Looking inside

Ben got scoped Monday. I'd been wanting to do it for a while. Then he almost bit me a few weeks ago doing a belly lift, very very out of character for him. We'd scheduled a recheck appointment for his mystery lameness for Monday. Thankfully though, he is sound and has been since Friday (and has stayed sound with under saddle work!!) So we switched his appointment from lameness  to a scope. 

Ben has a few ulcers, grade 2 equine squamous gastric disease (ESGD). Bad enough that we're starting a full 28 day course of Omeprazole. Ouch. Grade 2 is technically "mild", but looking at his stomach, ouch.

Then... Then... We enter the world of gastric supplements. Oh boy. One of those of there are so many things that claim to do this, none must work 100% of the time. I ended up ordering resolvinEQ from Kentucky Equine Research. It has long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids. They did a study with 13 thoroughbreds in training. This supplement decreased severe ulcer (grade 3-4) from 38% of horses to 8% of horses. Low n number and the overall prevalence of ulcers was 54% in unsupplemented horses and 31% in supplemented horses. So it may not do a whole lot for the "mild" grade 1-2. I put mild in quotes because his grade 2 stomach sure looked uncomfortable. I'll see if there are enough behavior changes to gauge our maintenance treatment success from that. If not, scoping on farm was incredibly reasonable, so I'll have his vet back out at some point. We're definitely going to recheck after the month of GG to make sure they resolved. 

Lifestyle wise, he'd probably be happier with a buddy all the time. He gets his friend at night but because the field they go in is small, he is without his friend during the day. In the summer when the grass is growing more quickly, we might be able to change that. He has forage nearly 100% of the time - grass with hay supplemented in the pasture and then hay for the 3-4 hours he spends in the stall to eat grain. After the biting, I did buy alfalfa cubes to soak and feed before trailering. The travel is definitely the most stressful part of his life. He likes the box stall set up better than straight load. I am not sure if he likes traveling with a friend better (ie in straight load) or solo in the box stall. He would travel less if he lived at JT's. And could probably have a friend to go out with who wouldn't beat him up. But he'd spend more time overall in the stall. 

I think for now I'll try the new supplement and alfalfa cubes daily as our maintenance. If that isn't effective, maybe a major lifestyle change to move to JTs barn to minimize his travel. Although he'd still haul out to school and show, sooooo.... 

I might try some Purina Outlast as well. Unclear how to combine that with my alfalfa cubes idea. Also unclear how to get the GG on an empty stomach. Maybe post ride? 

Oof. Anyone out there gone through this and want to share their fav gut support? 

End of 2022

Ben gave me a great end of year present... New year's eve... We took him for a nice walk around the neighborhood. I didn't put the chain on because he'd worked that morning and it was warm. But I should've because he was up and in my space. When we got back we came in through the pasture in the front by the barn. I decided to let him go for a few minutes to dance and prance and then go in for dinner. But he didn't realize the horses were right there in the barn and RAN in a totally panicked way. For about a minute. I was trying to catch him the whole time, but couldn't catch him until he paused, tried to start running again, and then was three legged lame on a front leg. 

We walked in with him barely toe touching on that right front. I stopped by his buddies stall so he could touch noses and calm down. Then I inspected. Shoe was still in place, hadn't turned that and stepped on a clip. No swelling or crepitus or source of pain in the leg. Let me put it through a range of motion. Put him in his stall and he limped around 3 legged but then went right to eating. His vet told me to give 2g of bute and keep checking for swelling. She couldn't get out to see him that night though. He would eat some and then circle and fling his head in pain, I felt so awful. 

Talked to my BFF and we tried to decide if he should go on a trailer to the hospital to get rads. She reminded me to check for digital pulse - bounding in that foot. Ended up getting a vet I used to use to come out on emergency to shoot rads. I paid her extra, I was so grateful she came on a holiday for a non client. No fracture, thank goodness. Negative to hoof testers as well, one theory before that was he'd slammed a rock deep in the sand and given himself a terrible bruise. He was even a bit better while the vet was there, would put the whole foot on the ground. There was a gas track on that foot, but could've been from the abscess in June. 

Overnight he got progressively more comfortable. In the morning he was walking but slightly lame at the walk. Had laid down though and would rest the hind foot on the same side and let me pick out the other front foot. 

This morning he took a couple of slightly off steps on hard ground at the trot. Not at all off in the soft dirt of the arena. 

So in the span of 36 hours I have gone from: 

• He's broken a bone and has to be euthanized tonight
• No fracture but a terrible career ending soft tissue injury
• Maybe he can be a dressage horse and just never jump
• Maybe he'll be okay and go back to work???

I definitely could've lived without this whole roller coaster, as I'm sure he could've too. He was so sad Saturday night. The GY's have been amazing, they brought me out a jacket, food, and water that night and chatted to keep me company. I think we took several years off JT's life as well as I kept her updated Saturday night. 

Today and tomorrow we're tack walking. Wednesday he gets new shoes with pads all around, and we'll have his farrier hoof test him again. Current going theory is there was an abscess brewing and he shoved gas around into some sensitive lamina while acting a fool. 

#whytho #fuckinghorses

2022 Wrap Up

January: Yoshi started this month with a new diagnosis of left proximal suspensory desmitis. While I was told to keep him in light work through this, I gave him 30 days off for my own mental health. During this time he did have a corneal ulcer so we got to add eye medications to the list of experiences. Through JT's connections, I acquired an adorable lease horse, Ben! 

February: Yoshi got his hocks injected (even though he really, really didn't want to). I gradually started him back to work and figured out how to balance two horses. Ben and I got to know each other better and planned out a March BN for our first event together. I also listed Yoshi for sale, disclosing his loooong medical history. 

March: Yoshi found himself a new home with a woman who loves him and totally understands thoroughbreds. We're FB friends and I enjoy her photo updates of Yosh, he found himself a great person. Ben and I did our first show together and continued to spend the rest of the month getting to know each other. 

April: Ben and I moved back up to Novice and after a beautiful dressage test and acceptable stadium round, kinda fell apart on cross country. He came to me having done A LOT of novice events, but with a spotty XC record. I wallowed in a bit of guilt for adding to it, then JT and I got to work. At the end of the month, I decided to buy him out of his lease.

May: Unfortunately Ben rewarded me for buying him with TWO MONTHS of abscess hell. I contemplated kayaking and mountain biking as two other possible outlets for all the free time and money I was going to have when I gave up horses. While all signs pointed to the lameness being JUST an abscess, we couldn't rule out collateral ligament issues completely. 

June: We continued our abscess saga. Due to concern over collateral ligament injury we also did about two weeks of stall rest, during which Ben BOUNCED on my arm with his front foot while hand "walking". So I switched to tack walking, but even on trazodone or dorm, he wasn't particularly safe to walk. I threw him back outside, hoping I wasn't making the wrong decision. I was rewarded with THE MOST EXCITING CASEOUS MATERIAL EVER in a hoof boot one day! In spite of the emotional difficulty of May and June, it was interesting learning things about my new horse - how does he handle stall rest, what was he like for veterinary work. I knew from his sarcoid treatments that he was phenomenal for vet work, but it was interesting to see how stall rest went. To be fair he handled it well for the first week, but after that things kinda fell apart mentally. 

July: Ben moved to the GY's since we finally waved farewell to his abscess and the questions of whether or not something more was going on. He also got a course of gastrogard which helped check his brain back in after it kinda checked out on stall rest. 

He also started his development as a trail horse with some hacks around the GY's neighborhood

August: First and most important, Ben volunteered as an acupuncture demo horse  and LOVED the whole experience. He continued to endear himself to me as just the most pleasant horse to be around. He won the students and instructor over in the same way, smiling at everyone and enjoying the spotlight on him. We were also back in full work at this point. We did a novice CT at Majestic Oaks, too hot for all three phases at once, but the CT went very well. Then we schooled at Majestic, our first cross country school since April, and he was SUPER. We started adding in training cross country fences. We did attempt a move up to 1.0m at a jumper schooling show that did NOT go well and got JT and I brainstorming about our move up to training. I had shared with her that my stretch goal was to go to AECs at training in 2023 and she took me seriously. 

September: This month we enacted the plan in which Ben learned how to be a training horse with JT. 

And he looked so good doing it! Back to Sweet Dixie to jump the 1.0m with JT - not breathing the first round, but finally taking a breath the second round

He's just so handsome

Schooling some before his training level debut 

September was also the month that my heart cat had TWO surgeries to place a subcutaneous ureteral bypass device (and then revise the placement) for a ureteral stone

Given my emotional feels with my cat in September, it was a relief to hand Ben's reins over to JT for a bit. I was still riding him at home, but she competed him twice - Majestic schooling show at Training and the Sweet Dixie South schooling show with two rounds at 1.0m. 

October: Ben had his recognized training level debut this month with JT at the Ocala Fall HT with a 2nd place finish overall and champion training level TIP award. He was still screaming a bit in cross country, so we played with a bit change. She took him out again at Majestic for just a XC round to trial that bit change and said he was the most pleasant and just galloped around easily. He and I geared up for our training level debut at the POP show later in October, but our stadium fell apart when he had sore feet. Somehow the same combination of leather pad, dental molding, and shoe that he had been very happy in ended up getting sand under the toes making him quite sore. We regrouped and scratched POP and dropped to Novice at the Rocking Horse HT. 

November: We had a GREAT show at Rocking Horse - finishing on our dressage score - 3rd out of 19. He cantered around stadium beautifully and felt confident and forward on cross country. We went back to Majestic for another jumper show at the end of the month and did two 1.0m rounds, each with two rails, but we jumped the dang jumps! 

December: December confirmed Ben as a training level horse - we started with a confident outing at Rocking Horse with a 29.4 in dressage, one rail in stadium, and a clear cross country round. Good enough to put us in 5th for his second recognized training HT and my first ever. Stadium definitely still needed the most work - we put three strides in a two stride line, but cross country felt AWESOME! 

Ben also got to be an acupuncture demo horse again and got stellar reviews from the instructor. Then we headed back out for the POP show at training level. Stadium continued to be a challenge with two rails and a whole two strides in a one stride line. Cross Country he felt solid though. AND we got to do the whole thing with reindeer antlers on, what a way to finish the year! 

Didn't finish the year fixing my hands though... 

Cutest lil reindeer through the water

Dressage (with media!) and Gymnastics (with media!)

Ben and I had a phenomenal dressage lesson on yesterday. We did a real leg yield left! I'm not sure I've ever in my life done a real leg yield in that direction. Probably because I've never gotten a horse really off my right leg because I never have used it actively enough AND let go of my right rein. We started with moving his barrel over at the trot, first on a three loop serpentine. Then once he was soft and bendy through his back we added a bit more power to it. Then we'd lose the soft back so we'd let the power fade a little bit to get the complete softness again on a 10m circle. Rinse and repeat. Tracking right I had to use my right leg SO MUCH more than I usually do. Probably about as active as my left leg is all the time, I'm that uneven. And then let go of the holding right rein. But once I did, WOW! A complete bend through his body. Then the leg yield just flowed naturally from that. So cool! 

We moved into the canter then. The canter we couldn't yet add any power to it, just focused on softness. But it was amazing how light and in front of me he felt. I could turn completely from my body and legs (or maybe because I was turning completely from my body and legs he was staying soft). 

A kind friend of Steph's filmed our left lead canter. It is a 4 minute video, not the usually pithy blog content, but Steph's commentary really makes it useful for me. 

He slipped behind twice still at the trot, so that hasn't magically disappeared with the hock injections. But overall he felt SO much better. Even and really willing to sit and push. 

We went back down today for a gymnastics lesson. It was three bounces to a one stride vertical to a one stride oxer, both one strides had placing poles in them. It was SO GOOD for both of us. I think part of Ben's problem in combinations is he fixates on the whole line, especially the end, and starts worrying about the last piece and therefore flubs the pieces in between. 

When suddenly the vertical grew limes and we jumped in a very special way

He was also pretty fixated on the placing poles and struggled with that. But he was trying the whole time and even when he jumped the vertical as above, he jumped out over the oxer like this: 

Overall a really good boy. JT wants us to go through it one more time before it is disassembled and removed from the ring as her dressage trainer moves in for the winter season. Hopefully we can make that happen! 

Making a much nicer shape over the vertical

Good boy! 

The other pet

 Pico had a fantastic Christmas. We were going to go to NC, but y'know 

So we stayed in Florida. Pico is now on a home cooked diet of Salmon, eggs, margarine, and oats. And we've tweaked the cellulose so that she is no longer having diarrhea. Combine that with daily DexSp injections and q12h cisapride and ondansetron mixed into her food and she's a healthy, happy cat! I looked at my dad while I was mixing her meds into her food and told him I have no idea how I turned into the person who has a cat that dictates whether or not we can go out of town, takes three daily medications, and eats a home cooked diet. But here we are. And she is SO freaking happy that I don't want to rock the boat. We have a plan to hopefully eventually wean her off the DexSP, we're already down 25% from her max. Then she at least won't be getting a daily injection. 

Immediately after this picture she climbed ON the counter... thought that the bar stool was an invitation directly up to the counter. Bad kitten! 

Anyways, she got treats for the first time in a few months because we had cooked salmon and shrimp, two foods she CAN eat. So she was thrilled by that. And my dad and his partner find her adorable, which always pleases her when people fully appreciate her cuteness. Also she discovered the DOG FOOD set away for the dog's dinner on top of the dryer and ate at least a piece of it before I realized that she wasn't just licking a tiny scrap off the floor and shook an entire piece of dog kibble out of her mouth. Steroids may be making her a bit polyphagic. 

Right after I discovered her getting the dog food, looking so smug

She also displaced the dog from the couch later by gently kneading on the dog's side. This made the (very emotionally sensitive) dog so uncomfortable she got up off the couch. Pico was super pleased to discover she could push the dog around in addition to eating the dog's food. 

In horse news, Ben got his hocks done Friday. He had a decent amount of thin synovial fluid come out of his left DIT, definitely abnormal. She was pleased with how deep into his joints she could sink the needle - said it meant his joints were nice and open like a younger horse. This was the first time his vet has done his hocks, she actually has just dealt with his super long abscess and done chiro on him. She said if every horse was like him her job would be so much easier. He was nicely sedate, but not falling over, and didn't move a muscle when she injected him. Good boy Ben.

Merry Christmas!!!

 With love from Ben and Kathleen

POP December Schooling Show

Ben and I had our second outing at training level at the POP show at the horse park last weekend. It was a mixed bag. To start, we completed a second training level event on a number, and a reasonable one at that. But things felt a little funky in all three phases.

Dressage: another go at Training Test A. He was not as soft and supple as he could have been. We also cantered again after our trot transition at X on the diagonal. I didn't give him sugar cubes and he put his tongue out for a bit. We still got 7s on those movements though, so at least this judge didn't hate it as much as the one at the November Rocking Horse. He also slipped behind partway through, fairly dramatically. And we need to work on our free walk and stretchy trot circles. They both start nicely, but then we can't maintain that degree of stretch for very long and he pops up and stiffens. Lots to work on, we'll do this test again in January at the next Rocking Horse HT. 

Stadium: He warmed up really well, but the actual course itself kinda sucked and we had two rails. Unlike Rocking Horse where I was sort of off in La La Land not asking him to go forward, I was ASKING this time and not getting much. So much so that I wacked him in the middle of the two stride. GO DUDE! 

Cross Country: Going into this weekend I was nervous about cramming all three phases into one day along with course walks. I was pretty sure that I remembered courses better after sleeping on them. But when I was looking at the course map posted online on Saturday I was just building the whole thing up in my head, imagining it to be more and more challenging each time I looked at it, so I eventually stopped. 

Once I got there Sunday late morning, I walked the course with JT. I walked it again with Amanda (who takes much better course walk pictures than I do) after dressage, just pointing and making sure I knew where I was going. And it was fine in spite of a few 180 degree turns crammed into the course. 

This was the B of the first combo - up and down a hill to this roll top. 

Then there was a 180 degree turn back to a few more jumps. The next challenge was 

MIM rail down into a bowl

Back up out of the bowl. This skinny was on the other side of the hill up - you couldn't see it until you were at the top of the hill 

Another couple of straight forward jumps and then this combo: 

Coop and then right hand turn, 5 strides, to a corner

Then a fairly spooky coffin. No terrain question like at Rocking Horse, but it was set in the tree line and the ditch tends to surprise the horses. 

Directions were to line up C and then after we were over A to just keep kicking through those flags 

The next big question was the water, roll top a few strides before the water and then a log a few strides after the water. 

Then a chevron that he had SCREAMED over when JT took him out because she had gotten after him for being a dope through the water. Then it was a left hand 180 to the next combo which was a challenge too - a corner without a ground line, left hand turn up a bank, right hand turn 5 strides to a skinny. 

Then just one more to the end. It was a pretty short course, optimum time of 4:47. After stadium we WENT FORWARD in the cross country warmup and then went out on course. Overall he was very good. Rideable, attentive, never doubting that we were going over the jumps. But he wasn't as game in between fences as he was at Rocking Horse and he was drifting left at the base of fences. When I got him on a lease in February we had his hocks done because his owner requested it. In August my vet checked him and we agreed he was fine. But I think now he needs them done again, so that is happening on Friday. I'm hoping it will also help with the slipping. 

We finished with a few time penalties on XC, rightly so. But also with a few time penalties in stadium. Nearly every pair from entry on up had time penalties; I'm pretty sure they wheeled it incorrectly. It also led to them being pretty far behind on stadium and then consequently cross country. It was fine though because I was aware of it and able to not be on too early. 

I did drive home through Ocala in pitch darkness though and google decided to send me on a super fun route with the trailer - two left hand turns across four lane divided highways with no traffic lights. At one point after sitting for about 5 minutes, I had to tell Ben to hang on and gun it much more than I wanted to in order to get across a gap in traffic. Less than ideal for sure, last time I trust google blindly when it tells me that a route will save 7 minutes and I don't bother to cancel it out.

So not our best outing, but another deposit in the confidence bank. I did swallow hard a few times walking XC but never felt any hesitation or concern out there on Ben. And the course asked some very challenging questions for the level. It was their schooling show championship, which maybe led to them amping it up a bit? The fences are even looking a bit less intimidating from the ground, I walked right next to all of them and didn't scream internally. Cross country is definitely coming together more so than stadium at this moment. 

A good friend came with her parents and took some photos - her dad is a pro photographer and has taken beautiful shots of my critters over the years. If my satellite internet weren't being a terrible pain at the moment I would dig up one of the shots of my dog he took that I have framed. They were stationed at the water jump on XC, and I'm really looking forward to seeing what he got. 

Plus she brought this amazing set up for a picnic between dressage and jumping! 

WW: Rocking Horse Stadium Pro Pics

Quite possibly my new favorite picture

Put your hands down! 

Embracing the landing shots - look at that adorable eager face! 

Ben's Best Day Ever (and some mullings on diet, supplements, and balance pads)

Ben and I went to the Chi Institute on Friday for him to be a demo acupuncture horse again. It was pretty foggy and dark that morning when I arrived at the barn. Ben and his older friend had started cantering around while I was letting the other horses in. And unlike his 25 year old friend, he cannot be trusted to navigate the two gates and barn without banging into things when he is feeling VERY frisky in the morning. So he got haltered and I led him in with a bit of trepidation. But he was a good boy and just BOUNCED next to me, not on me. He loaded well and we arrived shortly before the lab started. This was the second in person session of this set of students in the course, so people were a bit less WOW a horse and more focused on the upcoming points exam. 

Taking in the scene, being so handsome and alert

The TA for Ben's group works in Virginia and works on a lot of thoroughbreds at the track. For some reason it had not occurred to me that on the track TBs would get acupuncture, but of course they do! Anyways, the TA adored Ben and he adored her. He introduced himself to everyone by grabbing the empty trash can from the center of the group for putting needles in later and flinging it back and forth while they were chatting about things that weren't him. Then he proceeded to pick up a stick from the arena ground and fling that around for a bit. Clown. Once he had everyone's attention on him, he was a bit more focused and did some yawning and licking and chewing as they identified points. 

Pleased to be the center of attention and being so tolerant of being poked everywhere

During the break we went out to the sunshine so I could warm up and Ben could graze. I chatted with another owner who said he was "obviously a quality thoroughbred" and asked me if I knew of any for sale like him. JT has gotten a similar comment while warming us up and responded "I wish I knew!"

The shiniest, most handsome

He was a bit out of patience after the break. It is a long 4 hours of standing around and being a patient pony, so I couldn't blame him. He quickly tuned back in though and enjoyed his treatment. The students had decided to have the TA do the treatment so that they could keep reviewing. The TA was really quick with her needles and did a lot of B12 injections rather than electroacupuncture. The idea is that the B12 stays at the point and acts as a bit of an irritant and pressure spot so that the stimulation lasts longer without having to necessarily stand there with the needle in. She did it with 22 gauge needles and he really didn't seem to mind it much. 

This time around he was a "Balanced Wood" for his constitution. The way she described it, wood constitution is more solid, brave, trustworthy. Kind of all the things we've been working on with him, I wonder if we've brought out his inner wood. My friend who is currently taking the course discussed it with me later and we decided he might truly be an earth. I realized when the TA was describing a point by the ear and noting that if the ear was pricked forward or pinned the point shifted that I have NEVER seen him pin his ears. EVER. He does not have an angry, mad, or mean bone in his body. And I guess the wood constitution does have some desire to push back against authority and sometimes respond when a fight is picked. Which Ben DOES NOT. Anyways, just kind of interesting things to think about with him. He definitely has a sense of humor. 

You can barely see the 22g needles down his back here 

He scanned positive to a few of the stomach points and she asked what gut support he was on. Which he's not. And he's in full work and doing lots of travelling, so probably should be. She recommended the probiotic Equitic as a starter. As I sit here and am digging deeper though, he has recently been switched to Nutrena ProForce Fuel which contains a probiotic and prebiotic. So does he really need a separate probiotic? But the grain does not contain the specific strain (Lactobacillus reuteri) that is present in the Equiotic... Oye. The probiotic doesn't break the bank, but is roughly $2/day. 

She also prescribed him Tendon/Ligament and Body Sore because I said the Chi Performance hadn't done much. Actually what I said was I had no idea if it did anything. Because he spent November with JT on her grain and hay and schedule, and hee started receiving the Chi Performance partway through that month. Then we moved back to the GY's and he's been on the Nutrena ProForce Fuel since returning there. There's also better grass- Bahia and winter rye, supplemented with Timothy or orchard hay. At JTs it is Tifton round bales instead of grass and then t&a in the stalls. And the rice bran I was getting shipped from Chewy was back ordered so he got switched to Purina Amplify two weeks ago. THEN I got a free sample of Organic Gut Solutions, a product made in Ocala that had some suspicious claims of detoxifying the gut. But the ingredients did not look to be harmful, and they claimed it decreased anxiety, so what the hey. 

Anyways, said all that to say, no idea if the Chi Performance supplement did or did not make a difference because literally ALL the variables have changed since I started him on it. 

As shown in the above grazing picture, he looks fabulous right now. He still needs to add some trapezius muscle back in that atrophied with our poorly fitting saddle. But other than that, he has a great butt and is super shiny and slick and feeling really good. 

He has been slipping more in the hind end though over the past... unknown time frame, I want to say two months. I've been more diligent about stretching his stifles post-rides now that we're back at the GY's. And I've been breaking out the balance pads more. Mostly because he finds them really challenging in the hind end, making me think they're really good for him lol. And if he is slipping somewhere back there, then strengthening the stabilizing muscles should help, yes? 

Don't mind the sweaty saddle mark... I can't use the pads before I ride because I paint his feet with Farrier's Fix OR copper tox and I can't get that on them. And then he gets hosed post-ride. And I don't want to get them muddy and wet. So sweaty post-ride, pre-hose it is. 

The right hind is the hardest to get him on. He really wants to put that foot on solid ground. It takes a lot of repositioning and then clicking for finally putting weight on it to get him to stand on that one. 

We're only doing a minute on them right now, but I'm hoping to build up to more. It is a really good use of the clicker training because I am far from his head, but trying to let him know he is doing it right and a treat is coming. He's so solid on the not mugging me for treats while I am actively clicker training. He was still definitely mugging me for my snack and trying to ask the students for treats yesterday, but y'know, he is who he is. 

I am hoping that in a month I'll be able to look back and say that his slipping behind is doing much better... so I'm trying to mentally log # of instances per ride to write down on my calendar post-ride. But at the same time trying not to obsess about it. 

Anyways, do ya'll have any input on supplements, grain choices, and probiotics? Do you take a less is more approach or do you feel supplements can be truly beneficial and feed multiple supplements?