or what is it, some of the most common phrases in the
horse peoples vocabulary.
I am of course no exception. One thing I have learnt over the
last 6 months is that no mans an island, and every horse therapy
has its merits in its own right. Imagine me having a horse thats
clearly got an issue, but no inflammation showing up, its recently
happened. Not to mention the horses I have looked at of various
other therapists, as they cant locate it!
The truth is I am much more likely to try Bowen or Cranio-Sacral
therapy (among others) now then I ever was. Horses are complicated
beings, and the list of potential 'wrongs' to happen is mind
blowingly huge. I have seen things I never even knew happened to
horses, and multiple times. And the catch phrase is always the same
'I have had EVERYONE look at this horse and no one knows what it
is' unfortunately it seems that chances are we all will have one of
these situations sooner or later.
The only advice I can really offer to people currently in this
situation, is carefully plan how your going to attack the problem.
First locate it, make sure it's where you thought it was, make sure
there isn't a secondary area causing it. How? I can give you the
name of a very good Thermographer (haha). Once we have located the
area, or even in some cases not located the area, it gives us a
good idea of where to go from there. If we cannot locate the area,
I always think thats a pretty good sign as its likely to be deep
muscle, rather then joint or bone, and we can rule out limbs
etc.
Once we have decided where it is, we can start with treatments,
I can recommend some good people to help, the reality is maybe you
will have to try multiple people, multiple types of treatment,
anything you can, the more people that look at it, the more likely
your going to find someone that can help it. This said its
important to use people that have a good reputation amongst horse
people, research them and get feedback, check qualifications if
relevant.
Have a good go at resolving it, dont give up hope, there is a
lot you can do yourself, I have a whole host of tips and tricks,
recommendations and people to try. I pick this up as I talk to
people, combined in knowledge we are all much more likely to
succeed. Talk to people, get advice and weigh up the pro's and
con's. here are an awful lot of products on the market designed to
help in different ways, research them and see if anything looks
worth trying. I am embarrassed to admit I was one of these people
that thought a lot of the newer available therapies were 'hocus
pocus' and although I never expressed any sort of negative opinion
on them, it was simply because I didnt have an opinion. Now some of
the best results I have seen is some of the therapies I had scoffed
at for some years. I think its easy to forget New Zealand is a long
long way behind a lot of other countries in what's available, it's
easy to think that back in the old days, a horse dentist would have
been laughed out of town. Things have changed, and by golly it is
for the better of our horses.
My recent experience in the world of "what is it" was a
nightmare, we all knew where, but no one knew what and so the signs
didn't looks good. This affected the horse's rideabilty in a huge
way, he was set for a lead rein life. I tried everything I could
and did a lot of massage and stretches, I also used a well known
product Back on Track. I bought a cover on special at the Taupo 3
Day Event and put it on the horse. The results speak for them
selves.
This is the back of the horse in question, we knew from visual
exammination that the issue was in the near side hind leg/hip.
After one day in the back on track cover the inflamed muscle
reveals itself. The next day both sides were even again. I have
since had an awful lot of progress with this horse, he is again on
track to be an eventer, and whilst I don't feel that any one thing
made the difference, the suppliments, the hours of muscle work, the
professionals, or the cover, its for sure been a combination of
them all.