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

Ulcers Abound

Does this look ulcery, I ask myself 10x a day--anddd I don't know, humph. The ribs could be explained by the underwhelming 2-3 flakes a day, but with 10lbs grain, 1 lb rice bran, and 4lbs Stable Mix in additional food everyday, I feel like he should look better? And his coat is usually slick and metallic silver, less of this dull black shine.

Not ready to invest in a 3rd consecutive ulcer treatment, so I'm going to try U-Guard (the anti-acid, not Ulcer Guard) for a month and see if that lets things heal up in there by themselves. The hay situation will drastically be improving on the 1st of May, so hopefully those 2 factors together will do the trick without more $$$ bleed.

More of this, please!

Nobody should be able to have this much fun barn-shopping. Especially someone who's going to be racking up 200k in law school debt and literally picked a less-then-glamorous apartment complex to live in so her horse could have a flashier bachelor pad rather than the other way around, as my parents kindly pointed out yesterday...Whoops! Who said horse-girls made financially prudent decisions? I can't help it though, I want to share my current search with you guys, with all the glorious details and pros/cons enumerated. Actually, I'm just super excited because I think I may have picked a winner, but nothing is truly decided until I can check these barns out in person, in Virginia, of course. Until then, allow me to introduce a virtual tour of 4 contenders that I'm juggling, in no particular order! Cue drumroll.

(#1) $420 for field board with 2-3 horses.

Pros:
-super-premium grain included
-blanketing, flymasks, fly spraying, deworming, holding for vet, etc. included
-huuuuuuge covered indoor with rubber/sand footing
-full dressage court
-regular clinicians
-trails!

Cons:
-all grazing but free-choice hay in winter: okay so their grass looks really lush and I'm sure they maintain it wonderfully, and I hear horses in Virginia get obese off the stuff, but as a Californian hearing "no hay," ever, scares me.
-they have jumps in the indoor at some points, judging from pics: okay, this might sound completely lame as a con, but having jumps in an area you're trying o "dressage" in, that are constantly getting in the way of your circles and shit, is RIDICULOUSLY annoying. I like jumping and dressage areas separated
-the outdoor arena is huuuuge also and lovely grass, but I see no jumps in pictures. I fear this may be used mainly for driving, and having only 1 main arena, regardless of how huge, irks the princess in me
-the arenas are almost too big--a girl gets disoriented trying to "dressage" in there when all there is is empty space. Walls are your friend!
-Not suuuuper into their clinicians, expect the dressage trainer, but obviously I could bring out any trainer I want
-oh, and FULL. If I got on a waitinglist I could probably get in, but I don't know, this is probably my lowest choice, even though it beautiful and the BO sounded super sweet.

Glam indoor

Huge but confusing outdoor

Pretty barn!

Nice trails :)

(#2) $425 field board with 2-3 horses

Pros:

-super-premium grain included

-blanketing, flymasks, fly spraying, smartpaks, deworming, holding for vet, etc. included
-year-round hay!
-lots of room to shuffle my horse around as-needed to find him the perfect pasture buddy and set-up
-reasonably roomy yet functional indoor arena for dressage that is beautiful
-can work off portions of board if desired
-trails!
-super-good vibe!

Cons:
-Outdoor jumping arena is a bit smaller that I tend to prefer
-footing is just sand
-no dressage court
-no regularly scheduled clinicians but, of course, I can bring in any trainers/clinicians

Overall, this was my old #1 choice because, though it may not have everything I want, I think Spartan would be really happy here. There's nothing really "wrong" with it, aside from just not being perfect, which makes it appeals to the utilitarian and minimalist me. Yes, this is the same place pictured in my last post :)

Swoon-worthy stalls

Really like this indoor, about that perfect size for dressage

Ahhh, babies looking so cute and happy

Looks big here but is a bit of a smaller outdoor

(#3) Stall for $600, or limited field spot for $ ??

This one is literally my dream barn to board at while I'm at UVA--it's literally perfect and has all the things I covet, drrooooolll. Except, it's almost exclusively stall-board with all-day turn-out. There are only 2 field board spots that are full--the entire facility is full, actually, and you have to pay to be on the waitlist. Sigh. I'm entertaining the possibility of boarding her during 2L and 3L, but it would be financially imprudent, really. So to dream on about snagging one of those 2 field board spots if they ever open up!

Pros:

-glorious indoor with rubber footing and sprinkler system

-glorious outdoor

-glorious cross-country course from BN to P with room to GALLOP and water complex <swoon>

-full dressage court

-baller clinicians, like everyone I ever wanted to ride with in Charlottesville

-trails!

-everythingisapro. I'm obsessed.

Cons:

-FULL

-2 MEASLY field board spots? Seriously??

-reminds me that I'm not rich. And a poor law student. And in debt.

Such rubber radiance.

Does this need words? Or an explanation?

It continues to amaze.

It's a scenic xc course, so precious.

MUST SCHOOL all the water complexes.

This. Whatever this is. Prettyiizz.

Okay so on a more realistic vein....here is

 (#4) $400 field board with 2-3 horses

So far, this is my mental winner, unless something changes when I go to tour in person.

Pros:
-super-premium grain
-blanketing, flymasks, vet/farrier holding, glucosamine, probios included
-hay year-round
-huuuuge outdoor arena with rubber/bluestone footing
-full-sized dressage court
-permanent jump-chute in roundpen (they are such a PITA to put up otherwise!)
-less glorious but still--XC course! BN-P
-relationship with great clinicians
-showaaaa and super clean/awesome bathroom
-a $50 discount for UVA students, so all this for $350--um, yeah, sign me up?

Cons:

-the indoor with mirrors looks a bit on the smaller size, but I don't have dimensions yet so don't quote me. When it starts to rain and snow and 462040502 try to cram themselves into 1 indoor, this kind of thing will start to matter. Haha. Also, indoor is only sand.

-less overall glory than previous barn

-kind of sketchy history I'm trying to piece together in an effort to avoid another crappily-run barn like the plague, but I think it might just have been sold to new owners by the old resident trainer/owner and they're trying to advertise it. Tune in later regarding this.

Such a great outdoor! 

 Useful jumps for training eventing babies

 Great ditches!

Baller downbank thingy

Kindof super cool.

So all things considered, I think option 4 is a great compromise between option 2 and option 3. Just seeing all those green fields to gallop in are ridiculously tempting and would be SO.GOOD for Spartan. And to have all those clinicians on-hand, like, omg, Will Coleman. And Kim Severson. Mimi Combs. Emily Besheare, Laine Ashker, not to mention fantastic dressage people. I will update as I get more information on all this, but I feel so thankful for this opportunity to combine the two most important things in my life right now: nerdy law pursuits and the ponehs. 

The Barn-Saga Drags Doggedly Onwards

So I'm sitting here outside in the wonderful Friday afternoon sunshine with my laptop typing this, and I refuse to let worry creep into this cheery weekend. First of all, THANK YOU GUYS for all your encouragement and sympathy! Your comments definitely reminded me that we've all been there with our horses, and all we can do is deal with these things as they come up in a gracious but firm manner, and remember to put our horses first no matter what others might say about it. :)

I won't really go into things in detail, but I've been notified that the BO is taking over management of the Upper Barn starting one the first. Le sigh. So our days at this barn may be numbered yet. The only good I can see (rather, hope!) come out of this is that the BO might start feeding the Upper Barn what she is feeding the Lower Barn, which would be a win for me, considering the UB is effectively feeding 2 flakes per day that are just broken into pieces to seem like 4 :( BUT, I continually remind myself and have been totally comforted by the fact that Spartan is happy as a clam about being up there, and this is probably the longest he's ever gone without any kind of incident whatsoever: a month-ish. And his weight isn't bad (do the 11lbs of premium grain I feed have anything to do with it?lol). It's not great either, but it's okay, which I think I can deal with in exchange for his peace of mind. And I guess I can keep burning my paychecks by supplementing with my own hay or whatever in this lovely drought. But anyways, I'm hoping that the hay is one thing that will change! But nothing else! For example, the "no turnout for over an hour" rule I was being floated previously at the LB. There's much more to be said, but blah blah blah blah blah, I'm leaving for Virginia in 3 months where Spartan will live in pastoral paradise so whatever. Freedom lies on the horizon.

Yes, this is potential future barn #1. I think I  want to live in that pasture!

Anybody have any objections to mind-blowing trail-rides?

That hill on the left must be galloped.

On to Spartan updates then! Where exactly are we on our conditioning schedule, you ask? WELL. We have just completed a week of 25 minute rides with <1 lap trot-1 lap walk-1 lap trot> in both directions, a total of 4 trot laps for the ride. When we first started this the beginning of the week, I could seriously swear Spartan was off at the trot with all the tripping, hinney-losing, and body-dragging he was doing with one circle of trot. I even jumped off at one point and had him trot around without me, 100% certain he would be short on that damn LH and all my hopes and dreams of having a rideable horse would tumble away on the breeze, but he was totally.dead.even.How. I think that was just a reality check for me that this horse was WEAK; there was a reason all this conditioning stuff was going on in the first place. And guys, yesterday he was amaze. He trotted so soundly, so much more willingly, 100x more balanced-ly. Conditioning guys, it's a thing. They actually get conditioned and stuff. 

Annnnnd I love my horse--he is so smart, it's eerie. The First thing the UB manager said to me when we were talking about Spartan's infamous shenanigans was: He's just too smart; his brain is always running.

Case-in-point: She told me what Spartan does with shavings. I died. Apparently, when they bring a bag of shavings into his stall, he gets so excited that he grabs the bag from said-person, lays it down and opens it with his mouth, and then proceeds to drag the bag all around the stall with his leg to spread the shavings across his own floor. Freakin. Hilarious.

Also, on Tuesday when I was trying to teach him to open the gate like I had shown him the day before so we could leave the indoor and ride outside, it was just nottttt happening for us. That thing is kinda heavy and Spartan was failing hard at getting close enough. So my friend asks me if I need help and I turn my head to talk to her, and Spartan walks forward, puts his nose on the gate, walks that sucker completely open, steps outside, and just stops and gives me the sideways eye. He just totally knew what I was trying to do, and pulled a, Jeez mom, need a hand much? My friend saw and just burst out laughing. Uhh, who says it's the human who needs to be opening the gates? I think this way is much more efficient :)

The Super-Update Post

So, yes, I have indeed been silent for a while, and I suppose it would hardly make sense to pretend that things have been smooth-sailing in the interim. I absolutely hate when things hedge into the dramatic and prefer to keep the fuming limited to my head, because when my giant, pompous opinion hits air, shit is sure to hit the fan. But I'll try to vaguely recap some of the things that have been happening in the past few weeks and things that are starting to happen that I'm super excited for!

But, first, the bad news. Remember the pasture dilemma I was in? Yeah, well that ended not-so-great. The decision was made The only choice I was offered was to put Spartan in with the freak horse, Castro. I can go on for 10 days about why this was bullshit, but I digress. It really is too bad, because the first day I led Spar in there booted up and mentally prepared for my horse to acquire a new series of bodily orifices, he and Castro were PERFECT. I mean, it honestly could not have gone any better. Spartan stayed away from Castro and his mare, and Castro stayed away from Spartan and his shenanigans, and all the horses just looked at each other, shrugged, and started grazing like it was another day at the office. I was floored. This is the same horse who had always reared and screamed at me whenever I walked by the fence line with Spartan?? Really??

I should've known it was too good to be true, though, because when I came back to the barn after the long-weekend, my horse refused to let me lead him down the hill past Castro's "territory" at the bottom of the pasture. Okay, he must just be screwing around with me--I give the leadrope a few insistent tugs to get his butt in gear--and he proceeds to flip out in a fat, spinning, flailing-every-which-way tantrum that nearly turns me into lawnmower clippings and frazzles the shit out of me.   And then, when I think things can get no better, Castro catches wind of this discussion and C H A R G E S me. At a dead gallop. Ears pinned. I might be able to count his front teeth. Are you fucking serious right now. One of the feeders had to run into the pasture and fend him off so I could lead my horse out of there. I was seriously livid, guys, and the situation only got worse because that asshole horse essentially refused to let Spartan come down the hill to be fed or drink water, ever, and I had multiple people telling me that my horse had not eaten for several days. I couldn't even take Spartan in or out of the pasture without a lunge whip because I was genuinely concerned for my safety between my panicking horse and the pinto devil-stud. Call me crazy but I've been pretty vocal about my intentions to survive through at least Semester 1 at UVA. And that was IT. Right there. I was d-o-n-e listening to other people telling me how to take care of my horse, and insisting that I should keep him in conditions that are perfectly identical to when he colicked while I was in India. Because obviously this is the best way to treat his lack-of-self-preservation-and-retarded-decion-making-disorder, and whatevs to my next emergency vet bill, right? Or I could grow some balls and TAKE CARE OF MY OWN DAMN HORSE.

Yep, so I pulled him out of there and called probably every single nice barn in town, because shit's jacked man. Seriously, if the barn doesn't want my horse, that's cool, I'll just take him somewhere that does. I was pulling up my big-girl panties and rapidly realizing that I did not need to live my horse-life for other people's approval or expectations. Interestingly, though, after talking to some people I figured out that the Upper Barn we have on the property is being leased to a cool Western trainer guy, and that I could keep Spartan up there with him through a completely separate and independent contract, woohoo! I moved Spartacles pony up there pronto and he's now, shockingly, in a stall and, even more shockingly, doing GREAT! (*knochonwood* ad infinitum) He has a nice-sized stall with a roomy paddock attachment and [gelding] neighbors and, I daresay, a rather nice view. I have no idea how he's doing so fabulously in a stall right now, because in my past experiences with this setup he has unequivocally turned into a fire-breathing megalosaurus of great infamy to barn-goers. But it is working. Thank you, thank you universe. He is SOUND. He has been a dream to ride, and I've been trail riding him all over the property by himself, the first time in a year, and he is a damn rock.

-Trot over that log.

Okay mom, sure. I'll jump it all cute too, okay?

-Now up and down this bank.

I've never really seen this steppy thingy before but okay, is this good?

-Over this ditch in the ground.

This might not actually be my favorite activity, are you sure you didn't mean go this way? Or that way, maybe? Okay this thingy for sure then? Okay, it actually looks kind of cool if you look at it like this and hop over.

He's just so completely aware of me riding him and careful about his reactions so he never unseats me--I swear, a gem. I'm so lucky to own him, it's gross. Will Coleman, here we come!

Lesson of the Day? I am a free agent. Neither I nor my horse belong to any man. I am the ultimate decider. UVA says I have enough brain cells to cultivate my own opinions and should indulge in such activities as an incipient and aspiring adult in this world. I have lost sight of the shore. And.it.feels.damn.GREAT. :)

His new nifty turnout that he gets 4x/week

His new stall and (muddy)paddock on a rainy day

Oh hai mom! Feed meh speedily.