Equine injury, psychology and evolution

Dartmoor ponies living as nature intended - on Dartmoor

The horse has evolved over millions of years to walk the plains, eat grass, reproduce and take flight from predators in order to survive. These traits are firmly embedded in its DNA and the length of time man has used the horse for his own purposes – around 4000 years – is a blink of an eye in evolutionary terms, so the horse is still a flight animal with every natural instinct intact.

This explains why, in times of either physical or psychological stress, it is very unlikely that the horse’s evolutionary ‘programming’ will be overcome by any bond with humans built up through mutual respect and training. As a result, stress can and does manifest in a number of ways, including the development of behavioural problems or lameness for which a definitive diagnosis is elusive. The physical and the psychological aspects of health and wellbeing are inextricably linked and it is now accepted by leading psychiatrists working in the field of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, that there is never a physical injury without an associated psychological injury.

In our management of working and competition horses, working ‘with’ the horse’s natural instincts is increasingly understood to be of significant importance in maintaining both physical health and psychological wellbeing. Chronic stress can and often does result in physical symptoms and similarly, traumatic physical injury will inevitably have a psychological effect.

Holistic healthcare is not a new term and in the context of working and competition horses, managing psychological health is known to be a powerful tool in maintaining physical health. If things do go wrong, reviewing psychological stressors in the context of evolution is essential.

Ian Thirkell, Managing Director of ArcEquine, the company behind the ArcEquine Device explains more: “Our work with an eminent Professor of Psychiatry, who is a leading expert on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, teaches that to enable healing of a physical injury, it is essential to first eliminate all trauma, both physical and psychological, before progressing to a rehabilitation phase, which in the case of horses, should take full account of the horse’s evolutionary traits.

“An injured horse in its natural environment will not remain static in one location, as it has to do when on box rest, preferring to move quietly from one area of cover to another, keeping itself physically safe from predators and at the same time, it feels safe ‘psychologically’. By behaving in this manner, it is putting a ‘load’ through the injured tissues and this is how nature encourages tissue repair.

“As the problem resolves, so the horse moves more in a given time period, systematically increasing the load and stimulating more repair. By comparison, an extended period of box rest induces chronic psychological stress, which is not conducive to tissue repair or the long term outcome, either physical and /or psychological."

Solstice is back from the brink

Solstice

Bryony Barraclough had always had more than a soft spot for the 6-year-old black trakehner

called Solstice and she finally became his owner in November of 2015, but her plans to event the athletic 16.3hh gelding were put on hold following a horrific field accident at the end of January.

Bryony takes up the story.....

The injury when it happened

“Solstice and my other three horses had been wintering out and whilst I was away for a couple of hours, the hunt had gone past and obviously Solstice had tried to follow them. When I returned I saw him in next door’s field trying to push through a rusty old barbed wire fence but he looked completely ‘out of it’. I slammed the brakes on and jumped out of my car, ran over and could see he was caught up by his winter rugs, which thankfully had given him some protection. The only way I could get him out was to remove the rugs and what I saw next was absolutely horrific. Solstice was still running on adrenaline and looking for the hunt, so it was all a bit tricky.

“He had no headcollar on, but I managed to walk him down the hill with a scarf round his neck and my top tied around the wound to try and hold it together and stop the bleeding. My phone was in my car so I called the vet and a transport company as soon as I could; typical, as I had sold my trailer two days previously. You don't realise how hard it is to get immediate transport in a desperate situation!

When the wound broke down

“However two vets from Bourton Vale and the transport arrived within the hour….. the longest and most traumatic hour of my life. They were all amazing as it was pitch black, raining and freezing. Solstice was admitted to the vet hospital and as soon as he arrived, they cleaned the horrific wound and started cutting away all the badly torn extensor muscle tissue at the top of his left foreleg, padding it with wadding and then stitching it with drains in place.

“Despite the care, two days later the wound broke down and although there was already a large ‘pocket’ running back towards his elbow joint, the vets cut out even more muscle tissue as it was still contaminated, so it became a massive gaping hole. Obviously he had to stay at the vet hospital, while he was receiving medication and management was about keeping him as calm as possible in a clean environment. 

His leg was hosed twice a day, cleaned once a day and he was walked a short distance each day. At first he found it extremely hard to even place his foot correctly and would trip if you weren't careful, but this improved daily, until he was pulling me along!

“The girls on the yard, the interns and the vets at Bourton Vale were all really good with him and very accommodating about my constant requests.

When we started to use ArcEquine

It was one week after his accident happened that I got an ArcEquine unit. I followed the protocol suggested for its use exactly as advised, putting it on every day and if I couldn’t be there the girls on the yard would put it on and take it off. There was only seven days it total that he didn’t have it on due to recharging or man power issues. It was used for the 7-hour cycle every day and he was in the vet hospital for almost seven weeks.

“The staff at the vets had to check on him every few hours in case he got down and couldn’t get up in the night- something I continued when he first came home, staying in the horsebox on the yard! The main issue though was the fact he constantly tried to eat his wound so he had to wear a bib, then a cradle and then a muzzle. In the end, once he was home, I resorted to putting dry turmeric powder on the wound for a week and he soon stopped as he hated it.

He came home in early March

“When he came home, he was stabled the whole time, except for walking out in hand a few times a day and hosing the leg twice a day and cleaning it once a day. Then at the end of April when the sun appeared and he was desperate to be in the field, I decided to turn him out.

As you’d expect he had a buck and play for about 10 seconds, then put his head down to graze, I couldn't believe it, he was sound in trot and canter and even showed off some extended trot. I nearly cried.”

Bryony, who lives in Gloucestershire, will be fully qualified from the McTimoney College of

Chiropractic as a Masters level McTimoney Animal Manipulator in January 2017 and having previously worked at the Talland School of Equitation, is well qualified to manage Solstice’s ongoing rehabilitation, with the continued use of the ArcEquine.

She explains: “Solstice has a scar from an old, relatively small cut on a hind leg before I had him, which has a lot of white hairs, but on his badly injured front one, there are no white hairs at present. The fact that he’s sound is the main thing and given the original prognosis, anything is a bonus. My vet had a very honest conversation with me fairly early on and said – “are you happy to continue with his treatment if the best outcome is that he can be a hack due to the probability of him having an altered gate and horrific scaring?”

Healing well on April 28th

“When I got the ArcEquine, my vet had never heard of it, but was very open to try anything that may help the wound. None of the interns had heard of it either, which surprised me. Everyone is impressed with the progression that has been made but one has to revert to the original images to really take on board how severe it was. It’s hard to believe how quickly it is healing. Since Solstice has returned home the vets haven’t needed to check on him at all and apart from the first six days of returning home, where he was on one sachet of ‘bute per day he has not had any form of medication for pain relief, which is astonishing.

“Solstice has the most amazing temperament and has been a ‘darling’ throughout. We are taking each day as it comes but I am very excited that the chances of competing Solstice in the future are now possible again.”

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