Update on all my Herbal Furkids
Horses and ponies:
Mega Jet:
Thoroughbred Gelding, Rising 12, by Jet Master out of a West Man mare
He is a big, athletic boy who was so responsive to external things that he was a danger to me and himself. Took two people to hold him and at show and he would spook and fly leap and pig root so badly. He also came off track as a 6 year old with some feet issues – thin soles and walls, hi-low syndrome, and general weak feet. He had bad food aggression and was never easy to blanket, or treat, or just handle or cuddle. When he had been off track for almost a year he got cast and strained a hamstring, it was when he was coming back into work from that when he got completely out of hand with the spooking. It was, fortunately, also the same time I heard about the Herbal Horse products. I had tried a few other products, but no real change.
Some-one recommended trying the Herbal Horse Calm mix. I did. WOW.
There was an immediate, noticeable, change in his behaviour and general presence. The food aggression immediately went away. He because a much calmer, accepting, lovable horse (now he wants to be a lap dog), and the excessive response when spooking stopped. He still spooks, and he is still super aware of all his surroundings, but he does not leap and prance and pronk when spooking. Before the calm mix I could not hack alone, now we do almost all the time, confidently. Before the calm mix I never imagined I could event him, we have finally done our first eventing this year. When I saw how well the calm mix worked I put him onto the Rejuven as well to help to support him after straining his hamstring. He difference to his overall body tone and freedom of movement was noticeable to his physio almost immediately after he started on that as well.
I got him and Magic (his story is to follow) onto the farriers mix because of Magic’s feet some time later. My only regret is not having done it sooner because of the huge difference it made to his feet, and therefore his general wellbeing.
To make it easier for me Beryl makes up a special mix for my horses which is for both joints and feet. I have all my horses on it, sponsored or not, because it is a real miracle powder.
Jet still gets his calm mix daily. He also gets a bit extra before a show because it really does help – I forgot once and he was such a handful that my husband made a new rule, no Calm Mix, no show – and I do not see me every taking him off because he is a much happier horse when he is on it.
Where we are now:
Jet is going amazingly well. He is working like a dream and we have finally managed to make it to a couple of events this year..
We did our first eventing ever, something I really never thought we would ever do, and he FLEW. He was super and bold and generous and I felt very safe on him in the country. We were not in the placings but he was my hero for the whole weekend. Especially as he stayed over at a friend’s yard and he was calm and manageable and sensible. But as show jumping is my focus and there are a limited number of eventing shows within range for me we have only done the one so far.
With the showjumping we are slowly starting to get out and up the grades. We are jumping 90cm now with our eye on going 1m as soon as we have qualified. The only thing holding us back is that I have an old injury that has flared up that has meant that I have not been able to ride as often and jump as much as I need to keep competing, but my physio assures me we shall be back out there before the end of the month again.
Moment In Time:
Moment in Time is a 4.5 year old off track Thoroughbred mare who needed some time to chill and settle and be a horse. When she arrived she was in season almost every second week. And when she was in season she was a total handful. A short stint on the Herbal Horse Mare mix and this stopped. She has now not been in season for months and is much more settled.
Of course, when she arrived I immediately put her onto a digestive mix and onto my Special Mix (for joints and muscles and feet). She arrived with a big bump on her hind leg that I thought might be permanent which has now disappeared completely. Her legs also use to swell up beyond belief (no more) and her feet were (as per most off track TB’s) really not very strong or healthy. Since being with, so in the past six months, me she has grown twice, she has changed shape, and we have done lots of work on her feet. The farrier is very happy with the quality of her feet, not a bad achievement in six months, and she does not have puffy legs in the morning. I am so super excited about her and she is finally starting to do some more consistent and demanding work. She might need to go onto some calm mix when she first starts going places but for now I think she is happy with just the special mix to help her as her workload changes and increases, and as her body and feet change gradually to make her a happier and healthier girl.
Martha’s Star:
Martha’s Start is a rescue pony who was left in a stable, pregnant, and with a pregnant friend, with no food or water until she was so emaciated that she almost died. In fact when she was found she was so thin that she looked like a dead horse. Her friend, the more dominant mare, got the lion’s share of the very little that they had to start with so she did much better and was healthier when they were first found.
When Martha was first rescued she could not stand unassisted for the first almost 6 weeks. She spent the first 4 months recuperating at a beautiful yard where she got all the food that she needed to start her on the road to a full recovery.
Herbal Horse, being Beryl, made us a special mix to help with getting Martha detoxed and heathy on the inside again. She arrived at my home at the beginning of May (she was found on 24 December) and I immediately started her on her very own special Magic Powder. She had so much detoxing and recovery to do that it took a while and outside change was not noticeable. While she arrived here with some flesh and condition on her, she had no gloss to her coat, she had no muscle tone, and had a dull matt mane and tail which was dry to the touch.
In the 5 months that she has been here she has become a shiny, round, apple bottomed young lady who really could start doing a lot more than she does, which is eat grass in the paddock and go for walks in hand. Her mane is now soft and shiny and ready to be trimmed and thinned. Her feet have a very visible line where the healthy growth started and the difference between the old poor quality hoof and the new growth is amazing. She has good muscle tone, and a top line, and looks like a very happy and healthy little lady.
Magical Realm:
Thoroughbred gelding. 12 years old, by Tara’s Halls out of an Over-the-Aire mare
He is a stocky, well-muscled, laid back boy who has an amazing calm disposition but is still very competitive. He is generous and forgiving. He was bred by my mom and was the last foal out of her mare so he came to me as a three year old off the track. He was very slow to mature and was croup high until his final growth spurt as a 6 year old.
He has typical flat, weak, thin soled TB feet that I have managed thought correct farriery and topical treatments. He also has a slight locking stifle due to muscular tension in his hind (he is very muscular) which I worry about more than my vet.
Magic is a genuine all-rounder but he really excels as an eventer and I had evented him up to the 1m classes.
At the very beginning of 2010 Magic and I had an accident where he got caught in some wire while we were out in the early morning. He took his hock down to the bone and in the process managed to pull almost every muscle in his body. He spent two weeks in hospital after a few hours of being stitched back up. There was serious doubt that he would ever be sound after such a bad injury but I tried and hoped for the best. I had an amazing team in my vets, the physio, the farrier and my friend whose yard I was in and with all of their help he managed a full recovery and was back in the ring after 6 months off. This was when I started both my boys on the Rejuven. It helped with the recovery of all his pulled muscles.
Magic is a schoolmaster and when I did not have time for both him and Jet I leased him out on a year’s contract for 2011 as such. The people leasing him wanted to take him to a show venue with hard ground and got their farrier to put pads on all four of his feet, I am not sure why as I had evented him over all sorts of different going (including hard and stony) without any issue. The farrier managed to give the poor chap two bruised soles which then started a whole cycle which caused his feet to end up being trimmed to nothing, pony sized feet, with pedal bones visible thought the unbelievably trimmed away thin soles. I fetched him home barely able to stand, let alone work. Fortunately I have an amazing farrier who was there immediately helping to alleviate any pain so he could work as the BEST thing for his feet was the movement. I spoke to lots of knowledgeable people and it was recommended that I use the Herbal Horse Farrier mix as part of his recovery plan. I started him on it with immediate effect. My farrier noticed the difference in the quality of the hoof within three weeks, and within a month he was back in regular work. Again, within 6 months he was eventing at the WP Eventing champs and was completely sound.
He is back out on lease, this time long term, to an amazing young lady who takes such wonderful care of him. But even out on lease I now keep him on his Special Mix (mix of farriers and rejuven) and when it runs out the lease’s mom, who is not a great believer in the power of powders, can notice the difference in the horse and I take more out for them.
I am absolutely certain that without the support and expertise of Beryl, and the Herbal horse products that Magic would not have recovered so well from both of these incidents.
Other animals:
Of course, my dogs are on The Herbal Pet products, which are also created by Beryl, and the help they get from those is noticeable, especially if you suddenly stop giving it to them. There is a whole range, for specific issues, just as there are for the horses, and we use the allergy mix for our one dog who has to be on cortisone for his scratching without it, and the joint mix to keep all our dogs sound and happy.
Nikki, our advanced years adoptee came with a stiff and arthritic back, which our vet feared might be fusing. She got some acupuncture and physio treatments with the recommendation that she go for Xrays if she gets any more stiff. We moved to a small holding and were worried about all the dogs and so got the vet to come to give acupuncture. When she got here she assured us that Nikki was fine, in fact that Nikki was so good that there was no need for a treatment at all. That whatever we were doing- giving Joint Mix – is definitely working as there is not stiffness in the spine.
Mutt, our border collie cross pointer who had very bad hips as a puppy finally, at age eight, had to have a femur head removal. After the procedure he had to have a lot of body work and went for hydrotheraphy. We increased his dose of joint mix as we are, of course, worried about his other hip, and how the lack of that hip affects his body. He does get acupuncture about every 3 months but the vet has assured us that he is doing well. That he is actually feeling really good and we do not need to worry about the other hip for a long time. He is our furkid who has the terrible allergies and cannot cope without his allergy mix.