I wasn't sure what P and I were going to work on this evening in the dark, but I was determined to do something with her. No matter what, we HAD to do something productive tonight considering this week's weather forecast:
SNOW TONIGHT?!? THREE DEGREES ON THURSDAY NIGHT?!? Al Gore, why hast thou forsaken me??? Between impending precipitation and forecasted sub-freezing temps most of the week, riding is not going to happen. Let's not kid ourselves here.
When I got to the barn directly after work, I realized I had forgotten my barn coat at home. Drat, especially since my hat and gloves were in the pocket. While I was a bit chilly, I was not deterred.
I brought P in from the field and started grooming when I noticed something wasn't quite right. P was standing perfectly quietly on the crossties... too quietly. Normally she's alert, looking around, leaning into me when I curry the itchy spots, etc. Tonight she was just standing there like a statue.
Out came the thermometer-- 101.7F. Drat again. I whipped out my stethoscope and jumped into vet tech mode. Her resp was normal (12 bpm), heart rate normal (36 bpm), feet felt fine, digital pulses normal. Then I go to check her gums and capillary refill time. Her gums looked fine, CRT normal. But her gums are tacky. Double drat.
Luckily, she had plenty of gut sounds in all four quadrants. And then some. If anything, she sounded boarderline hypermotile... not good, but better than my fear that I'd hear nothing.
My impaction worries were lessened, but I was still concerned about her water intake. P spikes fevers if you look at her cross-eyed, so that's not the end of the world. But if she's not feeling up to drinking adequate amounts of water, well... that's the recipe for disaster in a cold snap.
I gave her a gram of bute, then made her a nice mash of soaked alfalfa cubes with some e-lytes. Her appetite definitely wasn't affected. She scarfed the soupy mess down in about 30 seconds and begged for more.
I left her in the stall with some hay and a bucket of warm water, then went and got B to groom. He was the picture of normal. But he got a mash of soaked alfalfa cubes and e-lytes, too, just to be safe. A little extra water never hurt any horse this time of year. :)
I re-took P's temp again afterwards and she was already down to 101F. She had passed a pile of normal manure in the stall and drank about 1.5 gallons of water. Plus, she was acting like her usual bright and inquisitive (i.e. annoying) self. I figured that was enough for me to kick her back outside with her friends.
I'm pretty confident P's temp is nothing serious, but it looks like I'll be out at the barn bright and early tomorrow to reassess. It's always something, I swear. Part of me thinks if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. But I guess I should count my blessings that it doesn't appear to be anything serious.
(Famous last words, right?)
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