My vacation wasn't nearly long enough and, typical that I felt I needed another one to recover, even though I didn't do anything truly exciting.
I did ride a few times, two of the days, I mentioned in my last post. The other was the day after Christmas. My boyfriend dropped me off while he went to the mall to get my Christmas present (he got paid on Christmas Eve).
She was cranky. Terribly cranky. I didn't care. I threw the saddle on her anyway and out we went to the arena. She walked like she was a 2 year old with a saddle on for the first time...the ENTIRE way to the arena. It's quite a walk, at that speed. I could have killed her. Normally, if she walks out of her stall like that, she relaxes after 10 steps or so. I decided to ignore it, because she was fine, if not a little lazy, on the lunge line. I figured she was stiff or her back was cold or something.
When I went to get on, though, I am honestly surprised I didn't end up in the dirt. She was tense and ready to start her old crow-hopping tricks. I couldn't get her to relax her mouth and give before walking off, and she walked off in the same "I've never had anything on my back" manner she left the barn with. I took a deep breath and pressed my legs into her side praying quietly under my breath that I could sit a buck if she decided to go through with it. Ridiculous, from a 15-almost-16-year-old horse.
It made me mad to have to baby her that way when she has been so good without a single "incident" or bit of tension for years now.
I decided to make her do something just on principle. I was already up there. I had committed to riding, and her foul mood wasn't going to be enough to make me back off. I told her we would walk for a few minutes and call it a day. It would be good for her to walk around for a while.
She didn't believe me, and never really relaxed at all. I made her walk (boy, what a chore) for about 10 minutes and then got off and took her back to the barn.
This was going to be a rather long, cold afternoon, waiting for my boyfriend to come back for me. I brushed her, and then went off to the tack room to clean my brush box and tack trunk. Then I cleaned her stall. Then I went into the pasture and grabbed about 2 flakes worth of hay from the round bale. Then...I sat and froze for a while playing games on my cell phone. About the time I finally got so cold I couldn't sit still anymore, and had started sweeping the barn aisle, he came back.
As I walked toward the car, I realized that I was still mad at her. I knew deep down that something was probably wrong, but she wasn't showing any signs of pain in her back, or legs. She'd had 4 days off. I had rubbed her down with liniment after making her work in side reins 4 days earlier. I guess I was mad that she'd ruined the "good" streak we'd been on, and made me not look forward to seeing her/riding again, like I had been feeling previously.
I visited a few times the week of New Year's, but didn't ride. It was cold, and I didn't feel like it. Yes, I was holding a grudge. I felt like my best friend had let me down.
On New Year's Eve, I stopped by to visit and drop off January's board. She was outside....weird. One of the girls who mucks stalls and volunteers came over to me and told me they'd switched the herds up again. She also told me Promise wasn't acting like herself.
She wasn't being cuddly and friendly when they went in to clean her stall. She was acting scared and skittish. I went out into the paddock to try to visit with her and she walked away from me. Three times. She wouldn't let me near her...when normally she walks up to me to say hi. I shrugged a bit and let her have her way. I told the girl I didn't know what was wrong, but to have the barn owner keep me posted if anything else changed or seemed weird.
That weekend, the barn owner sent me an email detailing how she was acting differently. She'd switched turnout around because Promise didn't seem to like the new filly and was standing off on her own a lot. The day turnout went well at first, but then she was doing the same thing. She was also acting afraid of everyone and everything, including the feed in her bucket. And wouldn't let anyone approach her in the pasture or stall.
She ended up putting Promise in a pen by herself with a round bale in an effort to get her to eat while she was out. She had started dropping weight again through her topline -- and her belly is not as wide, although no ribs are showing.
The barn owner and I were both at a loss. I couldn't think of anything to explain such a sudden change in behavior, never mind why she was acting like she had as a 2 year old, shaking and being terrified of people, when I know she isn't being hit or mistreated in any way.
Finally, she suggested maybe it was an ulcer.
The thought hadn't even crossed my mind, because I have never dealt with a horse with an ulcer. And while I know it is a side effect of being on bute for extended periods of time, she had seemingly come off of it with no trouble. Hell, that was back in late October/early November when she was on it for 2 weeks.
Google is the best invention ever. I googled ulcers in horses.
In adult horses, signs of gastric ulcers include:
- Poor appetite
- Check. Wouldn't eat, barn owner ended up hand feeding her for a few days before finally getting her to eat out of the bucket. Barely touching hay.
- Weight loss and poor body condition
- Check. From a distance, she looked ok, because no ribs showing. But her topline and hips definitely show weight loss.
- Poor hair coat
- Not as bright and shiny as normal, but growing winter coat, too.
- Mild colic
- Lots of pawing, but no rolling or kicking/biting at sides, etc.
- Mental dullness or attitude changes
- Definite attitude change. Seemed listless and dull. Terrified of just about everything.
- Poor performance
- When I think back to that Saturday and her mood, I can't help but kick myself a little. While I couldn't have known at that point, I know I should have paid more attention.
- Lying down more than normal
- Doesn't apply in this case.
I have been trying to get more educated on this, since truthfully, I never had a need to learn about them before and was very uninformed. The barn owner spoke with the vet on my behalf, since she is able to observe Promise everyday and notice subtle changes in her. Based on the description of her attitude changes, etc. the vet agreed it was most likely an ulcer. The only way to know for certain is to scope her, which is incredibly invasive and I would rather not. He could also take blood and see if her red blood cell count was up, but I didn't want to make a special call if he felt confident over the phone that it could be treated as an ulcer.
He suggested some Mylanta for a temporary fix.
I ordered a supplement called G.U.T on SmartPak. The barn owner bought some Mylanta for her. She called me the next morning to tell me it had made a small, but almost instant change in her. Turns out one of the vet techs was there for another horse and took a quick look at her. She offered to write a prescription for 7 days worth of GastroGuard which should neutralize the acid in her stomach causing the ulcer to be painful, and then the G.U.T. would act as maintainance for the pH balance. $42.50 per syringe. Ouch!
Throughout the week, she continued to improve a bit day by day. On Saturday, she was still not normal, but seemed calmer. She was standing at the back of her stall when I went in and turned to look at me but didn't move. She had a ton of hay in her stall and wasn't eating. I talked to her and scratched her neck, and her face and then went to get her brushes. While I was brushing her, she began to relax some. She eventually lowered her head and started eating from the hay bag that was rigged for her. I ended up brushing her for probably a good 40 minutes or so, so that she would eat all of her hay. Then I let her out in the arena to walk around and stretch some. She did quite a bit of walking, and socialized with one of the geldings that had been turned out for a few minutes in the paddock.
The potbellied pig was wandering the property...and apparently Promise is terrified of her. So much so, that the pig "chased" Promise across the river and up the trail...yes, she crossed the river all by herself, and then found the wooden bridge at the owner's property and crossed it by herself also.
After rescuing her, I brought her back to her stall and gave her a 1/2 scoop of sweet feed at the barn owner's suggestion. She ate it by herself, with me sitting in the stall talking to her. She seemed scared to even stick her face in the bucket, but she ate every bite, so I refilled her hay bag and left her after that. On Sunday she had made another small improvement, but she still was not herself.
