Colic Scare

I was out visitig the ranch this weekend and Rain my Arabian x Paint filly was acting strange. She'd get up and lay down and get up again. Roll around alot but it wasn't like happy rolling, she'd just barely wriggle around then lay flat but rigid. Her tail was all crooked too. Everytime she would try to bend down and eat her food her hind legs got all funny like it hurt them or her back. So I called the vet immediately and described everythig I saw. She was also pawing and trying to eat her food but reaching it seemed really hard. While I waited for a call back I walked her around a bit cause we had a horse get constipated once and it was kinda like that. Gave her some food by hand to see if she'd actually eat it. When i got the call back he said that she was having a bad case of Taco Bell Syndrome. Gas.... lolShe was in pain an wasn't sure what to do about it so that's why she was wondering around all funny.

aww! Poor baby!

LoL! Taco Bell Syndrome! That's funny :)
Glad she's okay though

I'm sorry, but I just can't see how a vet can make a diagnosis like that without an exam. While it makes you feel better, I would still be cautious and watch her closely for the next few days. We had a patient that came in after a week of "sorta colicy on and off" but the rest of the time eating normally, playing, etc. She had a horrible impaction that had likely built up over those days as the owner said that the well water had been treated just prior to the start of symptoms and her mare hadn't been drinking much since.

I agree with Ryle here. How can your vet be certain if he wasn't able to see the horse? How can he be sure that you described everything accurately? (not saying you didn't but he doesn't know that 100%)

I do hope she's ok though. Colic is a very scary thing.

I'd third Ryle. I don't think that is what I would consider an appropriate response.

Hoping things turn out fine.

he did tell us to keep an eye on her, I forgot to mention that. She was fine after a couple hours and was fine the next morning and still good today.

I definitely agree with Ryle as well. Also, if you even suspect that your horse is colicking, don't feed him. It will make it worse. My horse just recently colicked. When I thought she was starting to feel better, I tried giving her some grain to see if she'd eat it (b/c she had been uninterested in food) which she did, but it only made her feel worse. Especially if its an impaction, the food will just build up.

I would definitely watch her, especially since she rolled. Watch for ANY signs of discomfort reappearing. If there is, get the vet out immediately. If she's still in pain, he needs to feel into her intestinal tract. As well, there is gastric colic, which is a build up of gas. All the signs you described sounded like colic. Colic is simply abdominal pain and sometimes it can be very mild. If she's feeling discomfort in her belly, its some form of colic.

Oh, and is she passing manure? If so, if its really dry, that is also a sign of colic. You want to see very soft manure.

Hope everything turns out okay. Not trying to scare you with this, just letting you know, because I just went through this last week, and colic can be very serious.

She passed poop when I was leading her around and it was very soft very healthy. :)

I had a horse once that was prone to colic like that every few months, and then one day he got it really bad and banamine and walking didn't get him over it so we rushed him to the clinic where they diagnosed a twisted gut and an operation was necessary to save his life. It was a success, but the recovery was long and he was never quite the same because of the healing that had to take place in the muscles that had to be cut.

I don't think we could have done anything different in his case, it was just bad luck, but now I am always careful to pour water on really dry hay to moisten it and always keep an eye on them to watch for problems.

banamine is a great drug, by the way, for most simple colics, it can relax things to where the horse can pass through the problem, but of course with a twist or impaction that can be a whole big different problem