Ozzy and JR

Not much to report on Ozzy and JR lately. They've been living a peaceful, laid back life since I moved them in March.

Ozzy seems to keep himself entertained, as always. The two of them have a pasture to themselves, and their run-in shed features two separate stalls with a hay room in between. Ozzy loves having his own stall, especially since there are doors on either side and he can walk right through it.

Additionally, Ozzy seems to be collecting baby birds. The rafters in his stall are lined with about two dozen nests, full of birds of varying types and ages. He looks at me like, "These are my birds and I love them." What a weirdo.

The farm is in a tough part of the valley, and while there is grass, it's not the same as the rolling pastures I had at Carolyn's. The front fields are green, but the grass is short. The ring has grass, but it's over stone footing. The back pasture that JR and Ozzy have access to has great grass, but gets really swampy when it rains, and it's been raining a lot this year. As a result, I have Ozzy on grain for the first time in years. He doesn't eat much, but I think he's thrilled to be getting the 'good stuff' again.

We've been doing more riding than we have since we stopped doing endurance, and I think Ozzy likes that. We still don't go out as much as I'd like, but that's mostly a scheduling thing on my end. I'm so so busy. Ozzy is sound and happy to work, which is good. He has been fumbling over his feet a bit more than he has in the past, but I'm not really concerned. I suspect that it's a lack of fitness more than anything. I'm sure it doesn't help that I've been riding all these really sure-footed endurance horses lately. I love Ozzy, but he's really kind of a fumbly-bumbly tank.

I love shed.

O! Hey, ma!

I'd like to see more of a topline, but I can't complain about his condition over all. 

JR gave me a bit of a scare last week. He's been trail riding alongside Ozzy whenever someone wants to tag along. I have also been using him to pony four year old Booger on her early trail excursions (more on that coming up).

I took him out on Wednesday with Booger alongside, and he was uncharacteristically naughty. At one point, he flat out refused to move past the golf course. It's pretty bad when the young, green horse is leading the 17 year old, dead broke pony down the hill. After that, he was jigging, frothing, and threatening to bolt. I don't think he has it in him to actually take off, but it was not a ride I expected on my old, reliable man.

While jigging and foaming back to the barn, JR took a bad step. Afterwards, he felt really off in his left hind. He walked out of it and we were almost home. I brought him in, cold hosed him, and put him back out to pasture.

The next day, when I went out to feed, JR looked terrible. He was gimping, toe dragging, and head bobbing. He was also resting the hind leg. Normally, I wouldn't have called the vet for this... at least, not right away... but I was about to leave for Biltmore for three days and he's not technically my horse. I got his owner on the phone and asked permission to have my vet out for an after hours lameness exam.

The exam revealed pretty much what I suspected.

JR was on an oral joint supplement when he came to me. I'm not a fan of feed through stuff for a variety of reasons, and when he got fat, I weaned him off the supplement. He has been off the supplement for a year and a half now, and has done well.

After he fell with Erin last fall, he developed a slight hitch in his right shoulder. If it's cold out or he works really hard, he gets just the slightest bit off in it. In the winter, he starts out a bit stiff, but then warms out of it. We're really using him for mostly walk-trot trail rides, so that was fine. He doesn't give lessons any more. I'm not jumping him. He doesn't have to go far. I just need him to be sane and relatively sound.

JR is slimmer this year than he's been in the past two years. He's still chunky, but he's not obese. The grass situation actually works to his benefit. Still, the extra weight on a 17 year old pony who worked hard in his younger years probably isn't helping.

We already knew JR had arthritis all over. My vet's conclusion is that he just has corruption everywhere and could really benefit from an IM supplement. Personally, I like Adequan and PolyGlyCan. I've been wanting to bring up this subject for a while now, and this was my opportunity. Since JR's owner pays for his medical expenses, it's ultimately her decision what treatment he gets.

I emailed her, worried that I was going to have to persuade her to spend money on a pony she hasn't seen in two years, or that I would have to send him home after all this time. As always, his owner was wonderful. She wrote back, "Of course... let's do whatever is best for him." She uses Pentosan on some of her own horses and suggested we start there. My own vet isn't a big fan of Pentosan, but it's a jumping off point. If he doesn't improve, I'll discuss moving him to something more effective.

So there you have it... updates on the two horses I see every day. Ozzy turned out to be the pleasure horse  I was looking for when I got him seven years ago, and JR is starting to slow down. Dancer... is going to need a whole entry or six to chronicle his saga.