As I mentioned before, Foster has officially been on his new diet for a month. In that month, he has been sound but back sore, and hasn’t noticeably increased weight or muscle. If anything, he started looking a bit gangly again, and myself and others suspected a possible growth spurt. Luckily the vet/chiropractor had a measuring stick and we were able to confirm- Foster has grown to 16.2h this year (he was last measured a year ago at a hair under 16.1h). So, the Ultium could be doing its job, but my warmblood baby (who turns 8 next month, ah!) used those extra nutrients to sprout upwards rather than out.
In the interest of consistency, I still took pictures of his backside. Boy, equestrians are weird- I’m pretty sure dog people don’t do this shit.
And from the side…
To me, there’s no noticeable difference, except that he’s standing somehwat hollow backed in the second picture. The only thing this picture proves to me at the moment is that I need to shave off those little feathers; the way they collect dirt is driving me nuts.
In any case, we’re sticking with the Ultium and Performance Supplements, and hopefully it will start to make a difference in some months.
Otherwise, the chiropractor (slash vet) and I discussed at length why he may have gotten back sore and why he is not straight. There are some guesses out there, with treatments that include hock injections and possibly scoping for ulcers. For now, we’re going to see what happens with this second adjustment (many of the same adjustments made), and I’m desperately hoping it doesn’t come to anything more. We hand walked for 20 minutes after his adjustment last night, tonight he gets light work, and tomorrow back to a regular routine.
So what will it be? A happy pony tonight, or a grumpy sore one?
Red on the Right 
Hoping for a happy pony! I’m amazed he grew that much at 8.
Ivan grew 2 inches between his 4 and 6 year old year, but needless to say I thought Foster was done growing! It’s an odd sensation to walk up to your horse and think- were you always this tall? 🙂
Damn! That’s a growth spurt! That explains his weedy look more than anything, honestly. I bet he starts filling out once he finishes going up. It’s not like he’s skinny, after all. 🙂 He looks a bit more rump-high than he did in December. It could be that he’s still growing steadily. I wonder if the growth spurt could be behind his back soreness and crookedness? I mean, I remember being all kinds of sore and out of whack when I was growing height-wise, and I’m sure adjusting to being a few inches taller has made him a little off kilter.
How cool, though. Yay height!
You’re right, maybe he does look a little rump high? The soreness seems to be intermittent, but definitely a recent thing. Unfortunately, he’s been crooked for the better part of 2 years, so who knows what’s causing that- could be growing, no idea!
Haha! Who knows! My horse used to be critically crooked, and it turned out to be almost entirely me. Who knows how that even got started!
Fingers crossed, my crossbred baby grew like a weed when I put him on Ultium and supps. Hopefully he stops!
Oh gosh- that wouldn’t be Ramonster though, would it? Foster doesn’t need to be that big!
Fingers crossed for happy pony!
I hope so!
In my experience, using an equine chiropractor who specializes only in chiropractic work is a lot more effective than a vet who happens to also offer chiropractic adjustments. They’re slightly more expensive but the difference in my horses was HUGE. 🙂
This was my first time using the vet/chiropractor instead of our usual chiropractor, who was too busy around the holidays. I think in the future we will be going back to the regular chiro (believe it or not she is cheaper!) but this time around, I needed his coggins done so only wanted to spend one farm call fee 🙂
It will be interesting to compare the two once going back to our main chiro!
crazy that he’s still growing!! maybe that is somehow related to the soreness? good luck!
Gah, who knows! But, I do think that’s why he hasn’t packed on any weight with the new feed program- he’s growing up rather than out! 🙂 (Wish I could do that)
Have you considered his teeth being a part of his crookedness? Unfortunately there are a lot of vets and dentists that really do a shitty job of correcting teeth and they just fix the major hooks and such but don’t balance the teeth. Finding a dentist that knows what they’re talking about is tricky as hell (I’m going through this problem right now). The vet I use 2x a year (she lives in PA) has been adamant about correct trimming and teeth and it’s AMAZING how simple those two things can screw up a horse. Chimi went from swapping behind all the time in the canter to only doing it if he slips in the mud (b/c i can’t steer and make him turn really sharp) in 1 trimming. No joke- the day before he swapped, the next time I rode him no swapping. We brought his break over point back and and some other things. Now waiting for a new dentist in Feb and hopefully his and Marley’s issues will be on the way to being solved! No joke- PA vet looked at Marley’s teeth and said “I bet riding her is like riding in a car and using the gas pedal and break at the same time- either jolting forward or not moving forward and then lurching forward at full tilt” Yep. Nailed it. That is EXACTLY how Marley feels to ride- and this was all done by looking at her incisors. I didn’t say anything previous.
It’s not an easy process finding all the right people, and we want to believe our farrier and dentists are the best (b/c that is what we want for our animals!), but it’s old school theory vs. new school. The information IS out there but it requires being open minded which I find is very difficult- hell I’m struggling with it and I think I’m fairly open minded!!!
Wow, no- never thought about teeth! He’s had his teeth checked/floated regularly. I can’t imagine how you would figure out that teeth were the issue- that sounds amazing with Chimi and hopefully you get the same quality results from Marley! Incredible that they were able to tell so much from her teeth.
I’ve actually been talking to some people about old school vs. new age vets…it really is hard to find the right people and know exactly what their knowledge is in certain subjects. Ah, the struggles of having animals- they can’t speak for themselves!
All my ponies’ teeth are done regularly and had just been floated in Oct but weren’t balanced correctly. All the hooks, and main dental abnormalities were taken out/cleaned up but Marley’s front incisors weren’t balanced out in relation to her slight parrot mouth. It’s frustrating because you pay someone who is more knowledgable than you (or should be) on a subject and later on you find out they did a crappy job. Unfortunately sometimes this can take years
It is such a struggle! Would be easier if they could talk and say “Hey! My feet hurt- this guy sucks” or “Ouch! My joints hurt…fix me mommy!” hahahaha 😉
From having worked in a vet’s office, I sort of wish dog people would take photos of their pets! It’s hard to see differences when you see them every day.