Glad you’re not sick!
I’ll be looking forward to a full report when you’re allowed to go back to the barn. 
No pressure, of course.
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A new barn owner and her husband took it upon themselves to “teach” my mare to stop pinning her ears and making faces by punishing her every time she did it when they walked by her stall.
She became DANGEROUS to stall for the next several YEARS. I found out about it after I left that barn, and we gradually worked up to being stalled again.
Punishment for pinned ears doesn’t work, and it isn’t fair. I want my horse to tell me she is uncomfortable at the first moment, not jump to the explosion seemingly out of nowhere. It’s like teaching a dog not to growl- it makes them skip to bite.
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Precisely.
My dog trainer friends hate the frequent “advice” given about stopping a dog from growling for this reason.
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I reeeeaaalllyyyy wished I had figured this out a long time ago. I grew up riding at a natural horsemanship, Clinton Anderson loving, barn and I was always taught that ear pinning was DISRESPECKTFUL and needed punishment. This trainer would literally teach me to yank on the reins or smack the horse in between the ears with a crop as punishment for ear pinning. Looking back, yea no sh*t a horse would pin its ears with “training” like that.
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Are you considering treating him for ulcers?
Thank you! He definitely has been a little bit friendlier, but definitely still is not happy. I got a fitting saddle, but I do believe now it might be ulcers. He flinches whenever I touch around his girth area. I am hoping I can afford scoping and praying that insurance covers the ulcer treatment.
Yep. Sounds like ulcers, for sure.
If it was me, honestly, I’d quit worrying about saddles and riding for the moment, and just go ahead and treat for ulcers as several people have already recommended.
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