Ridecamp: [RC] We lost our beautiful horse tonight

Our horse had been fine and very happy and energetic up till yesterday. She started feeling a little "crampy". With vet supervision we administered banamine and took away her food. She got better and and went thru the night quite well and was great in the morning. Later in the afternoon the next day she got "funny" again. However, she had no temperature, capillary refill normal, heart rate normal, eyes clear and bright, eating, pooping, (yes pooping), drinking, not dehydrated at all. But, she would lie down a lot. I though maybe she was just tired but I kept an eye on her. My daughter had taken her for a little walk down the street in the morning and she enjoyed it very much. But by 4:00 she got very irritated and started to lie down and get up. No nipping of sides, STILL no abnormal vitals, just lying down. No rolling. We called the vet because something wasn't right, and she did have some colicy signs obviously. The vet came out, vitals still normal but she was obviously in great discomfort but why. He palpated her, still...no twist, no obstruction, no impaction (she had been passing normal poops all day). He gave her a large dose of medication for pain relief. Didn't work...waited about 15 minutes...gave her another...she was getting worse, wobbly. On palpation he said the bands in the dorsal colon didn't feel normal and the wall was distending..he didn't know why. We had to decide if we wanted to take her to Davis and she might not make the trip. We had to make a decision. He gave her one more dose for pain. Not working. We felt in no uncertain terms that her wall was just minutes from rupturing and we felt the trailer ride she would not make, and she would be suffering and thrashing. We very tearfully decided to let her go. We wanted to end her suffering not prolong it. We hope we did the right thing but it is so painful. What I'd like to know is has anyone had an experience like this without knowing what the cause is? I just can't understand what happend or why. Why did she seem so normal up till the last? It was so acute. She was beautiful and sweet and we loved her and now she has gone. I wanted to share this in hopes that this wouldn't happen to someone else like this. If your horse is even slightly not normal don't hesitate to call for help. This was weird and the vet said he could not explain why her vitals weren't indicative of anything..only the extreme pain. Hope you all hug your horses tonight a little tighter! And never forget to tell them you love them. I swear they understand. Please fogive me if my typing isn't great I'm still crying and I can't see well...

[RC] We lost our beautiful horse tonight - Kathie Ford