Scotty

It is never easy to announce the passing of one of our horses, and harder still when the passing is so unexpected. Scotty left this earth last week, following a sudden and painful colic. This was his third colic in five months, in addition to the ulcers we had been trying to help him combat. Clearly, Scotty’s GI system was not a happy one, but last week’s battle was the last it will ever have to fight.

When Kaya arrived at the barn last Friday, Scotty was standing in his stall, head hung low. For anyone who has ever seen Scotty in the AM, you would know how eager he is to get outside to his turnout. Not so on that day. After taking vitals, where we found his temp to be very low (96) and his gut sounds to be reduced, we called our vets at Rainland and got the OK to give banamine. As if sensing we were on the phone with the vet, Scotty went down in his stall to further tell us that something was not right.

We brought him out to the round pen to better monitor him, and to keep him away from potentially casting himself in his stall. In the roundpen, he wanted to lie down again, and because he was not thrashing or going from up to down in quick succession, we allowed him to rest, which he did for the entire hour while we waited for the banamine to kick in. Even though he was lying quietly, there was no doubt in anyone’s mind who saw him that he was clearly uncomfortable.

An hour passed, and it was clear the banamine had had no impact on Scotty’s comfort levels. When we got him up to take his vitals again, he was incredibly reluctant to rise. He was also trembling, and while his heart rate was still technically in normal range (40), it was incredibly apparent that he was not feeling anywhere close to good.

The vet arrived, and as she was getting his vitals, Scotty had a reflux. As we pivoted to tubing him, his trembling increased, and while sedation helped him feel that he didn’t have to lie down, it was not helping his shakes. The vet was also struggling to place the tube, which she felt was indicative of a potential larger problem. His temperature, that she managed to get before the reflux began, was still very low.

Sometimes, even though there is more that technically could be tried, the horse lets you know that they don’t want that. This was one of those times. Even though Bonnie was the one to use her human words to express that we felt it was time to let him go, Scotty was communicating the same thing.

Scotty passed peacefully on a beautiful, sunny day, in the company of a handful of the humans who loved him and with his horse friend Lance nearby to give him additional comfort. It is never easy to have one pass so unexpectedly, but we take comfort knowing that while he was at SAFE, we did what we could to help him be more comfortable in his body and mind as a horse, and that his memory and his sweet, sweet face will live on in the hearts of many.

Don’t ever let anyone tell you that unicorns don’t get bellyaches.

Scotty, our grey arab gelding, is short only the horn when it comes to resembling a mythical creature. His stately figure and long, flowing locks are something out of a story book. His personality, too, is somewhat fitting with what you might expect from a creature who has made a job out of leading people to feel it does not exist — somewhat aloof, a bit on the nervous side. But while these traits may be beneficial for unicorns, alas, in the real horse world, they are less desirable. Scotty’s tendency towards anxiety makes him a candidate for the villain of this story: ulcers.

We first noticed something was amiss when he went off his food. On a Sunday morning, our barn staff arrived to greet the day and the horses to find that Scotty still had hay in his net, left over from the night before. He turned up his nose at his morning mash, and once turned out with his breakfast hay, gave it a sniff before excusing himself from the table. Over the course of the day, he was somewhat interested in eating, taking bites here and there, but was not in possession of the vacuum cleaner mentality that most horses adopt around their food. And while it is true that some horses are less enthusiastic eaters than others, Scotty had not before been so disinterested. However, he was drinking water, and he was passing manure of regular consistency and with normal frequency. It did not initially seem so major as to suggest a colic or immediate emergency, and so we kept a close eye on Scotty with our thumb poised over speed dial to our vets.

A call from night check was the determining factor. Scotty was down in his stall — not thrashing, as we have seen in severe colic situations, but clearly not right. We removed his hay (despite his lack of interest, we didn’t want to grant him access in the event it was a colic) and got to work collecting vitals. One vet call and an hour after banamine later, Scotty was up and nosing about for hay scraps. We watched him on the cameras overnight, where he was quiet — no worsening of symptoms. The next morning, he was acting hungry, and had passed manure overnight, which the vet took as good signs. We could begin reintroducing food, beginning with about 1lb of hay, wet down to help increase his hydration. He seemed happy for the snack, and tucked right in, a good sign. In addition to this hay offering, our vet also had us give him sucralfate, in case there was an ulcer component. Foreshadowing!

Typically, in situations such as these, colics or cases where we need to monitor a horse for water intake and manure output and behavioral changes, we would isolate them from other horses. But Scotty, dear Scotty, is the anxious type, and without his friends around, would become even more so. Thus we made the decision to turn him out with his friends, setting up a chair to closely monitor him in turnout throughout the day. He got another small meal several hours after his first, but this one was less interesting to him. While he did initially tuck in, he lost interest after several minutes, and wandered away as he had been doing. He was also exhibiting some minor signs of distress, shifting his weight and stretching his neck, pawing intermittently. The kinds of things that are close to being blink-and-you-miss-it, if not already there. After sending this update to our vets, they had us give him a tube of gastroguard. His discomfort did seem to decrease, and while his appetite didn’t fully return, several hours later he was more interested in food then he’d been earlier in the day. This trend continued, and he did not become more painful or have his symptoms worsen. By morning, he was looking hungry, and tucked into the small amount of food that we offered. He also got another tube of gastroguard, and a date set for a scope to check for ulcers.

At that scope, it was revealed that yes, ulcers were plaguing our sweet Scotty. The main offenders were on his pylorus (glandular ulcers), which tend to be more difficult to treat and more likely to reoccur. We were to continue Scotty on a regime of twice daily sucralfate, as well as a tube of gastroguard once a day for four weeks, and rescope him at that time.

Following this treatment plan, Scotty returned to his normal self. His appetite came back, and he no longer showed signs of pain or discomfort around eating. He didn’t love so much the daily gastroguard, but some patient work surrounding handling his mouth showed vast improvement with his willingness to get a paste appetizer each morning.

The four weeks ticked along, as they are wont to do. At his rescope, there was some pretty significant improvement — though not total resolution — of the ulcers in his pyloric region. His ‘greater curvature,’ a region that includes the squamous mucosa, glandular mucosa, and margo plicatus, looked primarily healthy on both scopes, with one singular spot of ulceration possible on the latter. 

After the findings of the second scope, our vets decided to switch up the medication route. Scotty would be given a tab of Misoprostol once every 8 hours. Thanks to a handy-dandy automatic feeder, his middle of the night pill could be administered without a human having to set an alarm. He has been a very good boy about taking this pill out of a horsey pill pocket (hollowed out carrot). We have also introduced Purina Outlast to his diet, and good ole sucralfate remains a twice daily staple. 

Scotty will continue to be in work going forward, though we will take it slow. It would be counterproductive to stop work entirely until the ulcers fully resolve, as the reintroduction might cause a flare up. Instead, we are keeping things on the easier side for him as we actively treat.

Scotty’s next scope is in a few weeks time, and we will hopefully see a very happy GI system at that point. In the meantime, we are thankful for the wonder of modern medicine and the guidance of our vets to help us help our sweet, sensitive unicorn boy!

Scotty arrived at SAFE with his half-sibling Violet, the two of them essentially attached at the hip. In order to foster new and healthy relationships (and mitigate the herdboundness that existed in each of them), we made a point of introducing them to new friends once they were off their quarantine. Scotty popped over into our ‘boys herd’ (we are a mare-heavy organization, and thus only have one herd of geldings at present) to join the likes of Montana, Artie, and new member Lance.

The day we introduced Scotty was the day that Delcan, another tall gangly arab, left for foster. Although the intricate rituals of nostril-sniffing are beyond our measly human comprehension, it seemed from an outside perspective that, to the horses in Paddock 17, Declan had just changed color. There was no fanfare upon Scotty’s arrival, merely a look from Artie that said ‘why are you introducing me to a horse I already know?’ Montana had similar thoughts, and thus, a new herd was born.

However, interestingly enough, Scotty has usurped Montana as ruler of the pack. He lords over the dirt and hay with the same mostly benevolent leadership that his pinto counterpart showed, though will occasionally move that state-named horse off a haybox just to prove that now he is, in fact, the Primary Mover of Feet. He and Artie have become fast friends, with the two never far from one another during mealtimes, proving that while he may be king, he is not opposed to breaking bread with his subjects.

Scotty enjoys being in a paddock that butts up to one of the Mare Herds, and spends his days checking out the pretty ladies next door. It’s great to see him be such an amicable herdmate, and speaks well to his future as a friend to not only a human, but also to some lucky mare or gelding!

When we intake a horse who we know for a fact has had a riding background, we are equal parts hesitant and hopeful. There is a chance that what the horse has been taught will make for a relatively easy re-start — the mere fact they have been saddled before eliminates some speculation as to how that is going to go. Of course, there are always many variables that make it so that we always treat a horse upon intake like it is brand new to this world. The process progresses more quickly (in some cases) for those who have prior riding experience, but for some, we find that the horse’s education is akin to a swiss cheese: many holes.

Scotty had been started under saddle, and spent some years in the Arabian show circuit. It had been a while (he last hit the town in 2017), but we were interested to see where he might pick up once we got him going in our program. The answer was: not very far. Scotty is a sensitive lad, and also a bit nervy, as can be common in his breed. While he was able to be cinched up with no issues, it was clear that his groundwork needed help. Which, in turn, meant that under saddle he would have the same braces.

It was clear from the get-go that Scotty lacked appropriate balance. It was easy to tell by his headset. Arabians don’t, in fact, need to keep their heads up like a periscope at all times. He put a lot of his weight on his front end, which in turn meant there was a high chance of him feeling the need to rear when stuck, and moving him out freely in the round pen, he looked fast and panicked in his gaits, another indication of poor balance.

But Scotty is a smart cookie with a lot of try, and we were sure we could help him find comfort through balance.

His first ride really solidified what we already knew to be true, which was that even if he was ‘safe’ to ride, aka not too bothered about having a rider and not particularly inclined to buck them off or try anything too western, as they say, he still need help. It was seen mostly when he moved up into the canter and nearly tripped and fell, simply because how out of balance he was. Kaya, who would be his primary rider, had a goal set for her, which was to help him find his feet through lots of hindquarters. She would work on strengthening the basics before loping him out again to ensure his success.

Building out Scotty’s toolkit would take some time, because despite his past as a riding horse, it was clear he needed more support to ensure his future success. But as is the case with all horses, no matter their background, Scotty will be given as much time and assistance as he needs here at SAFE before he is off to his forever home!