Wednesday, July 30, 2025

What's Up Wednesday

 

Shiny's kid came to ride today plus it's still pretty steamy out there (92 at the moment) so rides were short and that all means that I got done SO EARLY in the barn! So early that I had time to type this post out before family dinner! Yay! 

Let's just jump back to Friday last week because that's where all the interesting stuff happened. You may recall we had an appointment with Doc for Al's rescope and Eros was getting an eval. Al got to go first since he had to fast all night and morning for his scope. He had finished his full dose of esomeprazole a few days prior and was getting a half dose to start his taper. I kind of felt like he was reverting back a little to electric Al, but I didn't want to believe that, and so I kept that info to myself. But as it turns out, I think i might have been right. The scope showed that his ulcers are MUCH better. Like nearly gone. But not entirely. And so I do think he was less comfortable on the half dose of meds. He's back on the full dose for another month and then we'll scope again to see if he's finally cured at that point. 

cute photo to break up text

In the past we've just treated him rather than scoping because we knew there was a problem. Didn't really need proof, right? But clearly that hasn't worked because he always gets worse as soon as we stop treatment. This time we scoped before treatment and then again at the end, and this was so informative because it suggests that we've never fully cured the ulcers. Hence why his behavior deteriorates once we stop meds. Because the improvement is so significant I do feel confident we can get them healed completely. It's just going to take a little longer. Hopefully anyway. But I'm really glad we finally scoped. Doc is too, he had the same thoughts. We haven't yet discussed how we're going to approach the mystery ailment that the naproxen is treating. For now we're staying the course while I decide if I want to send him for a scan to try and pinpoint what it is, or if we want to do some flexions and make some educated guesses for injections. The scan isn't cheap, and we'd still need to do injections likely. But just guessing might end up being just as expensive until we find the bullseye. So I dunno what I want to do yet. For the time being we are staying more focused on the tummy.  

Next Eros got looked at. His back is completely back to normal which is such a relief. Doc thinks getting his weight down is why it's so much better, but I really think it was the Lyme that was the problem. Eros has always been... a curvy dude. Haha! Either way, I'm just glad he feels better. AND that I can stop buying Robaxin. 

night night juice hits this one hard

The flexions went well. He was a little positive in the hocks which I expected. (Turns out it's been 13 months since we did those last, so definitely due.) Nothing really notable up front with the flexions, but he did come out noticeably unsound and then got better and better as he worked. Which is his normal, he has that defective front leg. But we also researched the last time we did his coffins and it was 2023 so we decided to do them again to see if we can get that feeling a little better to start. And we also gave him a shockwave treatment on his neck since he always responds so well to that. He then enjoyed a weekend vacation while the new go-go juice did its thing. And now? He feels AMAZING. Better than he has in a long time. Oh! Also, we pointed the thermo camera at his legs after working and he didn't have any blue legs this time. So whatever weird circulation problem he was having seems to have resolved. Doc once mentioned that he sees horses with Lyme have cold legs sometimes, so I'm chalking that up to the Lyme also. 

Shiny will have her evaluation next month when Al is due to be scoped again. Gotta space the bills out a little bit, ya know? 

So that was the most interesting things this past week. Otherwise we've been plugging along. Everyone is putting in nice work, though the last couple of days we've kept thinks short and sweet due to the weather. 

The photos you find when the teenager gets your phone for you

Shiny's been busy with various pony rides and small children "brushing" her. She's such a saintly little nugget to just let kids do whatever. I really appreciate her. She has all of her opinions but she also knows who she can and cannot share them with. And that's pretty special. 

Al had been a little spicy pre-vet visit, but once back on the full dose of tummy meds, he's back to being mostly good. I'm really struggling to get him going forward, but it's 94 degrees and humid. I also don't want to work that hard. I'm happy with him though, he's trying to be a good boy. I also feel like he's happier in general. He's been just generally more relaxed and his old personality is coming through more and more. Hopefully we stay on this track! 


I think he's ready to think about some bigger jumps. But I'm not sure I'm ready just yet. Soon though! Soon!

Eros feels so good this week with the fresh go-go juice in his joints. I was worried the torpedo might happen if we jumped, but it didn't. I think he's more comfortable so he's not worrying about the landing and rushing through it. 



That could change of course once it's not surface of the sun hot outside... but that's my current working hypothesis. We just popped over maybe four jumps today, just to see what it felt like post vet visit. Maybe this weekend we'll do a little more and test the waters for real. 

And that's about it from here. We don't have anything too exciting coming up this week. Well, I do. I'm finally getting the leaking oil tank in my basement replaced. But that's not really blog worthy. Other than that it's mostly more of the same stuff. But we like our same stuff, that's so just fine with me!


6 comments:

  1. Honestly sounds like promising news all around — at least in terms of having a more clear understanding for Al too!

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    1. Yes, I think we're getting somewhere! Cautiously optimistic of course because I know better with him... But I've had several pretty normal rides with him lately. So fingers crossed!

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  2. I agree with Emma. I also love that Shiny has her own little minion.

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    1. Me too! Shiny's kiddo is great, I wish she could come around all year long!

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  3. Oh wow, fingers crossed you can get the ulcers fully healed!

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    1. Ugh, I really hope we can! And that they don't come back!

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