Good News!! Asia is home!!

Do the Happy Dance for Poop as Asia produced 7 piles of poop. Poop of such excellent, wet consistency that Dr. Proctor deemed it safe for her to be released from her care and return home, so midday I went and got her. She's now at home with instructions to have no hay for 24 hours and that her pellets are to be soaked for the next three or four days. Richard said that he was happy to leave her up for the hour or so it takes the horses to eat their morning hay (it's put out in the area near the barn on the side of the hill in seven or eight piles) and to wet her food. Dr. Proctor blames the colic on the crazy weather we've been having and I don't doubt it. We've had temps the past week in the upper sixties to high seventies and today I saw 80 on one sign, so yeah, crazy weather for February.

So warm that Dr. Proctor's 9 year old son and his friend were in their swim trunks playing in a huge, Rubbermaid water trough when I got there yesterday and why not? Think outside the sprinkler/July box and if it's 75 in February, go play in the water trough. They were having a blast and were good and muddy by the time I left.

I am so grateful that Asia got over this bout of colic so quickly. Apparently, if a horse is going to colic, do it like Asia, with colic on one side of the gut and not the other. I forget the details, but Asia's colic, while serious, was easily remedied by a lot of water, about 20 gallons total, being pumped into her stomach during three different times. That got things moving and by the time Dr. Proctor called me at midday, Asia had pooped 7 times, two of them very sloppy, cow patty type of poops. HOORAY!!

The other thing that stands out for me from all of this is how far Asia has come in overcoming her fear of two horse, fully enclosed, straight load trailers. Six and a half years ago, I couldn't get her on my two horse, fully enclosed, straight load Featherlite and spent countless hours with Jenny working with Asia on this. Literally hours spent getting Asia to put a foot inside it, but thankfully, she had no qualms about a stock trailer. Jenny was ultimately successful as patience and constant pressure and release do work, and even though I was able to get Asia to load, I was usually very early to the trail head as I never knew if it would take a half hour or ten minutes or no time to load. After a year of that, I sold the Featherlite and bought my Sundowner slant load stock trailer and Asia would hop right on. Yes, I could have kept the Featherlite and it would have been easier financially, but my thought at the time was that I know she is happier with a stock trailer, it makes my life easier, and also, these hot summers we have? Better to have the cross flow ventilation of a stock trailer, especially if stuck in traffic.

Then, in 2010 I asked her to get in a friend's 2 horse, fully enclosed slant load and she hesitated, but she walked on. Every time she gets in a trailer I praise her and tell her that she is the most brilliant horse on the planet, for at that moment it is true, but I especially did so when she walked on that fully enclosed trailer. Last summer, I asked her to load in Elaine's 3-horse slant and she did, and then yesterday she loaded with almost no fuss onto Katie's 2 horse, fully enclosed, straight load Featherlite, the same model as the one I sold. I counted my blessings for my Sundowner stock trailer is in South Carolina. I left it there after dropping India off for a month with Kathleen Lindley because it would save on gas not to haul it back. I knew that I was taking a chance if Asia needed to get to the vet's, but I also knew that Elaine or Katie would come to my trailer rescue and Katie certainly did. Elaine would have, if I'd asked, but her trailer lives at her house, not at Katie's, where Asia lives, so that meant the 2 horse, fully enclosed straight load, the bugaboo of years past and hooray, Asia loaded! Including today, when she felt so much better.

True, she didn't jump right on, but it didn't take me but five or ten minutes to get her on. She got half way in two or three times and would back out, then I'd ask her to come forward, she'd think about it, go forward, I'd release pressure, she'd come forward again. When she loaded fully, I praised her as the smartest horse on the planet, for that she is. I didn't tie her, but dropped the lead. She backed out. No problem. I asked her to come in again, she did, I praised her and dropped the lead, she stood there quietly while I shut the back door.

When I got her home, I opened the back door and she stayed on the trailer. With my Sundowner, she rides in the front compartment and if by herself, I let her turn around and face the rear. She likes coming out of the trailer face first. If there's another horse going with us, I keep her facing front, but when she comes out, because it's a slant load, she can turn and come out face first. In Elaine's slant, she does have to back out. She's not the most graceful, but it's not a panic exit. Today, I opened the door and she just stood there. I checked that the lead wasn't tangled in any way and it wasn't, so since it was untied, I didn't need to worry about it. I tugged on her tail and she slowly backed out. GOOD MARE!! What a long way she's come.

It's nice to know in the event of an emergency, she's not limited to my stock horse Sundowner. What a relief. And what a relief to get her through this bout of colic. I can't thank Elaine, Richard, Katie and Fleet enough for all their help, and for the good karma thoughts sent by so many. Thank you!