Monday I got to the barn to find Bestie just coming back after being walked in the indoor because she seemed a little under the weather. She was pretty zoned out, but not exhibiting any of the colic symptoms I've seen before like agitation, biting at her side, trying to roll, etc. She just seemed really out of it. I took her back out to the indoor and walked her for about 10 minutes and she placidly walked along with me.
We then came back in and I put her on the cross ties to groom her. She was fine, just kind of hanging out, but definitely reacted when I started currying her stomach; pinning her ears and kind of rolling her eyes back toward me. Her stomach seemed a little bloated.
I pulled her hay out of the stall and dumped her grain out. Then we stood there staring at each other for a good long while; her in the stall and me in the aisle. After a couple of minutes she seemed to sort of doze off, then she started vacuuming up the microscopic bits of hay that were left in her stall and she seemed much perkier.
But about 20 minutes later she went into zone-out mode again and laid down in her stall. She still didn't seem agitated at all, just really wiped out and without the usual sparkle in her eye. By then Emma the barn manager had come back, so we both stood in the aisle watching Bestie and debating whether she should get some banamine and whether I should call the vet. I ended up not doing either. I think because she seemed so calm I had a feeling she would work her way through it. I think everyone at the barn was a little on edge this week because one of the other horses had a pretty severe colic, although he eventually came out of it fine.
Emma checked Bestie's pulse, respiration, and whether she appeared dehydrated, and she checked out ok. The whole time Bestie was lying down she was pretty gassy. Really gassy. Amazingly gassy! When she finally got up and Emma went in to check her temperature (normal) she let loose with what seemed like the final blast. And within about 15 minutes, she completely perked up and started in with her classic very pointed looks at the hay cart, standard procedure when she's out of hay. It had passed, literally as it turned out, because she also pooped.
The whole episode was very strange as she had only been on grass for a couple hours and then was switched back to one of the paddocks with the scrub grass. But the weather has been very changeable, so maybe it was that in combination with the grass. Who knows, really. All I know is that it was scary seeing my crazy girl without her spark. Glad that she's ok.
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