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.

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.