Resolutions Part 1
Chapter 2
"Ty, what was that?"
"What was what," Ty responded barely conscious.
"I think it's one of the horses," Amy continued.
Spartan? she wondered as fear began to rip through her.
Amy leaped from the bed, quickly throwing on her robe and slippers.
"Ty come on!" she exclaimed.
"Where?" Ty mumbled.
"Downstairs; the horses!" cried Amy, her voice ascending.
"Coming…I'm coming. Geez the floor's cold," a now rapidly awakening Ty exclaimed.
"Put your shoes on and let's GO!"
Amy was nearly to the stalls before Ty reached the stairs.
"Ty, it's Spartan. Something's wrong!"
Now only seconds behind Amy, Ty reached Spartan's stall and observed Amy's black gelding lying on his back in obvious discomfort before rolling to his side. Amy quickly dropped to knees stroking Spartan's side trying to sooth him.
"Easy boy; easy boy; it will be ok."
Ty…Ty, what is it? What's wrong with him, Amy stammered in panic?"
"I, I don't know. It may be colic. Look at his descended stomach. I think it's colic, Ty exclaimed."
"How serious?"
"From the shape he appears to be in, I think it's serious."
Spartan suddenly let out a loud, pain-racked whinny as he violently shook; his situation clearly growing worse.
"SPARTAN…TY do something! Amy cried."
"What do we..," distracted by the barn door wrenched open, Amy looked up to see Jack burst in.
"Amy, Ty, what's wrong?"
"It's Spartan," Amy replied. "We don't know for sure but Ty thinks it might be colic…and bad."
A low, guttural sound emanated from Spartan signaling swelling agony and discomfort from Amy's rescued and beloved horse.
"Ty, help him please," a now fully panicked Amy pleaded.
"Ok, we've got to try and get him up and walk him around. That may relieve some of the pain and get his digestive system moving again. The problem is he probably has food stuck in his intestine or bowel and they may be strangulated. What I really need are x-rays. I just don't know if we have enough time to take him to the clinic."
"Yes, said Jack. I've heard that walking a horse in this condition may help."
"I don't know…I don't know," cried a now full-fledged terrified Amy. "What if it makes in worse? Ty, you're the vet, what do we do?" Do something!
"Alright, here's what we're going to do," Ty said forcibly. "I'm going to give him a shot of adrenaline to help him stand up then Amy I want you to slowly walk him around. OK?"
"OK," Amy replied.
Ty reached for his vet bag and quickly opened up. Finding a hypodermic , he then began looking at each vile to find the adrenaline.
"Got it! Alright Amy, try to settle him down."
"Easy boy, it's going to be alright. We're going to help you."
"Do you think we should call Scott, Jack inquired?"
"Yes, said Amy" "I think we should."
"No time. We have to do something NOW. Spartan's in real trouble," Ty proclaimed.
"But Ty, what if you're wrong? Amy asserted. Couldn't that make it worse? Are there risks?"
"Amy there's always risks. It's possible the adrenaline may be more than his heart can handle in his current weakened state, but if we don't get him up, he'll die for sure."
Ty looked intently at Amy and Jack searching for a sign they agreed with his course of action.
This is Spartan he thought; Amy's horse. The horse she and her mom saved. The horse her mom died saving. The horse Amy didn't give up on and slowly brought him back from the abuse he had endured. She cherishes him. Remember when he broke his leg and Amy hardly left his side? Amy loves this horse as much as anything. What if I'm wrong? What if I'm wrong and Spartan dies? I've got to do something fast though. If I don't, he will die anyway.
"No, we have to do this now," Ty declared as he readied the shot.
Without waiting for approval, Ty tapped needle to ensure all possible air bubbles were expelled. Without any hesitation, he and plunged the syringe into Spartan's neck.
"Let's hope this helps get him on his feet," said an anxious Ty.
"Amy, try to get him up. He needs to begin walking."
"Come on boy, Amy implored, you need to get up…Spartan, come on boy, you can do it."
The gelding slowly began to inch to his feet where he finally stood on shaky legs.
"That's it Spartan, I knew you could do it," a relieved Amy cried as she stroked his side.
Suddenly, Spartan let out an unearthly painful cry and collapsed back down on to the floor of his stall. Amy immediately drop to her knees crying, "Spartan!"
"Ty," Amy wailed.
Kneeling next to Amy, Ty tried to get a read on what was now ailing the horse. Checking Spartan's heartbeat with the Stethoscope Amy had given him years earlier upon beginning college, Ty listened intently.
"His heartbeat is irregular and doesn't sound good," Ty exclaimed.
His life-threatening distress now clearly evident, Amy, Ty and Jack could only watch in helplessness while the horse's life oozed from him; his thrashing becoming weaker and weaker. Amy stared on in horror as her beloved Spartan took his last gasp and the only movement that remained was a slight twitching of Spartan's now dead body.
"NO, Amy cried out in anguish; NO. Spartan, you can't die," she wept as she draped herself across her horse's now still frame.
Jack and Ty were frozen not knowing what to do to sooth Amy's pain.
Reaching down to try and comfort his hurting wife, Ty began, "Amy, I'm sorry"
A cold, thick, unfamiliar blackness slowly shrouded itself across Amy. "Don't touch me," she shrieked turning to look at Ty with tears cascading down her face wearing an expression never before seen by Ty. "You KILLED my horse."