Toot hachecreates BEHAV IO R A L probl s em

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he young gelding was a new purchase by a lovely,kindheart wom an who want a ed ed nice t horse f her f ily. rail or am Luke was a big chest nut Q uart H orse,aboutve years old er who had ext ensive t raining in r eining and cut ing. e new owner want t ed a nat horsem anship f ural oundat ion est ablished bef e she t him hom e, or ook so he arrived atm y barn f a t ee or hr m ont program t include t t h o rail raining. W hen a new horse arrives atm y barn I always perf orm a t horough exam inat f inj ion or uries and wat ch closely f any m yst or erious swellings or sor eness t m ay arise in t rst24 hat he hours as a r esultofinj sust ury ained during t ransport ion.W hile exam ining at Luke,I not a sm all hole under his iced chin in t m iddle ofhis lef j he t awbone t appear t be a draining abscess. hat ed o I point outt abscess t t new ed he o he owner and she said t her vet hat erinarian 16 | www. holistichorse. com

2008 Missy Wryn WH ol ic H orsem anship ist

had exam ined itt week prior assuring he her t itwas sim ply a punct e wound hat ur and itwould heal. O ver t nextcouple days,I he det ined t Luke appeared t be erm hat o No Improvement for Two Weeks well t rained,buthis overall at it t ude A couple weeks wentby as I cont inued and count enance was list and less t work wit him ,clean o h quick t agit e wit pinny o at h his wound and apply ears and a swishy t I ail. ant ics daily, ibiot e previous also not he was very ed butneit his her ow ner sol Luke bec d ause m out which did hy at it nor his t ude he j woul tperf ust dn orm notim prove wit h wound was t opt um l as a reining o im evel correct H e was ion. im proving. and cuting horse.N o wonder! In fact,the t const ly nibbling ant and nipping atm e aw How wel woul you perf if hole in his j l d orm when I was groom ing, was st ing art you had a t hac f t oot he or wo working wit his f , h eet t widen and o years? bonding and exing m or pus m at er e t basically whenever I draining r dless egar was in close proxim it H e y. ofm y eort I f s. elt was also m oody and notm aking a around t wound and knew he bonding connect wit an at it ion, h t ude t wasn a sim ple punct e wound or his t ur ofperf ing only because I have orm abscess;ithad t be a bone inf ion. o ect t inst ofwillingly part o ead icipat ing My vetagr t itsounded like an eed hat wit m e.I was a bitst ped searching h um inf ion in t bone,butf itwas a ect he elt
H olistic H orse Decem ber 2008/January 2009 Vol. Issue 58 14,

f t or echniques t would invoke his hat willingness f a relat or ionship,buthe m aint ained a ho-hum duplicit ous at it t ude.H e cert ainly was not an unkind horse in any way,j ust som et hing wasn rightand he was t seem ingly unhappy.

photo Karen Tappenden

bad tooth, not a puncture wound and suggested an x-ray. I hadnt thought about a bad tooth. It took my breath away to imagine how long this horse must have been in pain to now have an infection coming out through the jaw bone under the chin. With this information I made the phone call to the owner. She was more than happy to have my vet exam the young

O ppos page:T properly provide complete ite o and f equine dental treatment, s ull pecialized ins trumentsare required f each quadrant of or teeth.Here, an incis reduction and realignment or ins trument isus by DennisChapman, PhD, ed EqDT to treat s , uperior and inf erior incis and ors to remove hooks w aves and chipsto prevent , , s t tis ue ulceration/laceration. of s Lef T correct problemsw ith the teeth, the t: o upper incis require reduction and the low er ors incis s ors hould be realigned to the TMJangle to provide optimum nipper contact.( Photos Holis Hors tic e)

he was just trying to tell me I hurt. I wrapped my arms around the horses neck and tears welled up as I asked his forgiveness for not recognizing his pain sooner. What a tolerant and forgiving boy. is horse chose to tolerate people and our continued requests for performance while he stued his pain and put up with us. Within a few days the tooth was pulled and a routine oat was performed. Since the geldings mouth was so sore, I soaked his hay for each feeding. Also whenever a horse has dental care that involves sedation, I feed a very wet bran mash once a day for the rst three days after the procedure. Sedation slows the gut and if your horse is on the verge of colic due to an impaction/constipation which otherwise would possibly have worked itself out naturally, the sedation and soreness in the mouth can be enough to push the horse into colic. A horse is not going to eat as much or as frequently right after a dental procedure due to the soreness in his mouth, so again I highly recommend a very wet bran mash at least once a day for the rst three days. Head-to-Tail Adjustment D oes Wonders A couple weeks later the chiropractor was out for his usual 30-day visit and performed several adjustments on Luke. His Poll, Atlas and TMJ needing adjusting along with T1, shoulders, hips, sacrum, whorlbone and tail. Basically from head to tail he was adjusted. What was simply amazing was right after the doctor adjusted Lukes TMJ, the horse completely relaxed, releasing a huge emotional sigh that prompted a client standing by to exclaim did you see that? He was nally out of pain for the rst time in at least two years. His eyes

sparkled and he seemed to glow it was a beautiful sight. I believe it is critical to a horses recovery after dental care to have chiropractic performed before resuming training and/or riding. Dental problems and procedures aect the WHOLE horse; like dominos, as one falls they all fall. I know when I have a headache it tends to move into my neck down my shoulders and then into my back; the same is true for our horses.

T artar buildup on caninesand incis ors s hould be removed.

gelding and was deeply concerned about her horse being in pain. e vets visit that afternoon conrmed that a lower molar tooth was completely infected beyond repair and the tooth next to it badly infected, but possibly salvageable. Based on the level of deterioration and the infection in the jaw bone my vet said that the tooth had probably been infected for at least two years.

A pos dental chiropractic s s is tes ion recommended. Kimberly Henneman, DVM, Park City, Utah

I deally, a hors sbite s e hould be checked w ith itshead in grazing pos ition.This hors sbite isan example ofa parrot e mouth, s imilar to an overbite in humans .

I was ooded with emotions of pity, guilt and compassion for this horse. It all made sense now. His behavior, his aloofness, his agitation, his mouthiness;

Holistic Horse December 2008/January 2009 Vol.14, Issue 58

After four weeks the young gelding was able to eat dry hay and was healing beautifully. e most remarkable change, however, was Lukes emotional wellbeing. ere was a sparkle in his eye and lightness in his feet. He no longer was nibbling or biting since I got the message that he was hurting and addressed the source of his behavior. It was a privilege to take care of him during his recovery which bonded us deeply. He was a completely dierent continued on next page www.holistichorse.com | 17

continued f rom page 17 horse with a loving desire to please and to be with m e,and,wow,was he a wonderf ride!W e were on the trails ul in no tim e running f reely through the woods and swim m ing in the creek.As I always say,Problem s are not always training issues.
Missy Wryn is a WHolistic Horsem anship trainer w orking w ith the w hole horse w hile teaching IRO N FREE Riding ( no bits,no spurs) Specializing . in problem and dangerous horses,Missy has developed a unique, pain- ree,f f approach to training horses. f ear- ree C ontact Missy at 8668210374 or Missy@ WHolisticHorsem anship. or visit w w w. com WHolisticHorsem anship. . com Learn why your horse may need dentistry and get your questions answered about C hiropractic,vaccination,worming and much more: Equine D ental& C hiropractic D V D ,visit www. Shop. H ol W isticH orsemanship. com Equine D ental& C hiropractic Audio/ M P3 downl avail e f onl 99 oad abl or y cents! http:/ / www. horsenaturalcom/ .

Administer hypericum the night before, and the morning and evening of, w ith maybe a bit of arnica after the procedure.Use a comfrey compress on the TM Jafter.And if the horse is fearfulw hen the dentist comes next time, offer some Aconite j before. ust Perhaps the strongest prepared quieting formul is Hil Herb a ton s Liquid Extract, Confidence Pl Gol W oul need to start a few days us d. d ahead of time. Joyce Harman, DVM, MRCVS

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W hil dentalw ork is a very important component of equine heal e th, many standard practices of the industry, such as the pressure from use of the specul the l um, ength of time it is opened during dental w ork, and the use of both pow er tool and hand tool put unheal s s, thy pressures on the bones of the skul.Compensation patterns in l mastication are often a consequence.Consider craniosacralw ork to counterbal ance this kind of trauma from dentalprocedures. Maureen Rogers ( artcl p24) see i e

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