<<<<<Did we tell you it gets easier? HA! It does!!
Mandy, you have all helped me immeasurably already. I do appreciate it! However, I need to explain why I do not want to dry-lot Rudy, just in case he might be IR.
My life and my horsekeeping is already pretty complicated, as I lost my right arm in a tractor accident three years ago. While soaking hay might be a minor inconvenience for some, for me, it is more than that. Dry-lotting and subsequent manure pick-up is complicated. I have to rely on my husband for so much help already that I am not willing to apply more burdens that hopefully are not necessary. We are both around 70 (!) in age.
Right now, I will change from grain to beet pulp, if Rudy will get on my page. Fortunately, he is on the bottom of the pecking order. When grass is rank, I will corral him overnight and feed him with a slowfeed hay bag (when I get it!) I think he would "lose" a muzzle out in the pasture the way he loses fly masks unless it was tight and strong enough to be dangerous.
I will see if I can find an open mind among the three vets I have talked to, and keep looking for one who is already up on Cushings. I will direct to the ECIR info page, but I don't see anything there that would tell a vet how much pergolide to prescribe...
Thanks again. I will do the history when I can get into the history group.
Thanks,
Judy
2014
SW MO
