Self-Care

FAILURE TO PRACTICE SELF-CARE CAN BE A KILLER

Cascade, one of our horses, is dead–it is a chilling reminder of what can happen when animals don't take care of a basic need, drinking enough water. This week Utah experienced a dramatic change in the weather. One night it was in the 40s, and the next night it had dropped to 9 degrees. When I went out to feed the horses Wednesday morning, I encountered a strange scene. The water pump handle was open, water was pouring out, and the pipe was bent down to the ground. Then I saw one horse standing by herself and not moving. She looked normal until I walked around her and was shocked to see a massive hole in her left side and frozen blood everywhere. She had impaled herself on the water pump handle, but why? Last night the Vet unraveled the mystery after treating the horse's injury for the past two days. She had developed colic, a twisted gut, that night. In striving to alleviate her pain, rubbing against the pump handle and pipe, Cascade had punctured the hole in her side. The Vet and I made the tough decision last night to put her down. He told me that colic is most common when there is a dramatic change in the weather. For some reason, it is then when horses forget to do the one thing that will keep them from getting colic, drinking water.

Many of us have forgotten to practice basic self-care because of the extraordinary changes we have experienced resulting from COVID. If you're like me, it has thrown me off my routines. We need to maintain healthy mental health, diet, and exercise practices even during this time of dramatic change. If we don't, we risk ending up like my poor horse Cascade.