I bought Rosie 2 yrs ago, for my 12 year old daughter, Amy. For Amy, it was love at first sight, and after a 2 week trial at the seller’s premises, Rosie became ours. She was a 20 year old 14.2.hh welsh x thoroughbred (22 now), and has spent all her life doing full on pony club activities, hunting, show jumping etc.
As we slowly got to know her, we realised she had a few problems, as would be expected of a pony this age, and probably less than most.
Emotionaly, she gets separation anxiety badly, if she is not within sight of another horse, or a human she trusts. She also had no manners, and was pushy and bargy. Physicaly, she was very imperceptibly lame in the offhind , and generally stiff and arthritic in her hind end. She also had a slightly, runny right eye and nostril, not much, but always there. She also had muscle wastage behind her withers, from ill fitting saddles. As winter began, she lost weight rapidly. We began to realise too, that her lumbar area had to be weak, as she ‘star gazed’ so badly, and when tense, would hollow her back and stick her head in the air.
As luck would have it, the right thing always turns up just when you need it, and in Jan 2008, I started studying equine bowen with the European College of Equine bowen therapy. We have to do many case studies, so of course, Rosie was the first one for me. I have to admit, I was quite prepared to be a bit sceptical, as I had qualified in bowen on humans in Australia, and was intrigued to see if it could be translated equally as well to horses…I had tried the human version on my quarter horse in Oz, and all that had happened is I got very confused, and he tried to eat my manual! (He had a big sense of humour!)
Top...Even after only one treatment, the change in Rosie was obvious….not all good! To start with (3-4 days after), she became hell on legs, all the worst parts of her character becoming exaggerated. This gradually subsided, and she became more sweet and gentle, and just more chilled and happier in herself.
I carried on with her treatments, which really helped, but I felt she needed more. By now it was winter, and she looked awful. I began to get disillusioned; everytime I met up with the other equine bowen students, I felt I had the worst example of a horse, and how could I possibly advocate the use of bowen on other people’s horses, when mine looked like something the rag and bone man might have left behind? It looked as if I was neglecting her, whether on purpose, or by ignorance. I omitted to mention that by now, her feet too were bad, much too low at the heels, and with a broken back hoof pastern axis. She was at livery at a yard with very minimal winter turnout, and she was climbing the wall, and was unsafe to take out on hacks.
So that is all the bad….what happened next? I hear you wonder…..well there never was a lightning bolt moment of realisation of how to put it right, only a grim determination on my part that I had to change things for this giving little horse, who had worked hard all her life for other people, now it was time to give back to her.
Firstly, we moved yards.
She went to live on 24/7 turnout on the side of a hill, with 3 other ponies, within ½ hour she was happier and more settled. Her teeth were rasped, immedietly helping the losing weight problem.
I then made the huge jump, after 21 years of shoes, to get her going barefoot.
Top...Tom Bowyer, an applied equine podiatrist came to trim her feet, in the style of KC La Pierre. He also put wraps on all four feet, rather like plaster casts for broken bones, which encourage hoof wall growth, thus making the hoof stronger and more able to withstand concussion. She had to have no roadwork whilst these were in place – only 3 weeks. She has now been barefoot about 16 months, and we can do any roadwork now that we want, with no problems at all. Her feet have naturally come back into balance, and this is affecting her whole muscle structure, as she now carries herself more in balance. This is not a fancy and expensive fad – it is cheaper than a full set of shoes.
All the time this is going on, I am bowening her, about once a month.
The next miracle I came across, through learning equine bowen, was Norse herbs. These are unbelievable! They work so quickly, cleanse the body in an amazing way, and there are mixes for just about any condition. Rosie is on immune support, to stimulate her sluggish immune system, HRP, for herpes sufferers – most older horses have had this virus; mare fertility – for her stressy behaviour. To start with, she had a healing crisis, where she looked like she was getting a dose of flu, but I cut back the dose, gave her an emergency bowen session, and by the next day, the symptoms had nearly disappeared.
She is on these all the time now, with minimal additional feed, just grass and herbs. They are also very cheap, for what they do, only as much as a bar of chocolate a day! And better for you…
Top...Have patience reader….we’re nearly done!
After numerous bowen sessions, she was 80% right, but not completely. She then saw a fantastic McTimoney chiropractor, Anna Fox, who confirmed that she had many misaligned vertebrae, in all parts of her back. She also started gentle work on a pessoa, just walking and trotting, the idea being to strengthen her back muscles, and teach her to lift more, which she has never experienced before.
A week after her chiropractic session, after she had been rested, she saw a really good saddle fitter, called Andy Wheales, . He fitted her with a general purpose leather saddle, with temporary flocking, on the understanding that he comes back to restuff it when her back has come up a bit more from more Bowens, in 3 weeks time or so. He reflocked it while we watched, and watched Amy ride at 3 paces on both reins in it, to determine its fit.
All the above things are ongoing, and I am sure the jouney is not over yet, her back is not mended enough yet to try jumping again, but maybe in the future…?
If anyone had said that Rosie would EVER go on the bit, or be able to look as good as the ‘after’ pics, I would have laughed in their face…in the depths of winter, I never even expected us to still have her…..
The icing on the cake has been attending a few local shows this summer and last, competing in riding and in hand classes, and all the judges loving our pony and not believing her age. I am so proud of her, and Amy also, for being a gentle and patient child, and also wanting what is best for her pony, even when she had to miss out on some fun her other friends were having with their ponies.
I hope this will inspire anyone reading it, to persevere with their horse’s problems, and turn over every stone, to come across the right treatments or experts in their field – no-one can do it on their own, but there are a lot of people out there with the right knowledge who can help you..
