The Muppet Journey Part 1

It's been another long stretch between posts. A lot is happening in the barefoot eventer world - mainly a new long journey I am on with the 'new' horse (though he's been with me for over 9 months now!), Muppet. I have had a post about Muppet's transition from shod to barefoot sitting in 'draft' for ages, and will post it once I re-add the photos. But the new and somewhat more daunting journey has now begun - taking Muppet from a very anxious horse with gut issues and chronic back soreness to the future superstar he will become.

When I bought Muppet, he had pretty significant behavioural issues. Most noticeable was his tension and anxiety. This manifested in the following ways:

• Random and severe head tossing/shaking (this is how Muppet got his name - he would throw himself around at random and I would call him a muppet!)
• Significant tension when first mounted. He was completely unable to stand still when mounted, would rear and paw the ground and often leapt around.
• A real reluctance to go forward, though once going he would run and fight.
• Bucking and pig-rooting.
• A lot of grinding and playing with the bit, pulling and reefing, and very little stop response to rein pressure. He would also be extremely reluctant to take offered rein out and would literally go around with his head curled under and a loop in the reins, like an OTTB.
• Lots of stress and anxiety in new places - pawing and pacing when tied at the float, inability to eat, high reactivity and alertness.
• Diarrhea and poor condition.
• Sore back, particularly the loin area and sacral area over the croup area.
• Marked differences in behaviour depending on location - when tied up he would fidget and stress, when out on the arena (in hand) he is the picture of relaxation.
• Extreme sensitivity to being brushed and touched.

Some of these symptoms have improved or disappeared - he no longer tosses his head or reefs the reins. He rarely leaps around and only occasionally rears - usually when first mounted and asked to remain parked. Bucking and pig-rooting are rarer, though creep in when his back is sore, for obvious reasons. He has filled out beautifully in the spring and now looks a million dollars on a fraction of the feed.

However, the gut issues and back soreness have remained, and sometimes has been quite bad. Twice I have simply gotten straight off after mounting due to obvious soreness. Muppet has good times when he is just amazing to ride and handle, but this is about 15-20% of the time and has been so intermittent it is more frustrating than anything.

In winter, Muppet had developed loose poo - not diarrhea but not normal manure. I had him assessed by our equine vet, Alison Arnott, who diagnosed hindgut acidosis - not stomach ulcers per se, but definitely issues with the hindgut. She was the one who prescribed Equishure, and it helped, but I'm still feeding it three months later and it's not really designed as a maintenance supplement. We need to treat the underlying issue, not just give him horse Mylanta.

In an effort to control his behaviour, his diet was cut from 1kg of Low GI pellets (KER), 0.5kg lucerne chaff, 1kg soaked speedibeet, 1 cup of Micrbeet and a scoop of Equishure TWICE a day, to 1/2 scoop Low GI pellets and 0.25kg lucerne chaff with a scoop of Equishure. This did improve his over-reacting but not enough. And the back soreness continued.

So, I called in the big guns. I had a long and informative discussion with the local WOW saddle fitter and seller, Mel Earl, where we picked apart the possibility of the saddle contributing. We confidently ruled this out due to the way the WOW works and the Flair panels. It's not that it's impossible, but it just doesn't account for all the other symptoms. Mel suggested I get in touch with a bodyworker/nutritionist. So I called Di Snow, who I have used over the past 18 months but in a fairly limited capacity due to low funds.

Di came out a week ago and put Muppet on a pretty impressive diet with about 8 different supplements, including a pre/probiotic, apple cider vinegar, Magnesium Oxide, Lysine, Vitamin E and some special powders of her own invention. I'm also red-lighting key areas of Muppet's back and pectoral muscles, doing carrot stretches and in-hand exercises and giving him a basic massage every few days. Not much time for riding! But no riding for a couple of weeks, anyway, to give him time to start seeing the benefits of the new regime.

He's supposed to be eating hay at wither height, too, but the little bugger just won't do it at the moment. He just winds himself up and stares around at everyone! Muppet.

Muppet September 2018

The photo above shows Muppet just as spring started to kick in. You can see how week he is in the hindquarters and how developed his pectorals are. He has literally been pulling himself along and trying not to use his hindquarters. He had been very stiff and hard through the back. The photo below was taken the day I bought him:

Muppet January 2018

As you can see from the two photos, something is not right! Though Di is sure the issues we are now treating existed before I bought him, he was clearly not as sore through the body when this photo was taken.

So, for the next few months, I'll be blogging about Muppet and our journey to health!