Does your horse need a Chiropractor?

As we all know, horses are very sensitive animals. They can flinch , flick tails and bounce skin up an down at the slightest provocation like a fly landing on them.

Unfortunately, they are so sensitive that what you think may be a pain issue in your horse, could just be a normal reaction to a stimulus or, sad to say, even a reaction to your inadequate riding ability! You may be spending unnecessary money on chiropractic treatments, equine massages, herbal remedies etc. etc. etc. and not even know it!

Even more unfortunately, there are unscrupulous people out there these days, who call themselves Professional, who take advantage of ignorant horse owners. They will come and assess your horse, poke here and prod there, and your horses’ reaction will be enough for you to have them coming back once a week for a month, handing out all that cash you have saved for a new saddle!

Be very careful who you employ to treat your horse. Ask them for their qualifications and  how long they have been working in their field as a minimum. Also learn as much as you can about your horse, so you know what is normal for them.

So here is something you can to do next time you are with your horse: print out the following horse map, get a hoof pick or a pen or something a bit pointy LIKE YOUR FINGERS and poke them in the places on the horse map. Be careful, some horses are more sensitive than others. Some will react quite strongly to minimal stimulus, some will take quite a lot to react, or may have even been desensitized, but whatever the case, it is important for you to know what is normal for YOUR horse. That way when a ‘professional‘ comes along and pokes your horse on the top of the head and when your horse ducks away, tells you that means your horse is ‘out at the poll’ you will know that it could  be a load of rubbish! And tell them that your horse normally does this when poked in the head :) Some other common ones are when your horse tucks it’s butt under when you poke it’s backside (sometimes happens when you are washing them and they get a wet butt), or when you touch them in the flanks and they kick out. These are all automatic responses to stimuli, not necessarily pain.

There are lots more spots that can cause quite a reaction from the smallest amount of stimuli. So take the map to your horse and poke and prod away until you know your horse and it’s reactions. Don’t let yourself be taken advantage of. Sadly these days, there are far too many people out there willing to do it.

Oh and the bit about inadequate riding? That comes from personal experience. My horse suddenly started falling out on circles. She had never done it before, so I thought there must be something wrong. Spent a truck load on the Chiro, only to discover through a good coach that I was not guarding her back end with my outside leg. She had realised it and was mucking about with me :) She didn’t need a Chiro, I needed a good coach!


You can also have a look at this saddle fitting video which shows a horse reacting to being poked in the withers:

Have fun with your horses!

Does My Horse Have Girth Pain?

Horses can't speak to us so it can be difficult sometimes to establish if our horses behavior is caused by pain or not. Yvonne Lucas, Equine Herbalist and Natural Therapist discusses common symptoms of girth pain in horses.

As an Equine Holistic Therapist I deal with all issues to do with the physical and psychological wellbeing of our equine friends and education of horse and rider. In my practice I use a combination of herbs, photonic therapy (needless acupuncture), muscle stimulation (TENS and EMS), energy healing and natural horsemanship techniques.

It’s not uncommon for owners to miss mild symptoms of underlying issues when they first appear but over time those individual symptoms can escalate to a level where it affects your horse or pony in ways you would never expect.  A good example of this is a condition called “Girth Pain Syndrome”.  Extensive research conducted by Veterinarian Dr Ian Bidstrap, indicates that at least 80% of horses regardless of the breed or size, ridden or not, from month old foals through to old stallions, experience girth and/or rib pain.  In most of these cases the cause of the pain stems back to birth trauma.

A foal’s chest is severely compressed during the birthing process. The research into birth trauma in foals revealed a 5% incidence of broken ribs, and a 20% incidence of rib cage trauma in newborn foals. A small portion of foals actually die from trauma to their chest.

Girth Pain Syndrome may not become apparent until many years down the track. If a horse goes over backwards, falls on its shoulder, or trips badly with a saddle on, or is girthed up roughly, the problem that began at birth, can be irritated. It is believed that most horses experience rib discomfort and simply learn to live it, but they still have residual problems for example trouble with one canter lead, anxiety/fear when away from home, hoof unevenness. The horse with more severe discomfort or pain, often has to find ways to evade it. Uncomfortable girths and saddles will usually irritate the underlying girth pain problem which in turn makes it even more difficult for the horse to handle.

Research conducted by Dr Ian Bidstrap on over 4000 horses has found many symptoms which indicate the probability of girth pain which are as follows;

On fastening of the girth:

1. Slight change in facial expression
2. Grunting.
3. Lifting the head, swishing the tail.
4. Inflating the chest
5. Kicking at the girth.
6. Attempting to bite the handler

Once girthed up:

1. Grunting while being ridden (especially when going downhill).
   
2. Short stepping, refusing to move forward freely for 10-20 minutes after being saddled.
3. Being one sided, or having difficulty taking one lead.
4. Resisting leg aids.
5. Swishing the tail, laying ears back.
6. Generally being unhappy and piggy when ridden but is wonderful when not ridden.
7. Often described as being ‘cold backed’  pigrooting or bucking at the start of a ride and (especially during the transition from trot to canter)
8. Severe cases often display violent bucking and/or pigrooting and /or lying down for a short spell after being girthed up.
9. Rushing jumps.
10. Resistance to turning sharply.
11. Readily developing girth sores.

Signs often seen as a response to touch:

1. The skin of the girth area of most horses is ticklish behind the elbow; however, gentle stroking should remove any reaction.  If the skin remains jumpy when touched after gentle stroking then there is probably an active problem.
2. When tapping or prodding the skin behind the elbow, the muscles all jump, including the muscles of the leg above the elbow.
3. Tightness & tenderness of the muscles above the shoulder blade and under the front of the saddle.
4. Tightness and tenderness of the muscles under the girth.

The big question is ........ can this problem be treated? The answer is yes.

With treatment form a therapist experienced in this condition, appropriate exercises and retraining for the psychological effect of long term pain, most horses will have a dramatic improvement or recover completely.

The use of herbs can assist the healing and retraining process in a number of ways. Girth Pain Syndrome often affects more than just the muscular and nervous systems of the horse. As with humans, chronic long term pain can cause multiple system dysfunctions, so in conjunction with treatment for the girth pain a herbal detox is often advantages to normalize function of the horses systems.

Muscle tightness and nervousness are common problems associated with girth/rib pain sensitivity so the use nervine herbs such as  Vervain and Passion flower (two herbs which have been used for anxiety, nervous tension and pain for hundreds of years),may assist with relaxing the muscles and nervous system which in turn allows the retraining process to occur easily.

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Sustainable Cities

This is totally self explanatory so I wont go on....

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Rotational Grazing for Horses

 

Many horse pastures suffer from overgrazing. You can tell if your pasture is overgrazed as it will show areas of bare earth or very short grass which looks like lawn , often coupled with longer grass which horses seem to avoid eating. Weeds will also be apparent and horses will sometimes even start digging the ground up trying to get to tasty roots beneath the soil.

There are several options for managing the grazing of horse properties and you need to work out which one is right for you. There is no black and white answer as all properties are different and what may suit one will not necessarily suit another.

The options are:

1. Continuous grazing – Grazing throughout the year. This is most suited to people with large areas of land where they can limit their stocking rates to approximately 1 horse per 1.2 hectares (3 acres). In this way the pasture is unlikely to be eaten out quicker than it can regenerate.

2. Seasonal grazing – This is where the paddock may be given rest periods throughout the year, particularly in winter when grass growth slows or becomes dormant or in periods of sustained wet weather when paddocks can become inundated.

3. Limited grazing time – This is when horses may be locked up for some period of the day. For example, only allowed out to graze in the mornings, but kept in a stable or holding yard for the rest of the time (with adequate feed and water)

4. Rotational grazing – This is when pastures are divided up into smaller paddocks and horses are confined to one paddock at a time. Once that pasture has been eaten down to a length of about 5cm the horses are then moved on to the next pasture, while the first one is resting and recovering. Again, when the second pasture is eaten to around 5cm the horses are moved on to another pasture and so on.

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The size and number of individual paddocks will vary according to your particular circumstances. You can set up your internal fencing using electric tape. This will give you the flexibility to move it around to get the best result. Start by giving pasture a minimum of four weeks to recover between grazing bouts and see how it works out.

Work your way consecutively through the paddocks until you get back to the initial paddock. If it is not ready to be grazed ( not 15 – 20 cm), keep horses in the sacrifice area/holding yard and hand feed until the pasture has reached the desired length. You can use the sacrifice area/holding yard to give you a buffer while sorting out the best time period to graze each paddock. It can also be used in wet weather to help protect the pasture from hoof damage when soils are soft.

 

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A New Way of Looking at Horse Keeping - Paddock Paradise

 

I’ve been doing quite a lot of research lately into varying theories on horse keeping from the Paddock Paradise Track System  to general rotational and strip grazing and Jane Myers Equicentral System. I’ve been pondering over what is the best system, what works and what doesn’t and most importantly what is best for the environment of the horse and human.

This is the first installment in a report of my findings:

Paddock Paradise is the brainchild of Jaime Jackson a veteran hoof care professional who

spent from 1982-1986 travelling among wild horse populations studying the nature of how they live and of their environment. From this study and further research he discovered three main points :

1. horses need freedom of movement and engagement within their environment ( in a natural life, although they like familiar surroundings and keep to a ‘home range’ horses are constantly on the move between feed areas, resting spots, watering spots, rolling spots etc ).

2. horses need variety in their food ( given free choice, horses eat a wide variety of grass species as well as legumes and other broad leaved plants, bark, trees  and leaves)

3. horses need to behave like real horses in a herd situation (horses living a natural life live in herds).

As Jaime points out these three criteria are very often not met within our current horse keeping systems. We tend to keep horses in confined spaces be it paddock or stable/yard,  we tend not to feed them a vast variety of food types and quite often we keep horses in the abovementioned places alone, removed from the herd environment which comes naturally to them.

Jaime postulates that when these three criteria are not met horses have the propensity to develop ailments from poor hoof quality, to laminitis, to emotional disturbance and general ill health.

To remedy this Jaime has come up with a unique horse keeping system which uses a track design to encourage movement. The general gist of it is that the horses live in a herd  on a track shaped paddock being very long and narrow. The horses are encouraged to move along the track by providing ‘desire lines’ different experiences for them in different areas along the track. Experiences include being fed with variety all along the track, providing a spot for mineral blocks, rolling, resting, salt licks, watering holes, mud baths, walking on rough ground etc. The movement is intended to improve hoof condition to the point that the horses can be barefoot and also general health and well being.

The plan below will help explain it further.

Generally, I really like this concept. It makes total sense to me to keep horses moving as I believe that having them move very little is bad for their health in all the ways Jamiee points out. Horses move very little in paddocks, especially small ones. 

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From a Landscape Architects point of view, I also really like it as it provides tremendous opportunity to improve the visual amenity of a horse farm by making much more land available for landscaping as you won’t have horses walking over your entire property. So screening of unattractive areas, growing trees, growing shrubs, growing crops,  can be done outside the track protected  from horses. 

Inspecting a Track System in Europe. Note the track cannot be seen.

From an environmental point of view I can’t see a lot of problems with it either, unless you live in an extremely wet area where the track would constantly be muddy (there are, however, ways you could prevent this from happening and the actual construction of the track needs to be thought out better than just removing the existing vegetation in order for it to be maintained in a good state). Your land use possibilities could be greatly improved by keeping a large part of your land available for  occasional grazing, cropping, arenas, jumps, general riding etc. I see the track as not any more invasive on the land as a dirt road and I like the flexibility of the inner electric fencing.

On the downside I think the amount of time spent removing manure and feeding along the track would make it impossible for some people, both financially and time wise. Also I'm not all together comfortable with the idea of horses having no access to grass as it would not take long for the track to become pretty denuded of vegetation. But most importantly, from a designers point of view, there is not enough information on the requirements. Just simple things like what is the minimum amount of land needed to do this? How wide should the track be? What is a safe size for a camping area? How much feed will you need for your horse?  I would hope that some time in the future Jamie could team up with a Landscape Architect (there are so many accomplished ones in the USA)  and formalize some of his theories as more detailed information is needed.

Having said that I still believe Paddock Paradise is a great idea that would work for some farms.  It is definitely worth exploring to see if it suits you and your circumstances and environment. Jaimes' book, Paddock Paradise, A Guide To Natural Horse Boarding is extremely informative and his research into wild horse populations is interesting.  The book is well worth getting if you would like more information.

Jamies books can be purchased here:http://www.paddockparadise.com/ Tweet

What to do about Greasy Heel

Had a few requests for info on Greasy Heel as well due to our bad weather. So here it is :

GREASY HEEL is caused by the same bacteria as Rain Scald. As most horse owners know a horse with white socks is more prone to developing chronic greasy heal.

The bacteria burrow into the skin which causes a greasy discharge which mats the hair. The inflamed skin dries out, cracks and can cause discomfort and even lameness.

In horses with white socks the skin reaction is usually more severe due to the lack of pigment and subsequent exposure to UV light. 

Click link below to download
fact sheet

WHAT CAN YOU DO

• Gently scrub off the grease and scabs with a warm solution of a mild soap eg. Sunlight Soap using a soft brush. You must do a thorough job. Pat dry and apply a weak iodine solution such as Betadine twice daily until any broken skin is healed.

• Each morning apply a thin coating of Zinc Cream. It will protect from the sun and repel moisture.

• Another solution is to smother the area in a mix of Vaseline (petroleum jelly) mixed with 1/3rd Filtabac - the antibacterial sunscreen available from vets and saddleries. This softens the scabs overnight allowing you to gently rub them off. Then cover the area with Filtabac to heal and protect the skin.

• If possible keep the horse in a dry area away from mud. If a severe case occurs contact your vet as you may need more powerful treatment.


Click here to download Greasy Heel Fact Sheet http://issuu.com/goldcoasthorse/docs/1_greasy_heel/1

What To Do About Rain Scald

Today we are talking about the condition known as Rain Scald as we have had quite a lot of rain in our area recently and I suspect some horses may be suffering from it by now.

RAIN SCALD   is caused by a naturally occurring skin bacteria that grows out of control.

The bacteria (Dermatophilus) flourishes in moist damp conditions which can occur quite often on The Gold Coast and in other regions of high rain fall. The growth of the bacteria causes a waxy crust to develop on the skin which mats the hairs together and patches of it can fall out leaving pink damaged skin underneath. It usually occurs on the head and neck, back and rump but can also be found in other places. There is usually no itchiness or  secondary infection, but in some cases there may be. Further complications can occur if secondary infection is present so in this case it would be best to contact your vet for advice on treatment.

Click link below to download
this Fact Sheet

WHAT CAN YOU DO

• Clean off the flaky skin and hair thoroughly and then bathe the area in an

Iodine solution such as Betadine. You may need to do this for several days for the condition to clear up, but don’t worry the hair will grow back.

• Try and keep the horse dry as the condition flourishes in damp conditions, so horses left in wet muddy paddocks and especially in wet rugs, during spring

and summer rains are most at risk.

• You may need to contact your vet if it has a severe condition or if there is swelling involved. Sometimes it may be difficult to ascertain whether the condition is Rain Scald or Queensland Itch as the two conditions are difficult to tell apart. Rain Scald does not usually cause itching but contact your vet if you are unsure as the correct treatment is imperative.

Rain Scald Fact Sheet -http://issuu.com/goldcoasthorse/docs/2_rain_scald