Overreach 'downtime' halved for eventer Buddy

Buddy back in action - 'healed in half the time'

Garry Russell enjoys eventing ex-racehorses and his most recent purchase, the 16hh grey gelding Cottonfields, had already proven himself bold and enthusiastic when disaster struck in the form of a serious overreach injury. Garry's wife Cala takes up the story.....

"We first saw Cottonfields - we call him Buddy - on a web site where you can source ex-racers. A sprinter, he'd come over from the US with trainer Heather Main when she moved to Britain and he was trained at Lambourn with the hope that his dislike of starting stalls on race days might change over here, but it didn't. He was fine on training days, but not when it was time to race! As an American thoroughbred, he has a big quarter horse bum and isn't your typical eventer shape, so at that point, we decided not to make the trip to see him.

"Then Kylie Manser, a former lady jockey who picks up the odd ex racehorse rang to say she had Cottonfields, so we went to see him. Well, he didn't really want to canter and jump, but he seemed to try, despite not looking like the most capable of sportsmen, so he was duly delivered in February 2014, aged 8, basically straight from the trainer."

Garry, a full time telecoms engineer and Cala, who works full time as a civil servant, live near Lavenham in Suffolk and own another ex-racer called Chester, or Da Floying Oirishman, who had come out of racing in poor condition along with many issues, including a previously fractured spine and chronic problems with his hind suspensory ligaments - which is how Cala came across ArcEquine's microcurrent units.

She explains: "I'd been recommended to try an ArcEquine and asked my normal vet Ben Gibson of Catley Cross Equine Unit what he thought. He said the evidence he'd seen was encouraging and on his recommendation, my insurer Stoneways Insurance, paid for one, so Chester was the lucky recipient of ArcEquine microcurrent treatment and he subsequently went back out eventing."

Bandaged and stitched post injury

Cala continues: "So it was nice when Buddy arrived, that Garry could basically just get on him, put up a few jumps, go cross country schooling and take it from there. Buddy did his first unaffiliated one day event over an 80T course and seemed quite bold. Then he did some unaffiliated 90s last season and this season, we affiliated him and he's done a few BE90s followed by his first

Week 2 post injury

BE100.

"To help develop him, Garry was advised to take him show jumping and he'd entered his first 3ft 6" class on a Friday evening, June 26th. With only four in the jump off, he was the only one clear, and Garry's enthusiasm saw him push for a long stride at the last fence......

Buddy stood off too far, knocked a pole off with his chest, got it tangled with his front legs and

Week 3 post injury

his back legs 'overtook' them, resulting in an overreach.

"It was getting dark when we untacked him; he wasn't lame but in torchlight, we could see down to the bone in the pastern, so we took him straight to the vets, where it was cleaned and stitched. The vet advised it was so deep it would be two months before he'd be able to do any canter work and he came home bandaged from knee to hoof.

Week 4 post injury

After two weeks of bandaging, using the ArcEquine daily and changing bandages every third day, during which time he didn't have any antibiotics or pain relief, there had been no swelling and the wound wasn't 'manky', the vet checked him. All but two stitches were removed and another week later, all the stitches came out and he started walking in hand.

"The farrier said he didn't think the wound would stay closed and that he also thought it would be two months before it was completely healed. That was week three, which was when all the bandages came off and Garry  got back on.

Completely healed and enjoying his jumping again

At week four, we sent the vet some photographs and she said: "yep you're away" ... and he was. He had his first flatwork lesson on July 28th, having started cantering before that.

"Buddy hasn't looked back and ArcEquine is part of our normal routine now, as we use them for a couple of days after an event to deal with any knocks and micro tears. I wouldn't want to be without one!"

Find out more at www.arcequine.com