enteritis

[June Scheunemann & Mike Bernsdorf <equineent@lakefield.net>]

We had an experience with enteritis...a very bad outcome for
us.  We purchased a beautiful 2 yr stud colt (to be our herd
sire).  He had awesome bloodlines .....a half brother was doing
quite well in the sport of endurance and he had half siblings
doing well on the track.  Our guy was pretty enough for the show
ring and that's what he was doing when we purchased him.....a
halter baby.  We should have known better but, he was so
gorgeous and he clicked with Mike just instantly.  WE brought
him home and he started showing small signs of colic after about
a week.  They wouldn't last long but, he would start ot kick the
sides of his stall at night....we take him out and walk him for
about an hour give him some bran mash and he'd be fine.  The
bouts became longer and I called the prior owners and of course
I find out he had been in the show barn for the last year and
half so they wouldn't know if he had any real problems...but,
the suspected it was just a habit. I called the show barn and
they said , "no he hadn't kicked his stall never...." .  Now I
just wonder if they really knew or not....the barn was spotless
but, I remember not seeing any turn out at all so my guess is
the horses never got out to pasture...and they were only looked
at for about 15 min when worked in the ring.   Well, on one of
the longer colics we hauled him to the vet and of course by the
time we got there he was fine.  During all these colics he had
gut sounds but, diminished;  and his pulse was never over
48!!!!  One the 20 th day that we owned him we took him back as
this time he was real bad with colic but, as long as Mike stood
next to him Rocky would just rest his head on MIke's chest.
Anyhow, Rocky never came home.....the vet worked on him for over
48 hours and nothing was progressing....they did a belly tap and
it was bad....so before he suffered anymore he was put down.
The autopsy showed enteritis.  The vet felt this had been an
ongoing thing for a long time as when he went ot pick up the
intestines they shredded in his hands.  OF course we were
blaming ourselves;  what coudl we have done different but, the
vet knowing us knew we had our horses out in pasture and fed the
horses well....he felt that Rocky had been suffering for a long
time with it and that the move to our farm was enough stress to
put him over the edge.  He said that surgery would not have
saved him at all and that at least Rocky got to be a horse for a
couple of weeks and knew what running a big pasture felt like.

Our vet felt the un-natural conditions Rocky was kept in while
at the show barn was probably the major cause of the
condition.....the boy was not allowed to be a horse.

On the subject on STrongid C.....had  friend who put his entire
endurance barn on it and the whole season he was plague with
bouts of colic after 50 milers..  The minute he took the horses
off Strongid the colics stopped.  Don't know if that had
anythign to do with the colic but, one would be suspicious.

it's sunny and above 50 .........finally

june