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PureCountry

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Edgewood, BC, moving to Hardisty, AB
Our highs are high, and our lows are low around this place. Lost my black gelding Murphy 1 week ago to a lightning strike, and today lost a bay mare to an impaction of some sort. Brought her in as soon as she showed signs of being colicy, but it went from bad to worse in a hurry. In almost 3 days she didn't pass anything but urine, and everything we tried failed. Homeopathic stuff, essential oil salves, massage, mineral oil in her water - which surprisingly enough she drank without a fuss - but nothing would loosen up.

Damn shame when you lose good horses. Makes me think about how good they treat us, without asking much in return. If only our species could love like dogs and horses.
 
Wow, PC, sorry to hear of your bad luck with your horses and I sure
appreciate your last paragraph.

FWIW, when horses impact, the only thing I have known to help
is an enema...or 2...you may have tried that. Most vets don't suggest
it for some reason.
 
So sorry to hear about your horses. :(

I had a horse who had a close call with an impaction years ago. The little fool was spending her time banging on the back of an old wooden grainery with her front foot, and picking up wheat seeds one at a time. We found the marks on the wall later when we were trying to figure what she could possibly have gotten into. She must have been very persistent because we couldn't make any fall out short of hitting it with a hammer. And sneaky too, because we never heard her doing it.

Our vet told us to lock her up, give her nothing but grass hay to eat, and hope for the best. Three days, and nothing. The day after that, I went out and her stall had about fifteen big piles of manure in it. Then she was fine. It was more luck than anything else.
 
PureCountry said:
Actually our vet didn't recommend it. A friend did, although we didn't try it. We were giving lots of mineral oil in the water and she was drinking lots of it. One of those things I guess. :(
Click to expand...

Yeah, isn't it nuts they don't tell you about enemas? A good horseman
friend told us about it and said you need to get the impaction out
the back end, not add to it in the front end. But it must work sometimes
to give mineral oil, but if that doesn't start something moving, change
course........anyway, FWIW.
 
Best thing I ever found for impaction, is load them in the trailer, and head to town over sandhills gravel roads. So far it has worked every time. By the time I get to the vets, they are back to normal.
 
Ok, I hesitate to post this because most probably won't believe it but it is a true story.
One time I had a good mare and she was nursing a high dollar colt, came up missing for a day so I go looking and find her down and I couldn't get her up.
Call the vet and he tells me that he has had several horses colic in the county that they been eating green mesquite beans and if she is already down save my money she is done.
Back to the mare and I had to spook and rough the old girl up good but did get her on her feet, walked her to the stables and stuck a water hose in her rearend til she had plenty water and then walked her till she crapped and kept walking her till I lost count of the piles.
True story and guess I got lucky.
Good luck
 
OldDog/NewTricks said:
Years ago I used "Doc Bell's" I got out of Canada
I RAN OUT YEARS AGO
I tied a friends horse on the back bumper of my Truck, after I got him up - after 10 miles he was quired...
Click to expand...

" Doctor Bell's Veterinary Medical Wonder" :lol:
 
Found this on another site.

"Hayley, Just came across your query today. You probably rec'd many answers a long time ago. However, I will tell you a little about Dr. Bells. I had believed that it was a very very old product, however it may not be as old as I thought. I came across a small bottle of it this year in an old barn. The contact info it says, "Viosin(??) Veterinary Products Limited, Don Mills, Ontario (Canada) M3C 2H5." The use of this form of postal coding on mail in Canada came about in '69-72, so it can't date back any further than that. It is extremely toxic, the 4 ingredients being Aconite, Digitalis, Belladonna, and Nux-Vomica. The dosage recommendations on the bottle are in terms of mere drops on the tongue of sick animal."
 
Big Muddy rancher said:
Found this on another site.

"Hayley, Just came across your query today. You probably rec'd many answers a long time ago. However, I will tell you a little about Dr. Bells. I had believed that it was a very very old product, however it may not be as old as I thought. I came across a small bottle of it this year in an old barn. The contact info it says, "Viosin(??) Veterinary Products Limited, Don Mills, Ontario (Canada) M3C 2H5." The use of this form of postal coding on mail in Canada came about in '69-72, so it can't date back any further than that. It is extremely toxic, the 4 ingredients being Aconite, Digitalis, Belladonna, and Nux-Vomica. The dosage recommendations on the bottle are in terms of mere drops on the tongue of sick animal."
Click to expand...

It can't be that old I remember.........oh wait, ya I guess it's been awhile :)
You can't get it any more can you?
 

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