J_sarahd
Well-Known Member
I thought I'd create a little thread about my investigations into what's going on with Nova as I know a few of you are aware we are currently having some trouble. People might be interested or people might not be. I've posted on a few threads about her and a few of you have seen the video of her from a few weeks ago.
She's been quite good recently - I've been lunging and long-lining in various bits of tack (lunging with just a cavesson, lunging with a saddle, long-lining with her bridle etc) to try and narrow it down a bit. And, apart from her taking off with me twice on the long-lines (I am putting this down to her season because she then pranced along the fence-line next to a gelding) and having 2-0 feet on the floor & being spooky to walk over a pole in yesterday's lunging session, she's been nice and forward, and started to gradually do a nice stretchy trot - which is miles away from what we used to get.
Today marks our first day of officially "investigating", as she is off for an overnight stay today at our horsepital for a gastroscope in the morning. I'm very anxious about leaving her but I know she will be looked after brilliantly. I don't know whether I want there to be ulcers or not.
If there are (which is the more likely of the two scenarios), I have a bit of a start point to go from. Treat the ulcers and go from there - basically. As a thoroughbred who went through training, it is obviously highly likely that she has them and it's not related to pain, but then there's always the chance that they are related to pain somewhere. She lives a pretty ulcer-friendly life: I always make sure she has enough hay overnight (I get ridiculed for how big her net is, but I like to make sure there's some left over in the morning), she's turned out from 8am - 5pm in the winter, she gets chance to eat her net before I tack her up, I warm her up slowly. She's currently fed Topspec Comprehensive Balancer, Alfa A, aloe vera juice, agnus castus and a mug of Ulsakind in her treat ball overnight.
If there aren't, it's obviously opening it up for even further investigations. A lot of people have given me their opinions of what it could be and there's a lot of avenues to investigate - which I guess is a good position to be in rather than having no clue where to start.
So, yes, I guess I am going on a little journey that I never expected to go on so soon after buying her. But hey that's horses for you!
She's been quite good recently - I've been lunging and long-lining in various bits of tack (lunging with just a cavesson, lunging with a saddle, long-lining with her bridle etc) to try and narrow it down a bit. And, apart from her taking off with me twice on the long-lines (I am putting this down to her season because she then pranced along the fence-line next to a gelding) and having 2-0 feet on the floor & being spooky to walk over a pole in yesterday's lunging session, she's been nice and forward, and started to gradually do a nice stretchy trot - which is miles away from what we used to get.
Today marks our first day of officially "investigating", as she is off for an overnight stay today at our horsepital for a gastroscope in the morning. I'm very anxious about leaving her but I know she will be looked after brilliantly. I don't know whether I want there to be ulcers or not.
If there are (which is the more likely of the two scenarios), I have a bit of a start point to go from. Treat the ulcers and go from there - basically. As a thoroughbred who went through training, it is obviously highly likely that she has them and it's not related to pain, but then there's always the chance that they are related to pain somewhere. She lives a pretty ulcer-friendly life: I always make sure she has enough hay overnight (I get ridiculed for how big her net is, but I like to make sure there's some left over in the morning), she's turned out from 8am - 5pm in the winter, she gets chance to eat her net before I tack her up, I warm her up slowly. She's currently fed Topspec Comprehensive Balancer, Alfa A, aloe vera juice, agnus castus and a mug of Ulsakind in her treat ball overnight.
If there aren't, it's obviously opening it up for even further investigations. A lot of people have given me their opinions of what it could be and there's a lot of avenues to investigate - which I guess is a good position to be in rather than having no clue where to start.
So, yes, I guess I am going on a little journey that I never expected to go on so soon after buying her. But hey that's horses for you!