Ulcers??

 Sigh.... I started Funny on bute Thursday night... and today we went for a ride. I wanted to check her saddle fit and see if the bute made a difference. It absolutely did NOT! Unless it made her worse... 

 

She ate her carrots happily and we loaded up and headed to Ashland. They had the jumper show going on but it wasn't too distracting. We took a little hack to warm up around the little lake. She was a bit spooky and didn't want to walk across the baby dam. I had to pony club kick her. There wasn't even anything there! We headed to the arena and did some lateral work. She had a good turn on the haunches.. maybe a little quick and spinny but much more responsive than Dan. 

Then we trotted. It started out okay.... but then it got awful again. I think I probably rode for about 15 minutes total and she was flinging body parts again. Not quite as adamantly but consistently. Then we cantered because she went into it without me asking and.. then it escalated. It got so bad that I just gave up. Clearly something is wrong.... she was being awful. So I just sat there and cried a bit while Kelli and Marvin finished their ride. Then she offered to watch us. I got about 4 minutes of okay trot work and then she started doing the stop, prop, rear, buck thing... trying to pop me over her head. She started kicking out behind... throwing her hind end around. And even went to squealing at me again. I tried to power through and ride it out while ignoring it but then I got mad because... you're on bute! So.. maybe it's not pain.. maybe you're just testing me. After a particularly violent rear buck I whopped her on the top of her head... which did nothing really. Sigh... I finally managed to get a few steps of nice trot and pulled her up, in tears. I was tempted to just get off but decided to hack her to the lake to let her get a drink. It's HOT today. 

  

 

We snacked our way to the lake and she got in and splashed a good bit. She didn't roll, so yay! Then I decided that we would take the long way home because... darn it... walking might help if it is her stifles... and quite frankly, I don't know... I felt like I was maybe rewarding bad behavior?? I don't know. It was a beautiful day and I JUST WANT TO RIDE MY HORSES! Sigh.... So we walked across the dam. She started to balk and I was mad so I pony club kicked her and she went. There was no creatures! Except, then at the end, there was. Luckily the first goose walked right into the lake and she was brave. The second goose walked the other way... but then Funny got brave and "chased" him. So... that helped I guess. She didn't seem scared anymore. 

 

We hacked around the lake and headed back to the beaver dam. The pyteradactyl was there and hopped off a few times, which made her look, but not panic. She had to jump the tiny fake creek which was really wide today but she did. Then as she was about to cross the bridge we noticed the black snake slithering across it. She stopped and was okay with it. We walked across and as we got to the other side, I guess we scared Mr. Snake and he slithered into the brush, which made quite the loud ruccus considering. She spooked a little and Marvin freaked out and tried to bolt so then Funny got more worried. Her heart rate picked up but she held her ground. She settled pretty quickly but poor Marvin took a minute. We managed to get back to the cross country field with no further wildlife encounters. 

 

Kelli asked if I wanted to trot her in the field to see if it made a difference. So I did. She was better... she still felt slightly explosive and like if I pushed it, she'd explode. But... she held it together. She didn't want to bend very well and she was on the muscle, but she behaved. So... I picked up the canter to see... and she picked up the left, like I asked, but then swapped to the right and then got mad. Then when we trotted she was fussy. She threw in one little buck but then did a lot of slinging the hind end around. I managed to get a decent trot and then picked up both canter leads again and she was quick but behaved. I finished with a short bit of nice trot and called it quits before it escalated. 

 

At this point... I had sort of calmed down and Kelli felt it was safe to talk to me. She said that she really didn't see anything "stifley" with Funny... she was articulating her hocks and stifles very well, she looked even... she looked sound... She did say she maybe, if she looked super hard, saw a slight twist in the left hind on occasion and her tail was held left throughout the ride, even walking on the trails. When we got back to the trailers, I palpated her stifles and she wasn't fussy or reactive. I didn't feel any effusion, but... I also am not sure I know what effusion really feels like. I've never been good at that. Kelli got brave and palpated and said she didn't feel anything and even mashing hard on her, Funny didn't react. She's not reactive to her stifle points on an acupuncture scan either. So... I had started to wonder.. maybe it's ulcers. She had the stressful lesson and was naughty and the behavior was very similar to what she's doing now, so I was thinking it was behavioral, but... we had the lesson, one other ride, and then the show... which was super stressful for her being away and she didn't eat or drink well. And then she had the swollen groin and I gave her Dex twice... and then her behavior has just escalated... and then I added bute... and it definitely did not get better, so... maybe it's ulcers??? She did seem reactive when I put my left leg on mostly. (which... not sure if that signifies ulcers or not??). So... I'll stop the bute... put her on ulcergard and sucralfate and.. hopefully get in another ride with sucralfate on board before Tuesday so I can decide if I should do a lesson or not. 

I really hope it is  ulcers because... that's (in theory... but knowing my luck not so) easy enough to treat. And would be more ideal than her stifles or hocks... or OCDs... so.. we'll see. I guess if I can't sneak in a ride tomorrow or Monday, I'll not do a lesson and go ahead and get an appt with Barrow scheduled to do a lameness exam.

 

After our ride she was almost snuggly and had me scratching her butt. I'm sorry I was mad at you baby girl... although if you don't have ulcers and you aren't sore... then you and I are going to have to have a conversation about this naughtiness!!