Stopping Horse Colic
What every horse owner needs sitting on their shelf How SayWhoa from StopsColic saved my horse - written by Wendy Malone
What can I say....the word Horses from my childhood conjured up visions of riding the most beautiful horse in the world with flowing mane and tail galloping across my dreams and never touching down his feet on earthly soil....only to awake and realize....I must own horses and love horses forever. There began my journey with horses before I could even draw and read every horse book ever written.
I own the Spotted Fawn Paint and QH ranch now in Victor, Montana, which is just below the towering majestic mountains of the Bitterroot valley. The last best place to raise good mountain horses where they can still run free on big pastures of fresh air and fresh mountain streams. I run 40 head in the winter and 60 in the summers with 5 stallions.
I began this ranch in 1990 to upgrade the paint horse genetically to compete at top levels of all disciplines and as I learned from the early horsemen of old I worked with... you must test breed every stud and mare till you get it right and consistent. This took many stallions and mares to arrive at the consistent show quality performers I now raise and sell worldwide every year. It's a life's work and is all I do for a living this many years. I took vet tech classes, farrier classes, professional training programs for years with top trainers in the U. S. , horse show judging of classes and genetic studies of horses and dna discoveries.
My program to upgrade the Paint Horse led me to my top patriarch stallion of the most consistent world class show and using horses of this time period worldwide in the proven abilities of all his many offspring. THE Aztec Eagle is a genetic dominant wonder that dreams are made of and the realization of my childhood dreams. He is the most beautiful dancer of presence in his riding style and feels like he doesn't touch the earth when riding him as are his offspring. His disposition is one of natural affection and love for all humans. He has entertained the handicapped with kisses and hugs of women in wheelchairs, of little children hanging on his front legs, pulling his tail and his beautiful arched neck and head reaching down to rest on their little heads.
He is the one that inspired a young couple from Vermont who loves his offspring they bought so much that they wanted to be married on our Montana ranch with the prerequisite that Aztec be IN their wedding! And what a Montana western wedding it was with our cowboy preacher and cowboy singer and his guitar serenading them in our back yard with Aztec by their side. This is the kind of horse dreams are made of. More than just a horse.
Now on a December day this year of 2013 and one of our worst winters in 30 years they said...blizzards, high winds, snow and ice on the roadways and mountain passes too dangerous to travel if not necessary... .my stallion Aztec this Sunday late afternoon at below zero temps....I saw my 17 year old sweet heart of my heart lying down in the snow with his morning feed untouched. I immediately knew when looking around his stall and area that not one new pile had been passed all day so far and an area or two where he'd rolled in the snow.
Winter time is always a higher risk of colic than in summers we find and watch for it, however with our program we very seldom have colic here, but today....Aztec was in distress. So out comes the traditional 'intestinal tract relaxants' to give him right away along with probiotics and we also load up horses into a horse trailer which tends to make their gastrointestinal tract react nervously and the first thing horses usually want to do is make a pile when they load into a horse trailer. Very effective on many cases, except not this time. Aztec was only wanting to lie down and not eat or drink, but looking at his side and fleering his lips in discomfort. We did all we could for him for now and night fell dark and cold.
We checked on him thru the night but no change yet. After 24 hours of hoping the intestinal relaxant meds and all else a vet would do, nothing was working but he was worsening and now my only option was surgery, in which for many reasons I choose not to do at his age and this stage of severity. A day after all out treatments, and watching him not able to rise and stay up anymore, we came out once and found him rolled under the panels with both back legs under them where he'd thrashed so much he cut his back legs, cut the side of his face he was banging in a frozen ground area and his eye was swollen and bleeding and he was in severe pain. At that moment in time my life and his flashed thru my mind that his last breath is a heartbeat away any moment.
WE could not free him, he was giving up and as I held his head in my lap all bleeding and teeth clenched showing his great pain, my husband Gary said he was going to get the 4 wheel drive truck and we'd have to try and pull his back legs out and his body backwards to free his legs and head. Freezing conditions of snow falling on us out there alone with horses around him watching this death scene play out, I was asking Aztec to hang on for me and we would help him. Please don't give up Aztec I whispered over and over praying God would not let him die like this and my memory always filled with this as my last day with my beloved friend.
Minutes seemed like hours as finally Gary arrived with the truck and put ropes around his back legs while I held his head and neck still and as he ground the gears backwards slow and sure in the snow and ice, Aztec remained still as I asked him and his legs and body slowly going under the panels down deep in the snow and I let go of his head to go with his body into a complete freedom now of his body. We gaited off the area where he lay and put a blanket under his eye and head as he rested now and we cleared the area and went in to warm up a bit and more medicine. It had been two days now. No eating, no drinking, no piles and now this wounded soldier of mine lie still in the snow.
Morning had come early and colder than ever and Aztec was on his last hours I knew. He was holding on for me as I tried everything as a vet tech I knew to do to help him and as I walked back to the ranch house from morning chores I prayed: God...if there be ONE thing more I can do...please show me. When entering the back porch, my mind all of a sudden remembered a friend of mine a long while back mentioned a product that really worked for her horse that was in distress. It was new and worked for her. She said it was Stops Colic I thought and so quickly rushing in with snow covered boots and jacket removed I Googled up Stops Colic on the internet and there it was!!! I quickly read the website and their easy to read 'Find A Store' button I pushed and put in my area and NO stores in Montana close to me at all to get it and to order it Fed Ex even wouldn't be quick enough. The closest was in Idaho over 3 mountain passes of this dangerous winter storm we were in. I then called their 800 number in desperation and a calm and helpful voice of a very well educated woman named Reba answered and immediately began to help as if it were her going through this with her own horse. She helped me so much in calling up any ranch in my state that might have it, or store and as we went through every possibility she found with me that the closest was this drive to Couer D'Alene, Idaho at 'Cooperative Supply. This was my only hope to get this Stops Colic to Aztec in one day. So I called and YES!!! they had some bottles of SayWhoa! by Stops Colic and said he would put a couple on the counter for me and open till 6pm and it would be a 4 hour drive in this snow and ice through the mountain passes to get to him and then back 4 hours to Aztec. The man was so kind and helpful and worried about Aztec and would be there to help us quickly.
I told Gary and he said: I'm outta here! He took a thermos of hot coffee and my homemade chocolate chip cookies he lives on....and in minutes he was in the big truck headed to Idaho. It was now my job to keep Aztec alive till Gary returned with this miracle product to heal him. I would sit with Aztec in the snow, now lying down with teeth clenched sitting on top of the snow holding up his head and almost lifeless body now. Eye swollen, legs cut and barely breathing. I prayed and pleaded for him to please hold on and told him all about this Stops Colic that was coming to heal him and it would and I promised he'd be ok if he'd just hold on with me till Gary got back. Hour after hour I went out and stroke his ears at the base up to help soothe his intestines as this does help and then I took a syringe of saline solution to try and get into him off and on and he would not take it.
Gary called to tell me each pass he'd gotten over with the snow and not much traffic that way and was ok. When in to warm up I read all the website and watched the colic video that I could so well relate to, but my sweet Aztec was over two days now of severe colic and holding on just for me. Reba asked me to keep her posted and talked to me about how it worked and why and sure it would if we could get it to him in time.
It was a long, long day for me and Aztec, but he was not giving up totally even though each time I thought I'd find him gone when I went out. Darkness was starting to fall after I did the evening chores and fed horses around Aztecs pen so they'd keep him company and encourage him too. Gary was on his way back and Aztec slipping away into more pain and lethargy.
The last call came from Gary stating he was close now and to get Aztec ready. I ran through the snow to Aztecs pen area and pushed the syringe into his mouth that he hated me doing and it made him get up this time!!! Yayyy!!! He was actually UP and I haltered him and told him Gary was on his way and he'd be well real soon now and just had to walk to the barn area with lights with me. HE slowly walked past all the mares as they parted and let us through. Not one mare approached him or he take notice. He understood this was his chance and he was going to believe too.
Finally as we stood under the lights..... here came Gary with the life saving bottles of Stops Colic and I chose to use a 20cc syringe 4 times to be sure it didn't come back out his mouth and so Gary held his head and neck up as his strength was gone and as I told Aztec he Must swallow this and Must let me do this to save him, I put in the first syringe and Aztec.... well..... for the first time... he opened his mouth, swallowed immediately without one complaint as he Knew.... this WAS going to save him. All four syringe fulls, Aztec willingly opened and swallowed. Not one drop lost... and... the minute I got it all in and I sighed relief and told Aztec he'd be well.... he reached past my shoulder to grab a bite of hay by the haystack next to him as if to say: I Know I will live now. His first sign of living.
As they say.... THE Rest WAS History.... from that moment on... Aztec never laid down again. He began to drink down big buckets of warm water within an hour. He began to eat hay in that two hours and by bedtime he had one big soft pile of manure and through the night checking on him he was still eating and drinking and had 5 more soft piles of manure by early morning. Tears of joy and thanksgiving were unending all day with kisses and hugs to Aztec nonstop.
Days and weeks have now gone by and once the Stops Colic product was easily given to him that night, Aztec has never had one set back or problem. Within 3 weeks his eye was healed and no blindness or head trauma and his back legs healed of the cuts and the 3 days after the product he had many, many soft piles still and ate and drank and gained back all his weight and vigor. Aztec had never been sick a day in his life and the fact that this tragedy came I believe, was to see that my ranch and all my friends and clients learn to carry this product at their barns and in their horse trailers while on the road and several bottles like I now do in case someone else needs one and to catch any signs of any of my horses if it should happen again to immediately resolve the colic.
No horse of mine ever need to suffer colic pain again due to Stops Colic product SayWhoa! and has given me much peace of mind to know I am prepared to never see one of my horses suffer or die from this common killer. Through the ages we've had no defence for horses in distress before. There NOW is a remedy and it has been proven to work if used in time and correctly (even though in our imperfect world we all know there is no 100% cure everytime by any product for every situation) and if one like Aztec could show every severe deadly sign with rolling, and thrashing and two days of no food or water or piles.... then catching one right away will not have to suffer this way and can be healed much quicker.
No horse owner on this earth should be without this product wherever horses are found, as it is an effective formula with intelligent educated people to help you get started with one phone call from their website or FB site. We must get it into our horse supply stores so no one need drive to another state to find it. I can only say thank you God for helping me find Reba and SayWhoa! by Stops Colic and the store owner in Idaho for saving my best friend and world famous sire of show horses everywhere... THE Aztec Eagle.
Contact : Our Friendly Staff at Stops Colic 565 Blackjack Oak Rd Seguin, Texas 78155 Phone: 800-448-8180 Email: info@stopscolic.com Website: stopscolic.com
