General Chat

That's good News ,small steps at first hoping for bigger later .maybe boiled water cooled down ?? helps with children . were all giving advise about Conker >.hope he gets better soon Bless him <3

Great news but don't stop the lubrication. He should go on picking up over the next few days as the hard manure gets expelled.
This kind of colic is often due to not drinking enough.
As the old saw goes you can lead a horse to water but you canna make him drink.
Do try and get some advice from a horse nutritionist - not the same thing as a vet. The vets unfortunately tend to be overly influenced by feed companies, they always were.
Shelties are a long lived breed and Conker should have years of fun still ahead of him.

Yaaay!!! it's a start - a small start - but the oil etc will catch up soon :-D :-D

I bet you'll sleep for a week when he's better :-)

A little result….

Late last night, assisted by a torch my husband found 3 weeny little poops, as hard as bullets… as small as marbles!

He's out there grazing but there's nothing much to eat which is good.

More walks lined up for today.

Need to look after me too as exhausted and not sleeping well…

Thank you all <3

It's good he's drinking so offer him water often as dehydration can help cause blockages, same as in us! Moving gently around is good for massaging the intestines and bowel and I've read that stabled horses are more prone to colic, so not moving enough probably plays a part with those as well as their feed. I bet the other pony wonders why he's getting so much fuss. :-)

Aw little love. hope he soon gets light relief :-) <3

Keep him moving, grass good, def no hay and as much exercise as poss.
If he eats the hay bedding then remove it.

If you have a friend with a horse box taking him on a wee wide often get the works moving. Go slowly on a bumpy lane. OTOH if he doesn't much like boxes don't.

The thing is you are near to success but he must be kept moving as much as possible - this is probably a case of impaction colic. Once he starts it will take several days for his digestive cycle to get back to normal. Don't rush things and above all keep him off anything except his usual grass.

How is the other one?

Poor little Conker....hope he soon gets relief...
Just thought...my dad used to take liquid paraffin quite regularly...remember it as he had a thing about bowels!!
Better than the old fashioned enema with the soapy water !

Giddy up Conker.

<3

More painkillers this morning so he is at least comfortable. Trying to get a balance between resting and exercise to stimulate his bowels, so a good walk last night and 15 minutes this morning. He ate a little grass and drank some water, thank goodness. We had resorted to syringing water into his mouth this morning.

He's loving all the fuss, never had it so good! He's had a bit of a brush down and I left him in the stable resting on a soft bed of hay but with access to his field if he chooses.

No poop! Poor love <3

My daughter was very touched last night when I said how many people had posted taking an interest in him. She commented on how kind people were <3

Good to hear Conker is still with you and hope the 'cures' are having the desired effect on him and his problems ease.

Lizx

Careful Prickles.......RR'er could be looking in...... :-S

Let's hope it is a "POOP DAY" tomorrow.... :-D :-D

Oooooo

So thinking of you Lavender.

Poop Conker, Poop!!

<3 <3 <3

Thank you all so much. Am taking on board all the good advice, it's very kind of you all to care about him.

You do feel very guilty when these things happen but the vet said we had been doing everything correctly, i.e. keeping their grazing pasture really tight. You wouldn't believe what a weeny little area of land they have been grazing on. We aren't really horse people even though have had these little ones for such a long time, have just learned as we went along and they have asked for very little, hay, a dry mix, regular feet trimming etc.

He has gone from looking so unwell to walking his little paddock and quietly grazing now and then but still no poops :( I keep popping out to look and give him a cuddle.

Many thanks Rollo and Mr Magoo for going to all that trouble for us :-)

edit* he was rolling a lot but the painkiller stops him. I'm aware that there is a danger in him doing so, trying to prevent him.

Have received a message from my niece who has been involved with horses for a long time. I sent her a copy of your posts and this is her reply.

"The fact that the little lad is getting better is a very good start. The liquid paraffin should help as it breaks everything down (burns it up) to help everything pass through again. Colic is a horrible thing but if he's getting better that's a very good sign in itself. Cross fingers, it sounds like all the right things are being done"

Hope this is of help.

Mr M.

Is he rolling around? If not that is a good sign as too much rolling and their intestine can become twisted, surgery then being the only way out. A Sheltie being small this is less of a problem tah with larger animals.Most horses affected by colic survive with a lot of TLC, ESPECIALLY after they seem to be picking up..

Hopefully the treatment will work and he will gradually pick up - keep feed to a minimum if at all.

Once a horse has had colic it is a tad more likely to get it again, not because of age or himself but because colic is always linked to food, environment, pasture etc etc and these factors tend to repeat. Shelties tend to get spoilt.

As soon as he is getting better take some advice from a horse nutritionist it won't cost a lot.

<3

Everything Crossed for Conker lets hope something moves him x maybe talking out of turn but would warm blankets not help they would comfort him & maybe help get the poop out ? .come on Conker we want you alright <3

One of the guys in my tree was a horse vet and he compiled the classic work on horse health. It was published 100 years ago but is still very useful especially if you are working on a traditional basis and budget!

Downloadable:

https://archive.org/details/horseitstreatmen01axej

Color incomplete:

http://special.lib.gla.ac.uk/exhibns/month/nov2008.html

I am glad you are staying with him. Horses are brave animals but very emotional and they need their owners when the going gets tough.

The Extra Virgin is up his rear end, more from the village stores

The vet said that we don't really know what's going on in there. I suppose he's thinking could even be a growth or something

I'm so glad he's not in pain. <3

Roll on tomorrow, we're waiting with baited breath for Conker to poop :-D