*THUMP* I heard a loud noise behind me, as if something just hit the ground, I turned around to see Fardela and Sydney on the ground. I jumped off Alfie and ran over to them, "SYDNEY!" I screamed as she rubbed her head trying to get up from the fall, "WHAT JUST HAPPENED?" I looked at Fardela, worried, "I'm not sure, she just.... collapsed! She started to sway, and then just kind of fell over!" I looked at her, as she lied there, breathing heavy through her nose, and blinking slowly, I walked over, tears streaming down my face, and grabbed her bridle, "Sydney, grab Alfie for me I don't want him running away" I looked at Dela, "it's ok girly, it's ok, come on, we'll get you home" I whipped the tears away from my face and stood up, I grabbed the reins from her bridle and tried to get her up, slowly, she stood up, walking behind me, trying to lay down the whole time, "Sydney, get on Alfie and run back home, get someone to help and call the vet, tell her it's an emergency!" She nodded, looking worried, as I slowly encouraged Dela to walk forward and not stop. We got to the barn and I quickly put her in cross ties, to ensure she couldn't lay down, I waited for the vet, comforting her and pacing around the cement floor on the barn. I sat on a shiny wooden tack box in front of Callie, and look at her, as I felt a cold hand on my shoulder, "Clover I'm so sorry, I don't know what happened she seemed fine this morning, her stall was all picked out and water filled, she looked fine!" I looked at her in question, "I didn't pick out her stall or fill her water? What are you talking about? I only had time to do Alfies?" She removed her hand from my shoulder and looked at me in shock, "clover... she's colicing... she didn't poop at all last night or drink any water. If you didn't clean her stall, and I didn't clean her stall, that must mean it's colic" I jumped up and grabbed her, walking her back and forth up and down the isle, how could I have missed this? To be fair, she hasn't been showing any signs. The vet pulled in and I gave a sigh of relief, still worried, but at least I knew help was here. She rushed over, holding a large medical box. "Hey clover! Hey Dela, what seems to be the problem? Tell me what happened?" She said as she started examining her, listening to her heart beat and feeling her legs for heat or swelling. "Well, we went on a trail ride" Sydney said sounding worried, with a bit of a shaky voice as if she was about to cry, "she started to wobble, unable to hold herself up, and she just collapsed!" The vet looked up, "no pain in her legs, did she happen to poop last night? Eat anything, drink anything?" We looked at each other, "well, I thought Sydney cleaned her stall, and Sydney thought I cleaned her stall, but no, there was no poop, water filled to the brim, and almost no hay." The vet looked up, "seems like Colic to me. Keep her up, don't let her lay down, id walk her around a bit, and then we can put her in her stall and hook her to an IV, we can keep her tied up in the stall so she can't lay down, and hope she poops tonight" we shook our heads as I grabbed the Navy lead rope and had her walk, the vet started to get the IV ready, and the needle, I started to think, "I'm gonna have to miss the show tomorrow" I said, speaking over the loud hoof sounds on the cement ground. "No you can't! You and Alfie need this, please it's ok I'll stay with her tonight and keep an eye on her tomorrow, you go" Sydney looked scared, "Sydney, you didn't do anything wrong, it's not your fault. And it's ok! We can miss this, I'm sure I could use some more time training before I start showing anyway" the thing was, to be able to even start with bigger shows, I needed to go to a schooling show and make sure Alfie could handle the environment and stress. This was the last schooling show before the Novice events started, to sign up for Novice events, I needed to go to a schooling show, this would mess up my whole show career this year with Alfie.
