The BO put a ride on the mare on Sunday, which I sadly missed but I got a good report from. Light lunging followed by a quick forward (read: canter, canter, canter) warm-up and a few actual exercises!
Apparently P was tense (BO thought it might be aftershocks from her 'tuneup' from Supermom), though 5 days between rides and a massive windstorm probably didn't help relax the mare either..
The most encouraging factor was that that the BO said P wasn't sticky in the slightest or Bucky (yay!). Hopefully those attributes carry over to our ride scheduled for later today.
The mare also got her first dose of Regu-Mate last night which I'm really, really crossing my fingers for. I'm not expecting her to become a different horse (in fact I'd be sorta sad if her personality ever changed), but I would be over the MOON if we were able to dull the aggressive/stallion-esque behaviors enough to take some of the fight out.
In theory we should see a bit of a behavior change overnight, though we are stocking up on Ace, just in case.... I really don't want to use it (Supermom is proof we don't have to), but as eager as I am to get back on, I'm still a little timid and hoping that I have the guts to bear down and RIDE if the mare tests me. :)
Regarding the Regu-Mate... The feed room has turned into a sterilized chemical warfare zone. Everything anywhere NEAR the Regu-Mate is bleached and sharpied with ominous warnings to WEAR GLOVES. I'm probably being over cautious with the handling of this stuff, but it creeps me out. For all the gross things (burgers, hot dogs, processed cheese products) that I'm willing to ingest, I usually steer clear of any other substances that have known adverse affects to your body. At this point I'm starting to consider involuntary sterilization an adverse affect...
So, everything is marked. Everything is separated from anyone else's feed buckets and I have stocked up on latex gloves..
Feels like progress! Hopefully I still feel like we made strides after our attempt to ride tonight. Wish me luck!!
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Never mind involuntary sterilization, I've heard horror stories about what happens if you spill that stuff on yourself... In a word: hemorrhaging. In another word: eek.
ReplyDeleteI do hope it works well for P though!
Hope it works well for miss Pia. It is such a pain to use. I personally have heard too many stories to ever do anything but the injections, and I think I'd get somebody else to do it for me.
ReplyDeleteI highly recommend picking up one of these things:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.farmvet.com/pc-214-163-regu-mate-dosing-device.aspx
It screws right onto the regumate bottle, and allows you to squirt the stuff way back in her mouth so there's much less chance of her spitting it out, or spilling anything on yourself. Makes the whole process loads easier. Glad to hear P has been good!
I've had a few encounters with Regu-Mate and while I managed to do it properly and cleanly, I was still terrified. Hopefully it does the job and P continues to improve. :)
ReplyDeleteYikes that stuff sounds awful. I've heard that you can't get it on your skin but good grief I didn't know it was that bad. Why does it harm us but not the horse??
ReplyDeleteI'm glad P was good for your BO. Maybe that's a good sign! Good luck on your ride and please update when you can. :)
Sounds like scary stuff! I really hope that it works though. Odd how something toxic to one species works for another. Good luck! www.timsboots.com
ReplyDelete