My friend left this morning at 4am. I drove her and her husband to the airport and then rolled my car windows down, turned the music up and sang every bad 80's song on the radio on my way home. Then I went back to bed and slept for another 6 hours. Yikes. I do love sleep almost as much as I love obsessing over my horse (although I don't technically love obsessing...)
I got an e-mail from Smartpak the other day offering 50% off of Cosequin for the first two months if you add it to your smartpak. I've been thinking of trying this for some time, and my vet suggested Cosequin ASU, so I figured now was the time if I was going to make the switch. I dropped my SmartFlex Repair and added this. It makes me a bit nervous (I hate change, have your figured this out?) I liked the SmartFlex Repair because of the Silica. A friend of mine suggested Silicon instead of Silica (I forget the name right now) through Platinum Performance. Do you have any suggestions for tendon/ligament health? This won't come until her May 19th Smartpak, so that gives her another month of the SmartFlex Repair. If I don't see a difference we'll go back. I also took her off of her Vitamin E. She gets Smart Protect which has 3,000 IU's and her SmartVit Performance has 1,500. Plus she has Cocosoya oil which has .... well, I don't know exactly, but I'm pretty sure it's in there. I was only giving her 1/2 a dose of Vit E anyway. If I see any changes I will put her back on it, but I think she's getting enough. I wish that every thing that I wanted for her came in a SmartPak. I LOVE them!
Enough about supplements. I could make a whole blog dedicated to JUST that. I went to work today and continue to fall in love with the Lusitano baby. He is adorable and so funny. He knows I'm the food lady, and that makes me his favorite person ever (other than his mom.) He makes me laugh the entire time I'm there. He tries everything in his power to convince me to come see him. I need to take a video of him. He's adorable! Today I also ran out after shift one to help at the Center where Denali is. It's funny, I am not doing anything different than I normally do, but I feel better. I cleaned up the one field and brought Denali in for her dinner. she's such a good girl. I can't wait for the ground to dry out a bit. Her feet have a few stone bruises on them. They look great, but need to harden up a bit more. That isn't going to happen until the ground dries out a bit. She also has scratches on her legs. Awesome. I'm going to buy some MTG and try that. I'm sure the people who work there think I'm a moron. I'm fine, fine, fine, freak out. In my defense, I only have mini-melt downs in enclosed places with the mare. That's an improvement right?
As for tomorrow. I have another lesson. This is with a Parelli Level 2 person (ask me what that means... I have no idea.) He was recommended to my by a few people and I went to see him in January. He's moving to CA in a few weeks so it was now or never. Our lesson is two hours long, so we'll see what I get out of it. I told the girl I worked with tonight she may be scraping my body off the arena walls. I told Denali too. She looked thrilled. (Okay. Not really.) Wish me luck. This could be interesting. Her vet appointment was changed to Thursday morning.
7 comments:
A product I have tried is supposed to be REALLY good for joint/ligament health. It's called Rapid Response HF + HA (HA = Hylarounia Acid, which is what vets will inject into joints to help lubricate them).
My mare has a hock injury and I tried it - it didn't really help me but others seem to have had a LOT of success with this. I also only kept my mare on it for 6 weeks because I was not seeing any results and it is insanely expensive (around $289 for 6 weeks). If you are desperate and money is no issue then you could give it a go. I won't personally vouch for it's effectiveness, because I didn't see any results first hand, but a LOT of people recommend it - in some instances it has even saved horses that were going to be euthed. Might be worth a go if your desperate - it seems to have helped a lot of horses and people.
Good Luck =)
I had Gogo on Cosequin ASU when I was heavily riding and competing and it really does make a difference. It's mucho pricey so when she went into turnout I put her on SmartFlex Repair. She was on SmartTendon for the past year and a half while in rehab.... obviously THAT did a load of good. I mean she healed well, but she reinjured just as quick... honestly, tendons are avascular structures, so how does anything you feed them get to them anyway? Maybe I just like wasting money on my horse... lol.
I've had Saxony on Cosequin ASU since January 1 and have seen good, good results. My vet recommended it as well, and I'm glad she did. I may take her off it for the summer, but I think I'll always add it back during the winter months just to support her.
It will be interesting to see your thoughts on Parelli work!! Good luck with it!!
Hey, we used a level 2 parelli and she gave us great homework back in Oct. I think the biggest thing, is it gave ME the confidence I needed to work with Laz and not freak out and shut down when/if he freaked out. She had me hang in there and convince me and it's been working great for us. It's support..I think you'll like it. :)
If you want to use a hyaluronic acid supplement, you might want to try Flex Force, which you can get here -- http://www.valleyvet.com/ct_detail.html?pgguid=24d80303-77bf-4447-8fbd-4b660a0e629c&gas=flex%20force%20ha It's the same as the super expensive HA supps but at, like, 1/8 the price!
For the stone bruises, I would try Magic Cushion and/or Keratex Hoof Hardener. And my "horse guru" told me that Keratex Hoof Gel is the BEST thing EVER for protecting hooves from muddy, wet, ickyiness. Good luck!
You sound so much like me with the anxiety and indecisiveness and hatred of change, etc. I feel for you. It's difficult dealing with all of that. And exhausting.
I'm no help on the supplements. I know nothing about them lol.
You definitely need to get video of the Lusitano. I'm dying to see him. :)
I love MTG, so I think that's a good idea to get. Just test it on a small patch of skin to make sure she isn't sensitive to it. Some horses are very, very sensitive to the sulfur in it or something. Be sure to shake it up well too or you'll just be getting the oil on her and it won't do any good. For hardening the feet I spray them with salt water. It helps kill/prevent thrush too.
Good luck with your Parelli lesson. I'm sure it will go great. I always do my best with trainers because they give me confidence. :)
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