Re: Colic Surgery

["Whitney Bass" <bass@bigsky.net>]

My Morab mare, Iza, had colic surgery in the early spring of 1996.  I
didn't ride her at all until late summer, but began competing on her again
in 1997.  Even did the Tevis and finished 10th!  The vets said it was a
kind of gas colic that had caused her intestines to twist, (I think it was
her cecum twisting on top of something else, but I can't remember now).  I
hadn't even started her conditioning yet that spring, but I think it may
have been due to a change in feed and/or environment, as I had just
recently brought her to the town where I was going to college.  She started
acting colicy in the afternoon, so a vet came out and game her massive
amounts of Banamine, etc., and said that when the drugs wore off she should
be better.  If she wasn't better, he told me that I had better start
thinking about getting her somewhere where they could perform colic surgery
(about 6 hours away).  Well, she wasn't better when the drugs wore off and
I knew there was no way I could put her in the trailer for 6 hours.  So, my
friend, Ann, knew of a vet clinic about 15 minutes away that had one of
those blow-up surgery beds and they could perform emergency surgery.  
After palpating her, the vet told me that if he had a choice, he would
begin surgery right then --  so, after bursting into tears, I told him to
please do it.   Anyway, to make a long story short, she had the surgery and
came out of it OK.  She ended up staying at that clinic for about 10 days
(I visited and walked her everyday.), and then she was allowed to go home. 
She recovered quickly (even though her incision was the longest thing I've
ever seen), and I started riding her about 41/2 months later, very lightly.
 She has competed every year since, and nothing has gone wrong (knock on
wood).  I have also known of a few other horses who were competed on
successfully, following colic surgery.  Hope this helps!

----------
> From: guest@endurance.net
> To: ridecamp@endurance.net
> Subject: RC:  Colic Surgery
> Date: Friday, February 04, 2000 8:28 PM
> 
> k s swigart katswig@earthlink.net
> 
> Has anybody had any experience with competing in endurance with
> a horse that has had colic surgery?
> 
> If so, can you tell me the circumstances of the surgery, about
> the recovery, did it cause problems, etc.
> 
> Thanks,
> 
> kat
> Orange County, Calif.
> 
> 
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