No Ulcers.

It's official, the test has been done and Anky does not have Gastric Ulcers. I'd sort of come to that conclusion myself, but now I know for sure. To be honest it doesn't change anything, she still gets episodes of gassiness (trapped wind,I guess) but I can now rule ulcers out once and for all. I wonder if there is an equine supplement for trapped wind? Her current diet consists of grass more or less 24/7, hay when they come in for the few hours every day, two/three feeds per day of Dengie Hifi Lite,Baileys Lo-Cal Feed Balancer and unmolassed sugar beet. To this I add Aloe Vera Juice, Slippery Elm, whole colostrum powder and probiotic twice per day.

Wet, wet, wet

It's been a miserable, wet weekend. After our initial optimism with leaving the horses out overnight, we've had to bring them in again. Even though it was forecast to be fairly dry last night, the sky was very heavy with clouds and, in fact, it did rain most of the night. It's rained all day too, so having watched the horses mooch around the gate in the mud all morning I relented and brought them in. It's starting to brighten up a bit now, so if it stays dry I'll put them out later and hopefully they can stay out. What is it that makes horses stand around in mud when there's a lovely grassy, mud free- field 25 yards away?
Anky's been ok.
We took her off alfalfa a few months ago when the vet said she may have an intolerance to it, but with a lack of any noticable improvement and it's excellent buffering effect in the stomach, I've decided to start her back on it in the form of Dengie Hifi lite and if she stays ok I'll then move her onto Alfa A oil.
I've been doing further research regarding sugar beet, which is a good high fibre feed for horses, but also has beneficial affects on horses with ulcers. It remains in the stomach longer than other types of feed and also doesn't require a functioning small intestine for absorption and is well-tolerated - this will definately help if she has an inflamed bowel.-it also contains high levels of pectin which has been shown in studies to help combat ulcers. Apparently in one trial, feeding horses 300 grams of pectin per day resulted in marked decrease in ulcer score or healing in 10 days compared to unsupplemented. This amount of pectin can be obtained from feeding 2 to 2.5 pounds of beet pulp.
So, she's now on unmolassed sugar beet, she likes it (a lot!!) and seems to be doing ok.
A few trot strides on the lunge - an achievement for me and Remy.

A brit on the podium winning the Melbourne Grand Prix - well done Jenson!!

This and that.

Didn't have chance to do much with the horses yesterday thanks to french lesson and musical afternoon, but I did do a little flexion and stretching work with Remy in the stable which I continued today.
They've had two nights out now and were all a little sleepy this morning. Anky seemed quite perky and tucked into her breakfast.
The vet arrived at 10 am and I gave him her full medical history, hopefully making it clear that we really DO need to find out what's going on. He took full bloods which hopefully will be back tomorrow. I discussed the gastroscopy and he doesn't have the equipment - hopefully he'll be able to get the equipment (not sure that's a good sign-has he ever done one?He must have, surely.), otherwise it's a trip to Bordeaux (may be the better option?). After all the treatment Anky had for ulcers last year, he's dubious that she will have them now, but I've done a lot of research and this has been shown not to be the case. Many horses have a recurrence and , in fact, need to be on a maintenance dose of Omeprazole to keep them clear. She does have some symptoms of ulcers, but as he said, it may be a damaged gut,a fatty tumour which would cause partial blockages, constrictions or f**k knows what! None of this can be confirmed unless they open her up and have a look. God I hate this confusion and uncertainty, not knowing! She's seemed fine all day, but she was lying down in the field tonight. We brought them in and she ate her tea but is now lying down again looking miserable. We'll see what the vet says when we get the blood results. We've left them in tonight as a storm's been forecast, but there's no bloody sign of it. I'm tempted to put them out anyway, she needs to be moving around. Talk about obsessed, a little objectivity wouldn't go amiss.

Managed to sort out a few of my tubs and plant a few bulbs this afternoon, we've planted our olive tree and the veggie plot is rotovated ready for planting. The daffodils are out, the fields are greening up nicely and the lawn is ready for it's first mowing of the year.Yay

Yipee, it's T-shirt Weather!!!!!

The day dawned sunny and warm this morning and after a lovely afternoon yesterday with Trudi, Bev and Lydia I felt refreshed and ready to take on the week - thanks guys!

I took Remy up to the school. He was pretty chilled until he was spooked by pigeons nesting in the little wood at the far end. After that he was quite distracted, but no worries, I just tried to keep his attention by tutting, and clicking and rewarding when he returned his attention to me. He spooked a few times and we had some impromptu lungeing (well, running around me) in trot, not very pretty, but he didn't take advantage of the situation and once he'd calmed down we did some nice lungeing at walk with some good halt and walk transitions. We finished really calmly with a walk around the school,weaving in and out of the jump wings and over the poles. 

Anky's been a little better this last couple of days. The jaundice is gone, her gums are pinker and she's been eating well, no stretching or lying down in the field. She passed some intestinal lining on Saturday and immdiately looked and I'm sure felt better. After doing some research, I'm sure the jaundice was caused by the toxicity in her bowel, putting her liver into overload. The vet is coming on Wednesday, so we have lots to discuss. He will take bloods and, hopefully we can arrange a gastroscopy. Anky obvously has an inflamed/irritated bowel, whether that's caused by ulcer recurrence or something else, I don't know, but I do hope we can find out.

I wanted to ride Corky, it was such a lovely day, but somehow time got away from me, hopefully soon though :-)

We brought them in early for their feed as it's their first night out tonight, so had a little trailer training session, first time with the partition in. Bonbon first, led her to the ramp let her have a look inside and then led her in. She took absolutely no notice of the partition, walked in and stood nibbling the hay at the front. I then led her out the front ramp. Remy next, did exactly the same with exactly the same result. Brilliant!!

Aaaaah, a cool breeze!!

It was lovely this morning, warm but with a lovely cool breeze. Couldn't be better.
We rode out with Corky and Anky, we investigated a new track and Anky went down it no problem. She is tight in her back, only to be expected really, but today she was forging. I'm hoping she'll gradually start to relax over her back, it's only occasionally that I feel her really moving my seat.

I've been gathering quite a bit of information on Gastric Ulcers and associated problems. It seems that Equine Gastric Ulcer Syndrome (EGUS) and Right Dorsal Colitis (RDC) often go hand in hand. The only FDA approved drug for the treatment and prevention of recurrence of gastric ulcers in horses is GastroGard®, which is what Anky's on, but this won't treat colonic ulcers. Feeding corn oil daily is recommended, to be added to the feed to increase Omega-3 fatty acids. A diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids may help to reduce inflammation in the colon. Also Psyllium mucilloid can be added to the feed. Psyllium increases the concentration of short-chain fatty acids in the colon of other species which reduces inflammation and may reduce inflammation in the horse colon. I don't know anything about Psyllium, but I've heard of it being sold as a supplement for horses so I'll have to investigate. We feed the horses sunflower oil, so I'll change Anky to corn oil from now on.

After riding out, I took Remy up to the school. He's not been up there in a while and he was a little reluctant, but once he'd got his head round it he went up there ok. He was distracted this morning, but he settled once in the school. We've been doing little sessions, asking him to walk on from the voice and a light touch on the girth. I want him to walk on of his own accord, which has confused him a little after all the leading work we've done. I think he's starting to get it and today in the school it seemed to click and he gave me a purposeful but relaxed walk stride. I think he's got quite a good walk. Early days, but I find him a very exciting prospect.