Blank

Home
Muscle Reconstruction Therapy
Herb Information
Cindy's Stories
Horse Stories
Rider Posture
Consultations
Sources and Supplies
Contact Us

VINNIE

Vinnie, Vinnie, Vinnie. How do I start with his story? Did you ever see a horse and just know that you were going to end up with them? From the day I waited patiently for Vinnie to load into my trailer, I knew I had to have him.

Vinnie's personality is that of a clown. He is the kind of horse that loves to find something to spook at so that he can grab the bit and run. In the pasture he runs circles around his pasture mate, "come on, lets play" until his pasture mate has enough and slam dunks him. He loves to race and play, and although he is extremely athletic, he isn't very smart about taking care of his body which usually means he would come up lame.

So why do I keep turning Vinnie out if he keeps hurting himself, one might ask? Well, the answer is simple, he hurts himself anywhere I put him so he may as well have fun and get energy out at the same time.

It was day 2 of a clinic for Vinnie and Stephanie Box, my assistant at the time. They were riding with Jane Weatherwax and had had a great first day. Steph came to me and said that Vinnie had pulled his right hind shoe off then stepped back on the shoe and one of the nails had stuck the shoe to his hoof. To me this was not unusual since it was Vinnie and he was always pulling some shoe off playing in his pen. I also wasn't worried because the nails are usually quite short so the damage would be minimal.

One month on antibiotics and two months of treatment and Vinnie still could only walk on the toe of the hoof. As a result his hoof had atrophied. I never knew a hoof could shrink to such a small size in such a short time. I knew then that I had to get diagnostic's done to find out the true damage. This was not just a little abscess from the nail. My concern was how he would handle the 2 hour trip to Dr. Russ Peterson at Peninsula Equine but I also knew I didn't have a choice. This was the first time I said to myself that it was do or die for Vinnie. So in the trailer he went and it was off to Peninsula Equine.

We call him twinkle toes

I envision Vinnie as a dressage horse. He has gorgeous movement. He just doesn't have the brain for it. However, I am not one to give up so I keep the dream. Even if he never makes it to a show, I will continue to train him. It is not just about the show for me, Vinnie has much to teach me. Manolo Mendez said to me after working with Vinnie, "if you can train this horse, you can train any horse". I love a challenge and I love to learn.

Horse

Savvy

Ranch

Cindy Schleuss, Owner

So, why write about Vinnie? Well, there are many reasons and there are many lessons. This ex-race horse is the catalyst of why we now use herbs at Horse Savvy Ranch. This is a horse that beat the odds.

Vinnie's hoof atrophied

Vinnie's hoof normal

I was expecting an ultrasound diagnostic when I got to Peninsula Equine, but Dr. Russ Peterson wanted to start with an x-ray. I have to say I have great respect for Dr. Peterson and his staff. It is very difficult to shoot a navicular shot of the hind foot because the horse does not want to stand on the wood block in the fashion necessary to get the shot. Vinnie made it even more challenging because he could not stand on the hoof. Somehow Dr. Peterson got the job done. In shock, I listened to the prognosis. The nail of the shoe had hit the tip of the navicular bone and it had begun to demineralize. At this point 1/4 of the bone had demineralized.

What were my options?

From a western medicine standpoint I had one option. First, I had to get the inflammation out of the hoof. Dr. Peterson said it would take about 2 months to do this. We could then use a medicine called tildrine to see if we could rebuild the bone. My mathematical mind started to calculate and logic told me that at the end of 2 more months the bone would be 1/2 or more demineralized. I hold the belief that if any damage is greater than 50%, there is no turning back. I did not have 2 months to wait to stop the demineralizing process, it needed to happen now.

With no where else to turn I began extensive research into herbs. My fathers girlfriend, Helana, had randomly said comfrey to me when I was looking for something to help me here and there. I didn't think much of it at the time, but decided to research what this herb does since I did not know where else to start. This time Vinnie had really done a stupid and only a miracle was going to save him.

I thought Vinnie had really done it this time. There would be no saving him.

A new beginning. How Comfrey Root Powder gave Vinnie his life back.

Well, I could not believe my eyes when I read all of the powerful things that comfrey root does. I felt like there was hope for Vinnie when I read how in the old days comfrey root was used to mend fractures. I continued to read from one web site to another, then from one book to another because the information was a bit contradictory and I did not want to make a fatal mistake with my horse. The concern is that there is a small chance that comfrey root can cause liver damage. I sat and pondered on all that I had read before making the decision to start Vinnie on the comfrey root. My conclusion was to use the comfrey root and a herb to support his liver. The truth of the matter is that pharmaceuticals have many side effects yet the FDA deems them safe to take. In all the research I did on comfrey root, there was only one side effect listed and the cases reported included an over use of the herb or an already terminal illness.

Vinnie began to eat his herbs and his bute for the inflammation. Now I had to get him to start walking on the hoof. Since the hole in the hoof was closed and there was no chance for infection, Vinnie went out into his big sandy pen. I then called my sister to find out what kind of poultice I should make to draw inflammation out of the hoof. I figured the faster I could get the inflammation out the better. Bentinite clay, clivers, calendula, and plantain, was her reply. Now here is the cool part of all of this. Because the bentinite clay would mold into a shape, I found it creating a "high heel shoe" for Vinnie's hoof. And sure enough, as he hobbled around his pen, he gradually began to set the hoof down more. As he used the hoof more the shape of the clay changed filling in the space where he did not fully contact the ground. Without even knowing it we were accomplishing two things at once, supporting the hoof to the ground and drawing out the inflammation.

2 months later, Vinnie was walking on his hoof with full contact. Dr. Cassandra Schuler took new x-ray's and to both of our surprise, there was almost no evidence of the damaged bone. His navicular bone had rebuilt itself.

One would think that Vinnie would have learned something from his toe walking experience. Well, I guess horses just don't put 2 and 2 together because as soon as Vinnie was back to himself, he was back to hurting himself and I was back to dealing with mystery lamenesses. When all else fails pull the shoes and let the hooves tell the story. And what a story they told.

I do not know how long after I pulled the shoes on Vinnie, a month maybe, that I decided to bring him into the sand arena and see how he was doing. I noticed that he was not fully loading the left front foot so I went to check why. On the medial (inside) side in front of the heel bulb I felt a tight knot. I applied muscle reconstruction therapy to release the knot and stretch his heel bulb out. I moved him again and noticed that he looked better. I then turned him out to let him find his way.

Again, I do not recall the amount of time before bringing Vinnie in to check his progress. This time I had a panic attack. What had happened to Vinnie's left front hoof? The frog had split right down the middle.

It is fortunate that I took this picture, as the story told from this angle on Vinnie's hooves would have remained a mystery. The scar put some sense into the tension knot I found. Vinnie had definitely been in some race track accident. This was another piece to the puzzle of what kind of accident and what damage was a result of it. Another piece to the puzzle of the on and off again lameness Vinnie lived with.

Photo by Julie Colt

Somehow by releasing the knot behind the left heel bulb it caused the hoof to spread.

To offer a clearer picture, Vinnie's two front hooves have very different shapes. The right one wants to be low in the heel and be a platter hoof while the left front wants to be the opposite, high in the heel. For all the years I have owned Vinnie I thought the "prettier" left front hoof was the one that held the correct shape. My lesson, is to never assume anything.

As it turns out, Vinnie's right front is actually the correctly shaped hoof.

Exposing the mysteries of the past

Seven months after the "frog splitting episode", I shot another picture of Vinnie's hooves. Although the left front is still smaller than the right one, the heel is lower. The other major difference is that he now stands with even weight through both front feet. His stance has even changed to where he looks like he is slightly toed out on both front feet.

As I reviewed the many pictures I took of Vinnie's legs and hooves more evidence of Vinnie's race track days appeared. In this picture it looks like he is still running on the race track, like his body is stuck in the "running left" that is ingrained into the mind of the race horse. The picture shows that he is weighting the left front more than the right front. But wait there is more. In learning to read a hoof, I was taught by the farriers that if one side of the hoof flares and the other stands straight to the ground, there is a weight distribution imbalance. Meaning, that on Vinnie's left front hoof he is loading the lateral side of the hoof, the side where there was no tension knot, more than the medial side. Combine these two issues (the "running left"and weighting the left front more), and it explains to me why at one point Vinnie was diagnosed with sole lameness on the left front and inflammation in the right front lateral collateral ligament.

Rebuilding the Ex-Race Horse

The Menolo Mendez Clinic - www.manolomedezdressage.com

Manolo is a gifted man who has the ability to help a horse work thru issues. He does hands on as well as rides. To help me better understand Vinnie I asked Manolo to work with him. Vinnie was a bit of a handful for Manolo. I have to admit that I was gald to see that I was not the only one Vinnie challenged. He made Manolo work hard for his money. The first 2 days were in hand work. Manolo challenged Vinnie as much as Vinnie challenged Manolo. Lucky for me though, Manolo has a lot of experience and was able to redirect Vinnies attitude and show him that we humans really aren't all bad. The truth of the sessions was that Vinnie still did not trust or believe that people were here to help him, not use or hurt him. By day 3 Manolo stepped up onto Vinnie's back. Lucky for me Julie was there shooting pictures because she caught a series of shots that added to the story of "what happened to Vinnie on the race track". Notice Vinnie's response to Manolo touching his right croup. Know that I carry a whip with Vinnie and have touched him all over his body. He is not afraid of whips.

Manolo attempting to calm the fearful reaction from petting his croup.

Vinnie has closed his eyes as he continues to move in fear.

Vinnie is still running with his eyes closed

Vinnie slows down but still has his eyes closed

Vinnie finally opens his eye

Thru all of the body work I have done with Vinnie, his muscle memory told me a story of an accident that happened to him on the track. Seeing the evidence in the photos of Vinnie's hooves and Vinnie's expression in these photos confirms that story. I surmise the story as this. He was running on the track when he was bumped by another horse on his right hind. The impact of the hit caused Vinnie to fall to his knees. He was able to pull himself up and continue to run.

How I came up with this?

Vinnie came to me over at the knees. At one point I had Wendy Albright and Cindy Krout do readings using their micro current machine on Vinnie's extensor tendons (the tendons that are on the front of the cannon bones) and they read as 0 which means there is a problem there. Then there is the tension knot I found in the left front heel bulb along with a scar on that same heel in the hoof, and lastly the fear of the touch to the right croup, a croup that I have been touching with a whip all of these years without any fearful response.

Imagine this if you will. Vinnie is running on the track. He is hit by another horse on the right hind when the left front is on the ground. The impact jams his heel forward as his knees buckle and he goes down onto them. He then tenses the extensor tendons as he pulls himself up and continues to run. The fact that the extensor tendons had no reading was a result of no brain fire power to them. They now read normal. There never was any injury to them.

Muscle memory is a funny thing. The body has a way of freezing a posture when there is trauma or fear involved. This explains why some of us live in pain even though our doctors can not find anything wrong with us. Once we are able to release the muscle memory that traps us in a trauma that no longer exists, we are free of it. Vinnie is now free of his accident. He is calmer now, he is more stable. He no longer pins his ears and grinds his teeth. He now lives with a smile on his face. His body has taken a toll from all of this, but his mind is at peace.

Photo by Julie Colt