Ace has been on the ranitidine, what 3 days, or 4? The Jury has returned a unanimous "not guilty" verdict to the charge of "feisty five behaviour". He has changed completely. He is soft eyed and seeking strokes and attention, and when I rode I had the wider horse again today and no suggestion of misbehaviour. I am so pleased that I did not punish him too much for his previous behaviour, I would be feeling so guilty now if I had whipped him into submission. I didn't ride for long, I was only testing how he was, but he has already got a walk to canter, and not a "good try" either, the pukka article, and it is SUPERB. He just steps upwards into a perfect canter, and carries on in a beautiful rythmn and soft outline. He also shows an ability to lengthen naturally in trot that will leave Jazz green-eyed with jealousy. I can see that it will be no time at all before he is capable of an elementary level test, but I won't be rushing it.
Jazz still struggles with half pass. Oddly, if I half pass in walk he has a massive front leg crossover and a perfect bend, so I am confused about why he can't translate that into a trot. I have developed a new technique where I circle five metres in a jog-trot and then hold that bend and ask for half pass and as soon as he drops the bend put him back on the circle again. My arena is only 40m long and that's not really enough space to get the best out of that technique, so tomorrow I am going to try and find a flat enough piece of field and try it there.
Radar won't need any exercise tomorrow! I took him out in the Liverpool bit to do some fast work and he has done at least two miles at a fast canter or a full on gallop. He's fast this year, much faster than last year so he must have got some more strength in the last twelve months. At one point I let him jog back down to our start-point, which quickly turned into a flat out gallop heading directly for a five foot high drystone wall. He was clearly locked on and intending to jump :-000000 ! I had to haul him off his line to it and canter him in circles for 5 minutes to calm him down. Thank goodness I had that bit on, I'd never have got him turned without the roundels on either side of his face. He split his gums again, like he used to last year, but there is nothing I can do when he is prepared to pull so hard that he hurts himself :-( I have the bit wrapped in latex, what more can I do?? We both enjoyed the whizz though. Boy he was FAST!
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Three cheers (sort of) about Ace. Not exactly perfect news, but certainly something you can deal with. He may be one of those horses that needs constant maintenance.
ReplyDeleteIronic, is a way because my Tucker's behavior was so similar at the shows. The extra stress of competition certainly seemed to trigger his ulcer reactions.
Easy peasy Jean, ranitidine is legal in this country and I can buy it in bulk off eBay. So he can just stay on ranitidine, since it works so well for him. It does not seem to work as well for Jazz, who has been on it over a week, but today I noticed a change in his weaving too - much more lackadaisical than before - so it is possible that it simply takes a bit longer to work for him.
ReplyDeleteI need to research long term side effects of ranitidine before I try leaving Jazz on it. I will be weaning Ace off it again in three months or so if I can.
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You do give it twice a day? If not, that would make a difference as it does not have a 24 effect as the "other" drug does.
ReplyDeleteMight not be a bad idea to dose Ace right before a show too, even after you have finished up a full course.
Glad you have an option for treatment. Apparently, the success of various feed supplements is kind of mixed. Not sure what you could do long term except keep the medication in your medicine chest.
Well I think its brilliant news, imagine how many years of abuse he would have taken in someone else's hands before anyone (if ever) considered scoping him for ulcers - and then its not a nice procedure for him. Wowser, hats off to you woman. If I ever had a grumpy horse I'd try this treatment too.
ReplyDeleteOnwards for Ace now then, and glad Radar is revving up for cubbing soon. I've been XC training today and my horse is positively pinging everything, so I'm looking forward to my BE event this week now more than I was before the session today. :)
I only give it once Jean, which is surprisingly effective for Ace. It won't cure ulcers in that dose, but I have looked up the action and it is an anti-histamine reducing inflammation in the digestive tract and a sedative, reducing irritation, and that seems to be all he needs.
ReplyDeleteTracey I don't take much credit really. Jazz was so obviously an ulcer candidate three years ago and I could not get hold of omeprazole and Google was quick to point to ranitidine as an alternative. Tesco sell it off the shelf, so it was worth a try.
Ace just didn't seem quite "right" to me for feisty fives and I was very unhappy at the idea of beating a horse I felt was basically a very gentle soul. I'm so glad I didn't!
BE90? go for it!!
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