A Scare

Last night I came later than usual to clean Kachina and Fancy's paddock and I had an awful scare. I came in to find Fancy lying down on her side, unresponsive to my calling or even to my presence. It's amazing how quickly the human heart can go from relaxed and normal to oh-my-god-I'm-having-a-heart-attack in less than a second.

I walked over to her, calling to her, and still she wouldn't respond, although her eyes were partially open. I pushed on her a little and she lifted her head, then flopped back down again. Immediately I thought it was colic, but she wasn't showing any of the other signs (groaning, rolling, pawing, poking her belly with her nose). I pushed again, harder, and she finally got onto her feet and walked away a few steps. Just when I thought I could relax, she whirled on me and tried to kick me!

We spent the rest of the night observant but wary of her, while she stood there and lashed her tail around (and it's freezing here right now, so I'm positive there were no flies) and looking just generally dull. I also noticed that there was some very loose, diarrhea-type poop that I'm 99.9% sure was hers. We stayed with her as long as we could - until almost nine o'clock - and didn't see any further troubling signs.

What worries me is that Fancy isn't particularly trusting, and she's not attached to me at all, and I wouldn't say that she knows me very well, so I find it very odd that she'd remain down on her side when I approached her. I mean, she didn't even twitch her tail in my direction. And then to walk off, turn around, and try to kick me?

I'm just hoping that she was (really, really) deep in sleep, with her eyes open, and me waking her up just startled her into kicking. Or that she was just cranky - I'd be fine with that. Donna and Tony weren't home, but I left them a message explaining what happened. I haven't heard back yet.

Kachina, however, was dashing around the paddock, as happy to see us as always. Although I noticed she was being wary of Fancy too.