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| Sophi and Macbeth at the Arabian Ranches competition |
Sophia Ashcroft is based in Dubai in the United Arab
Emirates and has been using an ArcEquine very successfully to support her
veteran Macbeth, as she explains...
“Macbeth is a Swedish Warmblood gelding now aged 22. I have competed
him in dressage to Intermediate 1 level, but he’s now semi-retired, which means
no travelling long distances to shows or to those that involve overnight stays
in temporary stabling. We’ve also stepped down to competing at Advanced level
only, so no pirouettes are required.
“I’ve owned Macbeth for four years and he was bought as a
dressage schoolmaster. His dietary supplements include Tumeric, Cortaflex, and
Pentosan HA Gold and he has a monthly visit from the physiotherapist. He
wears magnetic boots and a magnetic blanket when stabled, but I remove them
when he has the ArcEquine unit on.
“I compete at both Dressage (FEI Prix St Georges), side
saddle, and Eventing – I was the U.A.E. open champion in 2014 and 2015. I also
teach at the local branch of the Pony Club.
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| Macbeth in his paddock - not bad for a desert! |
“I decided to use the ArcEquine on Macbeth partly because I
was curious to use him as test case to compare with my injured horse to see if
the ArcEquine really did work and wasn't just a placebo to calm the nerves
of an over protective owner. Macbeth had also started to trip quite a lot
behind and I was concerned that his old suspensory injury was back. It
was the start of summer and I know Macbeth always suffers with the heat - he's
flat, drops weight, and his hind legs swell – and as I'm based in Dubai, with
an average temperature of 45 degrees and humidity up to 90% in the summer
months, most of the day is spent stabled in air conditioning. So I planned a
schedule of long walk hacks for Macbeth and cut his food down (including
removing the racehorse mix) for the summer and this coincided with the start of
the six week ArcEquine therapy.”
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| Macbeth also carries a sidesaddle |
“My observations
included:
·
The swelling in his back legs is significantly
less than previous years
·
His mane and tail are growing like weeds! He has
never had such a full and beautiful tail; people used to laugh and suggest a
clip-in hair piece!
·
His energy levels are up and he has this cheeky
glint in his eye! Despite the reduced food, he wants to work and now likes to
kick his heels up whilst out hacking. Needless to say the planned walk
hacks lasted all of two weeks.
·
He looks muscled, toned and strong. People
are in disbelief when I tell them he's 22.
·
The stumbling behind has massively improved.
It’s now down to once in a schooling session (probably my incompetency)
rather than regular stumbles.
·
His coordination has improved. We can now
canter and trot poles, whereas before he just fell over them!
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| Sophia and Macbeth at the World Dressage Challenge |
“I have concluded:
·
I believe that the ArcEquine has given Macbeth
the strength to deal with the summer heat and therefore he wants to keep
working. He looks and feels happy and fit, which gives me great confidence that
the ArcEquine is also working to heal my injured horse.
·
It appears to send a horse into immediate deep
relaxation (almost a hypnotised state), which is lovely to see; they even
ignore the flies! It is great to know that in stressful situations you have a
non-invasive, non pharmaceutical option to hand that works quickly.
·
The machine is very easy to use and both my
groom and I very quickly mastered the buttons!
·
The support from Ian (Thirkell) at ArcEquine is
brilliant. He's caring and sympathetic but provides very clear instructions and
gives you a push when you're being a bit pathetic!
·
I am now running the initial six week programme
on my eventer Griffin to see what ‘magical’ things might happen. This boy
is grumpy and extremely suspicious of everything, so when he eventually allowed
me to pop the unit on for the first time today, he instantly fell asleep in his
box. I'm hoping that after a season of pottering (we were bored and I was
thinking of retiring him) that we'll be back on the XC circuit this
season.
·
As for Cookie (Monster), I decided it would be a
good idea to attempt the hill and walk him round the polo pitch. Sandwiched
between two old horses, he was happy and forward and then he saw the big open
space! After imitating a helium balloon on a string with numerous rears and bounces
(he floats and you feel nothing on the rope), he then decided some ‘passage’
trot was the thing to do (it did look beautiful). Needless to say, we won’t
be doing that again. The huge relief was that his injury didn’t flare up and he
was sound the next day – which has given me the kick up the butt to push on
with getting on and riding him.”
Postcript – A few
days later, Sophia shared an update on her event horse Griffin, saying...
I'm turning into ArcEquine’s number one fan, I jumped
Griffin last night and he was pinging me out of the saddle! My coach asked when
I'd last given him a good gallop and I said the night before, to which she
replied "have you been using that unit again?”
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