Polly hit four weeks of Nexium and is tapering off and onto a Smartpak supplement. Where are we now?

I still see her yawning sometimes excessively when I’m in her paddock. I’m not sure if this is stress relief or what.
She continues to chew on the wood in her stall.

That said, the major thing I noticed was her behavior on trail that started all this, jumpy and anxious and generally worried. We went back out on the trail with a different friend (so this is not a perfect clear-cut resolution, given the horses and dynamics involved are different). Again, I had saddle and bridle on in case I decided she looked perfectly rideable, but generally figured I’d hike with her. Polly and I led for the vast majority of the ride. There was a lot going on in a lot of places. It was actually really fun to see the wheels turn in her head. She’d see something, pause, look, contemplate, and decide it was OK and we could keep going. On our previous hike in the park she’d gone straight to anxious concern. This time, we stayed firmly inquisitive and contemplating things, including some stuff I know Fetti would have worried over. I think that was the only place I got anxious worried movement from Polly. Super reasonable all things considered.. lots of chaos in one spot.

I ended up hiking the whole way. I had several moments of “I could ride this!” and a lot of moments where I realized that if this is what our future on the trails looks like, it’s going to be amazing. Progress isn’t linear. I’m sure not all our trail rides will look like this. But the potential is there.

Obviously there’s more to come and I may still go for the heavy-hitting ulcer stuff if things continue to be a problem. For now, though, I’m considering the Nexium experiment a success, and I’m super excited to have my thoughtful inquisitive pony back.