Mare showing signs of pain, any other thoughts?

I have had my 9 y/o silver dapple mare, Whinney, ever since she was a 5 month old weanling. She has always been the in your face, give me a cookie, pet me all over kind of horse. Lately she is cranky, leave me alone, do not touch me anywhere other than my neck and face. When you touch her near her flank and ribs she swishes her tail and turns with beared teeth and flinches. I am honestly thinking ulcers. I have rubbed and pushed everywhere on this mare and other than some already diagnosed arthritis in a rear ankle (from a previous injury) that is being maintained on supplements and not causing her pain now, I can not find anything! I am personally down to ulcers with her being this way. Her flank is the most sensitive area when you touch her. She is still very in my face and wants a treat but prefers I not touch her other than her face and neck. Shoulders back is off limits. I am getting two horses gelded on the 19th of this month, so she will also be seeing the vet then.

Does anyone have any other ideas? I am about to put her on a ranitidine regimine and see if she changes any cause I already have it on hand and asked the vet earlier on the phone and he said it is worth a try. Might save us some hassle by the time he comes out.

I'm thinking ulcers as well.

I have been out in the barn half the night fretting over this now and I kept running my fingers down her spine and hips and there is one spot, fingertip in size, that I get a reaction from *sometimes* just a little less than halfway from her withers to her hips. She will just toss her head up a tad bit, hardly noticeable, and she does not do it everytime. Might also be because I have been bugging her half the night and she wants left alone. I am going to now call the chiro tomorrow and see if they can get her in before the vet comes to geld the boys on the 19th. I would much rather find out she is out of alignment because she does like to pull some crazy moves out in the pasture with her buddies than to find out she has ulcers. I have 2 already that came to me with the ulcers and already am trying to get that taken care of. The omeprazole came today in the mail for them, so yay on that much! Honestly other than the flank and stomach areas being touchy, I do not see any other symptoms of ulcers. She is downright fat right now, actually got put on a diet this week. Easy keeper and always has been, never coliced and normal gut sounds. I am really leaning towards chiro or massage problems now.
Obviously I have probably spent way to much time thinking on this now and that is bad when there is no one to get a hold of that can come look at her.

Now I know I am not going to get any sleep, this is bugging me!

I would suggest, if she already has bad ulcers, giving her a weeks worth of ulcergard before using the ranitidine as you may get better results. Although ulcergard is expensive, but I believe unlike gastrogard it's OTC.

That was what was suggested to me when I was worried about my pony (a week of gastrogard and then a daily ulcer feed supplement or in your case since you already have ranitidine available I'd use that). It should help quite a bit if it is ulcers and you should see drastic improvement. The only SURE way of diagnosing ulcers is to scope of course. But gastrogard or ulcergard is what the vets usually recommend, we had a horse who almost had bleeding ulcers and he was on that stuff for a month.

Lol oh yeah, and relax, don't give yourself ulcers!!!!

I do also have the omeprazole here because I am running a treatment on the other two that came to me with them. I am going to see when the chiro can look at her and then if they find nothing, try the omeprazole until the vet can check her out.

Sounds good :) hopefully that works for them (Prilosec and I didn't get along lol) I hope your mare feels better I know how stressful it is when you horse isn't feeling well

Hoping the chiro can see her sometime this coming week. Even if I have to load her up and take her there. I will at least feel a little more at ease then. I am going to try to get some sleep. I am going to bother her some more in the morning and see if I can get her to do the same with her back again. Thanks yourcolorfuladdiction, I will probably need to give myself a dose of omeprazole paste by tomorrow morning. LOL

Lol yeah really! You're welcome. You can also try looking at the book "beating muscle injuries for horses" it's got very good massage techniques if she's prone to partying hearty in the pasture. It migh also help keep the muscles looser longer around the chiropractic adjustment so the chiro doesn't have to visit as often if it is a chiro issue. I'd wait a week after chiro to massage though because they will be sore after adjustments and will falsely react to spots, and you also don't want to move the freshly adjusted bones back out of place :p but I love that book and those techniques, they've helped my pony with things like soreness from bad fitting saddles (went through lots of those) or when she plays hard in the pasture or kicks at the boys.

I have called around and talked to several about Whinney and I have the equine massage lady coming out either later today or Sunday to work on her and see what she thinks about her being seen by the chiro. The chiro can not see her till the 31 of March and I have to take her all the way to Alexandria, KY. Oh why do horses just not learn to talk and say hey, my back hurts!