What's Up Wednesday

 

So I've been throwing everything I can think of at Al to see what might stick. 

Did I buy one of these liquid titanium masks? 
Yes. Yes I did. Did it help? No. No it did not.

I've been keeping notes every day on how things go with him. And I did notice that the first few days riding at home, he was pretty good, but went downhill quickly after that. And you know what was different those first few days? Ulcerguard. So I ordered a few tubes to experiment. And then I also accidentally fed Al Eros' tummy supplement because I added it to the wrong bucket. So I thought, you know what? Let's feed that to him for a bit. And I started to notice some changes this week. First, I caught him having a mid day snooze which he used to do when I first got him, but I haven't seen him to do in a long while. 

Next, he's been more relaxed in general. He still watches out his window a lot, but it's in a content way now not in a bug-eyed panic stare like he's been doing. Tuesday morning I noticed he's eaten more of his food than he has been. He's been really picky with his meals. Which I attributed to him being on too many supplements. But now I think that wasn't it. Tuesday evening I made some changes to his supplements that I had been planning but needed the items to arrive. First, I removed the Total Calm and Focus I've been giving him. Then I added in two supplements from Equine Elixirs. Let's chat about those for a moment.

Al's been getting Regumate shots twice a month for awhile now, and honestly, I don't think they're helping him at all. So I was wanting to stop them, but was also thinking about an alternative perhaps. I've been researching supplements for anxious horses, and while I honestly think most of them are BS, I'm very much at the point where I will try anything if it will get my horse out of his anxiety rut. 

People that I know and respect really seem to like the Equine Elixir products, and there seems to be a lot of success using Positude and Calmikazi together. The Equine Elixir products use natural ingredients and are show legal, so I figured, can't hurt to try them! I wasn't sure if Al would eat them but figured we'd give it a shot. The Positude is a liquid, and the Calmikazi I thought would be a powder, but it's actually like... chopped up grains? Like trail mix for horses almost. Looks delicious. Smells seven better. Now, I have no idea if they'll help him, we'll have to wait and see. But he LOVES them. He licked his bucket CLEAN both last night and this morning. I haven't done night check yet, so not sure if it's worked again, but I feel confident. So I gotta say, even if they do nothing, they got him eating all his food. Or maybe it's just that the Ulcerguard is working. I dunno. I clearly changed too many things at once so I don't know for sure what's working. But whatever. I was desperate. And so far so good. 

Yesterday, he was still pretty angsty for his ride, but it was very windy and even Eros was pretty spooky and annoying yesterday. And despite being angsty, Al was still a lot calmer than he's been. Like the look in his eye was different and the dragon breaths were less... dragony. And today? He was a good boy today! I let him trot around a few circles on the lunge line in a couple different spots in the ring before I got on. But then when I did get on, he just walked around the ring on a loose rein. BOTH DIRECTIONS. Just walked right around. With his head and neck relaxed. A whole different horse. Now, is this because of the ulcerguard? Probably. But I won't know for sure for a bit. Some days Al is like this. So I'm not getting too excited just yet. But like, just a little excited. If nothing else, we had a nice ride TODAY and that's worth be exciting about. Did he get a little spooky here and there? Sure, that's who he is. But he didn't jump out of his skin, or spin around, or stop dead snorting. So small wins. I'll take them. And in fact, I felt so confident in him, that we actually popped over a handful of itty bitty fences.

I included this one to show you that he does wear his 
ears right up until he actually jumps... Silly boy.

So things may or may not be looking up with Al. I think we have a vet appointment on Friday, so we'll discuss scoping so we can stop guessing. Plus it would be helpful to know if we also need to treat the hind gut. We'll see what doc says. 

Eros is plugging along with his rehab. We are up to 18 minutes trotting, 3 laps each direction at the canter, and we do about 16 minutes of walking. He still doesn't feel 100%, but he's feeling better than he did for sure. Our chiro was out on Friday which was much needed. Eros skipped a few appointments while he was walking only, and our chiro was in Florida since February, so it's been a long while. Once she got him literally straightened out, he's feeling a lot better than he did. I very much think he's due for some hock maintenance and probably neck too. And fingers crossed those are the things that I'm feeling. He'll be on the list for Doc on Friday too. I haven't gotten confirmation yet that's he coming, but ugh, I hope he does! 

Rehab time check

This is probably why my heels are sore at the end of the day.

stretchhhhhhh

Good Boy!

Guys, Shiny? She's been a star! She's feeling better than ever after her chiro appointment. A little lazy, and I'm concerned that she's put some weight back on... But she feels great. And she's jumping well. So well that I may let her go back to 2'3" this year. Not yet, we need to get the gas pedal working a little better first. But I think it's a possibility. She just feels really game, and her hind end is working so much better than it has in ages. Like even when she's way too slow and we wind up chocolate chipping, she's still jumping up and over behind instead of dragging her back end and having a rail. I very much think the EPM meds helped her tremendously and I wish I had tried that sooner. But glad we're here now anyway. I plan for her to get a shockwave on her neck when the vet comes and we'll see if he thinks we need to do anything else. Our chiro thought her neck felt better than it has in a long time, so that was nice to hear. I feel the same when I ride her. She's much more supple, and can hold bend in both directions. I'm hoping the weather stays a little more consistently nice so we can get the weight off her and get the gas pedal more reliable. 

Riding would be SO MUCH easier if I could 
keep my reins the correct length. Which they
are not here. Clearly.

Look at that counter bend!
And me trying to spur her with any spurs on...

I just love this pony. She's the best! Also, don't tell her I told you this, but I caught her letting Al groom on her in the paddock on Sunday. And like, not just once. But for a long while. And then she let him again a little bit later. Melted my little horsemom heart. And I have photo evidence, but Blogger doesn't feel like inserting any more photos on this post... It's taken me almost two hours to get this far so I'm not trying anymore. I did post it on Facebook if you want to see it there.

Rita is also the best. She used to always join me for night check, but lately, she's been protesting and refusing to come with me. Which is hilarious honestly. Guess it's too late for her to be outside? Monday, I took her for our usual walk. We waited until the rain stopped, and checked the weather app multiple times before going. It promised me there would be no more rain for several hours. So out we went! we were close to a mile away from home when it started POURING. And Rita, hater of the rain, just trucked right along until we got home. At which time it of course, stopped raining. Such a good doggo though! I also have a photo of us being all wet. But Blogger doesn't want to share that either. 

And that about catches us up! How was your week and weekend? Doing anything fun with your horses?