Allergic to Life

Back in April Cinder broke out in hives. They came and went for a few weeks before finally deciding to stay. We did a round of steroids and switched bedding because my vet thought it was something coming in contact with her.  We tried three different types of bedding and nothing worked.  We did more steroids because the hives came back worse and she lost a lot of hair on her hind legs and face. Right before we moved barns for the summer we took a blood sample to send in for allergy testing.

She can finally be cross tied while getting hosed off!!

The first week we were at A's was Cinder's last on steroids. I was slightly concerned moving her would shock her system but my vet thought moving was a good idea.  The other barn, GS, is in a different micro-climate and much wetter than A's. Vet thought the (relatively) drier climate would be good for her.  And since we've moved Cinder's hives have gone away. 

First page of allergens. The ones with the * are what she's allergic to

Unfortunately the lab lost Cinder's blood sample so we had to take a second one and send it in again. It took about 10 days from when we sent the sample to when we got the results back.  The lab emailed my vet who forwarded them onto me and called me later that day to discuss. The first thing he said was "She's allergic to life". Not what you want to hear, let me tell you.

Basically there's a lot she's allergic to and it was probably a combination of things that caused the hives. There was a third page of allergens for insects and molds that I forgot to take a pic of and she's allergic to some of them as well.  Some of the things she's allergic to we don't have here in the PNW, such as sycamore and hickory trees, and fire ants (thank god!). But we have elm and oak (which are in the pasture she's living in) and deer flies, plus the molds.  There's also a fair amount of timothy hay that's fed around here so I need to be aware of what's in her grass hay.

This one really sucks

The biggest issues are going to be the food items.  The grain she's on has timothy and rice bran in it.  Her vitamin/mineral supplement has corn and rice bran. The treats I have right now have corn and carrots.  Luckily my vet said that he's seen the carrot and apple allergy before and in his experience the test for it is not that accurate.  He said she can still have the occasional apple or carrot, just not a lot of them at once. And she can stay on her vitamin mix. The amount of corn and rice bran in it is so small, and since it's cooked in a pellet form, most of the allergens have been cooked out. Which is great because do you know how many supplements use corn, rice bran, or soy as carriers? I was driving myself nuts looking at ingredient labels.

I'm still trying to figure out what grain I want to switch her to. I'm going to the feed store later today to see what's available, but I'm leaning towards just alfalfa pellets.  Her current grain is a limited ingredient, mostly alfalfa and timothy hay based feed and I'd like to keep her on something similar.

For now we're going to changer her feed, keep her in a fly sheet and mask all the time, and wait and see how she does.  We can do allergy shots for most of the things she's allergic to, but that's $$$ and doesn't have the best success rate. Since she's doing much better at A's barn I'm really hoping I can keep her here this winter and not have to move her back to GS. Finger's crossed we can make that work and her hives stay away!

Lumps, Jumps, and Lunges

I realized I hadn't had a Cinder update post since the show over a month ago.  But in all honesty, until last week not much had happened with her.  After the show I let her be for a while and didn't mess with her like I did prepping for the show.  Which was maybe not the best idea for a smart young filly.

Apparently Cinder figured out if she wiggled her nose/butt/body against her stall door hard enough, she could get the latch to work its way free and the door would open.  She did it once while I was at the barn, but I had been in her stall earlier and figured I hadn't latched it correctly.  She's done it twice more over night and been loose when the morning feeder came. Both times she didn't appear to have gotten into anything, or done any damage except pulling halters off hooks and chewing a fly mask. She's super people oriented and is easy to catch as she walks right up to you.  She now has a clip on the latch so she can't work it loose.

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Someone’s learning how to lunge like a champ #marecrushmonday #goodgirlcinder #twoyearold #babywarmblood

A post shared by Molly Basney (@mollybasney) on Mar 25, 2019 at 12:12pm PDT

Since she's started displaying bad boredom behaviors, I've started doing more ground work again, including teaching her to lunge. I had used voice commands for our in hand work (trot, walk, whoa) so when I put her on the line she already kinda knew what to do.  What she didn't know was how to stay on a circle.  The first lunge experience was me basically water skiing behind her and Cinder  being confused as to why I was there. A round pen would make it so much easier, but we'll work with what we go. By the second time she was able to make egg shaped circles and mostly going off my voice and by her third session she was pretty darn good.  We only do 5 minutes mostly walk and trot, and only 2 times a week but I'm super happy with her progress so far.

Last week the ponies got their spring vaccines.  Cinder had broken out in hives a couple of day before the appointment, but they had gone away in a day.  So of course she broke out again the day of their appointment. She's not bothered by them at all, but some were pretty big.  The vet wasn't too concerned and vaccinated her anyway.  He did have me give her some banamine that day and the day after.  Since then most of the hives have gone away, but if she breaks out again she'll go on steroids.  The barn got a new shipment of hay the week before she broke out, so we figure there's something in it that's bothering her.  The distribution of the hives is mostly on her barrel and girth area, so she must be rolling/laying down in whatever it is.

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Cinder has her first little free jump session today and rocked it! Look at those knees!! #kneestonose #babywarmblood #freejump #goodgirlcinder

A post shared by Molly Basney (@mollybasney) on Mar 31, 2019 at 3:49pm PDT

On Sunday I convinced A to come out with me and help me free jump Cinder. I don't want to do too much since she's not yet 2, but a couple small fences shouldn't hurt. We made a chute and started sending her over just a ground pole. It then went up to a cross rail, then a small vertical. She did maybe 4 jumps in total. She was pretty darn cute over fence and didn't seem phased by it at all. She even trotted it once on her own after we finished and were taking the chute down. Hopefully she continues to like jumping as she gets older!