The world of Dino

Dino! From http://ponytude.blogspot.com/

On Friday, I met up with Allison and Dino. You can read her post on the day on her blog which is linked above. Just a little bit of history, I rode Dino at school quite a bit. He was always adorable (still is!) but had a bit of "behavioral" problems. I say behavioral problems in quotes because they miraculously improved by leaps and bounds after the pony was put on a regime of bute. I asked for a vet to come out or even a massage therapist but given the limited budget of any school, it was declined. He was quite naughty and opinionated. He also had issues with sweating known as anhydrosis. 

After Allison got him, she has done a lot of work trying to find out what's wrong with little pony beast Dino. It turns out he has a host of weird problems (not unlike Digby), that include PSSM, anhydrosis, tying up and Cushings. He's been coming along great now that the majority of his "issues" have been fixed. He looks fantastic and is putting on muscle in all the right places.

Rules of Ponyland (aka things I learned while watching Dino):

1. Ponies will be ponies. When you need them to behave, they somehow know and act exactly how you DON'T want them too.
2. Sunflower seeds are delicious. (I knew this because Digby lovesss them... but another opinion always helps!)
3. Dino and Digby must have guardian angels to have such wonderful owners who spend their blood, sweat, tears and hard earned money to find and treat such unusual issues.
4. Being cute always helps. With anything. Any time. Ever.
5. No animal is ever bad, naughty, or rude for months/years on end without a cause. One ride? Maybe. One week? Maybe... but probably not. One month? Definitely not. One year? No freaking way. Something needs to change.

Although Dino was not exactly the super star of the day (he was a bit naughty actually, see rule #1 above), I enjoyed seeing him. He looked fantastic, especially compared to how he was in school. I've seen pictures of him so I chalked up his behavior to the fact that he was just showing off his "bad ass pony skillz" for me. As if I could of forgotten them! :) I was unconcerned by his behavior. Photos don't lie Dino! Videos are even better. Allison and I chatted for quite a bit, talking about Dino's issues and Digby's issues and all the horses we liked at school. It was nice just to see Dino, even if he did wake up on the wrong side of the stall that day, and have another owner who works hard on keeping her unusually problematic equine in the best of possible conditions within a limited budget.

Sometimes you just need a happy ending and, although untraditional, this certainly was one.

No news is good news!

I've tentatively scheduled to see the vet this Thursday. I'm the first appointment so I should have time to get him ready and she shouldn't have to cancel or be late for any reason. I'm being flexible with her because I'm not a high paying client and honestly he doesn't NEED to see her. I just want to see her to discuss a few things and get a few shots. Not a big deal at all.

In other news, there is no real news. Digby's doing well. I've started clicker training him again by reviewing his old tricks (saying yes and no). I haven't been asking him to bow because the chrio/massage lady said it's really bad for his back. Understandable. Plus there's no good area to ask him to. I'm hoping to figure out the command for "stand still" this week. I've put in an e-mail to the school (that's where he learned to say yes and no in the first place) so hopefully they get back to me. He gets so overeager when working with the clicker that I need to convince him to stand still and don't move until I give the command for the next trick.

I also started working on his ground work. He's getting better as he realizes that omg, I HAVE SNACKSSS!! :) This makes him very eager. Unfortunately, I've tried this trick with trails and trailering and it doesn't work so we'll have to make progress with limited treating. I'm thinking maybe I can incorporate the clicker training, which he clearly understands and does well with, into our groundwork sessions.

Have a great week everyone! Look forward to a post about a fellow blogging pony and a vet update later in the week!

Digby, earlier this week.

Totally unrelated but totally cute!

Totally un Digby related but adorable none the less. Foaling shift starts this week (I believe... we're having some "discussions" about when exactly. Sigh. Shouldn't we have figured this out already?! The first mare's due January 25th!) and I am so, so excited to hear little baby whinnies! It's my favorite part! I'll be sure to take lots of photos and put up a post every once in a while of the youngsters.

Daily Dose of Digby

Digby... waiting for his chiro appointment last Monday.

Chiro work!

Digby and his old owner doing some gymnastics, winter 2010. How cute :)

On Monday, Digby had a massage/chiro appointment. His masseuse is a wonderful woman who just ADORES Digby. That makes me happy. He wasn't sore anywhere really but he hadn't been done since June, actually on the day we discovered his congenital bipartite navicular. I figured he was due. He had had his shoes pulled and had to adjust to not working and being turned out a lot more. She was pretty happy. He was a little out by his poll and a little sore in his back, all on the left side but nothing too major.  His hind right was also fairly "locked" but it's fixed now. He's had two massages by her now and he's definitely figuring out what it's about. She doesn't crack them or force the horses into anything which I like. She simply asks them to bend or respond to pressure so that they release themselves. Digby almost has this figured out by the second time. He also drank a lot of water during and after, which is a sign that he's smart. (As if we didn't know this already!) It helps flush all the lactic acid and build up out of his system.

We discussed a lot, everything from ulcers to Digby's diet to his blanket. I'm going to have the vet out after I start foaling shift (no later than Jan 18th!) just for a general check up, to pull a coggins, give him a rabies shot and discuss some of the things we talked about while she was working on him. The wonderful massage lady and I talked about the likeliness of Digby having ulcers. I've never treated him for ulcers and as far as I know he's never been treated ever. He's a little bit of worrier and has been a lot of places in his life. He's had several owners, has had limited turnout for several years, has been on bute/NSAIDs, gets dewormed, and used to be shipped a lot. All of these can be stressful. If you've met Digby, I'm sure you've seen him get stressed at some point. He looks totally fine. He's at a good weight, eats anything and is happy. However, he said due to his colicy nature in winter and just general "worrier" attitude, it might be worth discussing with the vet. If he got ulcers ever in his life, they are certainly still there. Consider it on my "to discuss" list!

She wonders if there isn't something about Digby's nutrition or vitamin/mineral balances that might not make his soreness and lameness worse. It sounds like a complicated chat but it really wasn't. He tends to get sore easier than you would except, has issues with being colicy in the winter, does fine when on electrolytes, and is sound every season but summer... when he's typically getting little to no grain thus not meeting his nutrient requirements. I do try to give him a vit/min supplement from SmartPak but that's just a standard supplement and might not be meeting his personal requirements. I assumed he went lame in the summer because the ground was hard, but to be honest, the ground is pretty darn hard in winter as well and he's sound, sound, sound at the moment. It's just something else I will have to bring up to the vet.

As for the blanket, it's a very heavy blanket weight wise. It's only a medium weight (I believe 180 or 200 fill?) but it's heavy pound wise and she thinks it might be causing some of the soreness in his back. Sigh! Nothing I hadn't thought of myself but frustrating none the less. I guess I'm blanket shopping...

Shamless plug - if anyone is interested in a massage/chiro work up for their horse, let me know. I'll give you her name and number. She's a very nice, helpful lady! Digby lovesss her.

Feed and weight

As you know Digby can be a little bit of a hard keeper in the winter. He's had many, many feeding programs in all seasons. I'll do a quick outline of them here.

Before DelVal
- Mostly unknown. I do know for winter though he got as much hay as he could eat and lots of beet pulp. Grain tends to make the kid a little nuts from a young age, apparently.

At DelVal
- I don't quite remember but I believe it was a handful of sweet feed for most seasons. I'm not sure about winter.

With his next owner
- Free choice hay, 2 qts beet pulp and 2 qts 10%/10% Pennfield Grand Prix Granola twice a day. He came to me looking great. Probably a BCS of 5 and very fit. I did look at putting him back on Pennfield when I moved to a self care barn but it's very expensive. I figured I'd try other options first. I still wish it was cheaper but it's a high quality grain for sure. He looked fantastic, in good weight and was being worked pretty darn hard, as well as having a full body clip.

With me in NY
- Round bales while outside, 3-4 flakes of hay while inside given 3x a day, more if kept inside all day due to weather, 3 qts local feed mill senior pellets 2x day. 2qts beet pulp in PM as wel. Kept weight on for the rest of the winter at a BCS of 5, maybe 5.5.
- Spring: gradually backed off grain until turned out in May as a live out. Had acres of fresh grass. No grain.

With me in PA (first barn)
- 2-3 flakes hay 2x a day, given no grain at first. As winter approached, started gradually upping grain from handful to 3 qts 10% pellet for a local feed mill. He was in work, though possibly not as hard as last winter due to my fault not his, and had a full body clip. I asked to have his grain switched to senior but that was frowned upon. I was also not allowed to buy beet pulp to feed. He ended up being about a BCS of 3.5. It took till I moved in April to get weight back on.

Second barn in PA
- BCS of about a 4.5 when I moved. Was started on McCauleys WB100, 2lbs 2x a day and 2 flakes of alfalfa 3x day. Had access to fresh grass when outside. Gradually brought down to 1lb WB100 and then when he went lame, was put on McCauleys M30 1/5 lb per day and hay was reduced to 1 flake of alfalfa 3x day.

Current barn in PA
- BCS of 6 when moved. Currently a 5. Started on small amounts of Triple Crown Senior and gradually upped as winter got colder. Currently gets 4-5 flakes (more if it's absolutely freezing, like the past few nights) when in at night, otherwise has free choice round bales in field and limited grass outside. Getting 5 lbs total for the day of TC Senior. He also gets a half dose of electrolytes when the temps are unusually warm, cold, or the temp at night goes below 25. This is a prevention measure since he is not getting beet pulp or soaked feed to help him get more water in. He has, as far as I've known, coliced twice. Both times were in the winter. I use electrolytes to try to get him to drink as much as possible to prevent this.


Here's the good part. I preemptively upped him a little last week since it's so, so cold here with lows going into the teens at night! He actually put weight ON! Holy crap. Now, he's not in work, he's not body clipped and he's still wearing blankets of various weights depending on the temps but holy crap. He's notorious for not being able to keep weight on. I wish I remembered what DelVal had him eating (maybe someone else does??) during the winter cause he was skinny there too. He's pretty calm as well, not hot at all to work around, which makes me happy. Could I get away with this feeding regime if he was being worked? No idea. TC Senior is low NCS (aka low sugar and starch... or jet fuel, as Digby likes to think) and pretty high fat which is supposed to be "cool" energy because horses don't burn it off like they do sugars. So maybe it would work. I'm so pleased that he's keeping weight on and actually PUTTING it on even when it's so cold out! Yay. Happy dance for Digby.

I've started thinking about what I'm going to do come spring, fall and summer when he doesn't need the calories at all. I think I'm going to put him on Triple Crown Lite or TC 30% which foods designed to be full of the good stuff (vitamins, minerals and aminos acids that they need) without a whole lot of calories. It looks to me that the TC 30% is actually lower calorie and you feed less of it so I'll probably lean that way. We'll see. In the meantime, I'm just happy he's not a skinny mini! :) Go Digby! And a big thank you to Triple Crown for keeping him sane and still plump!

2012 goals.

2012 goals

1. Get and keep Digby SOUND - He's currently sound. We just need to keep him there. I will have the vet out soon to do a yearly check up on him and hopefully discuss some options of keeping him sound.
2. Learn better ground manners - This will come into effect once I start foal watching at the middle/end of this month and have days off during the week. I want him to be more respective. And, for gods sake Digby, stand STILL on the cross ties. This has been worked on every single time I put him on cross ties but he still does it. He might always do it.
3. Keep a healthy weight - He tends to lose weight in the winter and gain weight easily every other season. I'm trying to keep him at a slim 5 on the BCS system this year to put the least amount of stress on his joints.
4. Be more confident jumping - This one is for me. I'm going to start riding again when I go to foal watch schedule and want to start working on my position over fences more seriously. I tend to lose my leg over the fence more than I'd like to admit and it makes me less confident. It's not that I'm scared to jump, I just lack a good lower leg and sometimes I get a little nervous because of that.
5. RIDE DIGBY - Enough said!

If all goes well, Digby will be brought back into work some time in May. Fingers crossed, toes crossed, prayers, jingles, whatever else that he stays sound. Ideally, I'd love for him to stay sound (even if it requires maintenance such as Adequan, bute, Isox, etc) and be able to do a little lower level dressage. Maybe we could find a trail riding buddy and tackle some trails to get back into shape? Digby definitely can't do that alone. He needs a confident, not spooky friend to hold his hoof the entire time. Possibly due to the fact that he associates trails with cross country... but I'd prefer the calmer, walking, trotting, a little cantering type trails.

Digby. 7/3/10. One of my favorites. :)

What are your horsey goals for 2012? What about your non horsey ones? I'd love to hear them!