The thing about this bodywork that I do with horses is that I absolutely know that I will always leave them feeling better than they felt before I touched them...as was the case with the horse pictured in these two photos. Yesterday I went to a lovely farm where horses can be sent to rest, recuperate or rehabilitate. I arrived early in the day because we had a pretty good list of horses to get through. As the owner and I were speaking prior to my starting the first horse on the list, a different horse was brought into the barn by the staff. This horse looked very much in pain...his head almost dragging on the ground as he was lead in...his lips curling away from each other in pain. This horse was clearly somewhere on the agonizingly difficult and painful road to colic, a condition where a horses intestines are not processing or passing waste appropriately. The farm owner said that this horse had previously had two colic surgeries and that this type of episode we were seeing had happened before, leading to a vet call and difficult for the horse but successful procedures. This horse needed help. I am no vet. But I have my tools...my hands and all that I have learned so far on this very fun journey that I am on. People who do this type of work with horses know that one of the effects of our work is that the horses gut and intestines activate. When a horses gut sounds increase and it poops as we are working, we are happy...as it is evidence that we are effective. So, I said You need to call the vet...in the mean time, I will see if I can help him feel better. With this horse, unlike with all other horses I touch, I did not know if he would feel better for my work. The farm owner indicated that--for this horse on this episode for a short time--she was going to delay calling the vet for awhile and wanted me to try my work to see if the horses intestinal system could be normalized. I worked with this horse for about 40 minutes using bits of everything I have learned in each of the several certification courses Ive attended, including the most recent with Dr Kerry Ridgway. The horses gut sounds increased, he passed gas several times, his affect improved somewhat and his lip-curling subsided. It came to a point where I felt that the horse might be helped if it walked for a bit. So we sent it out with the same fellow who had brought it in. Ten minutes later the report came back that the horse had pooped and he was back to his normal self. How I felt? Grateful that I was there in his time of agonizing pain. Humble that I had been able to help him. Relief for this beautiful creature that he was feeling better. Call Your Vet! If you are a horse owner reading this, please know that I DO NOT advocate waiting to call your vet if your horse is colicing. The above situation was a special circumstance with a horse with a long history of gut issues. The responsible farm owner was monitoring the horses condition closely, would have reversed her decision had the horse not begun to improve or his condition had worsened and would have been able to have a vet on premises quickly if she had decided to call.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Sep 2014 13:51:13 +0000
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