healing light, energy, prayers for Algiers please

[magical thyme]

14. he's continuing on a positive path

Yesterday was scary. The temps rose to ~40 in the morning, so I had them both stripped of blankets before leaving for the library. They were happily on the sunny, sheltered side of the barn eating hay and snow. A short time later, an icy blast started in from the west. I got home to find them both in the barn, not eating. I got them blanketed and back out in the sheltered sun with hay, so they did get some hay and snow in before nighttime. (For reasons I cannot fathom, Algiers seems to prefer eating snow to drinking from a bucket, which is always available! )

Last night it was down to about 0. He didn't eat as much hay as the night before, drink as much water, or poop as much. I'm chalking the poop to not eating as much.

These 0 to 40 to 0 days are terrifying weather -- colic season and very hard for them to adjust to. That is what triggered Algiers' colic to begin with. The difference being that I was exhausted and sleeping most days due to being forced to work 3 12-hour overnight shifts in a week. At least now I'm home since they've cut my hours way back, so can respond to the changes more quickly if not realtime.

Today the wind is gone, thank goodness, and they've both been eating hay and snow pretty steadily since the sun was fully out at 8:30am. He even walked around and then trotted for 3 strides for no good reason other than he felt like it! The most energy I've seen from him in weeks

OGR, not a chance. We have had serious equine vet issues in the area since before I came here. I spent much of last week practically begging the vet to come out. I had the feeling she was trying to protect herself in case anything went wrong by making it "my fault." Then when she finally did come, she refused to give him colic treatment on the first visit, even though his symptoms were *classic* colic. This was not just my intuition: not eating, not pooping, stretching and looking at his side, twisting his side and straining when he did poop, and diminished gut sounds all point directly to colic. Every equine vet I have *ever* worked with or observed with others' horses over the last 50+ years would have given him the full treatment on or before Wednesday when he hadn't recovered following the weekend banamine treatment.

Then I overheard her (not eavesdropping, she opened the car window so I could hear the blow by blow) on the phone with another client, who was freaking out over a payment. The client said she was mailing copies, front and back, of the cancelled check plus her bank statement, to prove she'd made the payment.

That night I called my horse friend, Don, about whom I wrote last year when he was accused of starving his horses. I hadn't spoken to him since his court case, and its resolution wasn't published. But I knew this vet was one of the two involved in the case. I described Algiers' symptoms and his first response was "colic." I asked a couple questions regarding his case and this vet. It turns out that, on the witness stand, she claimed they had not been in phone consultation (he has always maintained he was) and *she was reluctant to come out to treat his horses because she was concerned about his ability to pay.* He assured me he always paid her on the spot and never owed her one dime.

What I already knew was that when she first moved to the area, Don championed her, suggested she hold an "open house," invited all the horse people he knew (including local big-barn owners), and that he plowed for her (sometimes in the middle of the night to make sure she was able to get out for emergencies) and did other work for her.

This vet is technically a good vet...but clearly does not return favors, let alone offer any.

Between her delays and requiring me to use her dentist (who cost double what my regular dentist would be) before she would initiate colic treatment, she doubled the cost of Algiers' treatment while prolonging his suffering and seriously increasing his risk of an agonized death. Colic is the 2nd leading killer of horses. I'm still trying to decide what to do for the future. I need a vet who is willing to respond reasonably and not use my suffering horse to soak me...