A Good Report

My vet called yesterday with the results of the blood work done a couple of weeks ago. Thomas' Vitamin E levels were a little high, but that's OK. She says you worry when they're low; not high. He is showing no signs of insulin resistance and his blood glucose levels are normal. Hurray! The Rx is to keep doing what I'm doing.

My husband and I are taking a well-deserved vacation next week. It's not easy to get away when your big babies need so much attention. I am very lucky to have a friend who knows Tom very well and is willing to work him for me for the week. Kat is trained in Natural Horsemanship and is also an accomplished dressage rider. She helped me with Tom 3 years ago when he was rearing (the first signs of what we now know is EPSM). I have called on her when we've gone away before, knowing that she can ride Tom and deal with his idiosyncrasies. This time I had to load her down with oil, beet pulp, Vitamin E, Magnesium and Tums! Although Penny (the barn manager) takes good care of Tom's feed, hay and general needs, someone else needs to oversee his supplements and work schedule. Kat will go there every day while we are gone to give him his supps and to work him. When we get home in a week, I hope that the snow will be gone and I can bring Thomas home and continue with his work here. Then I get to figure out how the new spring grass will fit into his lifestyle. It's all part of the learning curve, I guess!

A Quick Update

Still waiting on the blood test results from last week. I've been giving Tom 6 to 8 Tums tablets when I tack him up. He loves them and really likes having treats back in his world. I don't know if the Tums have anything to do with it, but he's been much happier to work. More consistent and less obstinate.

Post Vaccination Report

Yesterday I tacked Tom up, thinking that I'd just loosen him up a bit and expect extra stiffness from 2 days off and a neck-ful of shots. I'm happy to report that he wasn't that bad. Yes, he was stiff and reluctant to move at first, but after 10 minutes of walking then trotting, he loosened up quite nicely and worked well. I didn't push the issue. My goal was just to get him comfortable. The only cranky session came with left canter. He was reluctant to bend and didn't seem to want to push from behind at all. To the right was good and we really got rolling along and had some fun. To the left got better, but never as loose as the right. We played with some trot work and I put him away with lots of pats.

I've been feeding Thomas 6 to 8 wintergreen Tums before I ride. He LOVES them! The vets at New England Equine suggested I try giving him those before work. They felt that even though he doesn't have ulcers he may have a sour tummy, and the Tums might help with that. They are low in carbs, so a good treat for EPSM horses. The extra calcium can't hurt either. It was bothering me that I couldn't give him ANY treats. A handful of hay just doesn't seem to cut it!

A change of pace

Yesterday the snow was still coming off the arena roof so I decided to do something different- I thought a distraction might work to keep his mind off the weird noises and shadows.

I've free-jumped Tom a couple of times but he's never really seemed to enjoy it. Yesterday I set up a little cross-rail with a pole for a wing in and one out. There really wasn't much holding him in, but I decided to give it a try. He loved it! He joyfully cantered back and forth over it. I put it up a couple of times and it ended up at about 2'9". He was really into it by then! I'm the only one out there in the ring and I've got one hand on the lunge whip, the other on my iPhone (hence the rather rough shots, sorry).

Maybe if this dressage gig doesn't work out we'll take up Grand Prix jumping!

Today Tom had vaccinations and blood drawn for a Coggin's test and to check his glucose, insulin, Vitamin E and Selenium levels. I asked my vet if I should worry about the IM injections of the vaccines, and she didn't think I should be concerned since he has never had an adverse reaction to them before.

Tomorrow I'll plan to work him lightly and see how he feels.

This is interesting. I'm posting 2 videos for comparison. The first was last August, struggling through Third level, test 3. It's painful for me to watch. Notice how disconnected everything behind the saddle is. He seems to be dragging his hindquarters along. I'm surprised the judge didn't mention the uneveness. Also notice how he halts with his hind legs way out, then steps even further back with the right hind. Ouch!

This second one is SO much better. This was filmed on Saturday (3/19/11). He hadn't been diagnosed with EPSM in August. He's been on the new diet since November and the change in his movement is pretty evident. He's much more connected. His hind legs look like they might belong to him and not to some horse following him! I will try to continue to videotape his progress. I haven't been able to see it either. Small mirrors only give you a little snapshot of what's happening at any given moment, and when he comes home in a couple of weeks we won't have a mirror at all! I've seen it on the lunge, but this helps to confirm for me REAL improvement.

Feeling Hopeful!

The snow is melting; the horses are shedding; it's staying light well past 6:30. Winter may actually be on its way out. And along with the yearning for all things green, warmer weather and weekends full of horse-related activities, I'm feeling like Thomas might actually be feeling good enough to join me in enjoying spring.

We've had several days this week in the high 40s and low 50s, and each of those days Thomas improved from the day before. Today the wind was clocking in with gusts of over 50 mph (!), so the plastic-covered arena was an interesting place, to say the least. One of the gusts at the beginning of our ride, made it feel like we were inside a balloon- the pressure changed and then the doors at the end banged and creeked. Thomas was incredibly brave. He only spooked one big one at the beginning, and to tell the truth, I spooked at that one too. It really felt like we might be carried up and out to the stratosphere! When he's brave I know he's feeling OK. His confidence is the first thing to go when he's feeling bad.

Today we worked on transitions trot to walk, walk to trot, over and over, until he relaxed and reached out to the contact through the transitions. Then I moved on to canter work. By the end we were doing a few collected strides to several lengthened strides on the circle. To the left was pretty good all along; to the right he was still reluctant to soften in his jaw. The tongue came out and he seemed to "tip" to the left- chucking his right rib cage out at my right leg. But it got much better and when he gave me a light, soft collected canter and happily lengthened the frame to a bigger stride I called it a day, gave him big pats and hugs and put him away treating him to his beet pulp, 2 cups of oil, Vitamin E and Magnesium.

I am very hesitant to say that the effects of EPSM are worse in cold weather, but so far it appears that might be true, at least for Tom, at least for this week...

Spring is definitely in the air!

After discovering the lack of ulcers, I've changed my tactics with Thomas a bit. Basically, I'm cutting him very little slack. He's been pretty good. A couple of minor shutdowns daily and then much improved work towards the end of a 45 minute session. Today I was riding with the big arena doors open, and no bulky parka! Hurray! I cooled Tom out with a brief hack down the road. He was fine until a pick up truck came up behind us and he kind of blew. But that's what he does and that's why I rarely go out for hacks alone.

My latest quandry is that I've been reading that people with EPSM horses have had trouble with their horses reacting poorly to vaccinations. Tom has never shown any adverse signs, but it does make me wonder. I'll be running that by my vet when she comes out next week to do his shots. I'll also have her check his insulin  and Vitamin E/ Selenium levels, just to keep tabs on them.