A New Year

Hey everyone sorry I have been bad about keeping up more recently with this blog. I have had a lot going on & have changed a few things with Ben & wanted to give them time to show something before writing anything about it. So where to actually begin? December I ran Ben's succeed test again & it was keeping strong at negative all around! I have also made a few changes with winter blowing in the back door to ensure Ben gets through with no problems. I had changed out his Flaxseed oil to stabilized ground flaxseed (Omega Horseshine) instead & have seen some very nice positive changes with that. His coat looks amazing & his weight is as well. The oil was great, but messy & because of it's sticky nature I wasn't quiet sure he was actually receiving the required amount due to that. So after my usual quest for knowledge I settled & am very pleased with the Omega Horseshine! Next on the change parade was adding back his vitamin E. Horses require vitamin E supplementation simply by the fact that hay & grain do not have adequate amounts in them no matter how high the quality of either one. Surprised? Look it up..... unless your horse is grazing on quality grass a minimum of 12 hrs per day then they need to be supplemented. Again surprised? You wouldn't be if you simply researched or asked your vet. Vitamin E is essential for proper nerve & muscle function so If you've been having some issues you can't quiet figure out maybe have your horses vitamin E level checked it's most likely deficient. I use a product called Elevate & give Ben 5,000 IU's daily. I chose a higher dose for him since he is older & could use some improvement in his nervous system in general. I tried a lower dose at 2,000 IU's but didn't see much change but once switched to the higher level I did.

Surging  forward to our next change is hoof health. Winter is not so kind to feet with the hard ground & the constant back & forth of moisture. It's just asking for problems. Ben has been battling a minor case of thrush in his frog for awhile & with him out & always exposed to the elements I needed a little extra help other than the usual topical. So with much consideration & research I chose a hoof supplement. He has been on Smarthoof ultra for 2 months now & I have notice a difference. He is much more comfortable on hard surfaces & his feet are looking improved. They were never bad before just to clarify, but I see a difference & so does his farrier so we will continue with it. Which leads us to joints. I did the Adequan series with Ben a few months ago & was pleased with the results. As winter & it's unforgiving cold blew through I noticed Ben was again having a harder time rising from a good roll. So back to the research board & talking with a company about their thoughts as well we chose a solution. I decided to put him on a broad spectrum joint supplement again. Now these can be hit or miss depending on your horses particular needs. What works for one may simply not work for yours so trial & error is inevitable. I put Ben on Smartflex Senior Herb free. I do notice an improvement since starting it. He has only been on it for a month. After rolling it's easier for him to rise which is our goal. I will continue with this until I feel he needs something higher or different. I tried just the Adequan, but with his age & riding history he needed more I felt. 

Our last two changes which are the biggest & most important I feel like are his water & stomach support. I will start with the Stomach first. His Assure Guard was working just fine his test negative & no real obvious issues apparent. I changed it because I felt in my own gut he needed something more, something higher level. So we all know what that means back to my hours of research on finding just the right solution. I came to a supplement called Ritetrac. After speaking with the company, & those who have personally used it I was looking forward to it's arrival. Since only having Ben on it for not quiet two weeks I can't give a huge review on it other than I do notice he seems happier than before & eats it fine despite the 1/4 cup of powder twice a day. So I will leave it at that & revisit later on. Next & last is the water & old man winter...... We all have this issue of cold weather & frozen water. So we tried an electric heater because that seemed to be an easier solution. Well it appeared to work fine & I didn't feel any issues with it, but Ben did. We had it set up for only 24 hrs & Ben felt a stray current in the water & wouldn't drink from it. I did not feel it, but horses being highly sensitive in nature sense a lot we don't. So I quickly unplugged that & had to show him it was ok to drink from his trough again. So if your using electric heaters make sure your horses are drinking & there is no stray current. They need to be grounded properly & even with all that they can have issues & if the power goes out all will freeze over regardless. So where did that leave us in our battle of the ice venture? Solar power. Again much research & reviews I chose a small company based in Utah that makes Solar powered water tanks. Perfect solution! Was it expensive? YES! But honestly I've paid much higher vet bills than what that trough cost & water is essential for life & something they use every single day multiple times a day! How can you put a price on something that will be heavily used daily, needed for survival, & no more ice hassle? Anything with horses isn't cheap & when you try to say that it's way too much money think about how much that saddle cost or those boots or your shows or lessons..... or even your most recent vet bill. The solar trough aka BT Solar Suntank is an insulated 25 gallon bucket with a solar panel on the front that must face the south sun in order to generate enough heat to break the ice forming. It has an insulated float that is on top to insulate the surface water. The horses must push the float down & the water comes out. They learn it very easily & quickly. I had much paranoia about this but in the end had no reason to. It comes in 2 sizes of 25 or 42 gallon tanks in either manual fill or auto fill. From my order date to arrival date it took 3 weeks. That was partially due to the holidays when it was ordered so that delayed it's arrival a bit. I have been very happy with it so far since it being up for a week. The water is a comfortable temperature & we have had temperatures in the 20's & it held up like a champ! I also have been comparing it to other troughs to take note on how well it's working. I will again be giving a better review once we have had colder weather.

That is the changes I have made in the past 2 months which is a lot I guess, but after his most recent massage & farrier visit it's all proving it's success. We survived our first snow outside well I guess me more than him! He was fine I had to keep telling myself he was. He spent half of it outside & half in his shed at his own preference. He enjoys the snow & rolling around in it. I'm hoping we continue with improvements with our new regimen & hoping for a healthier year. It has been a year next month since He was diagnosed with Grade 2 & 3 gastric ulcers with bleeding & colonic ulcers with bleeding. I always swallow hard at the thought of it all.

                           The BT Solar Suntank 25 Gallon Manual Fill