Just when I thought this day couldn't get any worse...

Surprise surprise. I got to wake up today to news about the shooting in Isla Vista, the college town by UCSB that I lived in during my entire undergrad last year. I had just been in IV last weekend. That could have been me, or my friends. The BMW even crashed just a few houses down from my oceanside apartment...it's so hard to explain to anyone what a small, tight knit community that is, and how this so deeply affects every one of us. Today sucked. So much. My heart goes out to all the families and friends who have had to endure this tragedy, there aren't really words right now.

I thought I'd drop by the barn since I was feeling so crummy, only to realize that Spartan is once again off (i.e short) on his infamous left hind, the fracture/arthritis leg. Great. Awesome. He's been sound for 3 months and now that we're finally 2 weeks away from being back in full work, this happens.

Even worse is that there is something wrong with his hind end. Tracking left the shortness of his trouble leg is obvious, but tracking right he has a different issue entirely. He resists trotting in that direction, losing his hind end and moving in a shallow stabbing motion with his hind legs. If I push him to give me a regular, reachy trot he breaks into a canter. This is a horse who tracks up like nobody's business at every single gait and makes dressage people swoon. Not good.

I'm freaking out a little bit. I keep thinking EPM, and I'm not sure I can handle infectious disease, lameness, and ulcers in one fell swoop. I think the stubby hind end issue has been going on since Tues, now that I think about it, and I want to facepalm for writing it off as soreness until now when it's gotten worse. I'll check him out again on Monday, but it looks like it may be time yet again for the vet to come visit. I guess I should be pleased that this 2 months is the longest he's ever gone without killing himself--small victories, right? 

:/

Could it be EPM...?

So I read a blog post about a horse with EPM the other night and it got me thinking...

Spartan has had some weird hind-end weakness that I've noticed the past couple of months...I've just been telling myself it's residual weakness from stall rest, but it's been like 3 months since we've been rehabbing under saddle, and some of these quirks seem a little out of place in that context. Ive even been meaning to talk to my farrier about it during Spartan's next shoeing.

Here are the symptoms of EPM affecting the body that I've plucked form the EPMhorse.org website. Some of these sound eerily familiar...

• A very common symptom reported for EPM is uncoordinated movement of the rear feet, worse on one side (asymmetrical ataxia). This symptom is often worse moving uphill or downhill, and while stopping or raising the head.

So this is what freaked me out. I'm not sure about it being worse on one side or what not, but Spartan H-A-T-E-S going up and down hills. Even when I'm just leading him up or down, he tries to evade by scooting sideways towards the edge to escape. I thought it might just be the gravel he hates, because I took him off front pads in Feb, but it's been a while and I Durasole him regularly, so his reaction is a little bit excessive. When I lead him up the hill to his stall, he literally stops dead every five steps and shoots me a look of loathing for what I'm doing to him. It takes forever to get up there! And when I ride him downhill, he paddles down all weirdly like a dumb, which I just don't get, period. There is also plenty of hind end stumbling and slipping every time we go up or down, whether leading or undersaddle.

• Lameness issues that come and go, often switching sides

Well, we certainly had an abundance of hind-end lameness, and it was difficult for my vets and trainers to locate which side sometimes. But we were more attributing that to his revealed fetlock fracture and joint spurs, so I don't know about this one.

• Changes to any gait, lethargy

Though he is just a lazy snail sometimes of his own accord, there has definitely been an above-normal amount of lethargy going on. I've been blaming it on ulcers, but maybe I'm off there?

• Hind end weakness - worse on ground that slopes left to right or front to back

I'm not sure about the sloping left/right and back/front, but Spartan totally trips all the time when I'm riding him at the walk. There have been a couple big trips, too, where he loses his whole hinney, that have me scratching my head. The hind-end is definitely a bit funky.

• Problems balancing when a hoof is lifted

Not really sure about this one. He seems okay?

• Circling, slipping, or falling while walking

YES. The slipping thing. Always with his hind-end. He's been doing this so frequently I was going to ask my farrier if his shoes may be slippery or worn down or something! It's slipping galore when he's walking down his gravel hill, which okay, maybe I understand, but he randomly slips too when I'm hand walking him on a completely flat surface! Wtf! Is this normal?? One of his hinds just seems to slip right out, I don't get it. :/

• Muscle atrophy, often over the rump or shoulders

Well, he definitely has muscle atrophy, but this is obviously from his 3 month stall rest. It's the dramatic weight loss that is more concerning to me right now.

• Leaning on a stall wall for balance

Nope, thank god. Otherwise, that would be it for my nerves.

• Standing with a hoof cocked out or in, not standing square

I don't think so? Okay, next.

• Dragging a hoof, especially while turning

Well, yes, whenever he trips I'm assuming it's due to dragging his foot to whatever degree.

• A sore back, changes in the fit of the usual saddle

He hasn't acted like it, no.

• Unusual sweating patterns or times

We haven't worked enough to sweat too much, so I have no idea.

• Carrying the tail to one side, or away from the body

I can't really tell when we're riding, but on the ground, no.

• Lack of sensation or heightened sensitivity in skin or hooves

Maybe heightened sensitivity in his hooves because of his weird surface texture aversion? Otherwise, I don't know. He has always been sensitive in his fronts (hence the past pads) so it could be just that, but all the slipping and stumbling though?

• Falling in the herd dominance order

He's not in a herd anymore.

So I don't know guys. I mean, I've been a little puzzled by his new clumsiness prior to reading that blog post or article about EPM, so it's not like his behavior was only noticeable afterwards. Maybe it's all just hoof sensitivity since losing the pads in Feb, mixed with some shoe issues and stall rest weakness. It's got to be something though--I swear I'm not imagining it!

I guess after it arrives, I'll have to wait a week to see if the Abguard makes any significant improvements to his ulcer (and tripping) symptoms. If not, we might have a whole another beast on our hands :( 

VivaCarlos BlogHop

L asks, "What bit do you ride your current beastie in and why?"

The answer to this is simple, since there is only one bit I really ever ride in.

Meet, the SNAFFLE. Sometimes it's a french link, a loose ring, a full-cheek, an eggbutt, whatever, but I've never ridden in anything but a snaffle. Currently, Spartan is happy as a clam in his fattie double-jointed D-ring snaffle. This thing is chunky.

Honestly, my trainers just don't use anything else, so the habit became inculcated in me as well. Occasionally the heavier artillery has been pulled out, but that is definitely the exception. I was even a bit worried initially because Spartan did not have what one could call a naturally soft mouth, but if you rode him now you would never suspect he'd ever been that way. He's learned to be soft and supple so quickly--he's just one of the smartest horses I've ever ridden. I show him something 3 times and he's got it down pat, no problem, filed into perm. memory storage. Which leads me to my next point.

We cantered today. For the first time. In.a.YEAR. And he was FANTASTIC !!

Every ride renews my surprise that this horse remembers everything from such a brief education that hasn't been revisited for a year due to his deluge of health problems. I mean, all he has is his 3yo race training and the one month on top of that I added? Anyways, he cantered right away when I asked despite his preference for being a weee bit of a lazy sloth, picked up the correct leads automatically, stayed totally balanced through the turns, stayed straight on the rail with the right bend, and came right back to me for flawless downward transitions. I wanted to pee myself. Gawd. I literally had to go through months of teary-eyed lessons to get my Training horse to hold her hot mess-self up through a canter circle. I had to work so hard for every little thing, and I never took a single upward step of progress for granted with her. It's just hard to believe after all that that I now have a horse who is the very embodiment of Try, and athletic enough to not need me to hold every inch of him up with my glamorous 4'10 torso. What can I say, I am a happy horse-mom :)

Ohhhh, and guess who caved and bought put in her order for these babies today?

Yep, I caved as per usual. I think Spartacus earned them today though ;)

Work in Progress (like 1/8 of the way in from "no progress" to "kinda progress").

So yes, I haven't updated in a bit once again because, frankly, I've been too preoccupied fretting over Spartacus pony's weight to give other riding-related things much blogging attention. 4 days into the U-Guard, I could finally see improvement! He stopped acting like he had inhaled too many marijuana fumes and was bright-eyed and bushy-tailed more like his normal self; and, although he was still underweight, he filled out much more and was back gleaming like a Rolex horse with zero amount of elbow grease AT ALL from me.

Then I was gone Thurs-Sat and when I swung by the barn he was looking like poop again and had completely lost the shine and everything. I realized he hadn't been getting his grain and U-Gard for a couple days because of a mix-up, so I guess that at least explains the situation, but I can't help but feel  defeated. I need to get this horse plump before his cross-country trip to Virginia, yet I can't even keep proper weight on him. Sigh. This is why people don't like leaving their horses in other people's care for a month and a half! Bad owner! I remember how glorious he looked when I left him for my India vacay. He was a show-stoppppaa.

Anyways, on the bright side of things, we're only 1 week away from cantering for the first time in a year!!! We're on 3 trot laps to the left/3 trot laps to the right! I've been looking like shit while riding him because I've had my legs CLAMPED in the grip of death against his sides whenever we're trotting, and I couldn't figure out what the f I was doing. The embarrassing truth is, after a year of not riding your horse who you only ever rode for a month, you forget details like, you absolutely cannot ride him without spurs unless you want him plodding along in a partial coma. Oh yeah, duh. I slapped some spurs on the other day, and omg, the difference!!! I wanted to shed a tear of joy. So forward and immediately responsive! I'm doing turn-on-the-haunches and leg yields on my horse with no training. Wut. I swear, he's an easier and more schooled ride than the Training horse I was running, haha. Yes, he almost bucked me off when he tore away from me going down a down bank because of the western horse show commotion that was going on right by us, but he is going to be a serious gem when he gets more miles on him. I can't wait :)

And I'll leave you on this silly video:

http://youtu.be/xxeDV3YchJ0