The daily dose of Ulcergard made no difference to Reiss’s behavior when I ride him. So,the owner of the barn and my boss, James, thought we should put him on a shot to help his joints. We thought that this would help to loosen him up so that he would willingly want to move forward when I ride. This way we could get away with not doing any joint injections for as long as possible.
The shot is called Adequan. It is a 10cc shot every seven to ten days. James and I each know how to give shots in the muscle. This way the vet does not need to comeback for every injection.
It is very frustrating to ride a horse that you love very much that will not move. While I was ridding the other day, I broke down on Reiss. I started to cry and have a melt down because I have been trying so hard to get him to move and listen to me. For other people that are going through this the most important thing is to not give up.Giving up lets them win. I wanted to get off but then I knew that he would learn that he could continue being rude and annoying. So, I stayed on him for about 45 minutes and made him walk around the ring. There was no way I was going to be able to get him to trot. So, we worked on our different walk paces and I made him use his brain be doing circles and keeping his attention on where he needed to place his feet.
I was so close to giving in and getting off, but then his behavior the next day would have been worse. When I rode him the next day he was better. I think he knew how mad I was at him from the previous day so he trotted and did what I asked of him. Even though I love him and he is a really good boy when he wants to be it kills me when he is this bad.
Horse Sense 