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| Why are there no treats? |
To put it plainly, WINTER SUCKS! The weather hasn't left me much in the mood for blogging, so rather than put up a bunch of half-hearted posts, I took some time off.
So let's catch up a little bit... At the beginning of February, I changed Alex's feed to Hallway Fibrenergy. I'm happy to report at Alex absolutely loves this feed, like attack me when I walk in the stall with the scoop, love. I had also started Alex on Succeed, which seemed to have some limited benefit, but ultimately not enough for me to continue. In place of Succeed, Alex is now on the EquiVision Hind Gut Health Program, and I'm pleased to report I've noticed some very positive changes. Finally, in addition to the change in hind gut supplement, I've also put Alex on Magnesium. I've been suspecting a deficiency for some time now, but being me, who hates to over supplement, I just couldn't bring myself to buy it.
See, Alex and I also had another first while I was on a blogging hiatus... he bucked me off. Luckily, I wasn't seriously hurt... He did it in the outdoor arena, on the rail next to the fence tracking right and I went off to the left, landing hard on my left shoulder and hip. I sort of knew it was coming (you know how you know) but I didn't want to dismount and let him win. After the fall, I got back on... but then I didn't get back on for nearly two weeks. I didn't think it was wise to be riding around on a potentially difficult horse with a weak shoulder.
The day Alex bucked me off, was his first on the Magnesium. Prior to that day, he had been wild... I mean wild. Never working down, wide-eyed, seeing monsters in every corner, rider hating wild. Every ride was a fight, every ride just battling to keep moving forward, trying to stay in the saddle and stay in control. I was desperate, sickly thinking to myself that if I couldn't find the missing piece of the puzzle, couldn't find a way to even him back out, I'd have to find him a new home.
Now I don't want to jinx myself... but since we completed the loading dose, Alex has been much quieter. I feel like I am starting to get my horse back. We're moving slowly, but I hope the progress continues.
What a tumultuous few months you guys have had. Hope he has mellowed now that he's used to magnesium surge and am glad to hear second hind gut supplement has positive effects.
ReplyDeleteHope your shoulder and hip are all healed up!
It hasn't been the start to 2014 that I had hoped for, but I suppose it's all part of the OTTB process :-)
DeleteMy horse was just diagnosed with hind gut ulcers. Her issue was terrible rearing. I mean terrible. Shes going on Egusin & kombat boots to re-balance her hind gut and i'm changing her magnesium from smartpak ultra to Mag Restore. Its suppose to have better results. I'm crossing my fingers this will help my girl. I'm very interested to know how it goes with your pony as it looks like were in very similar boats.
ReplyDeleteInteresting, Alex also spent a lot of time rearing, which I hate more than bucking any day. He just literally wouldn't go forward and then would rear. His attitute always got better with gastric ulcer treatment, but would then regress. What did you put her on for hind gut ulcers? Are you seeing results? Alex is on MagRestore and as I mentioned I have seen positive results. Apparently gastric ulcer treatment can throw their Mg levels out of whack and since he's had several ulcer treatments of varying lengths, it seems that is the most likely culprit. I don't expect him to ever be a deadhead and I realize he might not ever be a totally easy horse, I just wanted to go back to the smart sensitive guy I had last fall. We'll see how things go tonight, but I'm definitely encouraged for the first time in a long time.
DeleteHind gut and gastric are treated different. Ugaurd wont work for hind gut. I'm still waiting for all my supplements (Kombat Boots which is basically brewers yeast, and Egusin) to arrive so i can keep you posted as to how it progresses. I'm also putting her on the Mag Restore which should help to cool her jets why we work on re-balancing her hind gut. The vet i'm working with on this explained to me that the hind gut ulcers is why i would get 10/15 good min out of her then she would basically lose her mind and not want to move forward and then rear like a mofo. The acid would take that long to slosh around with her motion. Shes always been such a willing horse under saddle before this. The vet comes back out in a couple weeks to make sure were on the right track. He seems to think this is a very fixable issue and was very optimistic about the whole thing.
DeleteI guess I wasn't clear, I do know that gastric ulcers and hindgut ulcers are treated differently. Unfortunately, it took me some time to separate the two, because so much of what he presented was gastric. It was the fact that his issues never fully resolved after gastric treatment, that led me to hindgut treatment. It's been interesting, I've never had a horse with these kinds of gut issues, but I'm starting to feel like I might have found all the puzzle pieces. Good luck with your mare, I hope the mag does the trick!
DeleteSo sorry to hear about your fall! Fingers crossed that the Magnesium does the trick for Alex!
ReplyDeleteHope the spring and summer hold better times for you, hang in there:)
ReplyDeleteWinter does suck!
ReplyDeleteI'm glad you are okay after the buck :( also glad the Mg is working!
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