this from continuing.
I've been trying to reach Dr. B. to schedule the day for Ernie. I've more or less accepted that this needs to happen, and can be seen as a positive thing if I choose to. I'm still sad, I'm still torn, I still don't want it to happen, but I can see that he's continued to slowly go downhill mentally. Sometimes it's like the lights are on, but nobody is home, and then he goes into such a frantic state you'd think he was beaten. I feel awful when this happens, but there's not much I can do. Pretty much, at the end of May, I'll pick a nice day, and see him off in the afternoon. I've been talking with the barn owner to make sure I can bury him there, because it's been as much a home for him as anywhere else. There's a law in the state of Vermont passed last year that prohibits burying livestock: they have to be "composted" instead, which basically means left in a manure pit. Obviously, that is not an option, and never will be, so we're probably going to be breaking some laws...
It's been an interesting two weeks, to say the least. I'm living on my own, working most of the time, still dealing with personal issues, and trying to just get adjusted to life as it stands now.
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