Heartsick to Actually Sick

When we left off Peebs had been slightly off his grain after moving barns. Otherwise he was his normal Peebers self. Last Wednesday I got a text around 3pm saying he hadn't eaten any of his breakfast, hay or grain, hadn't drunk anything, had one tiny pile of poop and no pee in his stall. Well shit.

I blasted out of work and made the 10 minute drive to the barn in 7 minutes.  When I got there Peebs was just hanging out in the corner, not looking sick at all, just a little depressed. I did call the vet and talked to him and he suggested a dose of banamine, hand walking/grazing, and seeing what he was like in an hour.  Thank god I had brought my bute and banamine with me from TCF to GS when I moved Peebs! I medicated him and off we went for a walk around the hay field.

Peebs did graze a bit, then pooped and peed. I let him dictate where we wandered and he went into one of the empty paddocks and drank a bunch from the trough. At the end of the hour he was not quite his normal self, but looked much better. He still had no interest in the grass hay in his stall, but GS also feeds orchard grass so I gave him a little of that. He ate that right up so I asked the BO to switch him to that. Peebs is the easiest of easy keepers so he doesn't need the orchard, but he needs to eat, so for now he can eat what he wants. I also tossed a bunch of salt on the hay to encourage him to drink.

Feeling much better

I checked on him before work on Thursday morning and he had a couple of cow patty poops in his stall. But I knew part of that was the abrupt switch from plain grass to the orchard. He was happily munching his new breakfast and while he hadn't had as much to drink as I would have liked, he did drink overnight.  I tossed more salt onto his hay and went to work.

I was supposed to haul out to TCF on Thursday afternoon for a lesson, but I cancelled it. I wanted to give Peebs a couple days to recover and not stress him out. I know horses don't think this way, but it seemed cruel to haul him over to his old home and then back to GS when he doesn't want to be there. Like, hey you're going back to the place you love, just kidding! Thankfully Peebs has seemed much more normal this weekend and we might try hauling out for lessons soon.