Someone has been feeling "Spring Air" with wild eyes and crazyeee behavior.
It's been funny and at times, totally frustrating.
Laz can slip into "SAVE MYSELF!!" behavior quickly and can try to tune me out, so I have to match that energy and remind him "Um no...."
We had a visit from our lovely Vet for a Rabies vaccine. It went off without a hitch (phew!) and she is SO great about helping me work through my anxiety with certain vaccinations for Laz.
Next up will be Tetanus next month.
She did a follow up lameness check on him and thought he looked so much better in comparison to November. His Chiro adjustments, my Trimmer's hoof work, balancing his diet and his ability to stay out and moving.
BOOM BOOM BOOM! :)
She told me to get to work on really starting to exercise him and double check with Chiro to make sure back is happy with those slow changes at his next visit
So, this past week, we took just long hand walks as he was a crazy pants McGee for a bareback hack.
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He acted like he had never walked down this dirt road before.
In his defense, it was a bit slippery so I'm not sure if that made him feel uneasy but I kept him in the deeper sections of snow.
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Every noise made him jump and spook.
I had asked Vet about his excitable behavior and she seemed to think his amount of Triple Crown L/S couldn't be enough calories to make him hotter. I'm not sure I agree 100%..I've cut back his Chia seed and in about a month, I may start cutting back his feed too (currently getting 3 cups not scoops, twice a day). She thinks he's feeling better and is not able to use his body in a stronger way. He can feel great, but he needs to keep his manners...so I've been doing a lot of reminding and ground work to try and instill that good behavior and space around me.
On Sunday, the winds were just whipping through and something by the barn just kept freaking him out. He would snort and side leap. We worked on ground, circling towards and away the barn, squeezing through and backing off, until he finally settled.
It took a good 45 minutes and a lot of games. He fought the first 25 and was a total lunatic and then finally started to breathe and calm down.
See, calmer eye below
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Then, after our work, it was complete mind resetting. He kept eye rolling, yawning, shaking his head. It must have been a lot for his OTTB brain to handle.
I will say, he did SO great in the end. He even started listening to me MORE as the two other horses were racing all around us.
I think with this newer set up we need to work on; I come first, his friends come 2nd.
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He is fighting his instinct of flight versus thinking...
Oh, and shedding has BEGUN...!
That's great that he's feeling better, even though he's a little too full of it :) He's looking so good, that third picture up from the bottom looks great!
ReplyDeleteThanks TBA, he def has more of a belly than I would like BUT due to our limited workouts, its not shocking. I hope to start his trot work back up
DeleteI think spring is in the air! Shy and all her buddies have been having themselves a good time and if the ground wasn't so muddy I am sure they would just be crazy!
ReplyDeleteYay for a good vet check! Keep up the good work :)
Glad he's feeling better - even if it does mean some wild eyes!
ReplyDeleteSpring is definitely in the air. Laz is looking good. congrats on the excellent report card!
ReplyDeleteMy usually lazy horse had a complete flip out the other day while the boarder was riding her horse. Val lost it, and his behavior was contagious. Eventually my boarder suffered an unanticipated dismount. :)
Crazy pants McGee!?!!! Too funny! Not Laz being naughty - the expression is too funny! I love it. It sounds like something my mother would say about our boys.
ReplyDeleteSorry that Laz is acting silly, but glad he is feeling well enough to do so! It will all go right soon. This is a springy time of the year!
Sometimes they just have those days, you know?
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the positive review from the vet, he's definitely on his way to complete soundness now!
Glad his first vaccine went well! Yay for both of you two! =-)
ReplyDeleteYes, I'm thrilled!! She backed vaccine with shot of Equioxx (in case of any swelling) but all things went super well. WHEW!
DeleteYay on the good report!! All that hard work is paying off big time!
ReplyDeleteMy old guy has also started shedding, and in the almost 15(!!!) years I have had him, he has never lied!
For the feed, me being, well, me, I was wondering about why you picked the low starch TC? Since you aren't feeding but 6 cups a day, that is less than the 6lb minimum, so technically added vit/min could be added, but you could probably feed the full amount (1-2lbs per 500lbs per day) of their lite formula. And the Lite formula (9.3%) is lower in NSC than the Low Starch (13.5%) though a teensy bit higher in WSC and ESC. The lite is almost a ration balancer, and at the point I fed it that is what I used it as, and it was lower priced, though I don't remember how much. Sorry, I am a nerd, and was just wondering what your thoughts on that were ;). I LOVE Triple Crown, you can look up EVERYTHING on their website, ingredient lists, density measurements, nsc and omega oil levels...*sigh* nerd.
Great Q; lately there has been issues with TC Lite; where they found corn in bags. Like whole dried kernels. It makes me leary to switch. I do have Laz on a concentrated mineral supp(Californiatrace.com) in addition to his small amount of feed. I prefer this one vs just feeding the suggested amount of TC Lite. In actuality I could eliminate his TC L/S all together but when the other horses get their 2x a day feed, I feel bad for him to get nothing. It helps with added fat during winter months as well, as he dropped lbs in late Oct quickly when I had him on only 1-2 cups. I also give him flax w/ feed/minerals. It's a dance for diet, isn't it! I was totally debating about switching to TC Lite and then all the corn issues came, so I sat tight. I may switch in our future..but for now, not yet. :)
DeleteI'm a diet nerd too!
Oh ick! Corn in that bags? How disappointing! Not feeding any grain (just vit, hay, rb, flax and some bp) I am a bit out of the loop on the 'new' updates. Thats very interesting! Oh, awhile back I saw where you posted about not giving a laminitic horse rice bran, why? I don't have any experience with laminitic hooves, so I was wondering! Love the chance to learn!
DeleteHi, just my thoughts on what I've read: (via Holistic Horse)..I don't listen to ALL things, and I try try try to balance out what is best for Laz. Trust me; I over think it all :) Also..he is NOT IR so I can be a little lax..but it does still show up in feet regardless of IR or not. We'll see what happens this Spring on grass..he should be OK, fingers crossed. Below is cut/pasted from "Holisitic Horse" Alana, u would probably enjoy the info on Dr. Kellon's Yahoo group too.
Deletehttp://www.drkellon.com/home.html
"NO RICE BRAN - two big reasons: (a) According to a 1994 Rice Science Study, rice bran is approximately 16% fat. This is going to promote fat on your horse, add weight, and cause problems. (b) Rice bran is loaded with starch, 5 to 7 times more than timothy/orchard hay or beet pulp. Rice bran has an ESC level of about 25 which is very close to that of Wheat bran (30). Both need to be strongly avoided in these horses.
On the ingredient list of many low-carb, low-fat feeds you may see rice bran. Don’t panic. Generally, it’s an extremely small amount for flavor. These products have low ESC values (10%) and low fat values (3-5%). The main point is not to add more rice bran or wheat bran to the diet."
Just found your blog, beautiful by the way. Also congrats to you guys!
ReplyDeleteThank you and WELCOME :)
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