Bored and Busy - Jetblue on the Mend

Over the past couple of days, I've had some pretty good visits with Jetblue's surgeon Dr. Parker.  While there is no clear underlying cause for what happened to Jetblue -- the displacement of her bowel which required emergency life saving surgery -- the filly does have one big risk factor.  She cribs.   Horses that crib or grab onto a surface and suck air are far more likely to colic.  We've tried to minimize this behavior as much as possible, but we clearly have more to do.

For now, Jetblue is off both of her antibiotics and being weaned off her pain medication.  She's made phenomenal progress on every front but one.  Jetblue is still on IV fluids because she's not drinking her water.  And...  she bit Dr. Parker yesterday.

This afternoon, Don and I spun down to Corvallis.  When we first saw Jetblue, I thought she was eating her bedding.  Not true.  What she was doing was sifting through the bedding for any stray pieces of hay.  We gloved up and entered her stall, expecting to pet her.  Instead, she pinned her ears, the queen bee of CRANKY.

Looking over her chart, I learned that Jetblue is up to three flakes of hay per day, has passed five piles of manure in the past day-and-a-half, is cribbing badly enough to warrant a grazing muzzle, has gone out and grazed well, and is generally developing a bad ass attitude.  That a girl.
Here's a snapshot of Jetblue messing with my camera.

Don told me he thinks Jetblue looks really good, that everything is going to be all right.  I agree with him on both counts, but I also know that Jetblue may always be a high risk for colic or have related trouble.  At some point in time, she may even lose her life to colic.  As the filly's advocate, all I can do is my best and that has to be good enough.