We've had an ongoing relationship with Dr. Kim Henneman of Animal Health Options in Utah for some years now. We started seeing her at the recommendation of Maddie and Bestie's former trainer. Kim hits the East Coast a couple times a year on whirlwind visits. I say whirlwind because she visits so many places, but definitely not whirlwind in the time she spends with clients - seemingly whatever time is needed.
For instance, today she spent about 2 hours with Dude. Her visit happened to coincide with recent concern on my part that he had been dealing with a lot over the last 6-9 months and that it might be good to have a fresh set of eyes look at him. Given last fall's mystery illness (Kim thought it was fairly likely a mild case of Potomac), his mild early spring gas colic, and the fall he took in the mud a couple of weeks ago, when I got her "visit alert" postcard in the mail, I thought it would be a good time to get him checked over.
Kim had me trot him out, and surprise, surprise - he was really lame in the right hind. We brought him back in the barn and she started checking him over with her infrared camera - totally cool. I think it was a FLIR camera, described in this article at equinechronicle.com. His right heel bulb definitely had a hot spot, as did the inside of his back leg just above the stifle, perhaps a slight groin injury from the fall, she thought. So he's on turnout in the convalescent run, next to a mare who is also recuperating from an injury. And we're soaking the back hoof for a few days to see if the abscess draws out.
She acupunctured Dude in several spots and I can't even begin to identify what they all were - I should've taken notes. I know she did acupuncture what are called Ting points around the coronary band in his back feet, for both specific injury treatment and overall energy balancing, I believe. It was, as usual, fascinating to watch. She also treated him with a homeopathic powder called hepar sulph, which is supposed to aid in drawing out abscesses and infections. I did a search on it just to read more about it tonight, and found this article on holistichorse.com in which the section on homeopathic treatment of abscesses is written by Kim. Reading further, there were a few sites talking about the treatment being used for basically the same purpose in people. She'll recheck him on her fall visit to Vermont.
Bestie's appointment was sort of ho-hum compared to Dude's, thank goodness. She got adjusted, and Kim thought she was in pretty good shape, especially given the fact that she hasn't been adjusted in years. There were a few good little adjustments with her sighing and licking her lips afterwards. Her withers were a bit off, so we took some time to check out the saddle fit. She has definitely gained weight over the years and can stand to lose some (better than me having to buy a new saddle). The fit of the saddle isn't too far off, and with a slimmer saddle pad (actually, more of a blanket and thin pad) it should be ok until she can lose the weight. And then hopefully I can get back to using my new Professionals' Choice pad. After all the manipulations Bestie headed back into her stall at a perky pace.
All of this took from around 11:30am to about 2:30 pm. I went to work for a few hours then headed back to the barn to soak Dude's foot. He didn't even want to put his hoof down in the water, so I just kept swishing water up and over the spot for several minutes, and really trying to get it cleaned out. Then I soaked a cotton ball in Betadine and wedged it in there prior to wrapping him up. I checked his other hooves and they actually looked quite a bit drier just based on the change in paddocks today. Katie's doing a quick run to the tack store to get more Betadine tomorrow.
Tucked them both back in as Reggie was coming down the aisle feeding out newly cut hay, called it a night, and left them happily munching.
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