I once went to a lecture by equine biologist Dr Helen Davis entitled ‘everything’s connected’. She was talking about how an issue in any part of the body can affect other areas of the body. For example, a back issue will affect the way the horse walks and therefore affect the hoof/shoe wear. This led me to thinking how important it is that everyone connected to that horse works together.

The most obvious people who spring to mind are the vet and hoof-care professional, but it doesn’t stopthere. Speaking as an Equine Podiatrist, the two most common problems I come up against are gut issues and muscular problems. I am quite well placed to discover both things as they usually affect the lower limbs. A horse that is reluctant to put one front foot on the stand but is happy with the other is almost certainly telling me that the shoulder is a problem (or something further up from thefoot). If there’s a problem putting the right hind on the stand you can reasonably expect that there may be hind gut issues as the gut curves around to that side. If the h orse doesn’t like having a back foot picked up and extended back for trimming there is usually some sort of problem in the back or pelvis.

An example of this has occurred quite recently at Munchkins Miniature Shetland Rescue with Twinkle. Twinkle has always been quite wary about having her feet picked up, but behaviourist Maisie Wake has been working with Tammy to teach Twinkle that it’s not a bad experience. They were very successful with 3 feet, but Twinkle was still struggling with a hind. Then a couple of weeks ago, Maisie, Stuart (the vet from Coombefield) and I all happened to coincide at Munchkins while Twinkle was having her teeth done and we were all chatting about it. Stuart gave her the once-over and it was discovered that Twinkle is unable to lock her patella on the opposite hind. So she physically can’t stand very well when the foot is picked up! We all had another conflab and reckoned that the best method is to teach Twinkle to lean against someone or something while having that foot trimmed or picked out. Maisie has been teaching this to Twinkle and is making great progress! Unfortunately, it took for all of us to be there to speak to each other to work out what the problem and solution might be. How amazing would it be if there was an opportunity for this to happen more often?

Another example of how one thing affects the whole comes from a colleague of mine, Anna Curtis. Anna’s pony started doing a really subtle head tilt that affected his overall way of going. She had everything checked– teeth, back, saddle, hoof balance. Nothing really seemed to be obvious. Eventually, she was reading about tooth balance and realised that she needed to get a natural balance dentist involved. Sure enough, the pony’s incisor teeth were very fractionally out of balance. Once that had been sorted, everything was fine!

So, how do we ensure that everybody involved in our horse’s health care knows the full picture? Well, that’s where the most important person for the horse ’s welfare comes in – the owner/carer. This is the only person who knows everything that goes on in the horse’s welfare. They know if the horse is being bullied by its field mates and maybe not getting proper REM sleep, thereby becoming lethargic and out of sorts. They know if the feed has been changed, down to a different hay supply or a change of grazing. They know when the horse was wormed, vaccinated, trimmed/shod, had the saddle fitter, had their teeth done, saw a bodyworker, even down to having aromatherapy! So, Dear Owner, we rely on you! It’s a great idea to keep a diary of all the events in your horse’s life and have it to hand when anybody comes to see your horse. It’s also really handy if you encourage communication between all the people involved in your horse’s care. Be aware that everything is connected, so your horse may be lame and you call the hoof person who can’t find a problem and refers you to the vet. The vet notices that the back is sore so you get the saddle fitter who says there’s not a problem with the saddle. So you get a body worker out. This works, but only for a short time.  The problem keeps coming back.  Then you just happen to run out of an element of the horse’s feed for a week and the problem starts to disappear.  The fact that none of these professionals could completely fix the problem is nobody’s fault.  Sometimes you just have to keep altering the variables to find the answer!  That’s what keeps us on our toes and broke ☺

Make a note of everything the dentist/vet/body worker/ hoof person tells you (if they don’t provide you with a report).  Check it with them as you write it down so there’s no misunderstanding.  By keeping clear notes in your diary you can begin to play detective over all changes (good and bad) in your horse, and give those involved a head start in helping your horse.