Seven years old he moved to England from South Africa. He battled to adapt to the darkness of the winters. Getting depressed and spending his days with his head in the corner of this stable when inside. He became uncommunicative and withdrew from contact with people. He intermittently cheered up, but then reverted to being depressed again. We continued to compete which cheered him up as he enjoyed the activity and interest. Two years ago he went lame and since then, although partially recovering, has just been hacked. He suffered a foot abscess during this time. During the five and a half years here I tried Reiki, Bowen and Shiatsu on him. With each one we had some success, but he never regained his old self. About three months ago Caroline came to see him and we treated him with herbs and oils. This was remarkably successful. The results have been nothing short of a miracle. My lad is back to his old happy self. He is confident and full of mischief.

Present physical condition and temperament:
Physically he is slightly and intermittently lame. Sometimes he stops suddenly and he seems to be in considerable pain. This happens if he has run about a lot. He has been diagnosed with an old hip injury in which he fractured his hip and tore away part of the ligaments between the hip and gluteus muscle. Otherwise he is in good physical condition, with good muscle tone for a horse that has not had much work in the last year and no muscle wastage over the injury site. He is not overweight. He has also been diagnosed with degenerating joints in the distal (lower) hock joints of both legs along with quite severe bone spavin in the distal (lower) hock joints.

To do the diagnosis the vet used a bone scan (Nuclear Scintigraphy). This requires the administration of a radioactive fluid by injection. So his body is currently coping with this toxic substance. A number of X-rays of the hocks were also done which is further exposure to radiation. He also had a number of injections to sedate him to prevent him fidgeting.

There is no medical treatment for the hip injury. Box rest would have been advised had he not had the problems with the hocks. It is doubtful that this old hip injury would respond to box rest. Given the severity of the problem in his hocks and that box rest would adversely affect them, it was decided that he should be put back into light exercise ASAP. The treatment advised for the hocks was cortisone injections into the joints, which were administered after doing the x-rays. Then it was advised to put him on a chondroitin/glucosamine supplement to support the rest of the joints in the hocks which would now be taking more of the strain.

The vet asked me to discontinue the use of oils or devils claw 10 days before the bone scan as they may suppress the inflammation that the bone scan picks up and he wanted as clear a result as possible for diagnosis.

Respiratory:
Since arriving in the UK he has suffered from an allergy to the hay here. He develops a runny nose which is clear, but runs like a tap if the hay is not steamed. We tried haylage, but had the same result. Steamed hay appears to solve the problem for him. Leaving him with a slightly runny nose. If he were staying with me I would put him on to organic barley straw. I believe this would completely solve the issue for him. He never had any problems with the oat hay we fed in Cape Town, despite the dry and dusty conditions.

Skin / coat / hoof condition:
His skin is not as good here as it was previously. But that can be said of horse’s coats here in general. Because of the heat in SA the coats of the horses are remarkably fine. It takes very little after that to make them soft and glossy. His coat here has been greasy in places while being over dry in others. He gets quite itchy at times in winter if he is blanketed all the time. Whenever the weather permits his blankets are removed. He is not clipped, as he is not in heavy work and Spanish does not sweat very easily.

His hoof condition here has not been as good as previously either. He battled initially with severe thrush. This was solved with Cytec shoeing by ensuring a better blood flow to the foot by bringing pressure to bear on the frog. His feet wear away easily in winter and crack in the summer.

Daily Routine:
Stabled overnight in a good-sized stable. Turned out in the morning. He has a small lunch in the winter, but remains out in the summer. He is groomed in the late afternoon. I exercise him in the evenings after work at around 5.30pm. He is not a morning horse. When I competed I had to wrangle late riding times as he just would not wake up before around 10.00am. He has always enjoyed being ridden in the evenings.

Remedies that Spanish selected on 23rd November:
Rose
Neroli
Linden Blossom
Yarrow
Roman Camomile
Carrot Seed
Apricot carrier oil
Marigold Oil
Devils Claw
Bladderwrack

Others Selected:
Blackberries
Grapes
Apples
Rose hips
Dandelions

Fruit for detoxing and vitamins:
Blackberries, Apples, Grapes – particularly successful, this is a fruit that has proved itself quite remarkable in human studies for detox diets and other medicinal diets for treating anything from acne to cancer. Rose hips – (vitamin C has found to be very useful in joint problems and is included in many of the off the shelf concoctions available). Dandelion – blood cleansing, blood tonic and lymph cleansing

Observational results

Date: 24 November 2003
Vet: On box rest because of the injections into his joints for his hocks.
2 sachets bute
Glucosamine/Chondroitin

Rose: He was mildly interested and took two quick sniffs.
Neroli: No interest
Linden: Blossom Half hearted lick and sniff
Yarrow: Keen to have a couple of licks and a sniff.
Roman Chamomile: Sniffed gently, but long a couple of times.
Carrot Seed: No interest
Marigold Oil: No interest
Devils Claw: Approx six tablespoon fulls of the ground devils claw. Bearing in mind he had had two bute around four hours earlier. He was in considerable pain from the injections into the joints. It was evident as he shifted his weight from leg to leg and was very quiet and withdrawn.
Bladderwrack: Offered soaked. Spanish has a preference for Kelp, but I had been sent the powered Kelp, which he was not interested in. He ate a handful of soaked Bladderwrack overnight, which I left in his stable and he drank the water.
Blackberries: No interest
Rose Hips: No interest
Apples: Ate one slowly, like he had to think about chewing it.
Grapes: Quite keen, ate a bunch.
Dandelions We only noticed his interest in this once he started grazing again.

Date: 25 November 2003
Vet: On box rest because of the injections into his joints for his hocks.
2 sachets bute
Glucosamine/Chondroitin

Rose: He was very keen on the Rose, spending time inhaling moving away and returning around four times, eyes glazed
Neroli: Mild interest
Linden Blossom: Very interested, licked a number of times, wouldn’t stop sniffing with both nostrils deeply until he had had enough
Yarrow: Keen to have a couple of licks and a sniff.
Roman Chamomile: Sniffed gently, but long a couple of times.
Carrot Seed: Sniffed a number of times. Short sniffs, but a look of surprise and a bright look in the eye.
Marigold Oil: Very interested. Gulped down as fast as he could about four tablespoons, then lost interest. (He has had considerable amounts of this previous to the visit to the vets).
Devils Claw: Still about six tablespoon fulls of the ground devils claw in the evening; he had two bute in the morning. I offered it in this manner to give him the best opportunity to regulate his pain killing himself.
Bladderwrack: He ate a handful of soaked Bladderwrack overnight, which I left in his stable and he drank the water.
Blackberries: He was a little interested and ate a small handful.
Rose Hips: Ate six, very pleased with those.
Apples: Ate with relish.
Grapes: Guzzled about four large bunches.
Dandelions We only noticed his interest in this once he started grazing again.

Date: 26 November 2003
vet: On box rest because of the injections into his joints for his hocks.
2 sachets bute
Glucosamine/Chondroitin

Date: 28 November 2003
Vet: Start being turned out and hand walked to recover mobility in the hocks. 2 sachets bute
Glucosamine/Chondroitin

Rose No interest
Neroli No interest
Linden Blossom Still quite interested and had one lick.
Yarrow No interest
Roman Chamomile Sniffed gently, once.
Carrot Seed Sniffed once, but definitely interested.
Marigold Oilx Less interested and had about one tablespoon full.
Devils Claw Less interest and down to about four tablespoons full of the ground devils claw in the evening, he had two bute in the morning.
Bladderwrack He ate a handful of soaked Bladderwrack overnight, which I left in his stable and he drank the water.
Blackberries Not interested
Rose Hips Not interested.
Apples Ate with relish.
Grapes Guzzled about two bunches, and then didn’t want to know.

Dandelions Very keen to find them and ate all the leaves, quite frantic about
them. Spanish has not previously been keen on dandelions.

Records were kept daily up to 11th January 2004
Between 6th December 2003 till 11th January 2004 records are as follows

Vet: Turned out, hand walked, loose schooling in a very large arena so corners are not too tight and progressed up to walking under saddle. He has recovered the mobility in the hocks. He is being hacked off road on soft surfaces.
1 sachets bute daily reduced to one every other day Glucosamine / Chondroitin.

As mentioned under the recent dosage of Devils Claw. From the evidence of Spanish’s selection of Devils Claw I have a very good and immediate indicator as to the state of the inflammation in his hocks. We always say ‘if only our animals could talk’ well if we listen, this is certainly a wonderful way Spanish has of telling me how his legs and hip are coping.

Spanish and I have been fortunate in that our vet is receptive to the use of herbs and plants medicinally. I was able to discuss the use of Devils Claw for pain relief and the reduction of inflammation in his hock joints. Our vet’s view on this was that bute represents a cheap treatment for pain and inflammation relief. As Spanish will be on this treatment for an extended period of time until the joints calcify and stabilise, we should use the bute and supplement it with the Devils Claw. The use of the bute aspect of the treatment should be low dosage to prevent risk of serious side effects. I decided to try our vet’s recommendations both to try and see whether Spanish recognised the drop in bute dosages and also to encourage the co-operation between our vet and myself on this topic.

What I found very interesting was the decrease and increase of the Marigold, St Johns Wort and grapes. This seems to follow the same curve as his intake of Devils Claw. This could either be because they compliment or counteract the action of the Devils Claw. My guess would be that the Marigold (I think of it as sunshine juice) and the St Johns Wort both support how he is feeling. If he is experiencing discomfit, they will comfort him. The grapes, I would guess being a food, rather than a medicine, provide vitamins and minerals that his body needs to cope with the inflammation and pain, or perhaps the stress of the pain. There are many vitamins that we know from human studies that support the body and are used up quickly under stress.

I have in recent days assisted an owner with a dog that had been hospitalised for four days on the drip. On the dogs return home I visited the same afternoon. The dog seemed distant and shocked. He was not interested in trying things. He just wanted to sniff some Rose and then sleep. The next day he was more interested in everything around him and open to trying things. There was a striking similarity in the dog’s reaction to when Spanish returned from the vet. Much as we want to heal them as quickly as possible, sometimes we need to be patient. They need to be given the time to heal and rest. Sleep may be needed more than taking any healing oils or herbs. They should be allowed to select that too.