Go Cowgirl RN Blog

When I can’t ride anymore, I shall still keep horses as long as I can hobble about with a bucket and a wheelbarrow.

When I can’t hobble, I shall roll my wheelchair out to the fence of the field where my horses graze, and watch them.

Monica Dickens

Guest post:  Madalyn Ward

Wood horses are high-energy individuals who love physical challenges, and must be kept active or they will develop bad habits like kicking and biting. Wood horses also tend to become unhealthy if they are not exercised enough. While the Wood horse is not a picky eater, he does have a very sensitive liver and is prone to ulcers, especially if he doesn’t get enough entertainment and exercise. Feeding the Wood horse is all about selecting horse feeds and horse supplements with few ingredients so the diet stays simple. Too many ingredients in horse feeds and supplements can be aggravating to the liver.

Wood Horse Nutritional Support
The healthy Wood horse has a high level of Qi(energy), is more Yang(high metabolism), is affected by Wind and benefits from the sour flavor. The bitter flavor is also good for the Wood horse because it helps to disperse the Qi.

Neutral to cooling foods which build Yin and contain the sour or bitter flavor should predominate in the diet of the Wood horse.

Examples of ideal foods for the Wood horse include:
•    barley
•    grass hay
•    alfalfa hay
•    wheat germ(1/4 to 1/2 cup a day)
•    wheat bran
•    rice bran( up to 1 cup a day)
•    beet pulp
•    black sesame seeds(1 to 2 TBS a day)
•    parsley
•    seaweeds
•    micro-algae, especially chlorella(1 to 2 tsp), spirulina( 1 to 2 TBS), and Omega Sun blue-green algae(4 to 8 tablets) from Simplexity.
•    citrus fruits (contain the sour flavor)
•    apple cider vinegar (contains the sour flavor)

Herbs that contain the sour or bitter flavor and help with Qi dispersal include:
•    Buck Mountain hawthorn (10 to 15cc twice a day)
•    Digestive Product milk thistle (1 to 2 TBS twice a day for a 10 to 21 day course)
•    devil’s claw(combined with Yucca in the form of Ani-Motion )
•    red clover(contained in Four Hoofs )
•    aloe vera( 1 to 2 ounces a day)
•    black cohosh(contained in RelaxHer Blend )
•    chickweed(contained in Bleeders Blend )
•    dandelion(contained in Four Hoofs )
•    hops(contained in Relax Blend )
•    licorice(contained in Digestive Product UF )

Many of these bitter herbs also have a cleansing effect on the blood which lowers the work of the liver in detoxifying the system. Burdock is considered a mucilaginous herb but it also has some bitter detoxifying action. This herb, like dandelion, often grows around barnyards and should be left for the animals to eat as they need.

Even though many horse feeds and horse supplements can be included in the diet of the Wood horse temperament, it is best to select only a few at a time and avoid horse feeds or horse supplements with many ingredients. It is best to keep the Wood horse diet simple. Madalyn

For more information about Five Element Horse Temperaments check out Horse Harmony.

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All go and no whoa…that describes my Water horse Quattro.

He is 20 years old now, and our barrel racing career would have been so much different had I known and understood TCM ( traditional Chinese medicine) and natural horsemanship when I first started him.

Typical traits of a Water horse:

*    Highly sensitive
*    Strong-willed
*    Athletic
*    Beautiful, sculpted features

Patterns when out of balance:

*    Fearful
*    Needy
*    Physically and mentally weak under pressure
*    Unpredictable when in pain
*    Prone to joint stiffness
*    Weak and sensitive teeth

These all describe Quattro perfectly.  He could run barrels with the best of them…when he was balanced and calm.  He won money for me every spring, but by summer he was fried.   He always wanted to please, and worried about it, mainly because he wasn’t sure what I wanted from him.  He didn’t trust me to keep him safe, and he desperately needed to feel safe and protected.

He was a natural at barrel racing, but he developed some nasty habits that finally ended his career.   Fear was a major player for him, as well as severe ulcers.   I couldn’t get him in the arena the last few years, and by the time he would go in we were both so frazzled that the run was awful.   He would get diarrhea just getting in the trailer…but he always got in!

I have retired him; he is now just a pasture ornament.  At first he was not happy with being retired, but he has adjusted.  I still see fear in his eyes when I have the occasion to halter him…he’s still not sure he can trust me, and he’s been turned out for 3 years.  If I had known about TCM 18 years ago, and how to handle a Water horse, our barrel racing career would have been much different.  Knowing your horse’s temperament is great, but I had to change my training techniques also.  TCM and natural horsemanship is benefiting my other horses, and Quattro is living the retired life of leisure.  Type your horse for free here.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.   Also, holler at me if you want to know how I fund my horse addiction … and you can, too!

Guest Post by Madalyn Ward, DVM

Reading The Five Love Languages by Gary Chapman was a real eye opener for me.

The five love languages of people are:

Words of Affirmation
Quality Time
Receiving Gifts
Acts of Service
Physical Touch

This book explained how good intentions do not replace giving a person what they want in relationships. This certainly helped explain to me why I am still single.

It also got me thinking about what the love language of a certain horse temperament, based on Five Element typing , would be.

Here is what I came up with:

Fire – Quality Time. The Fire horse temperament is all about relationship so spend lots of time grooming and hanging out with him.

Earth – Food. The Earth horse temperament is all about food so extra grazing time after a ride and the occasional treat will go a long way.

Metal – Respect. The Metal horse temperament wants to be respected and will not work for someone he does not respect.

Water – Safety. The Water horse temperament has to feel safe. An example of helping the Water horse to feel safe would be working at home with lots of obstacles and set up “scary” events to teach him to respond rather than react. Building his trust in you in his home area will prepare him for new environments.

Wood – A challenging job. The Wood horse temperament loves competing so give him lots of variety and difficulty in his work so he does not get bored.

So, good intentions are not the same as getting to know your horse’s love language and building a solid relationship. Madalyn

For more information about Five Element Horse Temperaments check out Horse Harmony

Guest Post by Jeannie Choate

I spent time with a friend this past Memorial Day, and heard her horrific tale of how she had to put down her long time partner because of Laminitis.

From what she related to me the horse probably developed Insulin Resistance from the sudden onset of green grass, which left untreated led to laminitis, which led to euthanasia.

She lives in eastern New Mexico where it never rains much, and her horses are in dry, sandy pens or pastures all year round and fed hay and grain daily.  Spring of 2009 it actually rained in NM, and she had lush green grass grow up in her pastures that her horses were not accustomed to.

One of her horses came up lame and she took him to her vet, expecting the best of care for him.  The care she received is standard in the veterinary world….but it ended with him being put down.

The vet had her put special shoes on the horse, which didn’t stay on, but never told her to get him off the grass or change his diet in any way.  The vet did tell her it was because of the grass, just never was able to tell her why he had problems with the grass when her other horses flourished on it.

There but for the grace of God go I, literally!  I had a horse develop Insulin Resistance last winter also, and today he is sound and barefoot, because my vet understands Insulin Resistance, Laminitis and Cushings Disease in horses.  Dietary changes and sound barefoot trimming were all he needed to return to normal health.

This summer as the mesquite beans are blooming I have loaned him to my niece to use in her summer camp for kids.  He will live in a large, dry pen with other horses on hay, grain and his Simplexity Essentials.  The Essentials provide probiotics and blue-green algae.  This gets him off the grass and mesquite beans, and gives him a daily job with lots of exercise. The exercise is as important as getting him off the grass and beans.

A diagnosis of Insulin Resistance, Laminitis or Cushings doesn’t have to be a death sentence for your horse, but it is life altering.  Dietary changes have to be made, and weekly exercise is critical.

For more info on Insulin Resistance, Cushings and Laminitis take a look at a recent post about my horse, or go to Madalyn Wards website.  Madalyn has an E-book on the subject along with dietary information.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Also, holler at me if you want to know how I fund my horse addiction … and you can, too!

Guest post:  Stephanie Yeh

Reyacita, my 5-year-old mustang mare, came to me more than a year ago with a pretty good case of horse heaves. Since I adopted her during the winter, I had to feed her hay. Unfortunately, she couldn’t eat hay without heaving. She developed a heave line, breathed heavy, and had this horrible rattle in her throat or chest.

I turned her out to pasture, fed her soaked feed, and gave her an herbal supplement called Eleviv. That seemed to take care of the problem until the grass returned in the spring.

Horse Heaves – The Problem that Wouldn’t Go Away
Only, the problem didn’t really go away. Whenever I tacked up Reyacita or tried to do any training with her, she would start to rattle when she breathed. The rattle was so loud that people could hear it all the way across the arena. But the rattle wasn’t a straight case of COPD, it was a case of nerves.

Reyacita is a Metal horse personality, and this type of horse likes, no needs, to know exactly her job description. Unless and until she knows that, she’s concerned that whatever we are about to do might be a surprise. This type of horse HATES surprises. They LOVE routine and doing their job well.

So all spring and summer, Reyacita rattled until I actually got into the saddle, and we started on some familiar training exercises. As soon as we started doing something familiar, she stopped rattling. Then she would spend a few minutes with her head down coughing up this giant green loogie that looked like some sort of science experiment. After that, no rattle, no heaves, no COPD.

If I wanted to introduce a new horse training element, then I had to do it after we did some exercises with which she was already comfortable. Otherwise the rattle would kick into high gear.

Giving Reyacita 2-4 capsules of Eleviv about 30 minutes before I tacked her up helped quite a bit, but didn’t totally eliminate the rattle. That rattle continued to puzzle me because it seemed to have more to do with what was going in her head (or with her nerves) than with anything physical.

Horse Heaves: Where it Starts with Reyacita
With Reyacita, the horse heaves start in her head, meaning she rattles when she feels nervous or uncertain about something. I checked in with my vet, and it turns out that, when nervous, Metal horse personality types often suck their tongues into the back of the mouth against the soft palate. This sucking action can cause a pool of saliva to gather back there, irritating the soft palate … and causing that horrible rattling sound!

The reason the Eleviv helps to lessen the rattle is because it helps Reyacita feel more secure and less nervous about her situation. But it never totally got rid of the rattle. So I got curious about how to alleviate that problem.

My vet, Dr. Madalyn Ward, suggested I reach up under Reyacita’s jawbone and do a slight adjustment on the hyoid bone. The first time I did this, Reyacita was standing at the trailer, tacked up, and rattling away as usual. I adjusted her hyoid bone, and an interesting thing happened. She dropped her head, coughed a few times, and popped out this oogie-green-loogie. Then she licked and chewed for about 3 minutes, and shook herself.

The rattling had stopped! Wow!

The rattling didn’t start again until I led her away from the trailer. She wasn’t sure about the day’s training agenda so she started rattling again. I adjust her hyoid bone again, she coughed, and stopped rattling. That first day, I had to adjust her hyoid bone about 6 times during our training session. But it got to be so familiar that she would stop rattling almost as soon as I touched her hyoid bone.

The second and third days, she rattled progressively less and less. I’m excited to see what happens as I continue to practice this adjustment on her. It is obviously very soothing to her, and she feels reassured when I do it.

Horse Heaves: Confirming My Suspicions
Almost everyone who hears Reyacita rattle becomes mildly alarmed and immediately asks me whether she has a lung condition. They also want to know what I am doing to treat the condition. I tell them about the Eleviv, of course, but because she still rattles when nervous, even with the Eleviv, some people insist that I should put her on some lung herbs or even drugs for lung conditions.

The problem is that the rattling is actually in her throat … and the horse heaves start in her brain, not her lungs.

I decided to test this out by doing a horse training session that looked like this

1. Tie to trailer, feed 4 capsules of Eleviv. Stand for 30 minutes to allow the Eleviv to take effect. (rattling)
2. Load into trailer, drive 10 miles to a friend’s arena.
3. Unload at arena and tack up (rattling)
4. Walk into arena and stand next to RoboSteer (no rattling)
5. Walk around perimeter of arena (rattling)
6. Begin doing familiar stretching and warm-up circles at walk, trot, and lope (no rattling).
7. Finish circles and walk around arena on loose rein (rattling).
8. Stand in the heeler’s box in the roping area (no rattling).
9. Walk out to center of arena and stand while talking to friend (rattling).
10. Lope fast circles (no rattling).

I don’t know if you can see a pattern here, but it was as clear as day to me that Reyacita’s horse heaves show up whenever she is uncertain about her job. Any familiar exercise or landmark, like the RoboSteer or loping circles, makes her feel secure. When she is secure, she doesn’t suck her tongue into her mouth or rattle.

On the flip side of the coin, any unfamiliar action or location is cause for insecurity, and hence rattling. For example, standing next to the RoboSteer is OK because that matches her job description of “chase the steer.” Standing and chatting with my friend while standing in the center of the arena matches nothing in her job description, so she begins to rattle.

But the true test, for me, was the fact that she never rattled or ran out of air when we loped fast circles. If Reyacita truly had a lung condition like COPD or asthma, then she would have limited lung function. However, she is as happy as clam when loping circles and never short of breath. She also doesn’t rattle when she lopes. Also, I have tried several lung herbal tonics on her, all to no avail. They made absolutely no difference whatsoever!

Conclusion? Reyacita’s condition is ALL IN HER HEAD!

At least, it starts there. The Eleviv is her saving grace because it ensures that she can eat hay without heaving, whether I’m watching over her or not. But when it comes to horse training, I’m realizing that until Reyacita totally trusts me AND fully learns all facets of “her job” she’ll probably continue rattle, on and off, for a while.

I’ll continue to give her Eleviv and adjust her hyoid bone. I do repetitive tasks with her, and incorporate ever more new tasks to her job description until she feels comfortable. At this point, I’m sure her rattling will disappear forever.

Is This True of All Horses?
Could lessons learned from Reyacita be applied to all horses with heaves or COPD. No. But the lessons could be adapted. For instance, if a horse has COPD, you might try to figure why the horse has COPD. Is the cause mental, emotional, or purely physical? Once you figure out the cause, then you can develop a horse health care and horse training regimen to address the problem. But if you don’t address the cause, you probably can’t do more than palliate the symptoms.

Do you agree?

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Also, holler at me if you want to know how I fund my horse addiction … and you can, too!

Looking for a good, solid performer? I found one several years ago and didn’t realize what I had at the time.

Two Bits is my barrel racing horse, and his horse temperament is a Tai Yin.  He is a consistent hard worker, easy keeper, likes order and will do anything for a cookie.

When I first got him he seemed dull and not overly ambitious.  He would always perform but more out of duty than desire.  This was before I took the time to get to know him.

I contemplated selling him a couple of years ago, because as a barrel racing horse his career was going nowhere.  Another horse I own started me down the natural horsemanship path, and in the process I discovered who Two Bits really is.

While not true for all horses of this type, Two Bits is pretty much a one person horse.  I occasionally put other people on him for a trail ride, but he is never really happy about it.

Respect is huge for him; if he feels he’s not getting it he will shut down and become stiff, depressed and out of balance.  He lived in that state for many years.

Food is high on his priority list.  He is the one in the pasture with his head down eating while the others are looking around, trying to find the source of some disturbance.

Getting to know him, appreciate and respect him for who he is has made a huge difference in our relationship.  He likes me now, and I like him too, even when getting him out of 1st gear is tough.

He is not a horse you can pull out of the pasture, take to a barrel race and expect to win.  He will get in the trailer, but that’s about it for effort.  But when I have put in the training time he can find another gear that I never see at home.

He is who he is, and to ask him to act and perform like my other horses just didn’t work.  He strained a tendon a couple of months ago, but he is doing fine now, thanks to a good nutrition program and a daily rehab program.

He is 14 now, and as a Tai Yin is prone to arthritis in his knees and hocks.  He is calm and relaxed at home but barrel racing and travel stress him.  I support these health challenges with Cosequin for joint support, Xango juice for the antioxidants, xanthones and anti-inflammatory properties, Eleviv for the stress and Simplexity Essentials for vitamin, mineral and amino acid needs.

Natural horsemanship has given me a true partner, and when he comes up to me in the pasture and bumps me with his nose, he’s just saying thanks.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader. Also, holler at me if you want to know how I fund my horse addiction … and you can, too!

You may be wondering what the difference is, or why you should even be concerned about either of them.   Have you ever brought the “perfect horse” home and wound up wondering what demon had possessed him in the middle of the night?

Horse personality or Horsenality (Parelli) will tell you about a horse’s behavior.  Scooby, my left-brain extrovert, is playful, exuberant, energetic and dominant.  When he is exhibiting right-brain tendencies he is impulsive, flighty, fractious and bracy.

Horse temperament or Five Element Typing (TCM) is based on the idea that each horse is a certain constitutional type, exhibiting certain physical and emotional traits that are specific to that type.  In Five Element Typing Scooby is a Jue Yin, a Wood/Fire combination.   He still exhibits all of the above tendencies, but the Five Element Typing goes into more depth about who this horse is in addition to his obvious behavior.

Body type, physical characteristics, health challenges, and personality are all considered in determining a horse’s underlying Five-Element type. Knowing your horse’s constitutional type can help you make dietary and lifestyle choices for him that will best support his overall needs on an ongoing basis.  Type your horse for free at www.horseharmonytest.com.

Understanding horse personality and horse temperament can save you hours of frustration and mucho bucks in training fees.  It wasn’t until I started Scooby in training that I finally figured this out, and he forced me into it.

I sent him to 5 different trainers before I found one that he got along with.  None of them kept him for long, most of them only for a couple of weeks.  The first one brought him back 200 lbs. underweight, suffering from EPM, and with a severe head throwing issue.  One told me to tie him to a tree for 2 weeks, and if he didn’t get any better just sell him!  I tried a few times to ride him myself at home, but it didn’t go well.  I finally took him to Karen Brown in Bandera, Texas.  She started him on the natural horsemanship path for 6 weeks, then gave him back to me and started me on the natural horsemanship path.

Knowing about horse temperaments and with natural horsemanship training, Scooby has gone from a dangerous, fearful and unhappy horse to one that is friendly, playful and is becoming more confident in me and in himself.  He will always have the propensity to be mercurial and emotional, but because I know his horse temperament I am learning how to keep him balanced in all situations.

The 2 typing’s complement each other, and help us as humans know how to keep our horses balanced, safe and happy.  Typing can also help us in our search for a new horse, so we don’t bring “the perfect horse” home only to wind up hating him in a month or so.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.   Also, holler at me if you want to know how I fund my horse addiction … and you can, too!

Protect your horses immune system

Keeping your horses immune system healthy and functioning properly is always an issue when traveling to a show or camp grounds that have a constant stream of horses traveling through. To protect your horse’s immune system from respiratory tract infections, allergies, and other possible irritants, consider adding Simplexity Health Essentials or Equilite’s Equinacea to your horse’s daily regimen.  Both of these support your horse’s immune system and lungs, which can be stressed while traveling.

Keep your horse calm

Show nerves, a new environment, constant noise and lights, and travel can all make horses flighty and nervous.  To keep your horse calm when away from home, consider feeding Valerian Free Relax Blend. For horses who may tip into their “fight or flight” sympathetic nervous system, two to four capsules of the herbal supplement Eleviv can be useful to help them cope with stress, and stay in an open and willing frame of mind.

Protect against wear and tear

Competition and travel can both be hard on a horse’s bones, tendons, and ligaments. To protect against wear and tear, consider adding antioxidants and natural anti-inflammatory supplements to your horse’s diet during show season. Good antioxidants include Coenzyme Q10 and concentrated wheat sprouts from Simplexity Health, blue-green algae and Citrus C/Q from Equilite or  Xango juice. These antioxidant sources help protect against cellular damage and work to enhance healing and connective tissue construction. These supplements also provide horses with the nutrients they need to support their respiratory system and immune system.

Provide digestive support

Many horses stop eating when stressed, or eat but don’t digest their food well. This poor digestion can lead to ulcers, colic, and other digestive discomforts that can interfere with performance. To support your horse’s digestion during travel or at shows, consider adding
products that soothe and coat the stomach, such as Stomach Soother, SUCCEED or slippery elm plus aloe vera.

To replenish the beneficial gut bacteria which can be destroyed by stress or when your horse drinks chlorinated water, feed Simplexity Health’s Acidophlius and Bifidus, or PreProbiotics from Equilite. As a side benefit, these probiotics also produce vitamin B, which can keep your horse calm and relaxed.

Keep older horses going

If you have an older horse who is perfectly capable of competing, but needs a little support for his joints, now is the time consider injecting affected joints with Adequan or Legend.

Adequan is recommended for the intramuscular treatment of non-infectious degenerative and/or traumatic joint dysfunction and associated lameness of the carpal and hock joints in horses. Legend is indicated in the treatment of joint dysfunction of the knee or fetlock in horses due to non-infectious arthritis. Both will support older horses who are still competing but need extra joint support.  You can also consider a feed-through supplement like Cosequin ASU.

Prepare your first aid kit

You never know what might happen when you combine horses and travel and head into the competition season. For a horse show first aid kit, I like to include at least the following:

Homeopathic Remedies
- Nux Vomica and Chamomile (for digestive issues)
- Arnica, Rhus Tox. and Hypericum (for overworked bodies and nerve
issues)
- Apis and Pulsatilla (for allergies, insect bites, and swelling)
For a full homeopathic first aid kit, go HERE.

Topical Salves and Ointments
- Sore No More (for overworked muscles and joints)
- Draw Solution (for topical wounds or injuries, or wrapping joints)
- HyperCal (for topical wounds)

Stress-Reducing Products
- Eleviv (for coping healthily with stress)
- Fastrack Paste (for digestive upsets and nervousness)
-SUCCEED (for ulcer flare-ups)

Hopefully these tips will help you prepare for traveling with your horse, whether to a competition or a trail ride. Keeping your horse healthy is one of the primary ingredients for a successful show season, and doing just a bit of preparation beforehand can save you a lot of headaches down the road.

If you enjoyed this post, please consider leaving a comment or subscribing to the feed to have future articles delivered to your feed reader.  Feel free to contact me regarding any of these supplements, or go to http://www.holistichorsekeeping.com

Guest post by Madalyn Ward, DVM