Acupuncture Visit

My vet came out on Thursday to give Dickie an acupuncture treatment. I started using pressure poin therapy rather than chiropractic when a human chiro friend was training to work on animals. I liked the idea that my horses weren't getting manually cranked on. She was worked on most of the horses at our stable for free and it was crazy to see the results. Lame horses (mine one of them) were sound. Horses that never had a lameness issue were all moving like fancy warmbloods. When my Aussie slipped a disc and became paralyzed from the waist down we thought he was done for. She worked on him several times a week and he fully recovered. 

Sadly my friend went to work at a human/animal clinic in Boston so I was left without someone to work on my pets. I had a wonderful vet/eventer/acupuncturist in the area but she decided just to work on small animals out of her office about an hour away. I was SOL until I found out my vet just finished training with vet/eventer person. I saw results right away with Bre. It wasn't as drastic as when she had treatments as often as needed. I love my vet because she will watch the horse move and explain everything she sees. She points out where she sees uneven hip bones, tilted pelvis, slight even movement. 

I decided to have her take a look at Dickie since he has grown, slipped in the pasture, and had a variety of saddles on him. She also thought it would be great timing to look for tell take ulcer pressure points. A little over a week ago he was kicking if you touched his girth area and irritable a few inches past his elbows. When the vet came he could care less. No nipping, no kicking, not even a flinch. She was surprised because most horses at least under their bellies. He just watched what she was doing and wanted to know when he was getting a treat. She also found nada in his other muscles. That's a new one. Bre usually needs needles everywhere and even Romeo has sore spots. Apparently the Appy has muscles of steel. 

I lunged him for a bit. I really wanted to ride but I am still getting woozy spells from my ear infection. He moved nice and had his worker bee brain on. He still would rather kick out or break to canter but he looked pretty dang nice. Then I drove for three hours at 5mph because we had snow and people FREAK OUT when it snows here. 

If we even get one snowflake it means 24hr coverage and mass panic in the grocery stores. 

Snowpocalypse

The cat stealing my blanket She got cold watching me shovel the driveway. 

Snow day

Bre lived in Alaska for several years so she didn't bat an eye. Romeo wasn't so sure he needed to be outside. This photo makes me miss long gallops in Alaska powder. 

The horses are staying in at Dickies barn. He has shoes and runs around so I don't want him to get snow ball feet and bow a tendon. Wish I wasn't working and could go crisco his feet to let him play. 

Dickie's Got a Tummy Ache (Dickie's Ailment Part II)

Trainer was the first to have a light bulb moment ULCERS. I don't know why I didn't think of it first. My Bre mare was colic queen for years back when we didn't know half as much as we do now. I learned how to take care of her by changing one food product at a time. These days the Internet is a wealth of information and I am going to share a bit of what I found out. 

Ulcers can happen fast:

Dickie's behavior changed within a few weeks. Looking back he had a similar episode when I changed his grain last year. I promptly changed it just as quickly I had my old horse back. At the time I just assumed the different grain was making him "hot" now I think it was giving him a belly ache. Research shows that ulcers can be induced in less than five days so it isn't suprising I saw the negative affects so quickly. 

Alfalfa is a miracle drug:

Alfalfa is apparently a natural buffer. Feeding alfalfa reduces stomach pH and can help an ulcer prone horse even fed just once a day. Feeding alfalfa before riding reduces pH during the stress of work and soaks up acid. Most of the myths I was led to believe by old school horse people about alfalfa have been debunked. Alfalfa doesn't hurt kidneys. It might make them thirstier and pee more often but horses' kidneys are more than able to deal with the extra protein in alfalfa. I was also worried about it making my horse "hot". Too many calories make your horse hot. If you are feeding alfalfa and your horse gets hot take a look at reducing concentrated feed first. 

Here's a quick summary about alfalfa benefits

Early Signs are Small:

Is your horse girthy but your saddle fits? Do they pick at grain? Do they take a few bites of grain then a few of hay? Does your horse chew wood? Does your horse seem irritable under saddle? Is he suddenly spooky? Does he have weight loss for no reason? Dull coat? If you don't see these signs in your horse I can be you have seen at least one or two at your barn. 

Dickie had all of these except the last two. He's shiny as a penny. He did lose weight but he's also growing and his work increased so the jury is out on why he lost weight. 

Ulcers Are Common:

Estimates run anywhere between 50 and 90% of horses depending on discipline. I am not so sure about this statistic because the people most likely to look for ulcers are also those in high stress disciplines. Regardless of how high the number really is, the fact remains every horse is wired for ulcers. They are meant to eat tiny amounts constantly and to be endlessly on the move. Most of our horses are fed twice a day (if they are lucky three times), spend most of their time in a stall or small pen, and few get to eat real grass. 

There is something you can do:

The treatment for ulcers is SPENDY one month of omeprazole is over $1,000. However, my vet said she often scopes for ulcers and doesn't find them. Horses can have signs of acid irritation before the damage hits. If your horse has any of the risk factors you should just start prevention techniques now. One of the steps you can take is adding alfalfa. Just a flake a day will help. Don't ride on an empty stomach. Toss them a handful of pellets, soak a handful of cubes, or throw them a flake of hay. Whatever is easiest for you. There are a few supplements with research behind them Egusin and Smart Gut ultra both had promising studies. They have the same main ingredients as Ugard and a few less expensive options. Psyllium also might help but I can't find as many studies on it. Just watch the active ingredients because licorice will cause you to fail a drug test. You can also put your hay in a slow feed net. It is better for his mind too and it is the cheapest solution I listed. 

How this relates to Dickie:

There were some major stresses at the barn, I hadn't worked him as much as usual over the holidays, I added a new hay pellet, and turnout is less due to weather. I think we had a perfect storm for his tummy ache. I started alfalfa and within two days he was back to eating grain. He went from picking at his grain to wolfing it (like normal). I was out there today and he kept checking his grain bin then licking it for good measure to let me know just how much he loves it. He's getting a flake of alfalfa a day and his night time hay goes in the slow feeder (I had gotten lax on that at this barn). I cut out the new hay pellets I added just before this episode. I gave him a round of psyllium and will start him on Smartgut ultra once it arrives. 

He's feeling much better already!! He had two weeks off and Weds trainer got on him. He was his normal naughty busybody self but not the least bit irritated. He was just ready to cause some trouble and have party time. He hardly even looked at the girth when she tightened it and there was no sign of him trying to take off or roll with a saddle. He's pretty rusty after his time off but I am really happy with the diet change. I am hoping that we dodged a bullet and his dramatic nature let us catch it while it was still a tummy ache and not full on ulcer. 

Great website about equine ulcers 

Video about ulcer pressure points

Clinic Disaster (Dickie's Ailment part 1)

I Killl You!!

I was so excited for the clinic. Dickie was going fantastic. He was starting every ride with his worker bee hat on. Excessive speed is never going to be a fault of his but he was getting consistent about bigger trot instead of being stuck in a tiny trot. Leg yield were coming along, turning was pretty dang great. Sure he had his days where he couldn't organize his baby legs but what can you expect from a horse who's just turning four. Canter is galumpy and on the forehand but it's willing and balanced. Seemed like a very good starting point for this clinic. She happily works with babies and I made sure ahead of time that our greenie status was appropriate. The week leading up to the clinic there were a few small issues that looking back told me trouble was brewing. He had stopped standing at the mounting block, was really girthy, and just seemed a bit pissy. 

The day before the clinic rolled around and he was really grumpy. I haven't had to lay the smack down about just getting his rear in gear for a long time. Right off the bat he tried to say that he wasn't pleased. I gave him a few smacks and he stompted his feet, kicked out, tripped over himself, then got his working brain on. It was a bit out of character but it didn't prepare me for clinic day. 

The clinician came to our barn (the reason for this is another long and stressful story) and I was stressed. My family came, Dickie was pissy, and I am always nervous with a new clinician. I started out by lunging him and I knew it was going to be bad. He was chomping the bit, grabbing the lead, prancing, slamming into me, running, bucking, and tuning me out. If it wasn't a clinic I wouldn't have even gotten on. I would have at least done some in hand work until he was calmer and tuned into me. But it was go time so I got on and even that was a chore. He didn't want to stand at the mounting block, snatched the reins from me, and tried to bite me when I tightened the girth. Not just Dickie nipping but full out "I hate you" bite. 

We ended up walking only on day one and her husband worked him on day two. At the end of the ride he decided he was done, and just stopped moving. While it was a completed disaster and injured my ego. However, I learned a TON from her. Her husband is a cowboy and real horse whisperer. It was amazing to watch him work with Dickie.

While I did learn because she is fantastic I still knew my horse wasn't right. He was acting like an unbroke horse. Horses have bad days, especially babies, but this wasn't even Dickie. Trainer was puzzled when she heard the story and curious what she would find during her weekly ride. He was even WORSE, he bolted on the lunge, tried to roll in her saddle, took off when she tried to mount and was entirely tuned out the whole ride. 

We both agreed this wasn't usual happy (naughty) but happily naughty horse. And we started to compare notes on what led up to this.....

1) He's been picking at his grain 2) Getting increasingly girthy 3) irritable 4) doesn't want me to brush his belly 5) Started chewing wood 6) Kicking out under saddle 7) Spooky 

Yoga Ball Video Cuteness

Wordless Wednesday (almost)

He had productive day of kill the yoga ball followed by trainer ride since the ear infections have made my balance wonky. Good boy Dickie. 

Cause of the Raging B$@%*

Ive been exhausted the last month my usual allergies have been particularly out of control. I was sure I had a sinus infection before Christmas and self treated it with nasal spray and oral steroids I have left from my last sinus spaz out. I used to get a yearly sinus infection then about five years ago had nasal surgery and was I heaven for years. The old problem has been creeping up but in true nurse/horse woman fashion I decided to ignore fatigue and brain ache. 

Finally yesterday when I had dropped the f-bomb 20 and kicked the Pyxis machine all before even hitting the floor I decided it was time to concede defeat. I made an appointment with urgent care for 830pm and swung by after work. It wasn't too soon because my head hurt so bad by the end of the shift that eve the pressure of glasses on my face was killing me 

It turns out that I wasn't a total wimp. I have infected ears and sinuses. I feel like the worlds worst horse mom because I have abandoned him all week but all I want to do is sleep. I am still dragging and it is almost noon. I plan to have a lunch of antibiotics and sudafed. Hopefully that will perk me up enough to turn in late assignments. Thank goodness I don't work until Friday!