A Step Forward?

Again, thank you all for your comments. I went out to ride Friday, thinking that I would try the western tack to see if that made a difference, then up her ulcer medication if she behaved the same way she had been. Before tacking up, I turned her out in the indoor where she proceeded to gallop like a maniac and take the right lead at will.

Huh.

I tacked up and off we went. She was really, really good. I had the most impulsion at the trot that I've had in months. She happily and willingly took the right lead without any of the head-flipping fuss she'd been giving me. So. Weird. Was it the saddle change? Was it the emergence of spring grass that is somehow supplementing her diet? No clue. I decided against upping the medication and went home.

Saturday, I took Izzy out for a nice long hand walk down the road. Anytime she got nervous, we would just stop and look at stuff until she relaxed, then continue. It was great. Western tack again. We started riding over to the indoor. She would not go forward AT ALL. (Oh, and did I mention it was snowing? Yay.) Then, as we crossed the road, she stopped. With a car coming. Would not move. Grrr.

I finally got her off the road, but she was distracted and hard to deal with for the next 10 minutes. I got off after she gave me something decent and called it a day.

She went from magically fixed to magically unfixed in the space of a day, which again makes me think ulcers. That sporadic behavior is very characteristic of her last bout with them.

A couple of notes:

1) Izzy gets fed two large meals a day. She is a pretty moderate eater, so that works out to her constantly having hay in front of her to dispose of at her leisure. She doesn't tend to bolt her food, so nibble nets etc are not a huge deal for us.

2) She has been on Ugard this entire time. Just the maintenance dose, though. I will up it to the loading dose for now, but we can't do Ulcerguard until my budgeting improves. It's looking up right now, but we're talking next month at the earliest. I can increase her turnout time and have more alfalfa added to her diet, though. That should help her out.

An old picture, but the problem pony is just as cute as ever.

Short Term Plan

Thank you for all your comments. You've certainly given me a lot to think about. The general ideas presented are here:

1) Some sort of internal infection

2) Hoof problem

3) Hock problem

4) Cycle/hormone problem

5) Ulcers

Hm...

Based on my knowledge of Izzy, I would say that I think #4 or #5 is most likely. An infection is possible, but I would expect other symptoms, maybe general droopiness, dull eyes, more discomfort. Her feet look good. It's not just me saying that--every farrier I've ever had work on her feet (4 different ones) thought she was pretty ok, especially in the back. She's sounds and moves relatively well, which is also why I doubt it's a hock problem. She's sound and even. She is genetically predisposed to be sound (yay!), she didn't work hard as a young horse, and I've brought her on slowly. Those options are possible, but I'm not thinking they are most likely.

Which brings us to hormones and ulcers.

Hm.

Izzy never gave me any trouble in her cycle until her last one last fall, which I mentioned in the appropriately named post, PMS Pony. She is also 7, almost 8, so she is in a prime time of life to be having these problems. Since her last cycle was rough, it's definitely possible that her first one this year is correspondingly rough.

The other obvious possibility which I had overlooked is that her ulcers are acting up again. Hm... this one strikes a chord with me. Specifically, Izzy's ulcer problem started last summer when she was confined to her run except for a few minutes a day when I was able to turn her out in the arena. We're at a much better place now, but all the rain and snow and yuckiness has seriously cut in to available turn out time. It could easily be that this nasty lil' problem is cropping it's head up again.

Hm.

Ok, our current short term plan is as follows:

1) switch to the loading dose on her ulcer medication

2) try to maximize turnout as weather allows

3) tack change: ride in the western saddle outside the arena at a walk to see if there's an element of being arena sour going on--maybe she just needs out

4) continue to monitor for any signs of cycling. Her back legs were a little messy two weeks ago, but I haven't noticed it since and she hasn't been presenting herself to geldings that I've noticed.

5) I'm considering having a massage therapist out to work on her. That would maybe indicate any more specific pains and would rule out a serious personality conflict, which I don't think is the problem, but would cover my bases.

Any other thoughts? I'm thinking we'll stick to this for about a week and look for improvement. If she's still acting weird, the next step will be to call a vet, but that's expensive and my faith in conventional medicine is only so-so.

Rethinking Smartpak

I believe I blogged before about why I use Smartpak for Izzy. Basically, it's cheaper and super convenient, since the feed/tack store is on the opposite side of the valley from where Izzy is. It's an extra hour of driving to and from, plus then I'm at the only viable tack store in the area which is never good when I'm already looking to spend money. You know how that goes.

Anyways. Through Smartpak, I got what I wanted (Ugard and an omega 3 supp) for way cheap and didn't have to pay shipping. It was a great system. The only problem is that now, Smartpak has changed their policies. They have free shipping for all Smartpaks over $40. I'm sure that's amazing for Denali's Mom and Marissa, whose horses are somewhat higher maintenance, but for Izzy, whose monthly total was $21, it's not as good of a deal. Oh, and they raised the prices on most of their supplements. I am not complaining about that--it's a business and they have to make money, BUT now instead of paying $21 a month, it's $32. That's $132 a year. I know, small potatoes to some of you (and not even a month for the Wild Pony Beast's Smartpak), but enough for me to explore new options.

Then again, Smartpak is super easy to use, I do love their customer service, and as one friend pointed out, "You could just increase your supplements until they cost $40". Haha, not likely, but it's a thought.

So. I am planning on keeping the Ugard, since it makes Izzy's tummy happy and is pretty inexpensive. What's your favorite skin & coat/omega 3 supplement?

Mixed Emotions

It's been a weird week. It's September 23 as I'm writing this and in one week, Izzy and I will be moving to the new barn. My entire riding career has been with Cathy, so this is a huge switch for me. I know it's the right thing to do for my horse and my life right now, but I'm not always sure emotionally. I mean, I've been with Cathy since I was 9. I probably spent as much time at her house as I did at my own when I was in highschool. We're still friends and will remain so, but it's going to be really different to go to the barn and not have her there.

I talked with Irie's mom this morning--she's good friends with K and will drive us out there next Friday, which is fabulous and wonderful. Even more than that though, it was good to just be able to talk to someone who understands where I'm at. She's also really practical and knows just as well as I do that Izzy NEEDS pasture and is an entirely different horse with it. I'm feeling better about my decision now.

Still, a new boarding situation means I have to make a whole bunch of decisions I never really worried about before. I have my own farrier and chiro, so that's established, but I need little things like a rodent-proof grain container. Since I'll be buying my own grain, I need to decide what to get and figure out how much to feed. Izzy has been on Gastroshield for her ulcers. That's fine, but I'm kind of wanting to go the smartpak route since I won't have to go to the store all the time and they don't carry it. Can I switch to Ugard? I don't know. (If you have input, by all means, share.) Still, most of my questions are fairly unimportant things, I just have to do them.

I will say that through this process of really taking ownership over Izzy's well being, I feel so much more connected with her than I ever did before. It's not that anything is really different between us, just that I think I've realized how much she really does mean to me. She's not just the horse I have, she's the horse I've always wanted and wouldn't give up for the world.
This is from last year, but I love it.

Day 2

That's right. Izzy got her second dose of gastro shield today. It's not a product I'm familiar with yet, but the other two horses at the barn who deal with ulcer issues are on it and doing very well. I'm going to do some more research and evaluate it later, but it's at least a stop gap for now. I feel woefully behind. I've barely been online and I'm not riding much. My grandma is not doing very well (she's still on hospice care), so my priorities have been away from the barn.

I did ride Izzy briefly today. We only had time for a half hour lesson, which was about enough for the both of us. She didn't repeat any of her antics from Sunday, but she was far from calm. We just did some walk, trot, canter each way and then called it good. She was quiet(ish), and relatively willing, so I let good enough be good enough and hopped off. I did turn her loose in the arena for a few minutes to let her run when we were done and I won't be able to get out to see her tomorrow.

I do lunge her every time I get her out. At the old place, I only lunged if I felt like I needed it, but I haven't gained that level of confidence with her here yet. Besides, we do not currently have turn out and I think it's vital for her brain to have some exercise that isn't strictly controlled. I'm trying to turn her out in the arena more often, but that's hard to do when other people are riding, obviously.

For feed, Izzy was getting about 3 big meaty flakes of grass alfalfa mix morning and evening, which meant she pretty much had food all the time. She got about 2 cups of grain (mixed corn and something) with a small scoop of vitamins in the morning. We've changed that (starting tomorrow) to a small amount of senior with vitamins, two scoops of gastro shield, and a small scoop of vitamins. I'm thinking the senior might be easier on her stomach than the grain... here's to hope.

Thinking Thoughts

A couple of you have mentioned giving Izzy some U-gard to see if she has ulcers. I've mostly ignored that advice because I've always been able to pinpoint another reason for her acting up. I've been away thinking about her this whole weekend though, and I think it's time I actually looked into it. She has been a bit odd lately. Part of it I'm sure is moving and part is a lack of turnout (grrr), but I think both those things could easily contribute to a stressful situation for her. Tomrrow, I'll begin the hunt for the U gard.

Wish me luck.

Plan to Move Forward

First off, I finally have some Izzy pictures. I'm sorry it's been so long without them. It's just hard to take pictures of oneself while riding and she's hard to photograph because she won't just stand still and let me walk away. She wants to be in the middle of what's going on.

See? She's so darn cute. Also, what would you call the marking on her face? It's not in any horse book I own. It's too long to be a star, too short to be a stripe... You can't see it, but she has a tiny snip on her upper lip, too.

Here's another picture from the same day:
This was as close as she would come to posing. In this picture, she's wearing a collegiate plain raised snaffle bridle with a full cheek single jointed bit. That's an Ansur KonKlusion saddle with a random girth I borrowed, and a neckstrap in case I feel insecure. She is such a good looking horse.

Here's today. (The previous shots were from a couple weeks ago.) I successfully put on wraps without making her legs look like potatoes, so I left them on. I had just been putting them on and taking them off the past few weeks to get the hang of it. I'm not a fan of nontradition colors in general for dressage/jumping, but my dad got me these years ago as a Christmas present. I figured I should at least learn how to put wraps on properly before I branch out and get some in a more conservative color.

As you can see, I obviously needed conservatively colored wraps for all the formal work we had to do today. Yes, it was bareback day #2. Day #1 was yesterday. It's rained so much that the arena is a total mess. I like to use weather like this to just muck around and work on little things.

And here's Klasi Renee', Izzy's mother and my beloved old OTTB. She's 17, had three gorgeous babies, won just about everything there is to win, and still going strong. She doesn't like having her mane pulled, and at her age, I don't mess with it. She's done enough.
Izzy was Cassie's (her barn name) first baby, then Tristan's Fortune, the gorgeous holsteiner gelding whose video I posted her a month or so ago was the second. Her latest was by an awesome Friesian stallion, a little filly named Natasya. I'll have to take more pictures of all the babies while they're still around.

As for the rest of our problems... I think I'm going to rearrange how I address them. The U Gard that someone (Kate?) recommended is the least expensive, so I figure I'll buy that and give see how it goes. Worst case senario, I'm out $25. I will continue to play with padding once we start riding with a saddle again... probably next week, since I'll be out of town again this weekend visitng my inlaws. The chiro is going to have to wait until next time, which will be much easier on my bank account. Hopefully, it will be more fully recovered from the saddle purchase by then. Still, winter's coming on quickly if the weather's any gauge, so we may be done with any serious riding until spring anyways.

A Glimmer of Hope

The vaunted trail ride was today. Izzy was wonderful. We went with Star, a cute paint who wouldn't be fazed if a train came out of no where and was headed straight for him. He'd just calmly step out of the way. Also along was Iree, a darling little Haflinger pony who apparently doesn't mind when mares bounce off his rear end. Needless to say, their respective riders accompanied us.

I was pretty happy with how Izzy did. She had never seen the foothills before to my knowledge, but while she was a little looky, she didn't get too worried. She was a bit strong (more on this later), but never bucked or spooked or did anything untoward. Because she's never lived in the mountains, her technique was kind of lacking. She thought it was just of good of an idea to trot down a steep hill as to sit back and walk. Fortunately, I just stuck her nose in Iree's tail, and we'd bounce off him all the way down. If I ever become a full time trail rider, I'm totally getting a bombproof gelding like the two boys we went with.

She was perhaps not surprisingly much more forward than she had been in the past few days. In one flat sandy spot, we all cantered. Izzy was trailing a little bit at that point, so she kicked her speed up a notch and we almost blew through the calm boys. That reassures me as to her ability to one day do cross country. I certainly didn't want to have to force every stride around a course, and today she showed that there is a forward gear. Good.

So... I don't know where that leaves us. She was forward today. I've at least temporarily ruled out ulcers because she doesn't get too upset about anything (feeding time or otherwise) and she hasn't really exhibited behavior change in anything other than not wanting to go forward under saddle. She also lives out 24.7 with a friend, so I think she's ok. She does go forward nicely on a lunge line and, obviously, on trails. There could be a chiropractic type problem that I aggravate by riding her. She could be cranky about the weather, since it's been dramatically colder the past few days. She was good today and she had her blanket on last night. Are the two related? I don't know.

Any other ideas?

I'm thinking she'll get tomorrow off, since the trail was pretty hilly and she's not used to that sort of exercise. Besides, I'm teaching a lesson and letting someone else try my saddle. It will be a full day.