I am definitely keeping my fingers crossed, but Chance was much better today! He was not 100%, but he was more himself. If you read my post from yesterday, Our Latest Saga, you are up to date on his most recent issues.

It seems that the Ulcer Guard is working! He was a little sour when I would first ask for the trot, but I carried a crop and clucked and tapped instead of using a lot of leg. Once he began moving, he actually moved forward and worked into his usual pace. He even built a little at the canter. He felt more like Chance, and less like the extremely sluggish horse that was impersonating him! I gave him a very light hack, and stopped and started a bit to work him out of the sourness. I do not want to force him to do something painful, obviously. But if I allow him to “get away” with not trotting, we will continue to have the problem even when he is 100%. Since he felt significantly better at the trot than he did before he started the Ulcer Guard, I felt that it was okay for him to work. I was gentle and patient, but let him know that he needed to trot a little!

My trainer and I are going to keep him on Ulcer Guard for the rest of this week, and see how he is with a little work, then figure out a long term solution. I am all for doing a treatment that will actually get rid of the ulcers. I do not know all the details on it yet, but  I would really like to nip this problem in the bud if possible!