Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Trailer practice...

Trailer practice is going quite well...

"Yummmmy, hooves up for this kinda practice!"

Had closed everything up, she was totally chill 👏🏻

Graduated to tying her to the trailer...

My training assistant gave Grace a thumbs up. Since Maizee is a polydactyl kitty, (she has thumbs) she can actually do that lol. 

Yup, A+ here. A+ on fly spray as well!  I'm finally able to spray the real thing on her now, whoo hoo!  Still touchy on her bum and I test wit the water spray before wasting the real thing. I think she finally gets what it's all about and that I'm not attempting to spay acid lol. 

On a not so good note, from the get go, Grace has been cinchy, given her girth galls when she came, I understood that. She's  also always held her RF up any time she ate her feed. Suddenly on Sunday I noticed several behavioral changes that concerned me. Midday I'd gone down to open the front barn door for circulation and she began weaving!!!  Later, I'd gone down intending to brush her, she began spooking badly and pinning her ears at me as I entered where she stands to get out of the heat/flies. Normally, she's really relaxed, greets me and enjoys it very much. That evening as I went to remove her fly mask, more spooking, more ear pinning. Monday same thing, though outside she's her normal self, very content, and willing, at one point I'd gone to leave her and she blocked my exit for me to continue brushing her.  She's great working and walking about her field. The behaviors all seem to take place prior to feeding or once she's finished her hay net. Oddly enough this all has coincided with my not adding alfalfa pellets to her hard feed. 
I did some googling, all evidence seems to point to the possibility of ulcers. I found a video showing the acupressure points to test for ulcers, she showed a "moderate" response when I tried it. So to "test" out my suspicions, I've ordered U7 Gastric Aide and am once again adding alfalfa to her feed. I understand alfalfa can act as a buffer in the digestion tract. If it's ulcers I should see a behavior change for the better not long after I begin the loading dose of the U7 and will go from there. If not, well...not sure. 😕



2 comments:

  1. Good for you to be so aware of her behavior changes. It will be interesting to see how things progress.

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    1. Started the supplement last night. If indeed ulcers should see a change within ten days. Fingers crossed.

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