Blondie’s colic surgery

On Friday March 9th Blondie, one of our amazing therapeutic riding and lesson horses, let us know she wasn’t feeling very well. She was clearly uncomfortable, lethargic, and she was refusing water and hay. Those of us that know Blondie know that when she doesn’t want to eat we have a serious problem on our hands!  We immediately had our veterinarian out to determine what was wrong. Blondie was colicking and the vet suspected she had an impaction. They administered laxatives and electrolytes and gave her water to help rehydrate her and hopefully help her pass the impaction. Despite the round-the-clock care the devoted barn staff gave her Blondie was still not improving by Saturday morning. The veterinarian  came to see her again and let us know that her best chance for recovery would be hospitalization and possibly colic surgery. We decided to take Blondie into the hospital on Saturday evening and hope that she would be able to pull through. The wonderful veterinarians at the hospital evaluated Blondie and decided on the best course of treatment. They would treat her medically overnight; IV fluids, more laxatives, and some pain management would hopefully do the trick and get the big girl feeling better. Unfortunately by Sunday morning Blondie was still not improving and it was decided that her best chance for survival would be surgery. Around 11:00 AM on Sunday morning our big brave girl was taken into the operating room. Her surgery lasted over 4 hours. The initial diagnosis of a small colon impaction was correct and the doctors worked very hard to safely remove it. Blondie had luckily gone into surgery soon enough that none of her small colon had to be resected. There was a lot of inflammation around the impaction, but Blondie’s prognosis was very good coming out of surgery. Blondie went to recovery on Sunday afternoon and she will stay at the hospital for 5-7 more days for observation. Throughout this whole process so far Blondie has been the amazingly calm and brave girl that everyone knows and loves. She has helped so many people become confident and strong through her work as a therapeutic riding and lesson horse and now she needs us! Please consider helping this big girl get back on her feet again so she can continue to help those who need her!