Dec 19

Baxter had been doing so well, too well…I guess. I should know that with a horse in this bad of shape there are going to be ups and downs, and today we had our first down — a mild gas colic. I just started him on a small amount of beet pulp last night and he’s just getting a couple of cups twice a day but it might have been enough of a change to bring it on. He was pooping but still very uncomfortable, laying down and looking at his side. The worst is he is so weak that he was having a hard time getting himself back up and a couple of times he was too weak to get himself up, which brought back memories of what we went through with Whisper last year at this time. But fortunately he perked right up with some Banamine, electrolytes and some probiotics and seems ok now, although he’ll need to be checked on and no food for a while. Poor guy!

Dec 20

Baxter is doing much better, although I forgot when I put him back in his stall yesterday that he is a master escape artist and to put a lock on his door…so this morning I found him outside his stall calmlyl munching on the new hay supply in the shed.…bad boy! That is the third time he has done that. He knows how to lift the latch on the stall doors and slide it! He was a bit subdued today, not quite as ferocious about mealtimes but other than that pooping and acting like normal. I worked on his rain rot quite a bit today too…he is so itchy!