Last night, I noticed Jeeves's hind legs were a bit stocked up. I was somewhat surprised, but figured with the weather and I haven't ridden for several days it's probably not a big deal. This morning, his hind legs were QUITE stocked up and the fronts were stocked up about halfway up his cannon bones. Sigh.
I rode him lightly in the ring--just long and low, walk, trot and canter, to see if he was sound. He started off a bit stiff, but if my legs were that swollen, I'ld be a bit stiff, too. He warmed up out of it, then I decided to just go for a hack. He enjoyed that. I wish we had better/safer trails here. Alot of the trails have been flooded by beaver dams and are impassable. The ones that are left are frequently used by dirt bikers and ATVs, usually going at very high speeds. So, I keep my trail riding to a minimum. If I had someone to hack out with, I would do more. But, living alone and working from home, if something happened out there, it could be days before my absence was noticed. So, I figure it's better safe than sorry. We stick to walking trails, usually about 30-45 minutes. It's a nice change from the ring, relaxing, and we both enjoy it.
Anyway, the swelling his legs came down after the ride, so I was encouraged by that. By dinner time, they were stocking up again, so I added a couple of bute to his grain.
I had started him on a flax seed supplement over the weekend, to help move any sand out of his gut. The girls are getting that, and have been since late July. They have been fine. I wonder, though, if that could be causing this? I'm taking him off it, just in case. Nothing else is different.
Always something to worry about, eh? We're having a lesson tomorrow, so we'll see how he is then.
4 comments:
Oh, I hope things are okay. My experience with stocking up is limited, but it is usually b/c of lack of movement. It does seem a very good sign that exercise brought it down. Good luck!
BTW, I was looking at Cleveland Bays online this week. I think Jeeves has put a bug in my ear. :)
Yes, but he's out moving around quite a bit, which is what is so surprising. I just switched the boys turnout around, instead of going out over night, they're now going out during the day and the girls are out in the paddock with the run-in shed 24/7. So, the boys have a nice, large area, plenty of room to run and walk around. And, even when they're "in", I never close their stalls doors. They each have a little run-in paddock. In Jeeves's case "little" is about 100 feet long and about 40 wide. Lance's it's harder to guess how much room because his is sort of pork chop shaped. Still plenty of room to walk around. I don't put water buckets in their stalls unless it's very stormy. They each have a stock tank in their paddock so they have to go outside and move around to get water. So, I dunno.
Cleveland Bays are pretty cool. I'll try to do a quick post on my very limited experience with them.
BTW, I'm trying to read through your blog archives, I really enjoy it.
Ann - Funny but Silk's back legs have been stocked up a bit these last couple of days. They go down after she's out in the pasture. I thought it might have something to do with the sudden change of temperature. When this happened before, I started giving her Equinyl, a glucosamine supplement, and that made the problem go away. Good luck with this!
Thanks for the input, Victoria. Jeeves is already on Senior Flex, which has glucosamine. I do wonder if the change in weather could have something to do with it, though.
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