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Please Reply to: Diane Dann tdannirg@xxxxxx or ridecamp@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
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I understand there has been a lot of discussion about the three horses at Old 
Selam that had to be treated for colic after the race.  As the owner of one of 
the horses I have been asked to post my account of what happened so those of 
you who are interested will have more information.

The interesting thing about what happened is that all three horses had exactly 
the same thing wrong.  All three had raced all day with good vet scores and 
CRI's.  My horse in particular never had a score less than A- all day and CRI's 
all day in the low 50's as well as at the completion exam which was done 
without even taking the 10-15 minute rest.  I understand Steph's mare had a 
finishing CRI in the low 40's.  I don't have any specific numbers on the 
Montana gelding, but I believe Kay indicated he had had good scores as well.  
Nevertheless, very shortly after each horse finished the race, maybe within 20 
-30 minutes, they were being presented to the vets with "mild" colic symptoms.  
I am not sure exactly what the other two horses presented but my horse started 
to eat and then stopped eating, which is extremely unusual as he is usually a 
huge eater at the conclusion of a race, and he did some pawing.  I took him to 
see Dr. Washingtion and he checked him over, could not find anything terribly 
unusual, at this point he still had gut sounds, was well hydrated, heart rate 
acceptable, etc.  But obviously he was not comfortable and Dr. Washington 
recommended a small dose of Banamine and a little rompum (spelling?).  This 
obviously quieted him down and he rested for a good half hour or so and then I 
walked him around a bit.  He was eating the fresh grass in very small bites, 
but still wouldn't touch his hay.  Dr. Washington and Dr. Metcalf were 
encouraged because he was trying to eat the grass, but recommended that we take 
a trailer ride home and see if that settled him and if not highly suggested 
that we take him to Idaho Equine.  Shortly before this I was aware the Steph 
was leaving with her mare taking her directly to IE.

Well, needless to say, upon arriving home there was no poop in the trailer, he 
still wouldn't eat and was lethargic.  So we left our other horse at home and 
took Strike directly to IE where Steph's mare was already being treated.  The 
mare had refluxed and they were tubing her.  Steph approached us and said her 
horse was facing possible surgery or!  Steph assured us that she had approved 
the surgery.  They were going to finish up examing her and would be taking a 
look at Strike.

They started with a rectal exam on Strike and did remove moist feces but as a 
result of the pressure from the rear he refluxed.  That was not good.  At that 
point they tubed him and continued to tube him and prepped him for an iv and 
fluids.  The same thing they had done with Steph's mare, and they both were put 
in stalls until Dr. Parsons arrived to evaluate them further and the need for 
surgery.  Oh yes, we were also asked if Strike was a candidate for surgery or! 
In the meantime, the horse from Montana arrived with the exact same symptoms 
and they began treating him in the same manner.  One thing of note, to my 
knowledge neither the mare and for sure Strike, did not roll, all Strike did is 
lightly paw the ground.  Not sure about the gelding.

After Dr. Parson arrived she started with Steph's mare and did an ultra-sound 
and after completing her did one on Strike.  She indicated that Strike and the 
mare had exactly the same thing.  That their small intestine was distended and 
therefore blocked the flow from the stomach.  As it turns out the same thing 
was wrong with the gelding.  A small intestine inflamation.  Dr. Parson assured 
me that this condition could not have occurred from over riding the horses.  In 
fact, Dr. Washington, in discussions on Monday, who in fact saw all three 
horses during and after the race and thought they all showed to be in great 
condition, has an opinion that they all were suffering from a toxic poisoning 
probably from something they ate on the trail.  Dr. David Ashmar (spelling?) 
the emergency vet, didn't rule it out and was talking about trying to do some 
studies on their blood samples to see if he could find anything to support that 
theory.  To my knowledge he has not done that.

By the time all three horses had been diagnosed with the use of ultra sound and 
they were all hooked up on iv's it was about 1:30 A.M. Sunday morning.  They 
were being refluxed every two hours to minimize any pressure on the stomach and 
to relieve the small intestine to allow it to recover.  We didn't return to IE 
until about 2:00 that afternoon and found that they had been able to stop the 
refluxing of all three horses, that no more fluids were building up in the 
stomach, therefore the small intestine had been somewhat relieved and all three 
horses had "turned the corner".  They were going to start offering water at 
6:00 P.M. Sunday night and make sure it moved through.  Fortunately, for all 
three, the process worked.  By the way, they were all still on iv's, actually 
each of the horses stayed on them until various times on Tuesday.

On Monday they were taking each of the horses for walks around the grounds and 
allowing them a couple of mouth fulls of grass at each of 4 outings.  By this 
time they were all getting pretty hungry and were trying to eat the shavings so 
they all had to wear muzzles, but they were still able to drink water at will.  
They also received bran mash that evening and the next morning.  On Tuesday 
they started them on hay and were doing well.

I believe Steph picked her mare up later Tuesday evening, and I picked up 
Strike Wednesday morning.  The gelding was still there, not sure he was quite 
out of the woods yet, but he has to have more recovery time as he has to be 
prepared for a 12 hour trailer ride home.

The instructions have been to slowly bring the volume of food back to normal 
over the past couple of days, but after that he should be fine and able to 
start resuming moderate exercise and easy racing later next month.

I can't tell you how scary this whole thing was and I certainly hope no one 
else has to go through it, ever.  One thing I can honestly say is the emergency 
medical treatment they received at Idaho Equine was the best they could have 
had anywhere.  The professionalism of the staff, the compasion and caring was 
incredible.  They made a very difficult situation more bearable.

Thanks to all of you who have called and emailed to find out how Strike had 
faired.  I really appreciate your concern, your thoughts and your prayers.

Diane & Tony Dann and Strike too!


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