No Cushings!

Yippee! Gus tested negative for Cushings. I'm so excited. However, the vet tech/receptionist forgot to test for insulin resistance (IR), so that'll be tested here this coming month. I'm hoping that that test yields negative results, but we shall soon see.

And boy, is it SNOWING out. We've probably gotten about 6" now (snow started shortly after 8am) and it's not even 1pm yet. They say we may get upwards of 10"... I hope not.

Getting back to Gus, he seemed to be doing okay yesterday when I rode. Surprisingly, he was better to the left then to the right at the trot, the first time. We were able to do some lazy figure-8s in the trot. Didn't do any lateral work with him at all. Also didn't apply any Sore-No-More after riding. We'll see how he feels on Saturday or Sunday, whenever I can get out to the barn next.

Also, I further decreased his Recovery Eq, from 1 1/2 scoops to 1 scoop, which is the maintenance dosage. And, when I refilled supps for this next week, I did not add in the Previcox. We'll see how he goes. I have a feeling that I'll be needing to add that back in.

Talking with the BO, it looks like Gus may go back on turnout with a couple other horses. She's got some new boarders coming in for March and he can't be on private turnout anymore, which really stinks. Hopefully he'll adjust well and life will be grand. If not, well we'll go from there.

Haven't seen Gringo since the weekend. Need to call J and get appointments set for both boys for farrier work. Still no word from the BF's parents about the possibility of the boys moving. So, if we do go that route, won't be until May now, at the earliest. Such is life.

Shed season has begun!

Gringo is in full shed mode. Yea! Or not. Now I leave the barn not only smelly (he reeks right now) but I'm full of gray hair. Just lovely! So, the next couple pictures are Gringo post grooming (but before I tackled that mane of his). I also think that he's butt high again. Lovely. I thought he had stopped growing, but looks like that's not the case. We'll see if he ends up balancing back out again or not.





The following photo is after I pulled his mane. Definitely needed to be cleaned up a bit, as it was probably about 6-7" long. Now it's back to about 3-4". Nice length, but still could be a tad shorter. It's a work in progress.

This other photo is him from the pasture... with his Schneiders blanket on. We got dumped with another 3-4" of snow again overnight, just lovely. This photo was taken yesterday, shortly after the snow started again.

So, what do you think? I'm going to try to get a video clip of him walking. He was being a pill yesterday so I never did get any of him moving, but he's still very much off. Just started the BL Pellets yesterday also. I'm hoping those will help the pain. Otherwise, we are looking into doing a nerve block to see if that changes things at all. I'll keep the blog updated on Gringo's condition.

As far as Gus goes, he's still the same ol' Gus. No real changes. Worked quite a bit yesterday at the walk. Worked on collecting and putting more weight on the hind end. Added in some shoulder-ins (probably more like shoulder-fores) and a few leg yields. Definitely noted some resistance issues with the leg yields, especially going to the right.

He seemed a bit off moreso at the trot then he's normally been. It could be due to the weather (very wet and damp), lack of work (haven't ridden him since last weekend) or could be due to the lateral work we were working on. Or, a combination of the three (tend to think that may be the case).

Still waiting on those lab results. Dr. N said they should be back in within the next week and she'll let me know the results as soon as possible. Hoping everything comes back negative (which in this case is good) and we can get on with everything. Should be interesting to see what they have to say, to say the least.

Sunday.

Well, haven't been out to see Gus since last Wednesday (previous post). He was surprisingly good (natured). He's still very much off, worse then he was a couple weeks back, but he willingly worked for me today.

His right eye was a bit weepy today. Again, first time I've seen him since Wednesday - so he's had no maintenance with that eye. I'm planning on going to the barn tomorrow also, so hopefully it's looking better then.

Still waiting to hear back from the vet with regards to Gus's ACTH, Insulin and Glucose tests. Hoping for positive (well, actually negative) results, but we'll see within the next week or so.

Gringo is still off. Haven't heard back from J yet (the farrier). Not sure if she'll be calling me back or not. Gringo will be switching over to aspirin here shortly, or the BL Pellets, if they arrive soon. I'm hoping I can make him more comfortable, because he definitely isn't very comfortable right now. May need to talk to Dr. N about him again...

Anyways, nothing else new. It's turned cold again. Stinks... or errr... it's just really cold. I hate it. Such is life in the midwest.

What the heck?

So today I went out to ride Gus. That's nothing new. But boy was he acting strange today. When I went out to get him from his turnout, he was laying down in the hay pile. That in itself is nothing new. Get Gus all groomed and tacked up and proceed into the arena. He's fine walking around but then another horse comes in. That's not new. What is new though is him hollering. He starts straining to see out of the windows. I get him focused and get after him to keep walking forward.

Well... I ask for the trot and he's a bit short and choppy-strided. I try and ask for a more forward trot and instead get a massive buck/bolt/snarky twist thing. Great. Just what I don't need. Anyways, I make him walk and ask for a trot again. Then, once he was nice about it, I had him walk again and dismounted. We walked for a couple laps around the arena. Don't know what his issue was. Really weird that he was acting that way.

When we got back into the barn I made sure to apply some Sore No More to both stifles. We'll see how things go later on this week. I did notice that he didn't want to lift up his LH when I cleaned it either... so who knows what's going on. I suppose time will tell, as always.

Gringo isn't any better either. I think he's worse then ever. He walked into the barn like an old man. Going to be looking at other options, as far as pain management goes. He's been on (currently weaning off of) firocoxib (Previcox is the brand name) and has also been on bute and aspirin. I ordered some BL Pellets to try... so we'll see how that goes. They should be later in the next week or two. Otherwise, off to the drawing board again.

I did contact J (the farrier) to see if we can change things again when Gringo's due for a reset. I just don't think what we're doing now is helping him at all... it's hindering him, I believe. Again, only time will tell.

Both boys got dewormed today. Gringo also got his birthday "lunch". Gus was double dosed with Equimax. Turns out that onchocerca can settle in the eyes and lead to ERU. Well, Gus has ERU and has been having some flare-ups. So, we'll see if the double dose helps. I do plan on giving another dose of plain ivermectin in two weeks and then a couple days later the BO will be giving him his standard deworming (which is usually plain ivermectin also).

Any updates on the aforementioned deworming will be blogged about. I'm hoping to see some changes with Gus. But, who knows? Still waiting to hear from the BF and his parents about whether or not the boys can move in. We'll see... I should know by the end of the month.

Gringo's 6th Birthday!

Well, today was Gringo's birthday, his sixth to be exact. I didn't have much of anything in the house, so all he got was a few homemade molasses & peppermint treats that I whipped up last night. He seemed to enjoy them - like who wouldn't? I'll be getting some more apples at the grocery store here in the next day or two and making him a yummy apple and oatmeal mash... he deserves something special for his birthday.

I think he's growing, again. He's looking a bit butt-high. Oh well. As he stands right now, I believe he's right at 15 hands. I think he's not half bad, conformation-wise, but he's nonetheless a lovely pasture ornament now.

He is still lame on that left front. He's slightly better now then he was with the previous shoeing... but definitely way worse then he was this past fall. Not sure if we can go back to the frog support or not, but I think he may need it. he's definitely still ouchy.

Gus is doing the same as well. Still lame... moreso going to the left then to the right. We rode for about 20 minutes again today. He's still tracking up with the hind end but moving more on his forehand then off the hind. Need to work on correcting that.

I'm still trying to find someone to video us... as soon as I can get some video, I'll be posting that. But, who knows when that'll be.

Regardless, no major changes (good or bad) for either boys to report. Still waiting on that ACTH test for Gus. Hopefully that'll be done yet this next week. We'll see.

Hmm.

Well, had my weekly lesson again, first time in almost a month (last one was the first Wednesday after New Years). Wow... did I forget a lot! Sheesh. But it was fun, as always. Riding S this time. She's a good ol' mare that knows a lot and loves to put people in their place.

Rode Gus afterwards. He seemed to be doing okay - not as well as over the weekend, but he wasn't nearly as stiff as he had been in prior weeks. We walked for a total of about 15 minutes and spent about 5 minutes doing trot work (about 1-2 minute sets before a walk break). The BO/Trainer was in the arena the same time because another rider was lessoning. She said he was still off (well, duh!) but questioned what happened if we'd go from a halt, rein back to trot. Tried it and he didn't like it. Noticed more issues with the left stifle then the right. Interesting.

He's still much better trotting to the right then to the left. Still trying to figure out why... I think I'll actually post on CoTH to see if they give me an answer. I guess, specifically, I'd like to know when posting which hind leg are you giving a "break" to? Hmm.

I was proud of him last night though. He's been higher then a kite to bring in at night - actually reared up and struck out at BO a couple days back. Who knows why, except... interesting to note that he's on a higher dosage of MSM and others on CoTH have noticed that higher doses have causes some horses to be more hyper, energetic. Wonder if that's the difference? But he's been getting worse to bring at night over the last couple months, the increase in MSM just happened within the last 2 weeks. Anyways, getting back to why I was proud of him. He's been cribbing like crazy again, even with his Rambo band on. Since I led him in last night (and he was good for me, tense, but good) and was planning on riding, he didn't get supper right away. He was a bit irked by that but cooperated. Not once did I catch him trying to crib while I was grooming/saddling him. Then again, he could have gone to town when I went to grab his bridle from my locker, so who really knows? Anyways, he's getting a new collar this next month. It's one of theses: http://www.smartpakequine.com/productclass.aspx?productClassid=6437. We'll see if it works. The Miracle Collar (aka Rambo band) is this one: http://www.smartpakequine.com/ProductClass.aspx?productClassId=1727.

Gringo is supposedly doing a bit better. Got a call from his BO the other day (Sunday I think). Said he was walking out of his stall much more comfortably. We'll see how he is when I go to visit tomorrow morning (planning on it anyways). I'm hoping he's doing okay. I hate the fact that he's been so sore but we're kinda on our last leg with things as it is. Once the weather improves hopefully he'll start feeling a bit better too.

Still waiting to hear from the BF and his parents if moving the boys is a go ahead... I'm hoping so.

Another nice day.

So today was another nice afternoon in MN. Was supposedly supposed to snow, but instead it's a balmy 30 + degrees out and sunny as all can be. Just gorgeous. Wish this would last, but sadly it's too early yet for weather like this.

Had Mom come out with me to the barn today. Found out I can do videos with my new Blackberry Curve. So I wanted to get some shots of Gus walking and trotting so I can see how things are going for him. Well, she couldn't get the video program to work right so that didn't work as planned. Anyhow, here's my first attempt at making a video.



He was actually pretty good today again. Tried some ground poles that L had put out but they were set too close so getting Gus to trot through them was actually pretty hard (couldn't stretch out like he likes to do). Was feeling pretty good to the right again in the trot. The left seemed better then yesterday, but still noticeably different from the right (hence me wanting to video it).

Hoping to con someone into videoing us this week sometime. We'll see who I can convince.