Divine Intervention for Beauty

Last Saturday I arrived at Lisa & Todd's for our weekly lesson with their horses Beauty and Calista. Experience has shown me that the horses will always show us what we need to work on, so I rarely arrive with a lesson plan. Beauty definitely showed us what we needed to work on because we found her in full colic that morning. Some of the symptoms she presented were sweating over the loin area on her back, panting, frequent flehman which left her mouth dry and tacky, and persistently trying to roll. Her discomfort was also very apparent in her stilted gait at the walk.

Lisa and I have both taken an extensive equine first aid course so she had all the tools we needed to check her vitals, and listen for gut sounds. When no gut sounds were detected Lisa phoned in an emergency call to the vet; only to be told the vet was at least an hour and a half away.

While we waited, I was able to share my knowledge of TTouch with Lisa. Linda Tellington-Jones has developed a series of TTouches that influence and promote healing at a cellular level. The following TTouches are specifically recommended for assisting a colicky horse:

Belly Lifts - using a towel folded to approximately 6"-8", Lisa and I gently performed belly lifts along the entire barrel. Beauty consistently indicated to us she was most happy with one particular area near the flank.

Ear Work - gently taking hold and firmly sliding down the entire length of the ear; paying particular attention to firm TTouch circles on the tips of the ears. There are many acupressure points in the ear that are activated by doing this.

Mouth Work - Beauty's mouth was dry and tacky so I wet my hand in the water trough first and then proceeded to work the gums directly under the upper lip to release endorphins. Once Beauty was certain we weren't up to anything sneaky, she happily accepted the mouth work.

Tail Work - gently working the tail from the base in circles and then using both hands give a gentle pull and push to the tail. Beauty gently rocked back and forth during this process.

Pelvic Rocking - place both fists on either side of the tail and gently press until the horse performs a mini pelvic tilt.

Mane, Forelock and Tail Hair Slides - imagine if you weren't feeling well and someone came along and gently slid their fingers along chunks of your hair. Not sure if it had any benefit, other than feeling wonderful, but Beauty seemed to enjoy it.

I think we were both surprised how quickly Beauty started to relax and become obviously more comfortable. She stopped trying roll, stopped sweating, stopped the flehmen, and started licking and chewing and even relaxed with a cocked hind leg. After an hour or so we started to detect faint gut sounds. Lisa even questioned whether or not to cancel the vet call but aside from a couple small farts, still no glorious poop - which is a sure sign the worst is over.

When the vet arrived, she administered the colic treatment protocol and when she and I left, Beauty was on a wait and see - still waiting for that glorious poop.

Lisa sent me this photo around 5:45 that day titled, "the most beautiful thing in her pasture that day", a glorious poop that actually looked as if it could have been dropped by an elephant. She also attributed my knowledge of TTouch as the reason Beauty survived. I have absolutely no doubt that the vet's treatment protocol was vital to Beauty's full recovery; but I also know that performing TTouch, while waiting for the vet, made a significant contribution to Beauty's comfort and allowed us to feel useful and calm during the long wait. I always say, TTouch may not be a cure all but it absolutely causes no harm.

Colic is the primary cause of death in seemingly healthy horses and depending on the severity, it can be a long and excruciatingly painful end.

Divine Intervention allowed us to be there for Beauty with the knowledge and skills required to ease her discomfort and get her help quickly.

You can visit Linda Tellington-Jones' web-site to learn more about how TTouch can help any person or animal in your life http://www.ttouch.com/aboutLinda.shtml.


Tovie, Lisa and Beauty
 

Sir Leopold Found His Perfect Person

A couple of weeks ago I advertised Leopold for lease. Hilary was looking for an uncomplicated horse to practice dressage, go over some small jumps and trail ride. Hilary came by to meet him and he was an absolute gentleman. However, when I explained that Leopold is still considered green, she decided to take him on as a project and had already starting thinking about a training plan for him.

In the meantime, I was taking a break at the office one day and searched "gelding" on Kijiji when I came across an ad for a gal looking for a horse. Her list of criteria fit Leopold perfectly so I sent her a response. After exchanging as much information as possible by email, Joanna decided to come meet Leo to see if he was a horse she would enjoy.

I spent most of this morning trimming him and then with Sherri's help, we groomed him to make sure he looked his very best. He was an absolute gem to work with that morning so I'm not sure why Sherri said, "you watch, he'll be on his worst behavior when Joanna arrives".

Sure enough, Leo who is rarely a problem to catch, decided he didn't want to be caught, and then proceeded to plant his feet when trying to lead him. I took him into the arena to show off some of his ground moves which went very well but then he wouldn't stand still for saddling. When we went back into the arena, he exploded into a bucking fit, the likes of which I haven't seen in the 19 months I've had him. He has tossed in the occasional buck on the lunge line a handful of times since I've had him but never when I'm on him. As often as Sherri is at our place, she had never seen him act out and Uli saw a small episode once. Naturally, I thought that would be the end of Joanna but when she said - that's nothing - I knew she could be his perfect person. After he shook out all his sillies, I mounted up and did a lovely demonstration of his movement under saddle. Next we re-saddled him with Joanna's saddle and once again, he threw another bucking fit. When he stopped, Joanna got on him and had a lovely ride.

I can't help but wonder if Leo picked up on my sadness at the thought of him leaving. Selfishly, leasing seemed the perfect scenario because he could stay with us and still have his perfect person. However, my focus this year is to get Navar going well. Yesterday Navar and I competed at the Wareabouts Cowboy Challenge and I was pleased with our effort, considering I'd only been in the saddle a handful of times since the Challenge last fall. However, it is my goal to be an actual competitor at the September Challenge and I simply can't focus on more than one horse at a time. There are just not enough "horse' hours in a day.

Sherri, Uli and I saying good-bye.

Joanna sent me this photo of him quietly checking out her farm in Twin Butte, calm and content. She said he enjoyed playing with the jolly ball and didn't seem to mind the barn at all.

Joanna plans to ride several times per week and has promised to keep me updated on their progress. It will be exciting to see Leopold progress with consistent handling and training.

 

Happy Trails to Joanna and the beautiful Sir Leopold!

 

Tovie, Sherri, Uli, and the "Boys"