I fell for my Palomino Quarter Horse on our first ride. He was 14 years old and only 3 months prior to my owning him he had lived in Queensland. He was bred in South East Queensland and was broken in and trained to be a Reiner. His manners were impeccable but he was a very nervous horse and his shying was more like a very, very fast spin.
I have owned him for nearly 4 years now and in that time we have had our issues (big time). Most of our troubles have been with his body, joints and lameness mostly. Also the nervousness was a little unsettling at times, things that he had seen 100 times before, became like the big bad monster all over again.
We also went through a period where he would take off through his paddock gate, kicking up his legs which was becoming very dangerous. He would nearly knock you over to get through the gate.
I couldn’t understand it as he was normally quiet only having the occasional outburst but it was getting worse and happening more frequently.
I have had many many months of Lucky being turned out because he was stiff or lame, and have had every horse professional you can think of to see him. He has seen vets, chiropractors, masseurs, farriers and the amount of money paid out for results that didn’t last was unbelievable.
I also didn’t understand the importance of supplements, there are so many products on the market it all got a little overwhelming. I have always fed him herbs in his daily feed and always included glucosamine as knew this would help his joints. But the stiffness and lameness kept happening.
Then at the beginning of this year it became all too much, after yet another bout of lameness I was ready to retire him.
From January he had so many months off and nothing seemed to help him. I had his joints injected with traumeel and he was put on a herbal diet, which included 10 different herbs.
In June the problems got worse with Lucky’s back legs giving away under him in all the gaits and cantering was a definite can’t do. As soon as you asked to canter, his legs gave way and it felt like he was going to fall. No-one had any answers as there was no physical evidence of what the problem was. I talked to many friends about retiring Lucky, thinking all his problems were related back to his younger days and the amount of work he had done on his joints.
I had ordered the Calm Healthy Horses supplements. I have to be honest I was very wary as I had been told things by so many people over the past 4 years and nothing helped my boy for long periods. But seeing how distressed Lucky was I decided to follow the instructions. That was to take him off all grass and start giving supplements including the Xtra-Cal and Alleviate, which we doubled the dose for two weeks.
Within days I couldn’t believe the improvement, he was walking without any signs of the lameness.
It wasn’t long and we were back to riding and his movement improved so much. There is no more galloping around the paddock or charging through the gate and he is now a calm lovely gentleman. I really can’t believe I tried so much and spent so much money and never thought about supplements or the grass he was eating.
My lovely boy is now back into training and we are going to our first western show in 11 months in November.
To finish off I just want to say when you have the dosage right DO NOT change it. Lucky had his dose rate cut back recently and within 2 days was short stepping and looking uncomfortable in the back end. I went back to the normal rate and all was great, he is on the full Calm Healthy Horses Plan.
So I am very happy, my Lucky has gone from near retirement to full enjoyment, and I am over the moon.
