We are so very saddened to report that Quixote passed away early this (Wednesday) morning due to colic. As you may know, we had to evacuate Monday evening due to the Airport Fire here in Trabuco Canyon. Quixote was a bit stressed on Monday evening after we trailered him and Lou Dillon together to safety, but they seemed to settle down and we made sure that they were placed right next to one another once they arrived.
Tuesday morning, however, he had a bad case of choke (a blockage in the esophagus), and we immediately called the vet who was able to clear the blockage and even did a rectal exam to ensure he wasn’t coliccing. He was given a number of medications to help with any pain and to help with any tension or stress, and we were just very thankful that it didn’t appear to be anything more serious.
Tuesday evening we gave him some more pain medication and he seemed to be calm and relaxed.
The next morning we went down early to give Quixote more pain meds per the vet, and he was tense and sweating. Thinking he just needed the pain meds, we told Kelley, a former Hanaeleh board member and the owner of the ranch where Quixote and Lou Dillon were evacuated to, to keep an eye on him and call us in about 20-30 minutes if he wasn’t doing better.
About 20 minutes later, however, Kelley called us and said that Quixote was down and looked like he was doing worse. We immediately called the vet who was actually on her way to work and was only a few minutes from the ranch. Thankfully one of my co-workers understood the situation and immediately offered to cover for me. The vet and I got to the ranch in a little under 20 minutes.
When we got there, we were greeted by Kelley, who gave us the unthinkable news: Quixote had already passed. He had passed in the short time that we were racing to get to him.
Thankfully Kelley was there to keep Quixote company so he wasn’t alone. The vet performed an ultrasound and it appears that he had a ruptured intestine, which is what caused his death. There are a number of factors that could have contributed to this conclusion, but it was most likely a perfect storm of events, from the ridiculously insane heat wave we’ve been subjected to for over a week, to the stress of evacuating from the fire, and then the stress from the choke. It was likely just too much for our poor boy.
We will write a proper eulogy for Quixote after this is all over (we are still evacuated as of Thursday 9-12-24); right now we are just trying to process everything. Lou Dillon is a little stressed, but seems to be eating well and we gave him a little sedation to help keep him calm. The rest of the horses are doing OK and we’ve been very lucky to have such wonderful volunteers and community supporters that have been so helpful in keeping the rest of the horses safe. We are just so very sad that we’ve lost our sweet boy forever.