Wed, 5/20: 177 minutes
Thurs, 5/21: 192 minutes
Totals through 5/21: 3453/3500 minutes
For the record: I don't think I'd ever heard of Gus! Good find,
@PollyannaMom !
The comments below are for those who might be interested in the vet visit this week with my horses. Nothing to do with exercise other than the "
maintenance of my exercise partners."
So the vet visit went well. Dental for two horses; the Big Sr was a serious pill-bug. He was
great for his shots and blood draw but no amount of sedative can prepare him for having his teeth done; he had to fight it. Poor kiddo, his molars are nearly completely worn. Vet suggests I move him to soaked pellets, up to 25lbs (dry weight, before water) of feed daily. I've been giving him wet feed for the past year or two ... but not at that quantity. I'm am now busy ratcheting up the wet feed and monitoring the impact to dry feed in transition. In this time I am monitoring how much he comfortably consumes in a single feeding as I must pen him, apart from his herd, to protect him as he eats his special feed. To reach 25lbs, he'll likely have 4 feedings a day. Although, perhaps, we can by with 3 (not quite the full 25lbs) combined with dry feed through hay-nets as before. My hay-nets are slow feeder types ("nibble nets") which restrict each mouthful to snatches of hay. The nets are scattered around the paddock for all the herd to enjoy. I think we can safely continue this for the time being ... although I'll monitor as I go. So, changes coming ... in steps.
The funny news: I'd shared my notes of the Big Sr's various symptoms with my vet electronically before the visit. I guess my notes failed to also identify which symptoms were already overcome by tweaks and changes I'd been making over time. My vet arrived expecting to find a half-dead horse based on my notes and was pleasantly surprised to find the Big Sr looking healthy! He remains a little underweight but not far behind; his coat was no longer dull but gleaming; he was standing squarely on all legs when the symptoms had once reported a tendency to shift weight between the two hind legs with overall hind-end weakness. I guess my notes failed to say I'd been addressing what I could all along!
I suspect, from my observations, that Big Sr might have early stages of Cushings, IR or other metabolic concern. Vet commented that typically when he is called out to test for Cushings it isn't even a question: he can confirm it by sight. In our case, the symptoms
over time do seem to support that possibility even if one wouldn't guess looking at the present body score. I am now waiting on the results of the bloodwork. Hoping to adjust the Big Sr's diet, support with nutrition, etc, to keep him happy and satisfied with life!