Rehab Wish Lists: the wants, the needs and the "somedays"

Each of our horses has very individual needs, from expensive supplements to volunteer-based physical therapy sessions. Below we have compiled some information on what each of our current rehab horses would benefit from.

Please note that much of this comes out of our own pockets, and any little donation made toward these needs, whether of funds or your time, enriches the lives of these horses and helps speed their recoveries.

If you are an experienced horse-person and are interested in volunteering to do any of the rehab work yourself, please email us at: MeadowlarkEquine@gmail.com

---

Rowan

Concerns:
- Under Weight
- Poor Hoof Health
- Poor Digestive Health
- Scratches (fungus on lower legs)  
- Soundness/Osteoarthritis

Wish List:
- Cool Calories
- Renew Gold
- Timothy/Alfalfa Hay Cubes
- Uckele Omega Hoof
- Probiotics (non-brand specific)
- MTG (for scratches removal)
- Devil's Claw (anti-inflammatory/joint supplement)

Physical Therapy List:
Regular Chiropractic Appointments - Keeps her aligned and mechanically correct through recovery
Hand-walking - Helps stimulate blood flow to her hooves, speeding their growth
Hill-walks - Hand walking up and down hills loosens the contracted muscles in her back
Brushing (she loves her mud!) - Stimulates blood flow, creates healthier skin/coat
Carrot Stretches - Helps to de-contract/relax multifidus muscles along her spine, as well as other muscles
Oiling/Picking at Scratches - Removal of scabs helps get air and blood flow to affected areas
Lunchtime Snacks - Rowan gets additional meals to help her gain weight (hay cubes, renew gold, etc)

---

Marla

Concerns:
- Over Weight
- Metabolic Disorder
- Ringbone/Osteoarthritis
- Allergies

Wish List: 
- Joint Supplements
- 

Physical Therapy List: 
Hand-walking - Helps raise metabolism and burn calories
Carrot Stretches - Helps to de-contract/relax multifidus muscles along her spine, as well as other muscles

---

Hazel

Concerns:

- Sore, Contracted Back

- Flare in hooves (connected to dysfunction of back, in motion)

Wish List: 

- Joint Supplements

- Omega Horse Shine

Physical Therapy List:

Regular Chiropractic Appointments - Keeps her aligned and mechanically correct through recovery

Carrot Stretches - Helps to de-contract/relax multifidus muscles along her spine, as well as other muscles

Lunging over poles - Engages abdominal muscles and lifts back

Hill-walks - Hand walking up and down hills loosens the contracted muscles in her back

Riding long-and-low - Increases comfort in lengthening spine

Marla's Wellness Exam

 Marla's Visit from the Vet

            When Marla arrived at MeadowLark on Dec 1 she weighed about #400 over her ideal weight and presented moderate lameness in her right front hoof/leg. The potential to develop laminitis concerned me the most. Again, the path forward was clear; lose the weight! I hoped that as she shed pounds, the weight bearing lameness would resolve. While working an unsound horse is never ideal, the often sad reality is that "resting" in a pasture is not always the answer for a horse that is going into rehab work. Human Physical Therapists witness this conundrum frequently. Regardless, a lack of useful purpose, i.e. work, and activity got Marla into this mess in the first place.  Happily, as Marla has lost weight, her lameness has improved.
      
 Aside from her uneven stride, Marla had other concerning items on her medical history. She has a history of allergies and a hair analysis showed that she had shed toxic levels of heavy metals from her body. Her stature also points to some type of metabolic syndrome. Dr. Esterline, from Kern Road Veterinary Clinic met Marla this week and was able to answer all of my questions about her. The hair analysis was not concerning to him, if she had shown heavy metals in a blood analysis, that would be different. Hair tells us what has been in out environment at one time. Mar has been thriving, so I was not as concerned about the heavy metals, especially as her environment had changed when she moved.
            The most concerning issue presented at Marla's wellness exam was her persistent unsoundness. Dr. Esterline performed a flexion test. A flexion test keeps the horse's leg flexed for a minute and then is asked to trot off in a straight line. Any arthritis will be visible during a flexion test. Although I opted not to do x-rays at this time, Dr. Esterline diagnosed Marla as having Ringbone. This concurred with her symptoms and with what her previous veterinarian had said. Ringbone is a degenerative osteoarthritis of the coffin bone. Marla would need x-rays to determine the extent and exact location of her Ringbone. At this point Mar is only at the beginning to this issue, and sound management will slow the progress. Correct and frequent hoof care, joint supplements, and training her to work off her haunches will be essential, but most importantly, KEEP LOSING WEIGHT.

Marla's Weight Loss: The Shape of Things to Come

Marla: The shape of things to come.

After giving Marla time to acclimate to her new life, it was time to start making some demands of her focus and intellect. I knew that Marla had previous training as her knowledge of leading, most likely of showmanship, was apparent when walking her in the arena. She stops when her handler stops, and turns with/off of her handler well. Despite this, I always train my horses on the assumption that they know nothing. That way, when they have previous knowledge, it simply advances to training process. By doing this I can ensure that I am not missing any key steps in preparing Marla for her future as a lesson horse.

      Training a horse gives them a passport to the future; it ensures a future of usefulness and of good care. While I intend to keep Marla for my lesson program, the fact remains that horses often live varied lives of their own with multiple owners throughout their lifetime. Training ensures them a value on the market, meaning that they will stay with homes that value them for their usefulness and good nature. Taking my time with Marla's training will allow her for future success. I chose to start my training with her doing basic natural horsemanship.

Progress: measurable weight

      Natural Horsemanship gives me and Marla a baseline expectation of responsiveness to each other. It lays a ground work for our future interactions. When we do set out to conquer the scary trails, natural horsemanship will be the tool we fall back on to stay safe and keep learning. Among the tools Marla and I practice is backing. She has a tendency to invade my personal space. Backing not only removes her from my space, but it also explains to her that it that I did not appreciate that closeness. In short, it asserts my dominance.

          Backing lead to yielding, and yielding led to lunging. After losing an estimated 75 lbs, Marla was ready to work on the lunge line. Due to her lessened but ongoing lameness in her RF, she is more comfortable working to the left rather than her right.  I am careful not to overwork her tracking right, but not to ignore the necessity to build strength and flexibility tracking in that direction.

Dapples, a sure sign of good health!

            Marla and I do many physical therapy exercises. We work over poles at the walk, trot, and canter as she is able to. This is specifically good for her core and her stifles, as she has to engage her core to lift her feet over the poles. Another exercise for stifles is "drifting", a precursor to the leg-yield that asks the horse to move laterally by stepping out rather than crossing over. We still have a ways to go, but her strength is building. All of this work has helped Marla shed fat and build her muscle tone. Her coat shines brightly, her dapples have even returned!

Marla's Weight Loss: The Journey

Marla's Weight Loss: The Journey 

 

meeting the mirror

 

         Upon Marla's arrival at MeadowLark she needed to get to work on losing 400+ pounds! No small feat when her lameness prevented her from carrying a rider comfortably and lunging could damage her joints further due to the added stress of moving on a circle. We started with walks, lots and lots of walks. We walked around the barn and to the arenas. We met the mirrors and equipment in the indoor, we learned to cross tie and how to have our hooves picked. Marla hasn't quite gotten used to the trails, the isolation from other horses and unfamiliar surroundings still frighten her. This might be a good job to do with Dodger as he recovers from colic surgery: introduce Marla to the trails! 


        Along with frequent hand walks, I also encouraged Marla to free lunge and explore the indoor arena. This gave me the ability to get her trotting and cantering, but allowed her to navigate her own balance so she wouldn't fall or injure herself. She enjoys free lunging immensely. Her canter started out quite lateral but developed a clear three beats as she started to shed the pounds! I also developed an understanding of her "repertoire of behaviors", that will be essential to her future training. I was able to observe her reactions to my demands and challenges, gauge her submissiveness,  measure her spookiness, and see her excited bursts of energy, all safely from the ground. What I saw impressed me. Marla did not challenge me for dominance, although she was rather skeptical of me. I can't say I blame her though, I did have to "encourage" her around a bit to get her running by gesturing, clapping, vocal commands, or swishing a dressage whip. She and I would "join up" after she finished running around. Again, she didn't really trust me at first. I even had to lie down in the arena footing to get her to come over to me!

           Frequent hand walks and free lunging helped Marla to start to burn fat. Getting her out of the pasture multiple times a day, for short bursts of work that didn't over tax her joints was the primary game plan for conditioning. All of her scheduled activity was supplemented by her new life as member of a seven mare herd. Marla lives in a pasture 24 hours a day with her pasture mates. She enjoys rich social interaction with competition for food, status, and play.
         Due to her previous isolation, and new found socialization, Marla has a tendency to feel claustrophobic and anxious. She dislikes being in a stall and panics when being asked to go on the trails. Luckily she does not take issue to being cross tied or working alone in the arenas. She enjoys exploring the barn yard and seems to revel in the activity. She would get excited by the activity in the first months at MeadowLark, but seems to have settled in a learned to focus as her work load has increased.

Marla's Weight Loss

Marla's Weight Loss Journey: the beginning

   This might end up a huge post, no pun intended!

More frequently than not, many horses in a state of "rescue" arrive to their new homes emaciated or substantially underweight. This was far from the case for Marla! Her estimated weight on arrival was #1400+ on a frame built to carry about #1000! She registered as a 9 on Henneke Body Condition Scale. The Henneke scale provides equine professionals a way to visually and tactilely measure a horse's body condition and ranges from 1 (poor) to 9 (extremely fat). Horses that measure as a 9 can be characterized by an obvious crease down their spine, a cresty neck, and patchy fat behind withers, at their flank, inner thighs, and tail head. Marla had all of these, her crest felt rock hard, an indicator the  risk for a myriad of serious health issues that she might face. Laminitis topping the list of the potential conditions she could develop. The dorsal crease and fat patches are visible in the photo of her back that I took when I met Marla in mid November.

     Not only did Marla's weight put her health at risk, but her comfort had already been compromised. Upon my first appraisal of her, I found that she had trouble lifting her hooves, presumably from the difficult of loading and balancing on her other three legs. She showed moderate lameness in her front right hoof/pasturn, as well as mild compensating lameness in her left hind. It was hard for me to tell if her lameness was internal or more mechanical from the large patches of fat affecting her mobility. Probably both. Her previous owner had her vet take a quick look at the RF, he found no heat or digital pulse (good signs!) but described it as swelling at the top of the coffin joint due to stress from her obesity. Without x-rays the degree of arthritis starting in that joint would be difficult to diagnose. The doctor pronounced her comfortable enough to be transported. It was time to go pick Marla up!

          Now one good question you might ask yourself, and that I certainly pondered, is: How did Marla get so fat in the first place? Typically the formula for obesity is clear; too much food. However this was not the case for Mar. Her body condition was apparent, and her diet was sparse. She picked through her 6 flakes of hay a day and ate the chaffe, turning up her nose at the roughage. She had her supplements (the topic of a future post!) delivered on a cup of alfalfa pellets. That is it. I believe that much of her growing weight could be attributed to inactivity. Marla lived by herself for a number of years following the death of her companion. Perhaps a thyroid imbalance is to blame; she isn't necessarily a good candidate for Insulin resistance, IR, as excessive sugars or an improper diet did not contribute to her weight. At the time that I brought Marla to MeadowLark, I opted not to have her see the vet immediately (but scheduled an appointment for a few months down the road). The path forward was clear, LOSE THE WEIGHT!

Introducing: Marla

Meet Marla

Name: Marla (Rosewater's Alert Darlene)
Sex: Mare

Height: 15+ hh
Breed: Lippit Morgan
Arrived at MeadowLark: 12/1/16
Favorite Treats: Carrots, but she doesn't need many!
Traits: Respectful and sweet

Special Needs: Marla has a specially mixed detox formula that she eats to help her body shed heavy metals that have accumulated to toxic levels. Her previous owner could not locate the source of these metals in Marla's environment. 

Physiotherapy: Marla needs to lose weight fast. She was morbidly obese at her arrival to MeadowLark, easily a 10 on the body condition scale. She was at great risk of developing laminitis due to her condition. The more active she is, the better she will feel. 

Marla gained so much weight mainly due to inactivity. She was fed a very conservative diet with her previous owner, and still continued to become more and more rotund. Her weight added stress to her joints and caused inflammation at the top of her coffin joint. Lameness is present at the right front hoof. This diagnosis was made by a vet without the aid of x-rays prior to my ownership. The real condition of her coffin joints is not yet known to me, but hopefully I will know more after my vet does a general wellness exam. When Marla came to MeadowLark my primary goal was to help her lose weight safely and quickly and see how the lameness, and her overall health resolved.