Crack, Pop, no more sugar?

Hmmm... well I didn't get any pics of the chiro visit:-/ I always feel funny breaking out the camera for stuff like that, don't know why though. So sorry for no pics of that. I'm still kinda processing today's visit.

Lester's left shoulder and right hip needed adjusting. She also said he was painful in all his joints and that sugar could be the culprit... his main feed doesn't consist of hardly any sugars and he doesn't get much of that anyways. But I give him sugar cubes and peppermints like there is no tomorrow:-o Could he really just be sore in the joints from sugar? She was working on another horse while I was grooming Lester and he got in a very cock-eyed position, lifting his hind leg up so I could scratch his no-no regions. While he had his leg lifted up practically over my head as I brushed him she made the comment "Could a horse with neuro problems really do that?" While I do think Lester does have some back/ neuro issues, could it all have been compounded by giving him too much sugar? She suggested never giving him sugar again- make all his treats carrots, apples, honey and other natural stuff- nothing with processed sugars. Also put him on MSM and an herbal supplement called Supple Horse which I have used in the past. Is that like the EPM or EPMS diet?

ETA: I joked with the chiro and said I would just have to buy him sugar-free peppermints and she said absolutely not, that those were made with the "Splenda" stuff and that is worse than the real sugar itself. She then told me that Splenda was first made to be Ant poison, WHAT?! But in small doses it doesn't effect humans as bad as the ants- paralyzing them to death. She then told me about Stevia Clear, a natural sweetener and she had some in her car and let me taste it- it was just as good and sweet as real sugar! I'm going back to black coffee until I can get a bottle!

Pony Tummy Update...

Thanks guys for all your comments and wishing Lester PonyPigMan well. He's back to normal food rations and his belly has returned to it's normal shape/ size! We soaked his hay in water the last 2 nights giving his hay rack a mini waterfall. I've fixed him "Equine Senior Soup" as well with a little mineral oil and Apple Dex electrolytes. I love how the ES Triple Crown feed turns into a mash...
Less is seeing the chiro/massage lady today at 1pm and I'm eager to talk to her....





That's Polo, Lester's bitch, er, pasture buddy:-)

Pony had a tummy ache...

Usually when someone shows up to work in the same clothes they had on the day before it meant they were out having fun the night before...not in my case. Luckily, Matt and I work together so he was able to bring me a new set of clothes because I stayed at the farm last night in the barn apartment.

When I showed up at the farm yesterday Laura had Lester and Polo already in hand:-/ She said Less had been running and whinnying and then would go down and roll. He was kicking at his stomach, standing like a saw-horse and just overall looked uncomfortable and bloated. For those of you that may not know or haven't read that far back, in May of 2007 Lester coliced, bad, and had to have surgery. They removed 15 feet of his smaller intestine and removed some fatty tissue... You just never know how a colic is going to turn out, never. Lester didn't have good odds back in 2007 and I was told that most horses that had his type of surgery sometimes didn't make it a year. But here he is today, beating those odds.

We gave him some banamine and called the vet- Laura works for the vets so it's always super easy to get a hold of them:-) We walked and did a few jog sets here and there. I cleared his stall of all hay because I knew the poor boy would have to be starved for the night. The vet came and palpated him and determined things were all where they should be. He retrieved some dry stool and he had little reflux on his tummy which was a good thing. Dr. Jason tubed and oiled him with electrolytes. He gave the familiar line of no food, but he could go out as normal in the morning and have half his dinner if all goes well today. Half of what? The Pigman doesn't get much to begin with, lol!

He still kicked at his belly for the next couple of hours off and on and he would raise his back leg high like when he wants to be scratched. I tried a couple of different things to get him to pass gas, taking his temperature, grooming him to a state of complete "relaxation" and the walking and jogging. And they all seem to have worked. By 11:30PM he wasn't kicking anymore or raising his leg and he was CRANKY as heck for food. He had pooped 3 times by then and I let him have a few bites of grass and then went to bed.

I got up at 5AM and took Less out for another hand graze. It was so peaceful and nice out. I could just make out his outline in the moonlight and hear him chomping away... course no good pics to be had. Maybe that "time" is only to be left as a memory in my own head.

I returned the angry boy to his stall and went back to bed for an hour because Polo had been laying down in his stall and I didn't want to wake him. Also I wasn't impressed with the lack of water Less drank and was hoping he would drink after a short graze, but he did not.So far so good. I think Less still looks a bit bloated, but he isn't showing any uncomfortable signs. I went and saw him on my lunch hour and brought out some senior mash with me- can't visit the Pigman with no treats/ food.

I think his gas/ compaction colic is due to lack of drinking and we suspect now that the Pigman ate all the old hay in the run in shed's racks. Who would have thought he would eat crappy hay before all that nice grass??!! :-o Laura mentioned to me over the weekend about removing that hay and it just slipped my mind:-/

Less enjoying retirement...me not so much.

Less used to get really obnoxious and pushy especially towards the other horses when I went days/weeks without riding him. Maybe the turnouts/ playtime take the edge off for him because his demeanor is as if I still rode him. Or maybe he just knows those days are over?I do wonder if perhaps we might could trail ride or just hack. He used to be of such sound mind to go anywhere I wonder if that could ever be possible again? I know I stopped riding him because I felt him become uncomfortable and he spooked alot, but I've given him 2 + months off and wonder if I had him adjusted by a chiro and got on him to only walk and ask him for no work what so ever would he be comfortable with that? He not only can look like a QH at times, but when we showed I had alot of people ask me if he was a QH because he was so mellow.

I like big butts...