Mini Death: need answers

I am new to this so I hope I am doing this correctly. We have 2 minis. Unfortunately one died today and I am looking for answers to keep this from happening to my other mini. She was about 11 years old. I let her into a pasture twice a day for a couple hours at a time to graze. Then she gets hay. I took her out this morning and noticed she didn't immediately start to eat which she usually does. I checked on her a little later and she was laying down which she sometimes does but only later in the day. So I went out to her and got her up but she still didn't start to eat. It was going to be hot so I decided to get her into shade and just give her hay. She still didn't eat. I came out a little later and she was down again and seemed to be breathing harder. I got her up. She then started to paw the ground and stagger around which scared me so I called the vet. He thought it was colic and said to first try Bentamine (spelling?) so I sent my son to town and get it and called my husband to come home. My daughter and I went out to keep her out of the sun and keep cool rags on her because she seemed to be sweating. Things quickly got worse. She fell over and then was rolling on her back. She seemed in pain. She also seemed to stiffen her legs will she laid there. Before my son could even get home, she died with my daughter and I by her side. The vet said since it was so quick, he figured it was a twisted intestine. I am crushed. She was a pet. Any thoughts on this? Sorry it is so long but wanted you to know all the details. This all happened within a 3 hour span. She seemed fine the night before.

Thats a bit of a tough way to find out about colic. Sometimes it just happens like that.You did the right thing calling the vet. In a case like that there wasn't much you could have done. Keep the banamine on hand so if there is a next time it is there.

Keep on reading on forums like this and learn to recognise when something is amiss. There are so many things that can go wrong with horses and all you can do is try and keep yourself educated.

Im sorry for your loss but that happened really fast and you did all you can.
I would aslo suggest keep reading this and learn form everyone :)

That sounds just like what happened to a yearling of mine earlier this year when he had colic and died. It was absolutely horrible. I don't know where you're located, but I send my colt to a diagnostic center to find out what caused the colic, to make sure my other horses didn't get into it. It doesn't cost much, and they'll also dispose of the animal afterwards, at least at the University of Kentucky. My vet made it out about 5 minutes after he died, but I caught it late, after I came home from work. It's devastating at first, and you fret over things you could have done differently, but you'll start to feel better eventually.

Thanks for your replies. I will continue to educate myself. It just went so fast. At first the only sign was the not eating. From the time she showed other signs, (sweating, rolling, pawing, staggering) until the time she died, was only a little over an hour. I do not know about a place that would have tested her around here. (we live in ND) and it was hot here so we wanted to take care of her quickly. We called our vet on options of her final rest and were givien choices of the landfill or zoo which were not options to us or burying her. So we buried her in our pasture. Quite a lot of digging by hand for us, but it was worth it to have her close. My real concern now is my other mini. I know horses are social animals. Will he be okay alone? I really can't even think of replacing my Fancy right now.

Keep an eye out for the other one getting stressed. A lot of horses are fine by themselves. Give him a week and see how he's going.

It does seem like it was an awful bout of colic, but JUST to be on the safe side, take a walk around your pasture and make sure there are no poisonous plants out there and then out of curiousity, what type of hay do you feed?

It really does sound like colic though and I think you did the right thing. I had a friend that had that happen, just as quick, fine one moment and gone just a few hours later. They sent her to a vet school for testing and it turned out she had a "floating tumor" is the best way I can describe it, it blocked her intestines and caused her to go septic. Very, very sad.

I'm sorry for your loss.

Was she vaccinated recently for tetanus? The leg stiffening and sudden onset sounds very much like tetanus.

So sorry for your loss, sounds like such a bad case :( when horses and ponies get colic they will try to roll but I've always been told not to let them because it can twist up their intestines, correct me if I'm wrong. It sounded like you all loved her very much, again sorry for your loss.
Posted via Mobile Device

I forgot to add that I am so sorry that you lost a little horse, my post seemed very cold and I didn't mean it like that at all. I hope your other little girl is OK.