I’m so far behind on posts. I’m trying to do a post a day for November. It may fail spectacularly. I wrote a post yesterday, it’s not speaking to mobile, the draft won’t upload.. photos won’t upload.. WordPress troubleshooting is in my future.

Short summary of the last couple months: the fire did not reach the town the barn is in. We spent a week or two evacuated, maybe three, and then we were able to go home. The air quality was atrocious. It’s better now. We’re incredibly lucky and I’m incredibly grateful.

So: ulcers. Polly has often tended towards anxiety. She relies on me for confidence, for one thing. But she’s also willing to be bold and brave and adventurous sometimes, checking out the things that she worries about and then she’s over it. My usual philosophy is “wait and see.” Unfortunately, this has not served us well this year, and I’m afraid I’ve done Polly quite the disservice in not connecting the dots.

This horse eats walls. I wish I could upload a picture. There is a hole in the middle of her stall wall that she chewed through. It looked fine one day, and then next day looked like she’d put a hoof through, except that it was bigger than that, all feet were fine, and it’s the outside wall. With tiny pieces on the outside and the inside. Likits are inhaled in 24 hours, even the hard ones. She hoovers hay. These two things aren’t uncommon Haffy things though, so I sort of wrote it off.

She also chews on the tierail and paws when tied. But: young horse learning patience. Whatever, right?

One day I caught her grinding her teeth in the stall. I was in the stall cleaning. She was loose. What the heck. That was finally a red flag.

Then I took her on the trail with a friend, just a trail hike for us, and she startled and alerted throughout the entire hike. This is the pony who wandered fearlessly through the park two years ago. Again: what the heck, red flag.

I know Jen and Connor had success with Nexium, so with vet’s OK we’re starting there. 3 pills a day for four weeks, then taper down. More updates on this to come as the month continues. Ulcergard treatment is not out of the question but it’s also not cheap, so if I can get similar results for a fraction of the cost, that’s always nice.. we’ll see.