Well?
More often in the realm of a door/gate left open, a light left on or a fence left off, but yes after almost 25 years of daily horse care, including a short term of night-checking a 50+ horse barn, there were a number of mild gas colics that I could count on one hand.
The one that haunts me was an uneventful late night check that was likely a strangulating lipoma by morning for one poor soul.
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Barn owner’s horse pawing, fretting–yup, colic. Barn owner came from her house, called vet, walked him, gave him 5cc banamine upon vet’s advice. He was fine in an hour. We all stayed for a couple of poops of course.
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Well, you always discover something, you just hope it’s lots of happy horses trying not to find creative ways to kill themselves, like:
Rolling and getting cast
Rearing and getting leg through bars
Open gates, loose horses.
Blankets that need resetting
Horses who haven’t eaten up.
So many things I have found…
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Let’s see: several gas colics, and one real colic that if they’d caught it I wouldn’t have lost the horse. An eyelid ripped off by a bucket hook (at a show). A few unchained doors/empty water buckets. Oh and a cast horse.
Granted, this is over 15 or so years of night checks, and clearly most of them were uneventful. When I was doing them myself at one barn, the horses were out at night so “night check” was a headcount with a flashlight. And a final potty break for the dog. It’s amazing what horses can get into when unsupervised for 10+ hours.
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Totally this.
I also use night check as a time to put up over night hay and top off water buckets for the horses that are big drinkers.
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Empty hay feeders, blankets that shifted, low waters and fly masks left on.
The most notable thing I’ve found at a night check was a mare that hadn’t cleaned up her dinner. Further investigation showed no poops in her attached run out. Called the trainer (this horse’s owner). Full fledged colic. Vet out. Stayed with horse overnight. Vet out again. The mare pulled through thankfully.
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A couple of colics and a mini that spiked a high fever. And the same mini I found tangled up in his winter blanket so badly I almost had to cut him out of it. He was humped up and hobbled and couldn’t move a step. He looked like a calf roper got him.
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Found my then-young horse cast in his stall during an ice storm. He had been stuck for awhile and lost the will or strength to fight. My partner and I couldn’t get him up, couldn’t get help (outside was a sheet of ice), and the thought of it all made me so mad at the world that I found the strength to get horse spun away from wall enough for him to get his legs under and stand. It was really cold, he was shivering, and his temp had dropped dangerously low so we bundled him up with extra blankets and leg wraps, gave him some warm water, and he recovered ok but it was scary. He was a big leggy warmblood and not the brightest bulb in the box, and it wasn’t the first time he’d been found cast. He got anti-cast rails up after that episode and either they worked or he learned as he was not found cast again.
But mostly our night checks are uneventful. I feed 4x a day so night check is also the last feeding of hay, and allows us to change blankets if weather requires.
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we installed WiFi cameras that can be check from anywhere to keep am eye on things
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I have those, too, but I still do night check.
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BM/Trainer do night checks. I don’t know what they’ve ever found but it makes me feel better!
Sweet Jesus, I’ve started a terrifying thread.
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One more–not in our barn, but heard something stirring in an adjacent barn, which did not do night checks. Horse got out of his stall and ate almost half a bag of pellets–don’t remember what kind. We called that barn’s BM, who called the vet, who came out and tubed/oiled him. No bad consequences.
(Bad barn management–no night check, feed not secured, apparently stall not secured either.)
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I’ve found some small issues. My horses were out 24/7, with two sheds set perpendicular to each other so they could get out of the wind, rain or snow. They didn’t get into much trouble out there, but every once in a while something wouldn’t look quite right. I always felt better getting out there right before bed to check on everyone.
Fast forward a few years, and the last of that herd was pasture boarded. BO called me around 11 pm to tell me my pony was having hysterics, running around like he was terrified. She could see him from the front porch of their house (he was light gray), and always put eyeballs on him last thing at night. We got out there, DH got a halter on the pony (BO had tried several times but couldn’t get close enough), and we got him into a stall, where he completely calmed down. We left him in for the night, and it never happened again.
We never did find out what upset him. I doubt it was coyotes, as he’d coexisted with them with no problem in Colorado. And it certainly wasn’t fireworks or shooting, which he hated. I asked him what was wrong, but he wouldn’t tell me.
Rebecca
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Couple of colics usually just gas thankfully
Cast horses
abscess that went from nothing to painful from dinner at 5 to night check at 9… soaked and wrapped him with some bute to make him more comfortable.
Couple of loose horses in the aisle.
Horse caught leg strap on water bucket eye hook.
Horse half in half out of blankets
You name it they can do it… especially when no one is around. This is over 40 years owning and caring for horses. Have to say (knock wood) nothing too horrible… they usually save the truly horrible for over night or when we are there to witness and scare the shit out of us.
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A colic, a leg that had gone from fine at turn in to blown up to the hock (cellulitis), one horse with his blanket’s chest buckle stuck in a hay net. He either hadn’t noticed he was stuck yet or was smart enough not to panic and blow back.
Probably most eventful was the yearling whose lower exterior Dutch door was left unsecured. He reached over and undid the latch and let himself out to go exploring. I about had a panic attack when I walked past his stall and found the door open. Went out and found him grazing in the alley between a couple of paddocks. Thankfully he cornered himself because there was a gate at the back of the alley. I got a lead rope looped around his neck and across his face like a makeshift halter and got him back in.
This is over 6-7 years of night checks. The vast majority are uneventful but when they’re not, man, these horses really manage to get themselves in a jam.
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People, we are in love with total doorknobs. WHAT OTHER ANIMAL GETS INTO THESE FIXES.
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A gas colic, horse seemed fine when I came in, took a small treat. 15 minutes later he was trying to drop and roll. Banamine and a walk bought some comfort and it passed.
Found a choking horse at a show. Not sure if security would have noticed it.
Cellulitis. Horse was ridden in the afternoon and was sound. By the late evening he was 3-legged lame with a hot stove pipe for a leg.
Now, saying all that, my gelding lives out 24/7. I cross my fingers that if something happens it’s during daylight hours so someone can see him, or an evening when I’m at the barn.
My young mare is on night turnout, so again she only really has eyes on her for an 8hr window.
My older gelding is the only one who comes in around 4pm, nightcheck around 9pm, and staff back in the barn around 5am.
A lot of what other posters have mentioned but we also utilize night check to toss an late night flake of hay and check water buckets. Most of our horses are fine with the two water buckets overnight but every once in a while some one needs to topped off. Maybe they had an evening ride, or trailered in late or something that made them drink both buckets down. Helps prevent an issue before it can begin .
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