Alfi's story is still unfolding .....

Alfi

When Holly Davies brought home an 11 month old pure bred chestnut arab called Alfi 12 years ago it marked the beginning of an often difficult journey, but her recent purchase of an ArcEquine microcurrent unit, has opened up the prospect of resolving the last of many different veterinary and management problems affecting Alfi over the years.

Holly has worked as an Animal Communicator and Therapist from her home base in South West Wales for 16 years and she specialises in horses, which account for 90% of her caseload. Most of her work is UK based, but around 10% involves telephone or email contact with international clients. Alongside this she is an enthusiastic author, having written no fewer than seven books in the last year along with college courses in Equine Energy Therapy and Animal Communication.

Her current book Arabian Recipe will be published early in 2016 and is about Alfi, who carries the sought-after Crabbit bloodlines. It chronicles his life and will include reference to the successful use of an ArcEquine microcurrent unit. Holly takes up the story.....

“When I first brought Alfi home, I was aware he had something of a parrot mouth and a rather odd hind leg action, but somehow I knew he was the horse for me. Straight away though, he had problems, starting with a ‘snotty nose’ virus from which it took him six months to recover.

“Other problems over the years included ongoing mud fever and persistent cellulitis and various often severe sensitivities and allergies. However despite all of this, he was backed when he was four, then turned away again for a year.

“He has also suffered from sarcoids and I remember one occasion a vet banded a sarcoid in his foreleg ‘arm pit’ and it rubbed, eventually causing a split in the skin. This developed a horrible infection in just two hours – and it took him three months to recover.

“Along the way, I discovered his current cranial therapist, a brilliant lady called Lucinda Munchhausen whose expertise has helped him enormously. Managing him was easier than it might have been, as I was working from home, but these experiences meant I started to work more in natural therapies, zoopharmacognosy* and remedial nutrition and I’ve used all of that knowledge to help Alfi.
“Earlier this year, when Alfi was fit and looking well, he came in from his nice flat paddock very lame and we discovered that he had somehow damaged a stifle joint quite badly. At one point we were near putting him to sleep as we didn’t expect him to recover, but we didn’t and happily, although it took many weeks, he did indeed recover. However he was only sound for two weeks then he suffered a puncture wound (and developed a splint) on the other hind leg, which led to an abscess that subsequently burst out along the coronet band. Between the two injuries, he had spent a lot of time standing on whichever was the sound hind leg and as a result, it emerged that he had seriously damaged both hind fetlocks.

Alfi's worst hind fetlock on Oct 10th

“When the equine vet scanned him, his near hind had suspensory damage and a thickened annular ligament which measured 5.5mm rather than the normal 3-4mm. The off hind also had suspensory damage, along with an annular ligament over three times the normal thickness at 11mm and a tear in the deep digital flexor tendon. The vet basically told me that his only chance was to have the worst annular ligament cut.....

“I was very upset, but the next day, having decided that after 12 years, that wouldn’t be kind to him, I started researching other options. Although I work in lots of different therapies and have researched more, I looked in depth at the ArcEquine and sent a link over to Lucinda, who told me she had a unit and would get one sent to me. It arrived in two days and since then – five weeks now – he’s worn it for 10-14 hours every day.

Improvement - the same fetlock on Oct 20th

“We saw dramatic changes in the worst fetlock in just 17 days and he came sound again, but it is still distended and we are now waiting for his next scan, which we hope will show that repair is going on ‘inside’ the tissues. He’s also on nutritional support to facilitate cellular repair, including amino acids and vitamins C and E. I was told to either box rest or yard rest him whilst still ensuring he used both legs evenly, so as he’s incredibly sensible, my version of that is to turn him out in the yard or a small paddock so he is wandering, not standing still and resting one of his hind legs.

More improvement by Oct 27th

“Lucinda is thrilled with his improvement and his usual vet has described the images as ‘pretty impressive’. How much repair we’ll end up seeing I don’t know, but we are only five weeks in, so expectations are high and the equine vet says that even if there’s a marginal improvement that we’re on the right route.

“I love the ArcEquine, as the programmes run for several hours, so there’s no need to frequently re-set it. It’s so simple to use and the straps and unit are very straightforward to put on. With a boot over it for protection, I just pop it on and leave him to wander.”

Alfi is one of three Arabs Holly owns and like his grey half brother Harree, she describes him as a “gentle, sweet horse”. Her third arab is an eyecatching black horse called Manta.

Holly concludes: “All of the horses I’ve taken on to date have had some sort of a problem and I wanted my perfect horse, so I went looking – and found Alfi! As it turned out, he is the perfect horse for me as I’ve learnt so much and if it wasn’t for him, I would not have done the research and learnt all the things I now use with other people’s horses. His story has provided not just content for books, but also strategies I now use for working successfully with other horses.

“I am waiting to see how much healing we get - and it would be wonderful to see my granddaughter, who is eight, able to ride him around the fields again without tack.”

*pharmacognosy - the study of medicinal drugs derived from plants or other natural sources.

Murphy's event career back in the start box

After an unexpected injury to her young Irish Sport Horse Murphy, Bryony Crowther's vet recommended she consider microcurrent therapy and following dedicated treatment, rehabilitation, and daily use of an ArcEquine unit, Murphy's intended event career is now definitely a reality once more, as Bryony explains.....

"I bought Murphy straight out of Ireland and he arrived weedy and weak, yet when I started riding him he was 'lovely lovely' and as it was July, we had a great start together. That Christmas, my generous husband bought him a new saddle, which was fitted by a master saddler. We live just outside Basingstoke in Hampshire, I work mainly from home and Murphy is on a livery yard literally just a couple of fields away, so it's ideal for me and all went well until his behaviour started to deteriorate when ridden, to the point where the yard owner suggested he might be turning into something of a lunatic as he became fitter!

"He was examined by my vet, along with my physiotherapist and X-rays were done, but nothing was diagnosed, except the possibility of soreness caused by the saddle. Having had intense physio to correct the muscular soreness, Murphy had no more behavioural issues, which stopped overnight after the treatments.  We went on holiday shortly afterwards just when he was coming back into work and, whilst we were away, the yard owner called me to ask if the vet could check Murphy again as he didn’t seem right once back in the school - and this time he was diagnosed with a strained suspensory, or more accurately, proximal suspensory desmitis in his left hind leg, potentially secondary to the back soreness.

The injury is a niggly one, with better prognosis from acute causes, but with potential for reoccurrence due to it being similar to carpal tunnel syndrome. The vet treated him bilaterally with a cortisone injection and three shockwave sessions, and a recommended work rehabilitation programme. He also suggested doing some research around microcurrent therapy as, although there was little scientific evidence, he knew of people talking about success with it in relation to soft tissue injuries, amongst other things.

"I did the research and came across ArcEquine, then had a detailed conversation with Ian Thirkell at the company about Murphy and as I wanted to give the horse the best possible chance, I initially hired an ArcEquine unit for him. I used the machine religiously every day for 10 weeks, after the initial cortisone injections and shockwave therapy, alongside a programme of very careful rehabilitation.

"We started with 10 minutes in walk on the lanes, under saddle, straight after box rest. Yes, we did have some 'hooleys' and I thought I was going to die more than once! I remember calling the vet after four weeks of this and said - 'I can't do this any longer' - but we did, for another two weeks, and then another two weeks, and then another and so on, building up a little bit of trot by two minutes more each day. I'm thankful it was all in the summer and we were so lucky with the weather.

"The 10 weeks of treatment with the ArcEquine ended in October and we switched to using the unit for maintenance. At the same time, Murphy was turned out for the first time using Sedalin, the dosage of which was reduced over five days and he reacted well, remaining calm throughout. Next we started with some arena time, five minutes of walking 'large' only, and only 3 x a week, continuing to slowly build up the work. This spring, we introduced 20 metre circles again whilst in the school, trying always to keep him as balanced as possible, all the time still hacking out on the roads.

Bryony and Murphy. Courtesy NicolaElliotPhotography.co.uk

"Murphy is nine this year and we are still just continuing to build up the work slowly to develop his strength and having done his first Intro dressage test back in February, he began jumping in March and did his first cross country school towards the end of the summer.

"He was scanned just before he was turned out and it was fairly inconclusive, so the vet suggested we should go on the way the horse felt, not the way the scans looked. I am aware that the prognosis for this sort of injury in a hind leg is tricky, but on the plus side, we know that an acute injury has a better prognosis and that's helped by Murphy's good conformation.

"I would say this is a success story, at least so far, and I am pleased that I chose to use the ArcEquine as part of his rehab programme. Murphy is on a 4-star eventing competition yard and the original plan to event him is now back on track. I've also bought into another event horse which we part own with rider and eventer Mark Corbett and his family, so we are looking to pop the ArcEquine on him after competitions as he progresses up the grades. I am also delighted that ArcEquine' microcurrent technology is gaining increasing traction and I think that as more clinical research is carried out, then people not yet willing to take a leap of faith will have more evidence to rely on.