The life of an Outfitter / Horse owner can get crazy. We always knew this going into this business, but we got a good tasting of it all this week. Thursday night I checked my cell phone and there was a call from Peter... From his cell phone. This could mean one of 2 things: a) They got their elks early in camp and he and the clients were out early (yay!) OR b) something is wrong and they had to come out of camp for a very bad reason.
It turned out to be B. Our friend and camp chef Russell used the radios to radio Peter while they were hunting on Thursday that our Aster horse was acting really funny, laying down alot, rolling around and kicking. If you have ever heard anything about horses, this is BAD! These are signs and symptoms of colic (when the horses intestines start bunching up and they often die). So, Pete boogied back down to camp, saw they yes, she was in bad shape and got on his horse and pulled Aster out. To Ennis (a 3 hour trip for Peter from camp) they went first, hoping getting her drier and out of the hills she might be better. He waited there for a few hours and she was at it again... Laying down, rolling, kicking her belly. Not good. So, at 10:30pm Pete makes the 1 hour drive to Bozeman to our vet. Thank goodness for on-call emergency vet services. I meet Pete there at 11:30pm and sure enough poor Aster is super lethargic, can hardly walk and sulking like she is in trouble... She was NOT herself. Jaycee, the vet checks her out, does the cavity reach in the rear (gross) and gives us the diagnosis. NOT colic (thank goodness), but EXTREME dehydration. Apparenlty this can happen to horses that are used as much as ours and are out in the conditions for so many days at a time. She was cold, wet, and not drinking enough water... She was just too tired or something to drink! Plus, with all the sweating and shivering, it made the dehydration worse.
So, we left her there hoping she would be alright by morning with some dry stalls and 3 large bags of fluids given to her intravenously. Turns out she was there for 2 and a half days, but she is all better now.
The good news: lessons learned
#1) You really can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink
#2) Try harder to force them to drink anyhow
#3) Horses don't have insurance like other business equipment you own... No deductibles here!
It turned out to be B. Our friend and camp chef Russell used the radios to radio Peter while they were hunting on Thursday that our Aster horse was acting really funny, laying down alot, rolling around and kicking. If you have ever heard anything about horses, this is BAD! These are signs and symptoms of colic (when the horses intestines start bunching up and they often die). So, Pete boogied back down to camp, saw they yes, she was in bad shape and got on his horse and pulled Aster out. To Ennis (a 3 hour trip for Peter from camp) they went first, hoping getting her drier and out of the hills she might be better. He waited there for a few hours and she was at it again... Laying down, rolling, kicking her belly. Not good. So, at 10:30pm Pete makes the 1 hour drive to Bozeman to our vet. Thank goodness for on-call emergency vet services. I meet Pete there at 11:30pm and sure enough poor Aster is super lethargic, can hardly walk and sulking like she is in trouble... She was NOT herself. Jaycee, the vet checks her out, does the cavity reach in the rear (gross) and gives us the diagnosis. NOT colic (thank goodness), but EXTREME dehydration. Apparenlty this can happen to horses that are used as much as ours and are out in the conditions for so many days at a time. She was cold, wet, and not drinking enough water... She was just too tired or something to drink! Plus, with all the sweating and shivering, it made the dehydration worse.
So, we left her there hoping she would be alright by morning with some dry stalls and 3 large bags of fluids given to her intravenously. Turns out she was there for 2 and a half days, but she is all better now.
The good news: lessons learned
#1) You really can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink
#2) Try harder to force them to drink anyhow
#3) Horses don't have insurance like other business equipment you own... No deductibles here!
Other good news was that I got to unexpectedly see Pete for 8 hours! After leaving the vet at 12:30am we stayed at his folks house (closer) and we had breakfast together. I had not planned on seeing him for good for another week! Bless his heart, he was TIRED and very worn out... To be expected. The weather at camp has been terrible and they are riding MANY miles each day to find the elk. It has been 15 degrees each day, snowing / or raining, and to conserve wood, Pete has not been lighting a fire in the guides tent... That's right, he is sleeping with NO heat all week. Brrr....
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