Insulin Resistance

So, Tuesday I went out with Mom and we drew Jimmy's blood & took it to the vet's house to have him test it for Insulin and Glucose levels. We have reason to believe that JC is insulin resistant!

If he is, we will need to manage it with diet and exercise...which is totally doable!

The symptoms I read online are soreness/heat in the feet, lameness, and fatty deposits throughout their body (mainly in the crest of their neck) from lack of exercise and over-ingestion of calories. AKA- He's on stall rest from being LAME, and I SPOIL him like crazy.... so now he's got fat all over him, in lumps. Dr. John says if it's really severe then we will monitor him and put him on a supplement to help his little body absorb insulin.

Last night I took him into the round pen to see how he's feeling on the lunge line since he's been on stall rest for a FULL two months, and he was great! Had a blast on the line, was pretty goofy, and tripped all over himself through the shin-high snow, but the sparkle in his eyes really came back once he let his steam blow out on the end of the line.

When I brought him in and brushed him, I tested his back to see if it was sore (like I do every day...and it's tender EVERY day...) and he was TOTALLY fine on it. he bucked and twisted pretty hard on the line, and I think from that he knocked loose whatever kinks he had! I can feel that the road to recovery is almost over, and I'm so excited.

We'll wait about a week for the results on the IR blood test, and see what happens from there. I'm very hopeful and I believe that he will be better in no time!!!

Tonight Bill and I will be going up to see Jimmy together and I'll work him on the lunge line again. I can't wait to see how he is today after his explosions yesterday. If he's still sound - that's A GREAT sign!!!!!!!