Well I guess this is good and bad news. Luckily, he just doesn’t hate eventing so much as to stop mid gallop and start bucking. It didn’t really fit into Frankie’s work ethic or personality. However since he is older, set in his ways, I wasn’t ruling that out.

After having much anxiety about Frankie’s recent weird and reluctant behavior, I finally got an answer. Ulcers.

The unfortunate thing is that the one day format of eventing is much to blame for Frankie’s stress that must have caused the ulcers.

I feel disappointed and discouraged to say the least. He will not be going to any more events this year.

With this news, I know at least for a week or two, I will be riding him a little on the light side. Gastrogard/Ulcergard is a little pricey for me, so I started him on Ranitidine. He needs a dose every eight hours for a month for it to work. Luckily for me (and Frankie), he eats it in a bran mash, so no need to try and figure out how to force it down his throat.

Today’s ride was a little haphazard. With having no real “goal” at the moment, it was hard for me to focus on anything in particular. That being said Frankie was really good. It was really more of a hack than anything.

Ride time: 35 minutes