By: Paul & Kathy Payne

When it comes to our life with horses, the last time we were sure we had died and gone to heaven was Aug 22, 2000, when our seven year old Quarter horse mare, Zips Foxy Step, “Lightning”, trotted up to the gate to come in for the night. This may not sound like a big deal, until you hear “the rest of the story”.

Lightning was my husband’s western pleasure show horse for several years. She gave her heart and soul every time she stepped into the arena and brought home many ribbons. We decided to give her a couple of years off, let her be a mom and enjoy some well-deserved R&R. She was in great condition, breezed through pregnancy and, on April 6, 2000, presented us with her first foal, a beautiful bay stud colt.

[private]Things were going great until the day the colt, “Rusty”, was eight weeks old. On the morning of June 1, 2000 we came home from work to find her down in the pasture. We got her up and into the barn and realized she was colicking. We gave her banamine and when she didn’t improve, took her to our vet, Dr. Roger Cole, that afternoon. He oiled her and kept her overnight. We went by to check on her the next morning and he thought she was better so we brought her home. When we got home, every time she passed manure she rolled.

Dr. Cole had us bring her back and told us to be prepared in case we had to take her to MU, the University of Missouri Vet Hospital. While we were at his clinic, she passed the oil he had put in 24 hours earlier and he was able to feel a band on her colon. He said, “if you care about her you need to take her to MU now, before she gets any worse”. Of course, having been our vet forever and knowing how we feel about our horses, he had no doubt about our answer. He called MU and told them we were on our way. It was a three-hour drive. One of the longest three hours of our lives.

We were met at our trailer by Dr. Templer and a tech. By then, Lightning was hurting so bad that it took my husband, Paul, and five others to keep her on her feet while they examined her. The belly tap was normal except for her white blood count and with the pain medicine she was now feeling better.

They said she was kind of a borderline case, not what they would expect with a severe colic or twist, so they would just watch her. The surgeon had no sooner said that when she got down and rolled again. They said they couldn’t wait, they needed to go in and see what was wrong so at 11 pm they started prepping her for surgery.

One of the most helpless feelings we have ever had in our lives is watching her being hoisted, upside-down and lifeless, onto the operating table. It was hard enough to watch her foal being sedated and left in the stall and seeing her led into the pre-op room, but none of that can compare to seeing this big, beautiful, loving mare helpless and being lifted like a side of beef!

When they got inside, they found a 180 degree twist of her large colon. They said she should have exhibited tremendous pain signs, much more that what they were seeing, but that some mares have such strong maternal instincts that they won’t give in to pain in order to take care of their babies. Lightning had been an excellent mother from the minute Rusty hit the ground and now she had put his life ahead of hers!

Dr. Kramer, the surgeon, couldn’t untwist her colon because of the weight of the feed and manure so they rolled a table up beside her and, as we watched, laid her intestines on the table. They made a small incision, cleaned the colon, sewed it up and untwisted it, then replaced it and sewed her up.

Immediately after the recovery room she was once again standing over Rusty and being a mom.

Four days after surgery she was a walking skeleton and we were hysterical. The MU staff assured us that this was normal after colic surgery. They started her on Equine Senior and alfalfa hay. We brought her home 10 days after surgery and for the next 12 weeks fed her four times a day and gradually put the weight back on her. You can imaging the sleep we lost adhering to a schedule that included four feedings, hand-walking for her and exercise time for Rusty. We graduated from stall rest to a round pen, then a larger pen and finally back on pasture with another mare and her foal.

Through this whole ordeal Lightning was a sweetheart. Even when she was so hungry for a bite of anything she was never aggressive or ill-tempered. Not even when we made her hand-walk instead of picking grass! We finally got back to twice daily feedings, staying out all night and a year later we started riding her again.

Lightning is our miracle. She is truly a special horse. She has made us realize how precious life is and how lucky we are to have her in our lives. She has taught us to slow down and appreciate the time we spend with our horses. We could go on and on about the things we have learned from her! She isn’t famous or a world champion but she showed us that it is possible to overcome all obstacles while remaining sweet, kind, caring, the perfect friend and a great mother.

God saved her. Our vet recognized the problem and sent her to MU before any tissue died. The vets at MU knew exactly what to do and took excellent care of her. And we witnessed a miracle that is still going on today. Seeing her at death’s door on the operating table, then watching her come back to life is a miracle that will stay with us forever.

Now you can see why watching her trot to the gate to meet us each night is such a high!

Payne Quarter Horses is a small 40 acre farm with seven registered Quarter horses, 3 dogs and 2 cats. We have a grown son and a daughter-in-law. We both have outside jobs so Paul shows western pleasure when he gets a chance and we trail ride when we can.[/private]