Friday, May 4, 2007

Spirit update

Spirit is a silly horse. Apparently she thought that the mulch pile would be a good thing to eat. Horses cannot digest large amounts of bark. A horse has about 70 feet (22meters) of intestines. This horse has mulch throughout her entire gut! IT all had to be cleaned out. She also  had some in her stomach. The stomach is a bad place. Horses cannot vomit, if they do their stomach usually ruptures. If this should happen the horse will die, violently.  They could not open her stomach so it is being pumped every four hours until it is all out. She is not allowed to eat until it is gone. She will be in Knoxville until she is able to eat on her own ad has a normal bowel movement. After she is home she will have to be in a stall for the next 2 months allowed out only on a lead rope 3 times a day for 10 -15 minutes. She is in greatest danger of colicing again in the next 18 months, which could prove fatal next time. So I guess I have a summer job of walking a horse!

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15 comments:

  1. Oh no!  Poor Spirit.  I hope the recovery goes well.

    Much Love,
    Mary

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  2. Poor silly Spirit ~ hope everything goes well for her ~ Ally x

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  3. Poor baby!  You must have been very worried.  Just tell her next time that horses whinny, not "bark".  Blessings, Penny  http://journals.aol.com/firestormkids04/FromHeretoThere

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  4. Oh poor thing...will keep her in my thoughts and prayers...These horses are work!  Take care and have a great weekend!  Hugs,TerryAnn

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  5. Wow she must have eaten a LOT of that mulch!  Hope she recovers well.
    Pam

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  6. What a mess...poor Spirit....sure hope it all goes well for her/him this summer.....bark doesn't sound very appetizing to me LOL...good luck and God Bless....Hugs from KY...Ora

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  7. I am happy Spirit is OKAY!!! a scary thing that happened....why do horses eat stuff that'll make them sick? Ill never figure that out. Sometimes I wish their tummys werent so complicated....

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  8. So glad Spirit is doing better....what a real mess that horse is in...I really hope she will come home soon!!
    take care
    -Ellie

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  9. Celeste, this has been an education for me about horses.  The good news , though, is that they are able to treat Spirit and that there is hope for an eventual total recovery.  Hey, you didn't have anything else to do this summer, did you?  (wink)
    Sam

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  10. omg mulch wow  I hope spirit continues to do well

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  11. I knew rats couldn't vomit, but I never knew horses couldn't vomit. You learn something everyday!
    http://journals.aol.co.uk/acoward15/andy-the-bastard

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  12. I would never guess that this would turn into a long term convalescence.  Wow....who knew a horse could get into that much trouble eating mulch?

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  13. I am so glad that she is going to survive...silly mare. She is lucky her owner cared enough to have surgery instead of putting her down!

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  14. Hi Celeste, my computer has been giving me fits, maybe I'm too new at this dial up way of doing things, it is so slow and I'm always in a hurry, don't think that mixes so well.  Anyway I just dropped by to see what is going on with you, sorry about your horse, but thanks for all the information I had no idea about how to care for a horse, I do admire you, and your way of taking everything in stride, and your love of life.  gg

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  15. I guess the term "dumb as a horse" really does apply!

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