What's Up Wednesday

Lots to cover this week! I'll just jump right in with what I'm most excited about... 

It just took me an hour to get this photo inserted.
I had to do it on my phone. I prefer to blog from
my computer. Do better Blogger.

I get to start trotting long sides with Eros! Since we never found a glaring issue on any of the imaging we performed, there was nothing to visibly recheck, but rather doc watched Eros trot some long sides and felt comfortable starting with that for two weeks. So for the next couple weeks Eros and I will be walking for thirty minutes and incorporating 4 lengths of the ring at trot each direction. No trotting through corners yet. If all goes well, he'll get rechecked in two weeks and we'll progress from there. It is very possible that he could come up unsound again since we are speculating at what was wrong. So I'm cautiously optimistic. But so far things are going well. He's been an angel, I haven't even had to use any ace. Which, I dunno about you guys, but rehabbing a horse that has had four months off in the middle of winter with no ace is a pretty rare thing to me. He's such a good dude. 

The very best view

Okay, that's the last photo I'm sharing today. Blogger is a mess. Sorry for the coming wall of text. And my apologies. 

Next on the vet visit list was Shiny. I thought for certain we'd be doing some injections, but we didn't. Doc watched her go and did several flexions. He was actually pretty satisfied with her flexions, but was concerned with something else. Early on in the ride she tripped behind pretty significantly twice and in front a few times too. She's always been a bit of a tripper in front (remember that time we full on fell down..) but normally she is pretty solid in the hind end. That coupled with some of her recent behaviors led him to think she may have epm. So we're treating her with Toltazuril for the next month. I'm not yet sure if I've seen a difference. She's very much still kicking out at the canter, but she does seem to be tripping a little less. So time will tell. It doesn't work overnight. He also said if there's no change to the behaviors we can check for ulcers and there are a couple of other things we can look at too, but for now, we're starting here. The kicking out isn't a new behavior for her, and as of yet it was not indicative of ulcers, which is why we aren't starting there. But definitely haven't ruled it out yet. 

She had great lessons this week though. And was especially fun on Saturday. We spent a little extra time on the flat which really got her loosened up and when it was time to jump she was super willing and ridable. She seemed to be having as much fun as I was which is always the goal. 

So Al was not on the list to see Doc, but when he brought up EPM for Shiny I asked about a few things I was concerned about with Al that I felt could also be indicative of a similar affliction. First is the obvious one in which Al lost his mind in December. Very much an EPM symptom although also, a little bit of who Al can be as a horse sometimes. But that was concern #1. Next, I've had three instances in lessons where Al jumped something and tripped on landing. He can be an occasional tripper, but it's never happened when jumping until a few weeks ago. Though for all of those instances he was also pretty behind my leg, so there are for sure alternate possible reasons for the tripping. Still, I considered that concern #2. And lastly, I've noticed lately that instead of actually bending when asked, he would tilt his poll in the direction I wanted him to bend. So like, pointed his ears that way but didn't actually bend his neck, and his nose would be slightly pointed in the opposite direction. It's very subtle, but it's something I noticed Rio doing not long before his EPM crisis. So we also decided to start Al on a course of meds. I really should have become a pharmacist. These horses are getting very expensive. Thank goodness Toltazuril isn't quite as expensive as Marquis was. 

In Al's case, I am actually seeing a difference already. As of Sunday, (meds started on Friday) he hasn't tilted his head at all. When I ask him to bend he does it properly. His emotional state hasn't fully changed, he was pretty spooky on Tuesday, but his work ethic seems to have improved. The last two days, when I put my leg on, he actually responds to it. He's much more willing to bring himself together and put in some real work too. It's too early to say for sure it's the meds, but I do think they're doing something for him. I should have tried this sooner. It was in the back of my mind, but I did think at first I was just being paranoid. I mean, the trauma from what Rio went through is still very much a part of me, and I was thinking I might be projecting. Especially because Al is a very similar horse to Rio. But when I told Doc about all of the little things he was very much on the same page. Those little things add up and if you do nothing, you could end up with what Rio went through. We do not want that!

Outside of meds, Al had a pretty good lesson on Thursday. He jumped nearly all the jumps in the ring (we purposely skipped one that was particularly close to the dragon's lair) and had a mostly good attitude for it all. Saturday he was less good. We were by ourselves which isn't ideal for Al in the indoor. He likes a buddy for security. Also, he had just started the meds the day before and who knows how that affects them ya know? He was just very distracted the whole ride. He never actually did anything wrong. But he was VERY behind my leg, and just not at all interested in focusing on the tasks at hand. He half heartedly did everything so I wouldn't call it a bad ride. I'm labeling it as satisfactory. We lesson again tomorrow, so we'll see what we have. 

That's what's happening over here. Keeping the pharmacy and our vet in business and plugging along! How are things with you guys and your horses?