routine adjustments

Over the course of the summer, in conjunction with changing tack (puns lol) on our saddle fit issues, Isabel started seeing a new chiro/acupuncturist/former DVM about every 6-8 weeks. The last visit was... in August. Oops. But ya know, broken leg, holidays, etc etc.

hugs to get reacquainted. or ya kow, a poll adjustment. same thing, right?

Just goes to show that any time we have anything all neatly and tidily planned out with horses, something is bound to go haywire. The intention had been:

• start Isabel on a more regular chiro schedule to develop baselines
• work with new saddle fitter to improve situation with the Bates
• reevaluate at next chiro appointment in mid November (never happened)
• determine timeline for moving forward with new saddle (also never happened)

We only got halfway through that plan of action before my injury. Le sigh. That's ok, tho. It means starting fresh again, since Isabel lost a ton of weight and muscling during her vacation and is therefore not really in any proper shape for a saddle fitting. Which works out more or less well enough since I'm still paying off my cat's medical emergency, blargh, and don't really feel financially prepared to buy a saddle.

and shaking hands!

Silver linings though: she has come back into work feeling better than ever. So we are back to square one, establishing baselines. And the verdict? Isabel's in a pretty good place right now. It wasn't just my imagination that she's been feeling really good over her back. Phew!

There are still issues, of course, including residual soreness from our previous saddle fit (which frustrates me to no end)... and she's got the same sticking points as always. But the chiro was pleased with her current physical state.

needle in the 'performance point'

Only real differences this time around were an extra acupuncture point for Isabel's bruised hoof (healing well, btw) and a discussion on ulcers. Readers may recall we treated Isabel for ulcers with a course of Gastrogard just over a year ago. Since then, she's been on daily gastric supplements.

After recovering from my leg injury well enough to get back to the barn and plan our grand return to work, I decided to do another full ulcer treatment. Izzy had lost a lot of weight, and let's face it, she travels a LOT and it's unrealistic to think a horse with her lifestyle (not to mention disposition) wouldn't be prone to ulcers.

needles errrywhere!

This time I opted for the generic form of omeprazole offered through Abler. At the time of this chiro appointment, Isabel was almost finished the 28 day treatment period, tho I was considering extending the treatment a bit before tapering and returning her to her normal supplements. And yet, Isabel still reacted positively to the ulcer points during the work up. Ughhhh.

The chiro thinks that, for whatever reason, the generic form of omeprazole doesn't work quite as well as Gastrogard's formulation, and she agreed that I should extend the treatment and add aloe juice to the mix. I expressed skepticism, thinking that aloe juice only soothes for the brief moments it's actually in the stomach, but she disagreed and said it had longer lasting properties and that Isabel needs something to push her over the hump in recovery. 

So idk. I guess it's pretty cheap, and I really don't want to keep the horse on omeprazole any longer than necessary... so perhaps I'll give it a shot. 

Big takeaways from the appointment are to keep doing what I'm doing to rebuild strength and top line, and hopefully at some point soon start looking at saddle shopping again (budget allowing). Then reassess in 3 months. Sounds good to me!