Horse Healing Takes Time ... Lots of It

My horse ain't jumping right now ... that would be Fezzywig I'm referring to, the giant roach-backed horse who recently sprouted wings and was jumping great. Alas, as the title of the post suggests, horse healing takes time and Fezzy is currently taking his sweet time in his horse healing process. Fezzywig's major complaint has been his roached back, and he has made pretty good progress toward a normal-looking back for a long time. With a lot of bodywork (some of it by holistic veterinarian and osteopath Madalyn Ward), excellent equine nutrition, and a job he enjoys (jumping), Fezzy's horse healing has been continuous.

But one day recently Fezzy simply refused to jump. Although he is fairly opinionated he wasn't refusing out of stubborness. He definitely felt 'off' ' and would not jump because his body was uncomfortable. I couldn't understand what had interrupted Fezzy's healing process. After doing some diagnostic bodywork and consulting with Dr. Ward, we decided that his stifles were bothering him. Apparently this isn't unusual as roach-backed horses develop straighter backs, since the angles on their joints keep changing. In addition, Fezzy has been in heavier training, and also jumping higher jumps.

To keep Fezzy on track with his horse healing process, we decided to stop his jumping program and instead build up his hindquarters. To that end I am doing the following with Fezzy -

1. Focusing on long trotting and loping to build up muscles and wind

2. Adding much more lateral work to increase flexibility and build strength

3. Doubling his dose of horse goo to provide more antioxidants plus joint and muscle support

To get the Horse Goo recipe, send a blank email to horsegoo@stephanieyeh.com.

The Good News and the Bad News

The bad news is that we don't get to jump and that makes both of us rather restless. Fezzy, being a Wood type temperament, expresses his displeasure by knocking over his jumps and chasing his pasture mate, Samantha. Oh well ... that's a Wood horse for you.

The good news is that Fezzy is doing extremely well with his current program, and his body continues to look better as we are allowing his stifles to become stable. He has only held up traffic once when we have been long trotting, and only laid down in the driveway once because he was itchy and wanted a roll. On the whole he has been an entertaining companion on this horse healing journey and he makes me giggle every day. No zen cowgirl could really ask for more!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Also, check out my ebook for wacky horses and humans, or holler at me if you want to know how I fund my horse addiction ... and you can, too!

Horse Health Care: Roach-Backed Horse Tests the Waters at his First Show

This past Sunday Fezzywig and I attended our first hunter/jumper show. Being that Fezzywig just started jumping, we attended this show just to test the waters and see how this big guy liked the show ring. The plan was that if he liked it, I would continue him in jumper training. If not, I would need a new plan.

We entered in the ... wait for it ... cross-rail division! Oh don't worry. I was prepared for the laughter as I entered the arena on my giant 16.2 roach-backed whale of a horse, going up against a bunch of kids on ponies.

The Results of Fezzywig's First Show
As you can probably already see, Fezzywig did great. He and I ended up with a first and two second-place ribbons, plus the Championship for the cross-rail division. Too hilarious, since he bucked in the flat class.

No matter. He LIKED jumping and was quite willing to trot over teensy-tiny cross-rails. He was also quite amenable for a Wood horse personality type, which tends to be very competitive in my mustang mare, Valentine. Apparently, when you put a Wood in a warmblood, it turns out to be a lot mellower!

What I Brought with Me to the Show
Although Fezzy and I did not hop over any jumps taller than 15", which was a total no-brainer for a 16.2 hand horse, he does have a history of back problems. So here's what I brought to the show, in addition to all the normal gear:

• Eleviv: To keep Fezzywig in his normal healing parasympathetic nervous system
• Homeopathic Arnica: In case he hurt something trotting over these teensy poles
• Horse Goo: To keep everything from his gut to his mind functioning normally (it has mangosteen juice, blue-green algae, probiotics, enzymes)
  

I gave Fezzy a double dose of the Horse Goo plus 2 Eleviv capsules starting the day before the show, and also the day of the show. Being a Wood horse personality type, Fezzywig was not fearful, but he did occasionally get a little goofy on me (like spooking at the same jump over and over again). Wood horses love mischief. But, between the Eleviv and the Horse Goo I think we more or less kept his mischief under control!

See? Even the most chronically hump-backed horse CAN be healed. For more thoughts on healing, click here.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Also, check out my ebook for wacky horses and humans, or holler at me if you want to know how I fund my horse addiction ... and you can, too!

Horse Health Care: Hope for Those Helping Horses in Pain

This article is dedicated to all those equine addicts who are also the patron saints of horses in pain.

This article is for those kind people who take in ill, injured, or otherwise hurting horses, and try to help them regain health.

If you are one of those people, I hope this article gives you the faith and patience you will probably need to nurse an ailing horse back to health because it's a marathon, not a sprint. And along the way, we horses lovers can become impatient, frustrated, and downright cranky about the process.

This article is to give you hope.

Helping Horses in Pain: Diagnosis
The first step in the journey is, of course, figuring out what's wrong because there may be multiple causes of pain. Take Fezzywig, for example, my adopted warmblood gelding (picture above from mid-March, 2010) who came to me with a roached back in November of 2009. The initial diagnosis, made with the aid of my holistic veterinarian Madalyn Ward, was that he had:

• stomach adhesions
• sore stifles from moving around with the roached back
• a stuck sternum
• stuck withers
• overall poor muscle development
• an injured left hind leg from a fall

All of these factors were contributing to his roached back. That was a lot to deal with. To alleviate these problems, I did the following:

• bodywork almost daily
• fed him double doses of my horse goo
• backed him daily to help him develop his hindquarters

This program alleviated the stomach adhesions, sore stifles, and some of his muscle development issues. However, he still looked and acted like many horses in pain. He would not move around much, and had difficulty lying down and getting back up. Like any horse owner, I was starting to get impatient!

Helping Horses in Pain: Peeling the Onion
Luckily, Dr. Ward reminded me that healing horses in pain was a marathon, not a sprint, especially with horses like Fezzywig, who had had a chronic condition for a few years. To deal with his sternum and withers, which were still stuck and lower than his rear, we used the trailer to literally stretch him out.

I would walk him into the trailer, turned him around, and have him step his front feet on the ground. His hind feet remained in the trailer, which gave him a big stretch in his shoulders, withers, and sternum area. It literally "broke something loose" in those areas. He gave huge releases, with licking and chewing, and after a few sessions his withers actually rose by two inches or so.

Now I felt I could start ponying him and giving him short workouts. I ponied on a local trail, and did some short hill work. Fezzywig was shockingly out of shape, and became winded very quickly.

Aack! At this point I didn't know what to do with his horse health care regimen. Another call to Dr. Ward produced a further diagnosis. Now that we had fixed his hind end, withers, and sternum, we could see that he was still stuck in his diaphragm. In fact, Dr. Ward noted that his diaphragm was probably one giant adhesion. It was so stuck that he literally couldn't catch his breath.

More Horse Health Care Exercises
To deal with Fezzywig's diaphragm adhesions, I started backing him down a fairly steep hill, which he loved. This exercise shifts the weight of his organs off his diaphragm and down toward his tail. In turn, his diaphragm is freed up and he can take deep breaths, which he does. He loves walking down hill and does it with his nose on the ground, breathing deeply and licking and chewing.

The net effect of this horse health care exercise is that Fezzywig is breaking up the adhesions on his diaphragm with each deep breath he takes. After three days of this exercise, Fezzywig felt so good that he literally bucked, reared, ran and spun when I turned him back out. Now I know I'm on the right track.

To speed his recovery process, I also added 2 Eleviv to his diet. This herbal supplement helps bring horses back into their healing, or parasympathetic, nervous system. This supplement is especially important for horses who have been stuck in a chronic health condition for a long time.

I felt the Eleviv would help Fezzywig "get over the hump" and move through recovery more quickly. I know he needs this supplement because he eats it straight out of my hand. I also see an overall improvement in his attitude, hair coat, and more. Read more about how to use Eleviv for humans and horses in the free Natural Solutions ebook.

Helping Horses in Pain: The Ongoing Journey
Fezzywig sure looks a heck of a lot better than when I got him, but he still looks like a funny, lumpy giant horse. Sometimes when I see him in the pasture, I can't believe that anything has changed because he still looks so strange. But people who do not see him regularly are shocked at the changes in him. And when I see him running and playing now, I know that he is no longer one of those horses in pain. He still has health issues, but he's not in major pain.

If you are trying to help a horse in pain, don't worry if the journey seems to be taking longer than forever. Here are some lessons I've learned along the way with Fezzywig ... maybe they will help you, too:

1. Horses are Great Self Healers
You are just a channel. Don't worry about fixing your horse, just be a channel who delivers supplements, lays on hands, or simply comforts a horse in pain.

2. The Healing Methods Will Keep Changing
As soon as you think, "Aha! I've got the solution," your current healing approach will stop working. Don't panic. It usually means you've healed one layer of the problem, and now need to "peel back a layer of the onion" and deal with the next layer. You may go through 15 different healing modalities before you can truly heal horses in pain.

3. Get Help from a Professional
Chronically ill or unhealthy horses can be difficult for the amateur owner to treat alone, so you might need help along the way. While you may not be able to afford to have your vet or bodyworker out every week to work on your horse, try getting help every 6 months from a professional. You can do a lot by yourself, but sometimes the help of a professional can move the healing process forward by a quantum leap.

4. Listen to Your Horse's Native Wisdom
If your horse absolutely hates a certain supplement, chances are that he doesn't need it. This isn't always the case, but is mostly true. Fezzywig wasn't that interested in Eleviv early on in the process, but now he scarfs them down. Horses will tell you what they want if you pause long enough to listen.

5. It is Working? Document the Journey or Ask Someone Else
You see your horse every single day so sometimes you miss the progress that is occurring right before your eyes. If you don't trust that the healing process is at work, take pictures and write notes along the way to document your horse's progress. Look back at your old notes and pictures, and try to see differences.

Then check in with your buddies, the ones who don't see your horse everyday. They will be able to see marked changes even when you can't. Getting this kind of external validation will keep you from getting frustrated during the long healing process.

Helping Horses in Pain: It's Never Too Late
I like to think that it's never too late to have a happy childhood. I also think it's never too late to heal horses in pain. A good horse health care regimen, a huge dose of patience, a hunger to learn more about healing, and pure love can work miracles on these horses.

Most horses in pain want help but are somehow "stuck" in their illness. If we can do little things here and there to shift them, even half a degree, we have started the healing process. A half degree here, a couple of degrees there ... and voila! You've got healing. One more item of note: just about any change in pattern is a sign of healing for a chronically unhealthy horse. Movement is life, so a shift from one pattern to another is a sign of progress.

Good luck, have patience, and just love your horses. It's good for them ... and so good for you!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Also, check out my ebook for wacky horses and humans, or holler at me if you want to know how I fund my horse addiction ... and you can, too!

Horse Health Care: When the Back Off from Bodywork

Horses are amazing self-healers, given just a little help.

I just encountered another example of that.

I have been doing almost daily bodywork on Fezzywig, a recently acquired gelding with a roached back, and until recently, he was a very willing participant.

Then I added backing into the equation. Having consulted with Dr. Madalyn Ward on what to do about the "spiny ridges" that form the roach in Fezzywig's back, I was told to back him (walk him backwards) daily.

Apparently Fezzywig's roached back kept him from properly using the muscles in his back and hindquarters, causing the vertebrae in the roached part of his back to stick up and out.

So we began thrice-daily backing sessions. Fezzywig licks and chews the whole time, and relaxes his back. But, he also refuses to let me do any bodywork at this time.

When to Back Off from Bodywork for Better Horse Health Care
While Fezzywig likes the backing exercise, and is clearly benefiting by it, he avoids me like a mad man when I try to do bodywork on him. So I stopped and had a little chat with him to ask him why. His answer?

"I need to process all the work you have already done on my body. I can't stand anymore right now. Stop already!"

I've always known when to back off of bodywork during an actual bodywork session. Either the horse offer a release (like licking and chewing, yawning, or sometimes even farting), or he walks away from my hands.

I have not had a horse refuse bodywork entirely until now. But now that I think about it, I have been doing bodywork on Fezzywig almost everyday since I brought him home. That's about the equivalent of visiting a chiropractor, masseuse, and acupuncturist every single day for a month. I guess that would be a bit much!

Luckily, Fezzywig has a strong enough personality to tell me that, though gently. He hasn't tried to kick my head off and only tries to nibble on my coat, not bite me.

Horse Health Care and Horse Self-Healing
All of this data reaffirms my theory that horses are their own channels of self-healing. Although they sometimes need some extra assistance from us, such as us laying our hands on their bodies or providing good nutrition (such as my special horse goo and Eleviv), they can pretty much do a lot of their own healing.

We, their caretakers, mostly just have to provide the right conditions. And, of course, we have to listen when they try to tell what's working and what's not. So thanks to Fezzywig, I now have some more guidance for his healing: more backing, less bodywork, at least for now.

Want to know more? Check out my new free fun ebook:

Natural Solutions for Out of Whack, Whacked Out, or Plain Wacky Humans, Horses, and Critters

It's a fun read with lots of practical tips ... and will bring at least one smile to your face. Promise!

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Also, holler at me if you want to know how I fund my horse addiction ... and you can, too!

Horse Health Care: Can a Roach Backed Horse Be Fixed?

Ah yes, it is truly the season to be merry, to give thanks, and to give gifts. This year I got to pick out my own Christmas gift: a baby Hughie of a horse named Moose.

To make a long story short, Moose (now named Fezzywig) is a 16.2 hand Holsteiner warmblood horse, a 3 year-old gelding, who developed a roach in his back. I had inquired about him early in the year, when he was for sale rather than for adoption, and passed him up.

Then he became available for adoption, his former owner not being able to help him with his roached back, and I just had to take him. I think I can help him, roached back and all.

Case Study: Moose (a.k.a. Fezzywig), the Roach-Backed Horse
So here is Fezzywig in all his giant glory. As you can see, the hump in his back is pretty significant, although it does not seem to interfere with his gaits, soundness, or movement. Other than that, he seems to have no other health issues or vices.

Based on my conversation with his former owner, I believe that he developed this roach as a result of jumping out of a six-foot tall round pen. He probably sustained some injury after that leap, and I believe his roach back developed as a result of that injury and subsequent internal adhesions.

Fezzywig's bump, or roached back, is not tender at all, even when you palpate the area with firm pressure. However, he is sensitive on his flanks and abdomen. His last rib is very close to his pelvis on both sides of his body, and I believe this is caused by the roach in his back. Also, his abdomen is very distended and tense, which leads me to believe that when he jumped from the corral, he perhaps tore some muscles and ligaments in his belly, causing his internal organs to "fall down." This in turn puts pressure on his abdomen, causing it to sink and pulling his pelvis close to his last rib. Hence, the roached back.

Fezzywig's Treatment Plan
In terms of horse health care, my goal with Fezzywigis release his internal adhesions, raise his belly, and shift his pelvis back, thus relieving the roach in his back. I also aim to free up his withers, which are lower than his hind end and a bit bound up. To that end, I am doing network chiropractic sessions on him once a week, and Bowen sessions (also called Equine Touch) on him two to three times a week. I'm lucky that I learned these techniques since I would not be able to pay a veterinarian to work on him that often!

Fezzywig responds very quickly and well to the bodywork, although he is sensitive and often moves away from my hands. When he moves away from me, he's telling me, "That's enough. I need to process this change." He licks and chews and yawns frequently during these sessions, which are all signs that his body is processing the changes.

In terms of diet, Fezzywig is getting my regulation "horse goo" made of antioxidant fruit juice, blue green algae, probiotics, and enzymes. He also gets extra enzymes to help him flush out the toxins generated by released adhesions. So far, he's not too keen on the goo, but is willing enough to eat it.

The Veterinarian's Report
I've checked in with Dr. Madalyn Ward, a fabulous holistic horse veterinarian and osteopath, and she feels that Fezzywig can be made healthy again, although he may never fully lose that "roached" look. That's fine by me. There are tons of roach-back horses who live useful working lives, and I feel that Fezzywig can definitely be helped in that direction. Also, you can read more about internal adhesions here.

I have not yet assessed Fezzywig's horse personality type on the Horse Harmony Test website, but I plan to as soon as I get to know him a bit better. This will help me better assess how to restore his health, what to feed him, and how best to manage his care. You may want to check out the Horse Harmony Test website, along with all of Dr. Ward's horse health care websites:

Horse Harmony Test
Holistic Horsekeeping
Horse Harmony
Dr. Ward's Blog

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