More EPSM thoughts

We've been having some consistently low temperatures overnight, coupled with clear skies. Still, it's not been all that frosty - down to 2 oC or 3 oC. However I thought Lutine was looking really quite stiff in a morning and she had started hiking her hind legs again, just every so often. That's a bit of a giveaway EPSM indicator for her. The other thing she'd been doing is consistently standing next to our round pen with her butt up the slope - I'd noticed it and thought 'why are you doing that?' but didn't have many thoughts about what it could be about.

Anyway, I reckoned the cold was probably not so good for the large superficial muscles of a horse with EPSM so I have started rugging her overnight if the temperature is going to go below 5oC. It's a bit tricky though as, even though she's so think skinned and has a fine winter coat, she will get too warm under her rug if it's not below 5oC and then she starts getting damp. So I tend to have to go out at about midnight and pop a rug on her and then take it off before 9.30am maximum. It does do the trick though - she's far more supple and active in a morning if she's stayed snug overnight.

The other things fell into place as I was reading the Rural Heritage website forum, where Dr Beth Valentine answers a lot of questions regarding EPSM horses. There were several other messages recently from EPSM-horse owners with similar signs to Lutine's. Dr Beth noted that EPSM horses can require up to 20% additional oil over the winter to keep them loose and they do better being kept warm, even if that means bringing them indoors and therefore restricting exercise, which is not usually recommended. Glad that I can keep her warm enough just with rugging, it would seem. Someone else was also pointing out that their horse was standing with their butt uphill and Dr Beth commented that it's a favourite way for them to relieve some weight off their hind end. So there we have it. I have duly increased her oil and noted the requirement for warmth.

The forum for Rural Heritage can be found here http://www.ruralheritage.com/messageboard/virtualvet/index1.htm

A lot of the threads also demonstrated that regular, structured exercise, as opposed to turnout, was vital, so we've started long reining around the field again. Our lanes are too dangerous for us to go out on our own, so we will stick to the field during the week and then hack out of a weekend when my husband is around to come with us, glare at drivers etc.

Some good signs

I had a lovely day with Lutine yesterday. We spent a couple of hours re-learning about trailer loading - she was a doll about it. She wasn't too confident about going in at first so we worked at increasing her confidence bit by bit with two or three sessions during the day. Eventually we got to where she was perfect going up the ramp and standing inside while I took down the front bar and then led her out through the front ramp. Over the next few sessions we will cement this and then progress to having someone put up the bar at the back, then having the front down and so on... all until she's happy going in and standing in there with a haynet for 15 or 20 minutes at a time and then we can think about starting to take some little trips. I don't think it will take long. The main obstacle is getting organised and hooking the trailer to the 4x4 regularly so we can practise.

Then a lovely thing happened. I went down in the field to take down the last bit of strip grazing fence and open up the last corner of what is now pretty brown, dry grass. The horses always get a bit excited at the sight of strip grazing fencing coming down so they all raced down after me. Lutine also saw and set off at a trot down hill, no trace of lameness even on the slope and then she picked up a canter on the left lead and cantered down the hill all the way to the bottom. Her left foreleg is the one she was always 'off' on, the one that seems to have had the damage/problem, and she habitually always picked up right canter and never down hill as that put additional pressure on the joints. Anyway, there she was, sprinting down the steepest part of the hill on her 'bad leg'. I wish I'd had my camera with me - but that's always the way it goes. Missing the camera when you most wish you had it.

Winter Suppertime

I do still love tucking up my neds for the night. I know, it's a bit sad and anthropomorphic. We've been having very cold clear weather - down to -90C last night, for example. Lutine's winter coat is so fine and silky, it's really not up to very cold temperatures and, added to that, I want to try and keep her muscles and joints warm and supple so that there's less of a risk of her injuring herself. So I've got her high neck rug out of the barn and she's had a feed, rug and lots of hay all night. Nothing nicer than seeing your contented horses munching away, snug and warm for the night.

Great Alternative Veterinary Resource

I spent rather too long over the last few days reading through the website of UK vet Chris Day, which can be found here:

http://www.alternativevet.org/mainmenu.htm

When we were in the UK we used to live fairly close to this place. I really wish we were still there sometimes. Would be great to have access to this kind of multifaceted professional.

Madam Filling Her Face

Madam Haybelly filling her face. The angle of the photo and the fact it was taken on my phone (which does distort images a little when you're up close) makes her belly look rather rounder than it is.

Holistic Therapy Time

Seems like we're getting through quite a few holistic therapies for Lutine at the moment. She's still having Gloria Garland's ERU Maintenance mixture (from http://www.wholehorse.com/) and her eyes are looking absolutely great. There's not been any further deterioration in her eyes in the last few months and the vet had a look in them yesterday and said 'well, she's going to struggle to read the newspaper but other than that, the damage seems limited to the scarring she had previously'. Also, the white/blue scar on the right eye has faded almost to nothing so I am really keeping my fingers crossed that we can hold off major damage to her eyes and any more loss of vision. She doesn't seem to struggle too much with vision except for finding her bucket of food in the dark; overall she got off pretty lightly with the uveitis.

The vet came yesterday and did her second lot of acupuncture. He inserted 5 needles in total, two on her front left leg, two in her lumbar area and one on the right hind in the outside of the hock. He also did a bit of osteopathic manipulation on her back legs, pelvis and sacroiliac area. For some reason, every time he's done some acupuncture on her she then goes down in the field and has a bit of a trot and canter about. It's as though she's trying her body out and seeing whether anything feels different. The vet also asked what our riding programme was and agreed that she does need to be in regular light work to help her to progress; I'm always rather relieved when the vet confirms what we're doing. I don't always agree with vets but I don't rule them out completely!

You can see from the photos that the creeping crud has all but gone now too. I cut out alfalfa from her diet totally and the weather has been dry and very sunny (though cold) but the crud has been healing all on its own. No need for any creams or lotions or any other treatment. It's gradually sloughing off revealing new hair growth underneath. The purple looking stuff on her legs is actually elderberry juice from some elder bushes she'd just walked through. I may well still get some sun covers for her white legs for next summer just to avoid this problem coming back again.

Also a couple of weeks ago, we had another friend who is quite 'spiritual' in her approach come over and do some crystal therapy with Lutine. This friend is also a cranio sacral therapist and so it was interesting to hear what she had to say about Lutine, including that she felt as though she'd had an injury to her cruciate ligaments in her knee on the front left leg. I showed my friend the scar on Lutine's front left leg and the scar on her forehead under her forelock that gives the impression that she's had a fall. Our friend also felt as though the healing process was just waiting to start with Lutine.

Finally, a week ago we had a visit from a friend who is a trained Classical Homeopath and she recommended a homeopathic remedy to Lutine for me (Silicea 200c). This one was recommended as it is suited for getting rid of scar tissues in the body, for the ill effects of vaccination (I think over-vaccination has a role to play in Lutine's chronic illness), because it has an affinity for healing all kinds of tissues and because Lutine is, apparently, a typical 'Silica' person: sensitive, tall, long legged, silky hair. I found it a really interesting process to go through all the questions with our friend. The homeopathic remedy arrived yesterday and so she had her first dose then. With the 200c, we only have to repeat the dosage every month though! So I will be very interested to see how all this goes.