Vet Visit

"Did you pay the last vet to do her teeth?" "Was he actually a vet?" "Are you sure it's only been a year?"

I take it Favorite Vet wasn't impressed with Alberta Vet's dental work. Luckily I had iphone pictures to prove he actually did visit or Favorite Vet might have thought I was telling stories! Ginny had some very sharp edges and sores at the very back of her mouth, so I'm very happy that we had him out to get those fixed. Favorite Vet thinks Ginny's bit of weight loss and anxiety is due in part to those teeth. In part? Yes, he thinks there's likely something else going on. She's quite sensitive around her flanks and girth area, and a tiny bit through her hindquarters. Combine that with her general anxiety and he's wondering about a few different culprits. For now, he took a blood sample to test to make sure we're OK there. Selenium, in particular is lacking in this part of the world and a deficiency can cause general sensitivity and anxiety. It's something he says he sees fairly commonly and he highly suspects it's our issue as well. We should know those results in a week or so. He's not ruling out ulcers, either, but since they are so expensive to scope/treat, he's going to wait on the blood work first and go from there. He also mentioned that she may just not be happy at this particular farm, for any number of reasons. Touchy subject with the barn owner in attendence! Since she was fine earlier in the year, that's sort of our last option, but certainly still something to keep in mind - there are always compromises to be made when you're boarding and a more sensitive horse like her may not be as tolerant of them as others. He's optimistic that fixing the teeth alone should make a big difference in her health and attitude so that was good news :) He'll be back in the area in 2-3 weeks so I expect we'll be seeing him again soon.

I'll use this pic as her 'before' pic. It's from a couple of weeks ago, but is at the right angle to show what's going on. As you can probably see, she's not looking awful or anything, but she's quite tucked up in her flanks and has lost a lot of that big bum she had earlier in the year.

I took advantage of having a tranquilized pony and got out the super scary measuring stick. Under normal circumstances she tries to duck away from it when it touches her, making it nearly impossible to measure her accurately. I finally was able to get a proper measurement. 15.3 hands! My pony is on the large side :)