Vet visit

Tuesday 10 February

I arrived at the stables with questions swimming around in my mind this morning. I will definitely look for an opportunity to ask my questions today. And if as this blog develops you have questions of your own, for me or for Willy, then  please do not hesitate to ask.

Tamtam and Eric seem really settled this morning. I was pleased to see that Eric had worked out how to use the automatic drinker. Unlike the one he is used to at home, this one has a side button he has to press. I had stupidly wasted time worrying all night that he might not be able to drink! They are both enjoying their food but Tamtam's pooh continues to be soft and with a bad smell.

When I arrived Willy was riding a an 11 year old chestnut mare in the school. She is here for retraining as she had developed a nasty habit of bolting after her fences. The rider had decided to try using stronger and stronger bits and this had just made the mare more frightened and very unhappy in her mouth. The end result was a mare that had become virtually unrideable. Willy has been working the mare in the leather bit to help rebuild her confidence.

It is the first time I have seen Willy ride. He rides sympathetically and it is very clear who is the boss. He has an excellent relaxed position which has come from many years in the saddle training literally thousands of horses.But he is humble enough to take a handful of the mare's mane as he makes downwards transitions to avoid hurting her in the mouth (even with this soft leather bit). There is no quick fix. It will take hours of confidence building for the mare to understand that this rider is not going to hurt her in the mouth.......and it will be a fragile confidence because horse's never forget.

Irrespective of the severity of the bit in the horse's mouth, it is always the rider's hands that are the problem. We cannot have soft hands without a balanced position. The rider to the horse is a like a stationary motorbike to a person trying to move it around. When the bike is in balance over it's two wheels it is light and easy to move. When the bike is leaning to either side it becomes very heavy and difficult to move. It is the same for the horse when we lose our balance and tip to one side or more often forwards or backwards.

I found my opportunity to ask some questions when Willy dismounted. I asked him about the regime for building up to the 100 circuits of the arena in canter the day before. Obviously, I said, it will be different for a young or old horse or one recovering from injury. Willy told me that there are no hard and fast rules. Each horse is an individual. The trainer has to observe the horse and know when to stop. It is always watching for the horse's signals and "feeling". If the horse does not appear "right" in  the box it is not the right time to work him. If we work him the problem will undoubtedly get worse.

I also asked about lunge equipment. What are his thoughts on side reins, the chambon, the lunge cavesson etc? He told me that it is not the tool that it is important, it is the way that it is used. And that is down to the trainer. It is important to be very knowledgeable about these tools as using them badly can have very bad consequences  for the horse and our relationship with him.

Willy told me that he learnt that when he was young and on the showjumping competition circuit. He noted that his horses were often injured and would get worse and then had to be retired. He thought long and hard about it....asking why....and he told me the answer was always "me"....He said "I was the problem". I have to change what I am doing and find a better way. He has spent the rest of his life doing just that.

We often seek to ignore, mask the symptoms or attempt to use varying degrees of force. These are quick fixes but the problem will only get worse in the long term. To fix the problem we have to find the root cause and fix that.

After the work session Willy thoroughly checked the mare. He explained it is important to notice where the horse has perspired. Perspiration should be symmetric across the horse's body. There should be an amount appropriate to the amount of work the horse has done. It is most worrying if there is no perspiration when he has worked hard. I will try to get some photos to demonstrate what I mean. After work the mare's temperature had soared to 38.9 degrees. He checked again in 30 minutes and it was back to normal. Finally, the mare had her hydromassage and he finished by applying a special cream to the corners of her mouth to keep it supple. And of course he gave the mandatory apple to say "thank you horse".

In the afternoon, Yves van Vaeck, Willy's vet, arrived to examine Tamtam and Eric. Yves is also a horse osteopath. He is belgian and he speaks 5 languages (plus equus!!) He looked at the x rays of Tamtam's pastern and the report the previous owner's vet had given her.

The bony swelling can be clearly seen on the x ray. It can also be clearly seen on Tamtam's leg! Yves thought the cause of the injury was probably a strike from a forehoof when trotting (he suspects Tamtam has trotter in his blood. We don't know as he is ONC - origin unknown - on his papers). The strike caused trauma to the bone and then ossification (ie new bone to grow). The important thing he said to note about the x rays is that the joint is not affected! And that is a very good thing. There is hope for Tamtam!

Yves took samples of blood and dung for analysis. He said we could call with the results later that day (great service!) He felt the horse all over and found many areas of soreness in his body. He said he suspected the horse had digestion problems and problems with his kidneys and liver....but that the analysis would help with this.

The most important thing is the diagnosis. We must look at the whole horse....not just the lump on his right hind. We must ask why and search for the root cause. It may well be something we can not see. It is too easy to see the lump and assume that this is the cause of the lameness.

Yves looked at Tamtam moving in walk and trot on a hard even surface. He asked me what I saw. It was really easy to see that his right hip was moving up and down normally but his left hip didn't move at all. It appeared to be locked. Yves told me that he could unlock that easily as it is his trade as an osteopath but that he preferred not to just now until we had all the other elements of the diagnostic in place. Also it would be a waste of time because the horse has muscle wastage so, if he puts the joint back in place without the muscle there to suppport it, it will just come back.

Yves looked at the recommendations that the previous vet had made. This included:
(1) Remedial shoeing;
(2) Anti-inflammatories;
(3) MSM and plant based products;
(4) a Tildren http://www.tildren.com/en

He said the only thing he agreed with was the remedial shoeing. He explained that (2), (3) and (4) are all options to mask the symptoms rather than to find and treat the root cause. If you use these the symptoms will appear to get better but the problem is still there and the horse is working with it. As a result the symptoms will reappear even with the drug and the answer is usually to increase the dose of the drug. There is a lot of controversy over the use of Tildren. This is an expensive (might I say "designer") drug. Take a look: http://www.doctorramey.com/tildren/

Later that day we received the results of the blood and dung anaylsis. The bloods were on the poor side of well in a fair few categories. Better than we had thought though! More good news for Tamtam. However,  the worm burden the poor boy is carrying is huge....the worst being in strongyles and tapeworm.
We concluded that to begin with for Tamtam:
(1) The farrier will come to do his feet according to Yve's instructions:
(2) He will receive a tonic for his liver, kidneys and digestive system;
(3) We will worm him with a broad spectrum wormer for tapeworm - Equest Pramox.

Next Yves examined Eric. He looked at the hind hooves for me as for some time now Eric has been dragging his toes. Yves immediately showed my why this had been happening. His toes are far too long. My farrier has not been correctly balancing his hind feet and for months Eric has been walking on his heels and, because the toes are too long, dragging his toes. Yves explained that there is a simple check we can all do to verify the balance of the foot. If we draw a line down the pastern to the point where it touches the coronary band and the we drop that line directly vertical to the ground we divide the hoof in two parts. Each part should be the same length. That is to say there should be as much hoof behind the line as in front. This was clearly the case on Eric's fore feet.....but drastically not with his hinds! In addition his hinds are unbalanced side to side. The inner part of the hoof wall appears to be longer than the outer part.I will share the before and after photos with you when the farrier comes on Sunday.

OH NO NOT MY ERIC! Was the first thought in my head. How could I have allowed this to happen?! I think there are two reasons. First of all I trusted my farrier. Secondly I noticed it at first and then after a while it became "normal". It was what I was used to! I think it is important for us all to notice changes and act on them before it becomes "normality". Ask someone to look at your horses critically with a pair of fresh eyes. Understand what good foot balance looks like! The simple tool Yves has given me should be widely shared. Share this blog with your friends who have horses....together we can make a difference.

Of course Eric is being reshod with Tamtam here. But what do I do when I return home? Do I look for another farrier? How will my farrier take it if I try to explain to him in french what has happened? What do you think I should do?

Yves also found tight areas in the muscle higher in his hips. He thinks that this is also as a result of the unbalanced hind feet. We will see how this improves once Eric has been reshod.

I asked about another problem I have had with Eric. In winter he coughs. He is very susceptible to dust in hay and I usually have to soak the hay. He is much better with haylage but is is difficult to find horse haylage in France and when you do it is often exorbitantly priced. We will see if this improves at Willy's with the dust free food.

The day finished with us exercising two mares in the arena. First of all they were lose schooled in their tack on the flat and then over fences. Then I rode both horses. One is a dapple grey 8 year old anglo arab mare. The other is a 12 year old chestnut mare. Both owned by the same person. The chestnut has jumped internationally. She sustained an injury to her right hind as she got caught up in a wire fence. The grey mare was a dream to ride. The chestnut more reluctant to go forwards...especially in canter on the left rein. Willy had to encourage her with the lunge whip in the centre.  I have a video that I will try to upload for you.

Ok I think that is enough for now! I need to go and see what the master has in store for me today.