This time of year brings back a lot of memories. As the brisk weather approaches the skies begin to darken faster day by day until night becomes tangled with day & leaves begin to reflect the changing of seasons. This is when it all started. This is when Ben had started on his downward spiral. All o it starting with subtle changes or signs that could easily be overlooked with someone who didn't pay attention to detail. I was never that person though. I was always very attentive to every subtle shift. Despite having the vet out countless times & following every recommendation to the T we hit rock bottom. The turning point was when had been so painful from the ulcers he soaked himself in sweat & cut up his face. I will never forget how he looked that morning. I didn't even recognize him. He was hurt, he was in pain, he was broken inside. I could no longer stand by trialing & erring this & that. I needed answers I needed to make this stop & I needed him healthy & whole again. He had been caught in a vicious cycle that had grabbed hold of him so tight it took everything I had to peel it off of him. A fight for his life. Going to the hospital saved him. Without his vet & the vets at the hospital I am afraid to think where we would be today. After having the most thorough exam inside & out literally.... a light started to shine. Though dim it was there. It was slowly beginning to cast away the shadow that had so tightly taken ahold & surrounded us for months on end. Hitting it with everything the vet had, with what I had, & with the surrounding support of all those involved we made that light shine & shine bright it did. 6 months of intense treatment & changing everything we laid that battle to rest.
I still to this day find myself thinking of it all. Especially now that the season is approaching & upon us. It's a constant chill that runs up your neck. Sometimes you can shake it other times your lost in it. That though is the exact reason I started this blog. To raise awareness to maybe save you & your horse hitting rock bottom. Stopping it before you have to fight tooth & nail just to climb back up again. Take this as a learning experience & take a step back & look at your horse & their lifestyle. Are they showing any signs? Anything change recently? Know your horse that will be your best defense. Do not be under the impression that one supplement will prevent you ever having an ulcer issue. If there was such a supplement every horse would be on it & ulcers would no longer be an issue. What works for one does not always work for another. It is always better to catch a problem early on than when your spiraling towards the pits bottom.
The sad truth of it is, is that ulcers tend to have a high reoccurrence rate. Why is that? Many reasons for their reoccurrence may include not finding the primary cause, not treating with the correct medications for the correct time frame, only relying on medications & not making any management changes from lifestyle to diet, & the biggest not slowly weaning off of medications. You cannot just throw medications at your horse & do nothing else. You'll be in for a rude wake up call shortly after you stopped those medications. Take an in depth look at every aspect that goes into your horses life & make changes according. No one horse is the same & what works for one will not guarantee to work on the other.
The take home message is know your horse, know what is normal & what isn't. Ulcers have an extremely high rate in horses of all ages from your foal to your senior & everywhere in between. All disciplines from your pasture puff, leisure hack, high level performance horse or anywhere in between. Your horse acting up? Find the reasons because 9 times of 10 it's pain related. Start listening to your horse instead of passing quick judgments on them. You will be surprised at what you may find. If you do you may find you have your dream partner right in front of you after all once you start listening.
