As usual, my busy schedule has me backed up on updates! I’m 6 weeks behind so the updates are MANY! For now, I’d love to give you an update on how the working boys are doing.
In my last post (about life) Jumping into the Season I got to share with you Tiger’s lesson and our delving into the ulcer world once again.
Suzanne and I both opted to treat Tiger and Stanley at the same time. We went on a full schedule of omeprazole in the morning, waited 30 minutes gave Sucralfate, waited 30 minutes, and fed breakfast with misoprostol. In the evenings we administered sucralfate, waited 30 minutes, and fed dinner with misoprostol. After thirty days we were OVER IT. But the boys? They felt good!
Only 4 days into treatment I noticed Stanley’s demeanor change immediately. He no longer got cranky. He returned to being soft and happy. Unfortunately, after months of trying to say yes to the demo saddle I was trying I had to send it back. Stanley loved it but I simply could not pay that much money to feel so bad in the saddle. I constantly felt flung forward and the saddle itself felt like sliding down a slide onto the pommel despite it fitting him so well.
I’ve been riding my dressage lessons in a western saddle. I hate the saddle, it aggravates my sciatic nerve with the wide seat, but it puts me in a better position than any other saddle I’ve ever ridden in. I’ve since had another fitter out to try a different saddle brand and we might have a winner if we can get the seat right, but more to come later.
With Stanley’s obvious ulcer issue resolved (we hope) he’s been back to softness and collection, and bending well…but he still struggles tracking left. Once again picking up the left lead is very difficult for us. He’s also occaisionally short strided on the left hind….I can’t feel it, it’s very subtle….but my trainer can see it on occasion. During our most recent chiropractic visit our vet determined mind lameness on flexion…we developed a plan of action to investigate but she instructed me to continue him in work as tolerated. I’ve reduced his work to 1-2x per week with added groundwork. Next week he will get shoes, and further investigation will follow from there.
With Tiger, we have been chasing down some physical discomfort. Suzanne and I trailered him to the vet and in April his SI was injected. In May his back, neck, and TMJ were X-rayed. We opted to inject his TMJ, which was narrower than normal. We injected his hocks, and we injected his neck which showed some arthritic changes in the C6/C7.
The boy is bionic!
Keeping our horses healthy and sound is at the forefront of our priorities. We aren’t used to having this level of care and attention (being so attuned to these very subtle cues and getting full workups) and we are so grateful for our team of experts to guide us along the way.
In today’s post, I probably made it sound worse than it actually is. The boys are both very happy and happily working as we fine-tune them to help support them in becoming their best selves.
The Green Horseman 