12/05/2024
Trust your gut.
JJ is one of our horses at High Clear Equestrian. Looking at him he's a picture of health, he isn't in anyway a stressy horse actually quite the opposite, he's very well mannered and very genuine but I noticed a slight change in his behavior which by some would possibly be ignored or put down to schooling errors, weakness etc.
JJ became a little bit lazy, he'd lost his bend and became heavy on the rein, especially the left, he didn't want to engage his hind and had a very slight toe drag on the right hind. At rest he'd stand resting his hind leg which was slightly tucked under (this isn't normal!!)
These changes where enough for us the get him scoped and checked for ulcers to find grade 4 squamous ulcers.
In the past JJ was diagnosed with grade 4 bleeding ulcers, treated successfully but his symptoms where worse and I truly believe it's because he had to shout to be heard !!!
This time, though the symptoms where mild I've learnt to listen, horses can't talk but their behavior can be a very good indicator of them trying to tell you something isn't quite right as they communicate through their body language & behavior.
We're unsure as to why he has ulcers again, as he's been ulcer free for many years until now. We work very closely with all our horses and their management, diet etc as each is a individual but unfortunately these type of things can be recurring so back to the drawing board.
Hopefully with his treatment he'll be feeling a lot better and back to his normal self.
This post is to raise awareness and if you feel somthing isn't right, then trust that gut feeling because it's normal right. No pun intended.
