First Resource or Last Resort?

We arrived at  Debbie Williams' Kozy Manor on TH afternoon, OCT 29.  We were there to help set up and teach at the Pacific Northwest Parelli Rally.  FRI was busy with the set up and I caught up with a farrier to trim the girls. (It was Sean Plumlee who had actually been my farrier back in CO years ago!)  Saturday and Sunday the event center was filled with instructors, volunteers and participants in spite of the worse rain they had seen in months!  Each day featured 25-30 different classes/workshops, with and without horses in all of the four savvies.  Over $6000 was raised for the youth, horse welfare, therapeutic, and educational scholarship efforts of the Parelli Foundation.

We had planned to depart on MON, but Debbie began rounding up student lessons for me so we stayed on and it's a good thing we did.
On TUE Debbie had encouraged Dave and me to take her truck to town so I could get a new phone (I

can actually send and receive texts now!) and do some shopping.  When we got back, I saw JoyFull walking down the hill in a very strange gait/stride.  She looked very stiff behind in both legs.  As I watched she layed down.  I checked her out.  Her temperature was normal, her gums a little dry, and respirations slightly elevated, but other than that and the fact she was not eating, she seemed fairly bright and happy.  Since I didn't know what she had been doing before I saw her, I just asked Dave to monitor her behavior while I taught a lesson and I would evaluate her again later.

After the lesson, she seemed more uncomfortable--getting down and up and sometimes rolling.  Her gums were dry and capilllary refill was slow.  Temp was still normal.  Respirations still slightly elevated.  I could not find a place to hear her pulse, but there were gut sounds.

I started red light treatment.   Debbie and her assistant, Pamela, arrived with some essentials oils and another light.  We worked on her about an hour and she seemed to brighten.  We stopped the treatements and watched.  She deteriorated again.  I gave her some Equine Colic Relief (my last bottle) and within minutes she pooped a little dry pile, then she left me and layed down...flat out.  She stayed there for half an hour...very still.

Finally, I did what I should have done first!  I knelt by her and prayed.  I don't know how/what to pray for animals (I strive to make all my prayers biblical so that I know that I am praying "according to God's will.") so I just prayed in the Spirit.  I found myself thinking of  Dazzle (see the post, "The Rest of the Story").  JoyFull's colic was very similar.  She was very stoic.  I found myself able to detach and let her go if that was necessary, but wondering then:  what was the last 2 years about??

The sun was setting and it was getting late enough that I had to make a decision about calling a vet.  I did.  I took a blanket out to protect her from the cold ground.  Once I got her up and the blanket on the vet was on the way, so I walked her up to the arena.  She seemed better...she wanted to eat.  Then the vet arrived.

He did a rectal exam and said it was a good call to have him come because she had an impaction.  He gave her oil and electrolytes and said I could give her small amounts of feed every hour through the night and some banamine once she woke up from the sedative.

After I gave her the banamine, she seemed very hungry.  I only allowed her a mouthful of hay then and put her in the arena while Dave and I had supper with Debbie and Pamela.  When I went back--about two hours later--she was neighing and running around and there were two big manure piles.  I took her back out to the pasture. (Vet said that was ok since there was only a little grass.)

In the morning she was eager to eat but we thought it might not be a good idea to give her a full feeding of hay yet.  I put her in the barn and gave her a few handfuls.  Around 11AM I gave her half a bucket of very wet alfalfa pellets...more a soup than even a mash.  She slurped that up and licked the bucket clean.  I put her back in tthe pasture and she grazed eagerly all afternoon.

Looking back it seems that either the accumulated effect of all the treatements or--more likely--the prayer, was the turning point!  Why, in these challenging situations, does it take me so long!?  Why is it my last resort instead of my first resource?

Is that what I was supposed to learn through this?  If I would have waited 15 more minutes and seen her starting to eat again, I would not have called the vet.  Perhaps if I had prayed when it started, she might not have had to suffer so long!  God's hand was definitely in the recovery.  The vet said that this kind of impaction usually takes 12-24 hours to resolve...for her it was less than 1/2 hour after I prayed that she wanted to eat again.

First resource or last resort?  Lord, help me to always make YOU my first resource!