Fab's story in video (apply cursor to view)
Fab’s story is ongoing, but here it is so far.
When I bought Fab in March 2009, he was to be my ‘forever horse’. Shakily recovering from a big loss of riding confidence, after a bad fall whilst living in Australia, I was looking for something sane and sensible, for myself, ageing mother of 3 teenagers. So I ended up buying a beautiful 11 yr old grey 15.2.hh Polish Arab Gelding – hmmm!!
Seemingly perfect when I tried him, calm, steady and safe…..until I got him home! I rode him three times in his first two weeks with us, then not again for 10 months. It was like peeling an onion, as one layer came off, more problems were revealed underneath.
Firstly, he appeared ‘cold backed’, so I had a chiropractor look at him, as didn’t want to treat my new horse with bowen, before he knew and trusted me. However, his trust in people was so damaged, that she could barely get near him. She did ascertain that he was lame in 3 legs, with a badly twisted pelvis, possibly from a bad fall, and had muscle spasms and tightness in 75% of his body! Also arthriticy hind fetlocks.
So, I began the long and arduous journey of mending my beautiful arab. Regularly, I would swing between hope and despair, as he would take 2 steps forward, only to take 3 back.
Although I quickly concluded that he needed re breaking (restarting), I never saw myself as the person for that job! Firstly, he needed mending, big time! His list of problems seemed extensive, all very suspicious, as he had passed a 5* vetting with flying colours….only to come up lame in 3 legs 2-3 wk's after, with only 3 quiet, short rides with me! Hmmm….!
Top...So, where to start? He was terrified of me, and just about everything else, so I quickly figured out I could not ask anyone to treat him in any way, until he had resolved his trust issues.
He was fat and overweight, not ideal, as the only way I could find to work on his trust, was with treat based rewards. (it later turned out he had an under active thyroid).
As he was unrideable, and by now, I was too scared to ride him if he had been healthy, we started playing games and groundwork in a natural way. This was loosely based on Parelli, with a bit of imagination, and any props we had to hand thrown in.
Simultaneously, I started having his feet trimmed by an Applied Equine Podiatrist, Tom Bowyer. The first time this was done, it took 3 hours, as poor Fab could not balance on 3 legs. Tom brought his feet back into balance, and started creating optimum foot health for Fab, which were to really help his road to recovery, as undue strain was not now put on tendons, ligaments and subsequently, his back and hips. For a more detailed description of how Tom did this, see his website Courses4Horses.net or DAEP website www.equinepodiatry.net. It really is the cutting edge of hoof health science…stuff even vets have not been taught!
To complement his feet being sorted, he really now needed his body re balancing with some bowen, as he would be carrying his body slightly differently, and needed all those tight muscles releasing. At this time, equine bowen, although very gentle, was still too invasive for this hyper sensitive arab, who could not even bear his skin to be touched. So I started with a combination of Reiki, from Carol Cumber, intuitive healer, who has been a continuing part of Fab’s journey, and myself. The first time, it was done from over the stable door, but as he became more confident, he began to love the gentleness of reiki, and this again, fostered more trust between the two of us. The Reiki helped to lift issues of abuse that had occurred in his past, and helped him begin to feel safe, and move on in his life.
Right from his time with us, he has needed, and benefited from the Norse herbs. On arrival, he had Liver and kidney herbal blends, to detoxify his liver, and eradicate all the junk his body had accumulated over time, from overfeeding, and we strongly suspect, drugs, from being doped a lot in the past, buted up to cope with his pain and still be ridden. Next, he benefited from HRP (herpes) herbal blend, which caused his skin sensitivity to improve a lot. Until then, he could only bear to be rubbed on the forehead. He was continually muddy, as he could not bear to be groomed with even the softest brush.
Top...With the herbs, it was a case of tweaking and jiggling them, to find what suited him best at that time. One issue has to be sorted before moving on to mend the next.
However, I really began to make progress, when I put him on Thyroid support herbs. Almost overnight, he became a different horse. His spookiness and fear all but disappeared. His until then, constantly swollen salivary glands went down, his arthritic fetlocks were less stiff and clicky, and he had more enthusiasm for life and was less lazy.
Another key factor of his healing, was that roughly every 6 months, he would have a blend of Jan Brumfitt’s ‘magic’ Australia bushflower essences. The Bushflower essences are vibrational essences that deal with his emotions, so she put ones in the blend to foster trust between myself and him, letting go of past abuse, accepting new herd members, and ones allowing him to move forward in his life with grace and ease…all in a tiny bottle, droppered into feed, very easy, but with profound results.
By now, well over a year later, he was looking and feeling quite a different horse. He knew his place in our herd of 3 – Rosie, my daughter Amy’s horse, and Seamus, her cheeky pony. He knew that myself and Amy would always attend to his needs….and being the princely Arab that he is….he began to expect this, as his confidence in us grew.
To assist his thyroid issues, with a tendency to slight insulin intolerance, his diet has to be maintained. He has rationed grass or hay soaked for an hour, to remove the sugars. Simple Systems Ruff stuff (low cal grass chop, nothing else), his Norse herbs, and in winter, a bit of unmolassed sugar beet, and a handful of soaked (for 24 hrs) oats, to keep his tummy comfortable. His treat rewards are apple chopped as tiny as you can chop….so he doesn’t get much in quantity.
Top...Things were now looking a lot more promising, and although still a reactive, sensitive arab, his trust and confidence in us was growing daily.
Time to up the tempo a bit, and restart him.
Firstly, he had one session of join-up with Tom, who has studied with Monty Roberts. In this, after join up occurred, he was long reined, then a jockey put on, walked around a little, then the session ended, so as not to over face Fab.
How we progressed after this, was largely due to my 14 yr old daughter Amy, a very calm, quiet and confident rider. He really responded well to ‘Advance and retreat’ methods. I would leg Amy up, then get her off. Leg her up, get her off, leg her up and on, get her off, leg her up and on, walk around a tiny bit, get her off. All the time, doing a little bit more. We did this with everything to do with his restarting, all in a fleecy bareback pad and rope halter.
Gradually, we progressed from fleecy saddle pad to an Enlightened Equitation treeless saddle, which he was very comfortable with, and before long, I was also riding him quietly around, as well as, then instead of Amy.
So without really intending to, through any strong belief……I had created a barefoot, Treeless, Bitless horse! He was ridden in a Dr. Cook’s bitless bridle.
Top...As time has gone on, he has become more accepting of the Equine bowen, which he now has at intervals, and this has made him straighter, eliminated his lameness totally, helped untwist his pelvis, made him less cold backed, and just enabled him to be as good as he can be.
But I still had a niggling worry that his lumbar back needed more help than bowen could do alone. He seemed unable to use his lower back properly and instictively felt weak in that area. I didn’t feel a chiropractor could make much long term difference at that point, so decided to send him away for remedial schooling with a kind and gentle dressage trainer, Kath Miller, who I knew he would trust. Her brief was to get him to lift his back properly, and strengthen his back muscles. I was not a good or skilled enough rider to do this. She managed to do this in just 2 weeks, and now he lumbar muscles are 75% stronger.
Now we are up to present time (January 2011) and he has his own Norse herbs ‘Fab’ individual blend…..foot and bone herbs to support his skeleton, muscles and ligaments, insulin herbs to help him with thyroidy issues and rich grass, and joint herbs for still slightly arthriticy fetlocks.
So he really is a pretty much ‘Healthy Horse’, considering his shaky start and uncertain future. His true personality has come out, the lovely calm, gentle, yet charismatic horse I hoped for. More work still needs to be done – mostly on myself! I still need to be more confident as a rider, and improve so I can continue with strengthening his back. But we hack out nicely, alone or in company, he is amazing in traffic. We trailer up to friends and ride with them. One day, we will do dressage to music! I have already chosen my piece…just have to learn how to ride to it now!
Fab and I would like to thank the people who have helped rehabilitate him:
- Carol Cumber – intuitive healer
- Tom Bowyer – Applied Equine Podiatrist
- Kath Miller – International and National Dressage rider and trainer
- Norse Herbs
- Jan Brumfitt – Australian Bushflower essence healer.
- Di Mills – friend and fellow Equine bowen therapist and animal communicator.
- Natalie Moseley – "Natural Horsemanship" trainer.
- Amy Mead – jockey
- Rosie – 14.3.hh welsh x TB
- Seamus – 13.2.hh welsh x pony
……and lastly Fab….for giving me the trust and wanting to give it a go to get better, trusting me as his ‘person’ and teaching me so much, that can only benefit other horses and owners.