Birthday Cheer With A Dash Of Fear

Last year my birthday brought the news of Addie's death, so waking up this year to no bad news was already better. I spent the day before making Roscoe's 38 days worth of food clearing the next day for more fun stuff.

50 gal blanket box with 38 days of food

Well my brother asked to bring my nieces and I could not say no since they are moving away soon. He did not give me any specific time though. When Peggy asked if she could take me to lunch, I said sure. Turned out the girls were not behaving and he decided to bring them on Monday. Great we were clear for the day.

So not Normal...

As I fed the horses and finished chores, I noticed Winston acting weird. He ate his food, then he laid down in the stall. I chatted to him and when I walked by later he was up and out of the stall. Then I noticed him come back to a stall, circle around, walk out, poop and then go lay down in another stall. In the back of my head I was thinking he pooped, that's good, but worry tugged. I looked in the stall and noticed his flared nostrils. I went into the stall and rubbed his head trying to get a read. Up close I could see his labored breathing. He was not rolling around, but he was definitely not comfortable. I checked his feet, no heat. Winston decided to get up and go out into the sacrifice area, only to lay down out there. Now fear kicked in. That was so not normal. Out in the sunlight, I could see his chest and shoulder were covered in sweat. It was a slightly humid day, but not too hot. I decided at that point to get him up and move him to the big stall away from the other horses. Peggy came out ready for lunch and saw me working. She asked if we had a problem, and I was quick to say "YES."
In the big stall, Winston dropped another pile of poop. We turned on the fan and took off his fly sheet. Both of us pressed our ears to his belly and neither of us heard the squeaks and gurgles we would have liked. Colic...not good. I kept him standing while Peggy went to get a thermometer. The digital one showed a temp of 97.7. What??? She tried again, but that one was not working, so she got an old mercury one. Winston was not thrilled to have all this stuck in his butt.  That thermometer again showed 97.7. One more time with another one did not yield any better results. I put a call into Mom at work and we tried to get some Pro bi into him. At the start of tummy issues, they recommend giving 30cc.
By time Mom called back, Winston's breathing had settled and he was nibbling hay scraps. He seemed to have worked through whatever was happening. I checked his belly again. This time I heard squeaks and gurgles. Cue a breath of relief. We ended up leaving him in the big stall, under the fan nibbling hay and Pro Bi doctored hay cubes while we went to lunch.
Both of us were emotionally shot since the episode brought back everything with Addie. The day turned for the better though when I looked on Facebook to see Lisa had posted pictures of Roscoe on my page. Totally made my day.

My PONY!!!

She messaged me during the drive to the restaurant to say Roscoe was not cooperative for the photo shoot, normal for him, and she was lucky to get those pictures. And for comedic relief, she mentioned she had to photo shop his wiener out of the pictures, also normal for him to be hanging out. So Peggy and I looked at foal pictures, mare pictures, Roscoe's sire pictures and video while enjoying a great lunch.

Roscoe's Sire, Ffame

We were both anxious to get back to the barn and check on Winston. He was just fine with Larry checking on him occasionally. He was not 100% but headed in the right direction. I headed home to have dinner with my family and get some great gifts.

Now I just have to get through working two more days before I get to go see Roscoe :) This trip will be so much better than the last time.