BBP
Well-Known Member
I seem to only post here when things have gone wrong or I'm a bit worried about something, so I thought it would make a nice change to post a happy update!
I think it was April when he looked really bad trotting in the arena, bilaterally lame behind and was headshaking a lot and really miserable. I thought of retiring him, turning him away for a year or two, all sorts. But I decided to tick along gently for a bit, try a few things and see how he went before making any big decisions.
He started on antihistamines (cetirizine, 10mg per 50kg body weight) and I had his sacroiliac region reinjected. I fiddled with his diet, tried him on equifeast but he went really footsore, tried salt and mg for the headshaking but he wouldn't touch his feed at all with so much as a pinch in. So I went back to what he used to be on, which is spillers balancer and unmolassed chaff. He also gets equishure, vitamin e and oat oil. I've given up asking him to hack alone but luckily my sister has a young horse on loan who is now able to come out with us, or we go to a friends or somewhere else.
I'm really pleased to report that he is feeling FANTASTIC!!! He is sound, moving beautifully, the headshaking has reduced to almost nothing (wears a nosenet when ridden but he's even stopped when free schooled) and most importantly he seems really happy in himself. Today we hacked with two friends for an hour and a half with him bitless and on a long rein the whole way, cruising along in front (til scary bits when the new 5year old gave us a lead!), never getting worked up or stressed, ears pricked, no huffing and puffing. He's been like this for weeks now, so much more relaxed in himself. His eyes are bright and he's loving his work. He's moving beautifully and softly in the school and is loving me having switched to a rope side pull bitless instead of his lozenge snaffle. I'm even back to riding him bridleless again which I didn't dream of doing last summer as he was so unpredictable it made him just dangerous.
I really believe that the sacroiliac injection has reduced his pain and allowed him to use himself better, he's then had Physio/osteo work to improve the mechanical dysfunction that causes his lameness. But I think the biggest improvement has come from the antihistamines. They took a while to have a proper impact but he's lost that strained miserable facial expression that looks like he's got s huge headache, he doesn't head shake, and he's just completely relaxed in himself, his whole body is less tense. We still have a lot of work to do, he is building up his schooling work very slowly to strengthen his back but is hacking for up to a couple of hours at weekends or accompanying friends as they go XC schooling just hacking round the course.
He has put a real smile on my face, I wasn't sure I would ever get my lovely polite happy horse back but he's shown me there is hope.
With his friend today:
I think it was April when he looked really bad trotting in the arena, bilaterally lame behind and was headshaking a lot and really miserable. I thought of retiring him, turning him away for a year or two, all sorts. But I decided to tick along gently for a bit, try a few things and see how he went before making any big decisions.
He started on antihistamines (cetirizine, 10mg per 50kg body weight) and I had his sacroiliac region reinjected. I fiddled with his diet, tried him on equifeast but he went really footsore, tried salt and mg for the headshaking but he wouldn't touch his feed at all with so much as a pinch in. So I went back to what he used to be on, which is spillers balancer and unmolassed chaff. He also gets equishure, vitamin e and oat oil. I've given up asking him to hack alone but luckily my sister has a young horse on loan who is now able to come out with us, or we go to a friends or somewhere else.
I'm really pleased to report that he is feeling FANTASTIC!!! He is sound, moving beautifully, the headshaking has reduced to almost nothing (wears a nosenet when ridden but he's even stopped when free schooled) and most importantly he seems really happy in himself. Today we hacked with two friends for an hour and a half with him bitless and on a long rein the whole way, cruising along in front (til scary bits when the new 5year old gave us a lead!), never getting worked up or stressed, ears pricked, no huffing and puffing. He's been like this for weeks now, so much more relaxed in himself. His eyes are bright and he's loving his work. He's moving beautifully and softly in the school and is loving me having switched to a rope side pull bitless instead of his lozenge snaffle. I'm even back to riding him bridleless again which I didn't dream of doing last summer as he was so unpredictable it made him just dangerous.
I really believe that the sacroiliac injection has reduced his pain and allowed him to use himself better, he's then had Physio/osteo work to improve the mechanical dysfunction that causes his lameness. But I think the biggest improvement has come from the antihistamines. They took a while to have a proper impact but he's lost that strained miserable facial expression that looks like he's got s huge headache, he doesn't head shake, and he's just completely relaxed in himself, his whole body is less tense. We still have a lot of work to do, he is building up his schooling work very slowly to strengthen his back but is hacking for up to a couple of hours at weekends or accompanying friends as they go XC schooling just hacking round the course.
He has put a real smile on my face, I wasn't sure I would ever get my lovely polite happy horse back but he's shown me there is hope.
With his friend today:
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I follow your posts about him because some of the stuff he has going on runs parallel with the stuff I have going on. Not really relevant, but hugely interesting for me, and he is such a beautiful horse and you have gone above and beyond for him. I am beyond thrilled to read this. Long may it continue!
