More Dramas for Poor Scout

I had planned to spend the afternoon relaxing with Scout yesterday, just sharing space with her. When I arrived she was grazing in the paddock looking content enough. I took her food up to the stable and she appeared within seconds to see what was on the menu. She ate her simple breakfast of grass hay and barley chaff with a handful of oats. Minutes after finishing this she started showing the all too familiar signs of colic again. She lay down 4 times and started sweating and curling her lip. There is no mobile phone reception at the paddock so I ran up the long driveway and leapt in the car to drive to the vets. I used a different local vet this time and was very pleased I did.

I drove back to the paddock and ran into the stable to see how Scout was doing. She was standing in the corner sweating and curling her lip up. The vet sedated her, gave her another dose of paraffin oil this time also with a large amount of water to follow. She had bloods taken for more testing and was given an injection of pain relief. I was feeling so very sad for her by this time. She must feel like a damn pin cushion with all the needles she has had.

Quarantine requires that mares be preg tested within 7 days of arriving at post quarantine facility. The vet did this whilst she was sedated and found a very lively foal in there. It wriggled and kicked at the intrusion of this strange arm entering its little haven. I was so relieved to hear that the foal is alive and well. The vet discovered that Scout seems to have a worm burden. When he pulled his arm out there were 9 little red worms on his glove. We were both surprised as Scout had been regularly wormed before she came here and she was only just done 4 weeks ago in quarantine. She has just received another dose and I really hope that it will do the trick to get rid of them.

After the vet had gone I sat with Scout for another hour before heading to my new temporary home. Friends of mine have offered for me to live in a caravan on their property whilst Scout is in quarantine. It means I am only 20 minutes drive from her so I can dash back and forth as often as is needed.

At dusk I decided to go back and spend another couple of hours with Scout to see how she was doing. I negotiated my way up the drive by torchlight and when I entered the paddock I heard Scout whinny and she came trotting over to me and stood very close to me. I walked up to the stable with her following very closely at my side. I spent a few minutes rubbing her all over then wandered out into the paddock with her following close beside me. We remained like this for sometime until she finally relaxed enough to eat. The nights are very hard for her as she cannot see the other horses and gets very insecure. I am pleased that she feels she can trust me already when she is feeling stressed.

Finally Scout started relaxing and grazing. I walked away to have a look to see if she had passed any of the oil. After a few minutes she gave a frantic whinny and I nickered softly to her as is my standard way with all my horses. She cantered up to me and again stood very close. I sat down near her and stayed with her like this for another hour until I felt she was content enough for me to leave.

I have been feeling pangs of guilt today at having put her through this whole process. She is just the sweetest horse and I am flawed by her brilliant temperament. I can hardly believe she is bonding with me so strongly despite the needles and vet visits! She shows absolutely no sign of disdain at all. What an absolute privelege it is to be able to share time with such a special horse.