Category:

Another Abscess?

1/11/2019

I have no words.

We all know that's a lie. I always have words. And right now, they are particularly ... choice. Mother Forklift!

On Sunday, for my lesson with Chemaine Hurtado, owner and trainer at Symphony Dressage Stables, Speedy was lame on his right front. We both agreed it wasn't a maybe he'll work out of it kind of lameness, but it didn't seem like anything to worry about. Speedy had just had his feet trimmed and there looked to be some bruising on his hoof wall. I put him away and rode Izzy instead.

My migraines made a reappearance this week, so yesterday was the first day since Sunday that I'd been out to the ranch. As soon as Speedy took a step towards me, my heart sank. Are you freaking kidding me? was all I could think as I rolled my eyes and flipped the universe the bird. With both hands.

I crammed a bunch of Numotizine into his foot and secured it with the usual. Good thing I bought so much duct tape last month. Here's to hoping that puppy blows out today so I can get my nearly Third Level horse back in the game.

Thanks goodness it's Friday. No, seriously. I mean it!

2 Comments

Let Freedom (from supplements) Ring

1/10/2019

1 Comment

I've been changing my horses' supplements A LOT over the past few months. That's not something I take lightly. Changing what a horse eats can cause all sorts of problems, but it needed to be done.

The first thing I phased out was Speedy's Platinum Performance Healthy weight, a flaxseed oil. He's been eating this year's alfalfa with so much more enthusiasm that I decided to see how he'd do without the extra calories provided by the oil. So far, so good.

After that, I decided to cut out the Platinum Performance itself. I spent a couple of weeks bringing Izzy off of it by cutting the serving in half once a week. With a full bucket still in the feed room, Speedy is getting a half serving for the next two months until that bucket, too, is finished.

Both boys have been on PP's Hoof Support off and on over the past year and a half. That was always meant as a short term solution anyway, so I am thrilled that the tub is finally empty. I can now check that supplement off the list.

Six supplements?!

While I was in the middle of phasing out supplements, I suddenly found that Izzy's once very simple bucket had become unnecessarily complicated. As I eliminated one supplement, I found that I had added two. I only gave the UlcerGard for one month, so that is now done. After a lot of thought, I cancelled all future shipments of the SmartGI pellets. He will have had more than two months of "gut support": there was one month of UlcerGard followed by two months of SmartGI Pellets which began in the last week of the UlcerGard. That will have to do.

I think that supplements can be quite useful. Yellow Dog has been on a few lately. As a two-year-old, she started to become quite lame. We worked through a variety of things until they no longer worked. This year, she received a month long series of Adequan shots along with a vet recommended joint supplement. She's doing much better.

My horses, on the other hand, are healthy. They were healthy before the supplements, and I feel confident that they will continue to be so. I just got to the point where shipping and organizing and feeding got to be just too damn complicated. It is a very liberating feeling to be free of monthly buckets, wells, and tubs. Once the Platinum Performance and SmartGI Pellets run out, it will be just alfalfa and grass hay twice-a-day with LMF Senior for Speedy and a bit of beet pulp for Izzy.

And candy of course, peppermints for Speedy and butterscotch for Izzy. I am looking forward to a more simplified 2019.

1 Comment

A Change in Feed

12/19/2018

5 Comments

The whole time I've owned horses, more than 30 years, I've always subscribed to the Keep It Simple, Stupid, or KISS method. Most supplements have always struck me as a great way to make expensive poop. You wouldn't know it by looking at Izzy's daily bucket.

Izzy's daily bucket is made up of six ingredients.

Over the past few weeks, I've actually added some supplements to his already pretty complicated diet. It's frustrating and expensive, and I am working hard to whittle it back down to a simpler feeding routine.

His hay ration consists of twice daily armloads of high quality grass shipped in from Oregon. He also gets a bit of alfalfa to keep him happy. For now, his daily bucket includes:

shredded beet pulp
LMF Senior (a non-grain feed comprised of beet pulp and rice brain and other vitamins and minerals)
half serving of Platinum Performance
Platinum Hoof Support
SmartGI Pellets (for gastric health)
GastroGard (also for gastric health)

I started giving the Platinum Performance more than two years ago in the hopes that it would make him feel better. It hasn't. Before Platinum Performance, his coat was shiny and his hooves were hard. Not that I am blaming Platinum Performance AT ALL, but his coat still faded this summer and he wore his feet down to nothing.

I am just not seeing the results from the Platinum Performance that I was hoping to see. Not that I was looking for anything specific, but I had hoped for a better attitude and fewer reasons to call out the chiropractor. For the past month, both he and Speedy have been on a half serving. I just started my last bucket which should last them another two months. After that, no more Platinum Performance.

Plenty of hoof now.

The Platinum Hoof Support should last another few weeks and that will be the end of that supplement. I never planned on giving it forever anyway. The plan was to give it for 3 - 4 months to help him grow some hoof. That has happened, so I am done with that one as well.

SmartGI Pellets and the soon-to-be-empty Platinum Hoof Support

The SmartGI is a new normal. My vet recommended it, so it's an everyday addition for at least a year. Next fall, I'll reevaluate and see if we need a change. Of course, if things go haywire before then, I can always make a change sooner than later.

I have another few days of GastroGuard to administer, and then we'll be done with that one. I have seen a big change in Izzy's attitude though, so I may give the GastroGard when he leaves the property for something stressful or gets a dewormer.

I finally got to a point where feeding this horse has become more complicated and expensive than feeding myself. And all of it is just to "support" his health. Since I am not seeing concrete results, it leads me to believe that I may simply be creating expensive poop.

No one likes healthy poop more than me, but expensive poop is going too far. Bye-bye expensive bucket, hello less-expensive bucket!

5 Comments

Electrolytes

5/22/2018

4 Comments

Back when I started endurance riding in 1996 - can it be that long ago? - there weren't a lot of electrolyte formulas from which to choose. There was Lyte Now Electrolyte Paste, Endura-Max, and a few other cheaper brands that real endurance riders scoffed at. The selection was still so small that many riders mixed their own electrolytes from table salt and other ingredients. Now, Riding Warehouse has an entire page dedicated to just electrolytes.

My very first "race" season.

I never mixed my own, but electrolytes were definitely part of my feed and maintenance program. For hundred mile events, I found Lyte Now paste to be the most convenient, especially when we rode a single loop 100-miler, meaning we never came back to camp until the finish. It was much easier to toss two or three syringes in your crew bag than to pack all the supplies necessary for administering the powdered form.

For rides where we came back to camp every few hours, it was cheaper to give powdered electrolyte and administer them at the trailer. Like many riders, I stocked up on jars of carrot and apple flavored baby food. I simply dumped the baby food into a red Solo cup, poured in my electrolytes, and thinned it all with a bit of water. Like every other rider, I administered it orally using a catheter syringe which looks like the syringe of any vaccination except it holds approximately 60cc and has a really fat tip.

Not my hand or syringe, but this is what they look like.

In those days, my choice of electrolytes was Endura-Max. Even back then its formula most closely matched the ideal combination of elements necessary to actually replace what our horses were losing due to sweat. Many of the cheaper brands contained more glucose/sugar than anything else. There are five main electrolytes required by horses, namely: Sodium (Na⁺), Chloride (Cl⁻), Potassium (K⁺), Magnesium (Mg²⁺) and Calcium (Ca²⁺) and all play important roles within the horses’ body. - Source

Today I use Summer Games Electrolyte.

Given that my horses no longer work nearly as hard nor as long as when I was training and competing in endurance races, their electrolyte needs are different. They still need them, but not at the same levels required for horses working for 10 - 24 hours at a time. Summer Games Electrolytes is made by Kentucky Performance Products, the same folks who created Endura-Max Electrolytes.

Analysis and Ingredients

Even though it is hotter than Hades here in the summertime - last year we had nearly 70 days of triple-digit temperatures with lows in the high 70s to low 80s, I don't give electrolytes every day. My horses rarely work for more than 40 minutes a day, especially when it's that hot.

Serving suggestion

During the summer (which lasts 6 -8 months here), I give electrolytes before or after a lesson, any time we trailer somewhere (my trailer does not have A/C, and it gets HOT back there), and when we show. Since I don't administer electrolytes every two to three hours like I did when endurance riding, the syringe is no longer necessary (although I still keep a few around just in case). Now-a-days, I can mix a dose in with beet pulp or LMF Senior. Since Speedy also gets Flaxseed oil, adding a scoop of electrolytes goes unnoticed.

Re-stocking my summertime supplies.

A few weeks ago I used the last bit of my electrolytes during an unseasonably hot spell. Since Riding Warehouse was running that sale on fly stuff, I tossed in a new bucket of electrolytes. Since summer is now here to stay, I'll be needing them for afternoon lessons and shows.

For those of you who live in more humid climates, do you use electrolytes, and if so, how often?

4 Comments

Speedy's Supplements

10/5/2017

4 Comments

I am not really a fan or a believer in the efficacy of supplements. For the most part, I subscribe to the notion that they simply create very expensive poop. With that said, my monthly supplement bill has gotten pretty high.

I do have an explanation though. According to my vet, the west coast's hay is usually lacking in a few key vitamins and minerals, namely Vitamin E and Selenium. He thinks most of California's horses should be on at least a vitamin and mineral supplement.

Exhibit #A

After a lot of research and examination of my budget, both boys are on Platinum Performance. The main reason that I chose this particular vitamin and mineral supplement is that it covers every base. Any time someone says, "Maybe your horse is deficient in X," I can rule it out as a cause. Platinum Performance has every possible amino acid, trace and macro mineral, vitamin, or "chondroprotective" substance you can feed a horse.

Exhibit B

Last winter, despite being fed copious amounts of good quality alfalfa, beet pulp, and rice bran, Speedy got pretty ribby by late winter. In fact, it took all summer for him to finally add some weight back to his frame, and even then he was still less than a 5 on the body condition scale.

After even more research and examination of my budget, I recently opted to put him on Platinum Performance's Healthy Weight. There were two main reasons I chose Healthy Weight over other brands like Cool Calories or Fat Cat. The first reason is that Healthy Weight is made from flax oil which has a better Omega-3 to Omega-6 ratio than most of the other fat supplements out there. The fatty acids are the "good fats" that cells need to function, but Omega-6s are thought to be pro-inflammatory.

The second reason that I chose Healthy Weight was its price. Believe it or not, it's fairly comparable to the cost of most other fat supplements. In fact, at $0.66 a day, it's a lot less expensive than feeding rice bran, at least at the quantities that I was feeding rice bran.

Exhibit C

Enter Speedy's third supplement, Platinum Hoof Support. This is a short term addition to his supplements list. Once his hoof has regrown, he'll have no need for additional "hoof support." I chose Platinum Hoof Support for the simple reason that it might help and certainly won't hurt.

Just like all of Platinum's other formulas, Hoof Support goes above and beyond the typical hoof formula. This version contains several amino acids responsible for hoof growth, which Speedy desperately needs right now. It also has Zinc Gluconate which is involved in the hardening of the hooves.

Additionally, Hoof Support contains Copper Gluconate which is shown to help connect hoof cells. For good measure, Hoof Support also has Manganese and Biotin which help strengthen the hoof wall and other structures.

In Summary

With these three supplements given daily, Speedy's poop is now costing in excess of $3.42 a day. Of course, that dollar amount doesn't include the extra feed he gets. He also eats LMF Senior twice a day (3 pounds in the morning and a pound and a half at night) and Beet Pulp (a pound and a half at night).

My board bill includes all of the alfalfa that he'll eat. While I haven't weighed his hay in a long time, we feed based on how much hay he has left from the meal before. On the rare afternoon that I show up and he has actually eaten all of his hay, I toss him a bit of grass hay to tide him over until dinner.

As I was scooping and mixing last night, I had to laugh at myself. For someone who doesn't think supplements really do anything, my feed routine sure has gotten complicated!

4 Comments

Speaking of Skin Ailments

9/12/2017

4 Comments

So here's a quick update on Izzy's sarcoid. The wound site isn't clear yet, but it's looking good, and Izzy isn't bothered by me poking around at the scab. Not to be outdone by his older brother, Izzy gets his own daily ointment.

Would you believe it's the first jar of Swat I've ever purchased? Dr. Tolley suggested the Swat since the hole left by freezing off the sarcoid was pretty big, and it is a sensitive area after all.

It actually looks really good. There's no swelling, and as the scab shrinks, pink, healthy skin is showing through. I really want to just yank the scab off, but I am resisting as the scab is probably protecting that new skin from biting flies and dirt.

I'll let you know how it does once the scab falls away.

4 Comments

Foot Funk

9/11/2017

5 Comments

Have I mentioned that it's been particularly hot here? This summer is currently ranked as the third (maybe second) hottest summer in Bakersfield's recorded history. Heat does stuff to horses, and it's not all good.

In early August, a weird crack appeared in Speedy's heel. I cleaned it thoroughly and was relieved to discover that it didn't both him at all. He was sound, and I could poke and prod at the wound without Speedy even noticing.

Not huge, but not going away either.

When it didn't close, I started to worry a little. Since we were already at the vet for vaccinations, I asked Dr. Tolley to take a look. He wasn't quite sure what it was either, but explained that it was probably a small nick that was being irritated by dirt, flies, heat, and bright sunlight. He prescribed an antibiotic ointment and suggested I keep it wrapped until the crack closed up.

Treatment #1

The wrap and the Animax ointment did the trick. Within a week, the crack was 99% closed and things were back to normal. Within less than a week, the crack reappeared, just as big as before. By this time, Izzy was at the vet for his hock injections, so I updated Dr. Tolley on Speedy's heel issue.

He wasn't overly freaked out about it, but he could see that I wanted/needed SOMETHING else to try. He even said that. Do you want something else? YES. Give me something that looks medicinal, and give it to me quickly!

Treatment #2

To my surprise he gave me Genta Spray which is something we've used for our dog when he had a funky skin condition on his belly. It worked great for Tobias, so my hopes were high that it would work for Speedy.

I quit wrapping Speedy's foot (thank goodness as hoof wrappings are a serious pain in the butt), and per Dr. Tolley's recommendation, I fashioned a sun shade/fly swatter out of a sock and now keep that on his foot. You can sort of see the edges of it in the top photo.

I can't say the Genta Spray has worked miracles, but the crack does look better. It's not getting bigger, and Speedy is sound as can be. However ...

Treatment #3

A friend recommended Equiderma for all funky skin ailments, so I just started putting that on the crack. I don't think it can hurt anything, and according to the comments on Facebook, most people love the stuff.

Who knows? Fewer daylight hours, less flies, and cooler weather might be all it needs. I'll be watching it to see!

5 Comments

Putting on a Few Pounds

9/8/2017

10 Comments

Well hallelujah. Speedy has finally put on a few pounds. It took all summer, but he finally filled out under my leg again. It was when I saw this picture from our show a week or two ago that I noticed.

Round barrel!

We all know that I've got some weird position thing going on in that photo, but ignore that. If you'll notice, Speedy's badonkadonk is looking nicely rounded, and he actually has a bit of a tummy.

Here he is in early May when I really started to worry.

Not skeletal by any means, but more ribs are showing than I like to see.

He's obviously not emaciated or anything, but I like the flesh to cover the ribs and not stop half way. By mid-June, his ribs were covered in flesh, but just barely. He looked like this.

No ribs!

When he went to see the vet in early August, Dr. Tolley gave him a 4 on the Henneke Body Condition Scoring System. I am not comfortable with a 4. I want my horses flirting with a 6. Contrary to what I thought, the doctor assured me that he looked quite healthy and that there was no problem with Speedy's weight.

Here he is this week.

Is that a muffin top I see?

No, he is not pregnant. This is just an awkward place to take conformation photos as his front feet are in a hole. That makes his belly seem lower than it is. But since all three photos were taken in the same place, it's a good way to see the change in his form.

I don't know that he's put more on weight since Dr. Tolley last saw him, but he's definitely a bit rounder than he was earlier in the summer. Dr. Tolley agreed that he could easily carry a few more pounds, but putting them on was going to be a challenge.

Speedy already gets as much alfalfa as he'll eat, 3 pounds of LMF Senior each morning, 1 and a half pounds of beet pulp with another pound and a half of LMF in the evenings, and 2 scoops of Platinum Performance. Dr. Tolley said that if I really wanted him rounder, my next option was to add in a fat source that doesn't have any volume. When I've fed him rice bran, he just eats less hay. Speedy just can't fit any more in.

So far, I think I've settled on flaxseed oil, but I haven't ordered it yet. Platinum Performance has a product that I want to investigate further - Healthy Weight. But as with all things from PP, it's expensive.

If you've tried it, or something similar, let me know. Now that Speedy is nice and round, I'd hate for him to lose it all once it starts to cool off.

10 Comments

Eat Up, Speedy G!

5/29/2017

6 Comments

I've owned Speedy since he was a gangly three year old. He was all hips and withers back then. As he grew up, he filled out and eventually started packing on some pounds. He's always been a relatively easy keeper without the need for much in the way of supplements. He looked so good that quite a few people at a 2015 late fall show doubted me when I explained that he was indeed a purebred Arabian and not a warmblood/Arab cross.

He definitely filled up my leg here. October 2015

Throughout 2016, Speedy lost a fair amount of his muscling when we struggled with an intermittent lameness. Then, in the summer, we moved to the ranch where we are now. With our current arrangement, Speedy gets turned out from dinner until breakfast. His daytime paddock has a cover, but he can go in and out at will during the night. So even when it rained over the winter, he had shelter at night.

Mid-May

By about January, I started expressing some concern to the ranch owner. Speedy was getting kind of ribby under his winter coat, something I've never seen him do before. We discussed his hay ration and agreed that he was getting pretty much all he could eat already. I increased his beet pulp and rice bran a little bit, but he never put the weight back on.

By spring, I could actually see a faint outline of ribs and his hips started to jut out a bit. As the weather warmed up, I was confident he would start packing on some pounds. He didn't. So by the beginning of May, I started to really worry that he might have a metabolic condition that was preventing him from gaining weight.

Morning ration

I had another conversation with the ranch owner expressing my concern with Speedy's weight. He was getting all of the alfalfa he would eat, I was supplementing with beet pulp, rice bran, and Platinum Performance, and yet, he still wasn't gaining back his pre-winter weight. I told her that if I didn't see some kind of change by the beginning of June, I was going to take Speedy in to the vet for some blood work.

Through our discussion, she pointed out that Speedy might simply be burning off more calories in his night turn out than we realized. At our last barn, where he lived for five years, Speedy had a large stall/paddock that was about 24 by 36 feet, generous by most standards. He had a small track worn into the ground where he paced and circled, but it wasn't big enough to walk miles. His current turnout is.

Evening ration

With that explanation as a possibility, my worries began to dissipate. We hatched out a new plan: she would feed a morning ration of a pound and half each of rice bran and LMF Gentle Balance (I may switch this out for a different formula when the bag is gone). In the afternoons, I would feed 3 - 4 pounds of beet pulp and another pound and a half each of the rice bran and LMF. That would all get topped off with his Platinum Performance.

A week later, I am already seeing the tiniest bit of padding starting to develop. He's getting a good eight pounds of supplemental feed daily in addition to all the alfalfa he can consume. I am giving him until the end of June to put on a bit more weight. If I don't see it, he's definitely getting some blood work done.

I wish I could simply walk off my excess pounds!

6 Comments

That's a Relief!

12/30/2016

2 Comments

When I pulled Izzy up to the mounting block on Monday, he took a really wonky step. I hand walked him a few strides and noticed that there was definitely a hitch in his stride coming from the hind end. My first thought was that it was a cramp from all of the backing up he had done to avoid the bridle.

I reasoned that he might walk out of it. I got on anyway and asked him to just keep it slow and easy at the walk. Given how dramatic his meltdown had been over the bridling process, I figured that a quiet walk was probably just what he needed. After twenty minutes, he was no sounder, but not worse either, so I called it quits.

There was no swelling nor a wound, and he was bearing weight on it, so I turned him out in his paddock and hoped for the best. I watched him for a while as I puttered around, but the lameness got worse by the minute. By the time I left for home, I knew it had to be an abscess.

Heel bulb, right side. I love being right?!

A lifetime caring for my own horses has given me a pretty good sense for when the vet needs to be called. A horse who is eating happily with a cocked leg is not one of those times. Even though Izzy took the classic stance - toe pointed down and a reluctance to bear weight, I decided to just watch it and see how bad it would or wouldn't get.

I gave him a gram of bute for several days, which he refused to eat, but other than poke around with a hoof pick, I just let it be. The next day, he actually looked better. He was bearing more weight on it, and by Wednesday, I started to think the abscess had absorbed or that it had been a cramp afterall.

On Thursday, I found the telltale drainage hole. It must have just blown before I got there because it was still oozing. I gave it a gentle squeeze and was rewarded with clear seepage that was odor free. Again, I left it alone without washing it or soaking it.

We had record rainfall last weekend which turned parts of Izzy's paddock into a soupy mess. He had high ground to stand on, but the mud no doubt softened his feet allowing a grain of something to work its way in. For me, having the abscess blow out through the heel bulb is the perfect scenario. Those heal almost as soon as they pop.

It's raining again right now with a forecast for continued rain through Saturday, but we had really warm and dry weather this week which eliminated nearly all of the mud. Hopefully the hole closed yesterday afternoon, but I am defintiely going to give it another close examination today.

If my horse is going to be lame, an abscess is just about the best case scenario!

2 Comments

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About the
Writer & Rider

I am a lifetime rider.
I began endurance riding in 1996 where I ultimately completed five, one-day 100 mile races, the 200-mile Death Valley Encounter, and numerous other 50, 65, and 75 mile races. I began showing dressage in 2010.
Welcome to my dressage journey.

Photo by Lori Ovanessian

Email Karen

About Speedy G

Speedy went from endurance horse to dressage horse. We're currently schooling Third Level in preparation for the 2019 show season. Speedy is a 2004, 15'1 hand, purebred Arabian gelding. His Arabian Horse Registry name is G Ima Starr FA.

August 2018

About Izzy

Izzy was started as a four-year old and then spent the next 18 months in pasture growing up. I bought him as a six-year old, and together, we are schooling the dressage basics. He is a 2008, 16'3 hand warmblood gelding. His Rheinland Pfalz-saar International (RPSI) name is Imperioso.

March 2019

Bakersfield Dressage approved!

National Awards

USDF Second Level Rider Performance Award - 2018
USDF First Level Rider Performance Award - 2015
USDF Training Level Rider Performance Award - 2013

State Awards

CDS Ruby Rider Award - 2018
CDS Second Level Horse Performance Award - 2018

Ruby Rider Award, 2018

2019 Show Season

Show Rating
(***) CDS/USDF/USEF
(*) CDS
(s) Schooling
(c) Clinic
(t) Ride-a-Test Clinic
(Q) Must Qualify

2019 Pending …

5/11-12/19 - Cavaletti Clinic (c)
5/26/19 - TMC (*)
6/15-16/19 - El Sueno (***)
6/22-23/19 - SCEC (***)
6/23/19 - TMC (*)
7/13-14/19 - El Sueno (***)
7/28/19 - TMC (*)
8/10/19 - RAAC (Q) (***)
8/25/19 - TMC (*)
10/26-27/19 SCEC (***)

2019 Completed …

Qualifying Scores for 2019

Regional Adult Amateur Competition (RAAC) Qualifying Scores
Third Level Scores:
Score 1:
Score 2:
Score 3:

CDS Championship Third Level Scores:
Score 1:
Score 2:
Score 3:
Score 4:
Score 5:

Working Towards:

CDS Sapphire Rider Award
Third Level:
Third Level:
Fourth Level:
Fourth Level:

USDF Bronze Medal
First Level - 70.179%
First Level - 72.600%
Second Level - 62.879%
Second Level - 61.970%
Third Level -
Third Level -

Another Abscess?

Let Freedom (from supplements) Ring

A Change in Feed

Electrolytes

Speedy's Supplements

Speaking of Skin Ailments

Foot Funk

Putting on a Few Pounds

Eat Up, Speedy G!

That's a Relief!

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About Izzy

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