Horses Heal From Painful Injuries
by Monique Verhaar and Piet Elsinga
Selia
The very first Icelandic horse we worked on was a mare named Seila. She has laminitis in a very serious way, and the owner feared for her life and thought she would never walk under the man ever again.
She would not walk or move. We knew she hadn’t moved all night for we could see the imprint in the grass where she had slept and the manure was laying at her feet.
The very first time we (Piet Elsinga and Monique Verhaar) treated her, she felt like a dead horse. There was no response from her upper body; it was like poking a piece of meat you buy from the butcher. It felt cold and horrible. All 4 of her legs were hard and stiff and her hooves felt like they were burning. We treated her the first time for over an hour, slowly working our way over the body towards the legs and ended with her hooves. After the treatment, which she enjoyed (she slept… ), she did start to move and went to the water to drink.
We treated her every day for a week and later twice a week.
She made a full recovery, has been working under the rider again, and gave birth to a beautiful stallion
This is 1 of her hooves, 9 months later, the line clearly showing where the healthy growth started:
Andvari
On a normal weekday, I went riding with a friend. On site we discovered one of my horses, Andvari, looked like this:
His left eye was completely shut and twice as thick as normal. His right eye was very thick and nearly all closed as well. Since both eyes seemed to be affected, it was most likely due to an allergic reaction. When I started working on him, I was only allowed to do 1 eye at a time. When I tried to do both eyes, he would yank his head away. The other horse was resting his head on him and enjoyed the energy as well. When he was put back on the land, 1 hour later, his right eye was completely open and his left eye had shrunk to nearly normal; it was half open. My friend was so happy to have witnessed this; she said it was an eye-opener for she could now see for real what had happened. The next day I checked up on him, both eyes were normal again. What looked like a serious condition was treated in 40 minutes and never came back.
This is what he normally looks like:
Silver
I have also been working on a horse named Silver. She is a cross mix of an Andalusian horse and a New Forrester. Approximately 6 weeks ago, she was found with a very large wire cut in her hind leg. The vet had treated the wound and stitched it. Silver didn’t like the stitches and tore them all out. When I arrived the first time, the injury was already 4 weeks old and looked like this:
An open, still bleeding wound and a walking (though slowly… )horse. She was very receptive while I was treating her, and responded very well. Very relaxed, she let me look, touch and feel everything and remained at 1 spot during the treatment.
One week later I returned to check up on her. This is what the wound looked like then:
The wound was closed and looked much better. The pain medication was stopped and the mare was trotting and looked much happier. The thickness of the leg was reduced and the movements of the leg looked like an un-injured one. The owner could not believe his eyes; for a week earlier, the horses would have had to be put to sleep. Now he believes in a full recovery!
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