The Dangers of Stoicism

I've written just a little about a horse that Gemma is working with.  Her name is Star and she has been a beginner lesson horse for a very long time (maybe 8+ years).  She was the first horse that Gemma took lessons on and she has been the go-to horse for any beginner rider under the age of 16.  The main reasons are because she has a temperament that can handle the energy of a young child and the speed of molasses in January.  And she handles all the grooming stuff.  She will carefully pick up and hold her feet to be picked out and she stands quietly for bathing, no matter how long the child takes.  She leads well and stands perfectly still at the mounting block.  You could trust her with any child (or adult for that matter).

For all those reasons, I was delighted to be able to get permission for Gemma to ride her after the pony we were leasing had to move to a new barn that was too far away for us to go to on a regular basis.  The caveat was that a few months ago, the lesson program stopped using Star for lessons.  What the instructors told the owner was that Star "didn't feel like being a lesson horse anymore."  When I pushed for specifics, the best information I could get was that when Star was asked to trot, she offered to canter instead, which was considered inappropriate for little kids and beginner lessons.  With Star being the ripe age of 24, the owner figured that she just needed to be retired.

Well, it didn't take me long to figure out that it was more than Star not feeling like being a lesson horse anymore.  I was particularly interested in why she wouldn't trot.  So not that long after Gemma started riding her, I put her in the round pen with Gemma riding and asked her to trot.  It became clear that something was bothering her physically.  And probably not one thing, but a whole bunch of things.  This is the video I took to document the situation.  It was really painful to film, but it needed to be done to establish a baseline, and it turned out to be invaluable a little later.

I talked to Star's owner about the possibility of having a vet come out and do an exam on Star to get some more specific diagnostics and guidance about what options were available.  She readily agreed and felt bad that she hadn't realized Star was in pain and needed help.  

At this point, it is tempting to start laying down some blame in situations like this.  In fact, I certainly did blame the riding instructors who should have recognized Star's pain.  Over the past few weeks, though, I've spent a lot of time thinking about it.  And I've come to the realization that most horse people, even experienced ones, are more likely to attribute a misbehavior or incorrect action to a mental issue, rather than a physical one.  I'm not sure why that is the case, but I'm pretty sure that I used to fall into that category.  I would probably have been more likely to see something like refusing to trot as a training issue instead of a physical issue until the past few years.  It is only because of my continued education, particularly the Science of Motion work, that has improved my eye and my understanding of equine biomechanics that I feel better equipped to assess problems.  The average horse person just doesn't go through that process.

I've also started to wonder if there shouldn't be some kind of education requirement before a person can buy a horse and before a person can teach.  While I don't think formal education is the only way a person can become an expert, I see too many horses that aren't cared for properly or ridden appropriately for my comfort.  Star is one of many victims who are the result of a lack of education rather than an intentional effort to ignore a problem.

Horses are incredibly complex and because of their natural stoicism, they will hide pain and trauma in ways we can't even imagine.  And lesson horses, in particular, can have problems because they are infrequently or maybe even never, ridden by a more advanced, educated rider.  So any lack of balance is likely to be compounded over time and create what has likely happened to Star, which is an entire body that probably hurts to some degree.  And because of her naturally quiet disposition, those problems went unrecognized for far longer than they would have with a horse that has a more, shall we say, reactive personality.

I was and am so thankful that Star's owner trusted me enough to feel comfortable with my assessment that Star had some physical issues that needed to be looked at by a vet.  Unfortunately, that vet visit ended up being delayed by several weeks because of the attack on Star by one of her field mates a few weeks ago.  The vet did come out right after the attack to check on her, but she advised that the diagnostic exam for her pre-existing physical issues should wait for at least two weeks to allow her body to heal from the injuries from the attack.

So about two weeks after the attack, the vet came back out.  She initially pronounced Star in good shape, given her age and the attack.  However, I knew from having worked with her several times a week for many weeks that she seemed fully recovered from the attack and what the vet was seeing existed before the attack.  Luckily, I had the video I had taken of Gemma riding her from before the attack, and as soon as the vet saw about 20 seconds of that, she agreed that Star likely had multiple issues going on and she did some further examination and watched her trot out.

She prescribed Equioxx and Cosequin to provide pain relief and potential joint relief and she recommended that Star see a chiropractor.  Since that is pretty much exactly what I wanted to happen, I was so relieved.  The owner agreed to the treatment plan and got her started on the Equioxx and Cosequin almost immediately.  Then she asked if I would handle scheduling with the chiropractor because she felt like it was more important that I be there to explain what I was seeing.

While we were waiting for the chiropractor appointment, Gemma and I continued to do ground work with Star, because the vet had recommended continuing the hand-walking we had started doing after her attack as much as possible to keep her moving.  I think because of the pain she was in, Star tended to stay pretty still and mostly just eat in one place, which was probably compounding the issues.

I also decided to do a little experimenting.  (Because I really can't help myself.)  I had purchased some ground pole exercises to do with Donut, but I hadn't really used them much.  I have found I can only do one thing at a time with her, and my current issue has to do with managing her reactivity.  Plus, I found her flexibility to already be quite impressive and didn't figure I needed to do anything to improve it at the current time:)

But Star could use some improvement.  After using the Masterson Method Bladder Meridian Technique on her a couple of times, I could tell her body was stiff as a board and that she was protecting everything.  The second time went a little better than the first, but it was clear that getting her to release tension was going to be like peeling the layers of an onion.

The first layer was the Equioxx, I think.  I noticed an immediate improvement in her way of moving after she'd been on it only one or two days.  And I thought movement might be more important than the bodywork at first.  Star had gotten herself so locked up because of the discomfort she was in that I wanted to help her realize she could move.

I picked the first exercise from the ground pole exercises as a starting point.  It sounded so simple.  All you have to do is walk the horse next to a ground pole, so the horse's body is parallel to the pole, and ask the horse to first place one front foot on the other side of the pole and then one hind foot on the other side of the pole.  The end result is that the horse is straddling the pole.  Yeah, well, it took me four days to teach Star how to do it. Her brain was so resistant to the idea of moving a foot sideways over the pole that I had to do quite a bit of little movements and work with her to convince her that she was physically and mentally capable of moving her feet sideways.

The process was fascinating, though.  When I first started, I would have Star put one front foot over the pole and then just wait and watch her.  Her eyes were blinking and her lips were twitching like crazy.  I would wait to move her away from the pole until the blinking and twitching either stopped or Star started licking and chewing.

Then as I led her around the arena, she threw up her head and yawned over and over.  It was absolutely incredible because she did it every single day I did the ground pole exercise with her.

I also threw in a little bit of the technique I had initially tried on Donut from the TRT Method.  After leading Star for a few minutes, I asked her to stop, back a few steps, and then move her hindquarters with the inside hind leg stepping in front of the outside hind leg.  It was almost impossible for Star to do at first.  She understood moving her hind end over, but she couldn't move her inside hind leg in front of her outside hind leg at first.  Again, I worked with her on it for a few minutes each day and over time, she began to understand.  After the exercise, I let her stand, and I could see her brain processing and there would be more blinking and twitching and licking and chewing.

I got some pictures and a video from last Thursday to give you an idea of what I was seeing.  This picture is of Star straddling the pole after I finally convinced her to move her feet the way I needed her to for the exercise.

Stars ears are in the "thinking" position here.

This video shows Gemma leading her just after doing the exercise, and you'll see her lowering her head and licking and chewing and finally yawning.  It was just amazing to see.

Then, this morning the chiropractor came.  I wasn't sure what to expect because I hadn't met this lady or seen her work before.  I think it can be a little iffy to find a good chiropractor, but she was one the vet had recommended, so I was hopeful that she would be good.

Right off the bat, I was impressed with her.  She was personable with people and she took her time getting a history.  She watched the videos I had and listened to me tell her about what we've been doing with her for the past six weeks.  Once she had all the information, she introduced herself to Star and did some preliminary touching to get Star used to her.  Then she worked in several adjustments and range of motion exercises, followed by acupuncture and finally stretching.  It was a very thorough process for a very reasonable price, so I would definitely feel comfortable recommending her to others and using her for my own horse.

There were a few times when Star looked a little uncertain about the process, but overall, she seemed to tolerate it well and even enjoy it a little.  There was a lot of blinking and lip twitching and licking and chewing and head shaking and snorting throughout, so I know that what the chiropractor was doing was helping her.

We talked about a plan for Star going forward which will look like more ground work using poles or patterns and me starting to do in-hand work with her using the Science of Motion principles, plus some carrot stretches to see if that helps her neck improve its range of motion.  Gemma can also start riding her again in a week or two as long as Star continues to show improvement and her trot in-hand at least improves over what it looked like before.  Then, the chiropractor will come out for a recheck in about a month to see how she is doing and whether the adjustments will hold.

I feel really good about the plan, and if feels nice to have supportive people involved.  Everyone, from the owner to the vet to the chiropractor, are committed to helping Star feel better.  And the owner trusts me a lot, which is both good and a little scary:)  I'm also so excited to have a quiet horse to work with.  It's nice to have a break from the higher energy level of Donut, and I'm looking forward to the opportunity to do some lessons with my riding instructor on the in-hand techniques.  

But the experience certainly serves as a cautionary tale.  Horses like Star, who are stoic and quiet and compliant, are especially at risk of being overlooked when it comes to physical issues.  Their quietness gives a false sense that everything is OK when it very much is not.  And unfortunately, by the time they start speaking up, a lot of damage has been done.  In Star's case, I don't know how much of her function we will be able to get back.  She is certainly more comfortable now than she was a few weeks ago, but I don't know how far we will be able to go.  Obviously, something is better than nothing, and there is no doubt in my mind that Star will get more attention going forward, which is a really good thing.  Her owner now knows a little bit more than she did before, and she has assured me that Star has a home for the rest of her life with the care that she needs, which is a lot more than many lesson horses get.  But the lessons that all of us will learn from this experience come with a pretty high price.