0:01

Welcome to Holistic

0:01

Horseworks talks. Join us with

0:06

founder April love as we talk

0:06

about equine care. Learn what

0:10

you can do to keep your horse

0:10

happy, healthy, rideable and

0:15

sound through their 30s. Have a

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question you'd like to submit to

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the podcast, just email April at

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holistic horseworks.com For a

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chance to get it featured on the

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next episode.

0:29

So can you tell me a little bit

0:29

about like, When should we start

0:32

looking for these issues in our

0:32

horses? And how early Have you

0:37

noticed that that they do tend

0:37

to start?

0:41

So not a lot of

0:41

people ask you to look at foals

0:45

but when I've been working on

0:45

brood mares or seen foals or

0:48

someone has said that they have

0:48

a problem horse, and they call

0:52

me out. I was in this stall, it

0:52

was a huge brood mare stall, and

0:58

the six week old filly would

0:58

turn around and double barrel,

1:02

the mom. And it was actually

1:02

dangerous to be in this big

1:06

stall with the mom and the baby.

1:06

And we got a long soft rope and

1:10

we let the horse run into it. So

1:10

kinda like it, you know, the

1:14

foal kind of hit the rope right

1:14

about here. And then we kind of

1:18

wrapped it up in a figure eight,

1:18

like you can do with the baby

1:21

horses. And that foal already

1:21

had everything out. So someone

1:26

had haltered it, the occiput and

1:26

atlas were out of alignment, the

1:29

poll was out of alignment, her

1:29

withers were out, her hips were

1:33

hips are out, you know, and a

1:33

lot of times people will see,

1:37

oh, the foal went to sleep next

1:37

to the corral panel fence and

1:40

they woke up on the other side,

1:40

huh my foal's free, they don't

1:44

think about what probably

1:44

happened to that foals body,

1:48

when it woke up underneath the

1:48

fence, were the legs in it,

1:51

they're not looking for scuffs

1:51

of hair, the horse is running

1:54

around, whinnying for its mom

1:54

and stuff since it's on the

1:58

other side. And they just

1:58

reunite them, but a whole bunch

2:02

of shifts happen in that little

2:02

baby, it's kind of like your

2:05

child crawling out through the,

2:05

you know, crib bars and kind of

2:10

hanging there and then falling

2:10

on the floor, you know,

2:12

something's going to be out of

2:12

whack. So 45 minutes later of

2:17

having to go in and go out and

2:17

work on this little baby horse

2:20

they that was so dangerous the

2:20

day before. They said oh, it

2:25

just led the next day by the

2:25

halter right next to the mare

2:28

just really peaceful and she

2:28

wasn't I mean, she was banging

2:32

on that her mom and turn it

2:32

around and kick her and the

2:35

whole disposition changed. And the foal video that I made

2:38

in Idaho that's on my website

2:44

for sale was a three month old

2:44

baby horse. And we were only

2:49

going from the barn to the arena

2:49

and the owners like you know,

2:52

take the whip they had the

2:52

halter and lead rope on it and

2:55

they were leaving it next to the

2:55

mom. And on a three month baby

2:58

horse they're like take the

2:58

whip, you know. He was a little

3:01

chestnut Colt and he was already

3:01

spinning and kicking at people

3:06

and just walking around the

3:06

arena getting used to that

3:10

situation before we started the

3:10

filming, he double barreled my

3:14

other instructor Leila, just out

3:14

of nowhere, just kicking out so

3:18

they were labeled as problem

3:18

horses and it was great

3:22

opportunity to have him in my

3:22

video and watch him from the

3:25

beginning to the end because by

3:25

the end he was leading really

3:28

quietly next to his dam. And

3:28

then we videoed a little bit

3:33

about the hooves so he had first

3:33

rib out I believe on the left

3:37

side and he was already starting

3:37

the high low of syndrome. And

3:42

there was a little wooden pallet

3:42

out there to teach horses to

3:45

stand up on a pallet and I

3:45

walked him up on that and owner

3:49

was impressed because he's never

3:49

been on that before and he just

3:52

stood there so quietly while we

3:52

took pictures of his hooves the

3:56

crushed inside heal from the

3:56

first rib. What that was doing

4:00

at just three months of age. So

4:00

you know the farriers and

4:04

trimmers can try and cut the

4:04

hoof but you'll notice on the

4:08

baby horses the crushed inside

4:08

heel, and already like a high

4:13

low starting so the first rib

4:13

which comes out, it's out of

4:19

alignment, it's right under the

4:19

point of this shoulder is going

4:22

to determine which leg goes

4:22

forward when they try to eat off

4:28

the ground. The babies have this

4:28

huge long legs and a short

4:31

little neck so they'll always

4:31

have like one leg way far

4:34

forward and one back, but the

4:34

first rib at the base of the

4:37

shoulder is gonna determine

4:37

which leg is always going

4:40

forward and if you always have

4:40

one forward and one back, the

4:43

back hoof is going to grow a

4:43

long heel and the forward one is

4:47

going to have the crushed heel. So in addressing this in foals,

4:49

they go right into training.

4:54

They're so easy to train, I

4:54

raised black and white Pinto

4:58

stallion from a baby, I could

4:58

sit on him when he was eating

5:02

just like two years old for a

5:02

minute lay over him, pony him on

5:06

the trails, there was no bucking

5:06

there was no refusing lunging

5:09

everything in his body was just

5:09

correct. So I see so many people

5:15

send their horse to training, I

5:15

was a nice three year old horse

5:18

and it came back a mess. They

5:18

didn't balance the teeth, they

5:22

didn't balance the body before

5:22

they asked for repetition

5:26

training with a saddle and being

5:26

lunged or patients poles that

5:30

the trainers put them on, the

5:30

trainers, they'll just say, oh,

5:34

they'll figure it out as they're

5:34

fighting and struggling on the

5:36

rope. You know, they teach them

5:36

to be tied there all day long.

5:40

And it just does so much damage

5:40

to the head when they fight you

5:44

know, the halter and lead rope

5:44

and their bones are so soft. So

5:48

I really recommend getting my

5:48

foal video and getting to work

5:52

on your baby horses. It's a

5:52

whole different pattern than the

5:56

adult horses because you do it

5:56

more like itchy, scratchy,

5:59

itchy, scratchy, put the hip in,

5:59

itchy scratchy lift some ribs,

6:03

itchy scratchy, do you know the

6:03

poll and itchy scratchy and lift

6:08

the leg and you know, sometimes

6:08

the foals run off but they kind

6:11

of feel it in their body. And

6:11

then within 60 seconds to two

6:16

minutes, they're back for more

6:16

because a lot of the younger

6:19

foals, I'll work on them at

6:19

liberty without a halter just in

6:22

the stall with the dam and you

6:22

do a little bit they go in and

6:25

they go Ah yeah, that feels

6:25

better. Can I have some more and

6:29

they're like right back and

6:29

everybody says totally different

6:33

horse the next day. So if we

6:33

started from there, we should be

6:37

able to ride them all the way

6:37

through their 30s Because we're

6:40

keeping the whole body in

6:40

balance. It's not a car that

6:44

okay, I put gas in it and now I

6:44

want to ride it.

6:46

Mm hmm. So how early would

6:46

you recommend starting and I

6:53

guess okay, this is a two fold

6:53

question. How early would you

6:56

recommend starting and do you

6:56

find it is easier or more

6:59

challenging to work with foals?

7:03

So, it depends on

7:03

the handling of the brood mare.

7:05

A lot of people just have brood

7:05

mares giving birth out in

7:08

pasture so then it's hard to

7:08

round them up. I had my own

7:13

stallion and brood mares and

7:13

babies and you can get hurt more

7:16

from babies sometimes than adult

7:16

horses just coming right up

7:20

under your chin and conking you

7:20

or rearing up and step you know

7:23

slamming down on your foot or

7:23

whatever. So having a small

7:27

quiet area to work on them like

7:27

right after they nourished is

7:31

really good, you know, so you

7:31

bring him into a stall or corral

7:35

and let him settle in that

7:35

environment and just do little

7:38

steps. I offer all my clients a

7:38

wellness mare and foal visit

7:45

because the mare actually has to

7:45

displace her hips to push the

7:49

foal out. So it's nice for the

7:49

broodmare to have a little bit

7:53

of a tune up after giving birth.

7:53

I mean just thinking about you

7:57

and your hips and you know, and

7:57

if the baby is the foal is born

8:03

in a stall, they can be smushed

8:03

against the wall depending on

8:07

how the mare's laying, so you

8:07

can see some horses that are

8:11

only a day or two old that can

8:11

use a little bit of tweaks. And

8:15

all of my moves are so gentle,

8:15

it's just a little scratch and

8:18

lift and scratch and lift and

8:18

all the babies that I raise that

8:23

I raised doing this program. The

8:23

people that bought them are like

8:27

oh my god this horse walked up

8:27

the stairs on my deck and was

8:31

walking around my deck and

8:31

looked in the mirror looking at

8:34

us they were so personable they

8:34

were so you know hi you know do

8:39

something like from my butt. You

8:39

know my foals would walk in the

8:42

garage or on the lawnmower and

8:42

stuff looking for people to

8:45

interact with, I'd leave my

8:45

horse trailer door open it was a

8:49

three horse stock load and I put

8:49

some hay or treats in there and

8:52

the foals would jump in there

8:52

all by themselves and eat some

8:56

treats and come back out and how

8:56

much easier is it if they are

9:01

okay with all of this by six

9:01

months of age instead of at age

9:04

three trying to teach him to get

9:04

in a horse trailer.

9:09

You know so or being handled or

9:09

being touched I get your so many

9:13

horses that you get near the

9:13

hind end and they're so sore

9:16

that they're kicking or firing

9:16

the SI joint is sore they don't

9:19

want you touching their hind

9:19

legs and you know if all of this

9:23

is done as foals they're just

9:23

the whole rest of their life is

9:27

easier and the training is just

9:27

showing them something once and

9:31

they get it and they're willing

9:31

instead of repetition and

9:34

repetition and me and my horse

9:34

have to stay here all day and

9:38

until he gets this now he knows

9:38

what you want. His body just

9:42

can't do it without it causing

9:42

him pain. So the younger that we

9:46

check in the more amazing bond

9:46

you're going to have with your

9:49

foal the higher price you're

9:49

going to be able to sell your

9:53

yearlings at because you know I

9:53

would go out there and imprint

9:58

my babies put that figure eight

9:58

rope around them. Itchy scratchy

10:03

them out lower pick up their

10:03

feet when the vet came to do the

10:06

mare wellness exam and check the

10:06

sack and embryo that everything

10:10

came out and he's just standing

10:10

there and I had clipped a little

10:14

bridle path. You know, they were

10:14

going to be show horses and

10:18

running the noisy little

10:18

cordless clippers all over them

10:21

when they're a baby, they were

10:21

just so much easier than you

10:25

know a year old and holding down

10:25

an ear and saying I am going to

10:28

do this and I don't care if

10:28

you're afraid of buzzing because

10:31

it sounds like bees near your

10:31

ear. You know, we're gonna get

10:33

it done. All of my horses were

10:33

just so easy to work with so

10:37

easy to medicate doctor vet

10:37

calls getting in trailers in

10:42

emergencies, everything because

10:42

you're just hands on working

10:45

with them. And it can just be

10:45

five minutes. Just you're making

10:49

something better in their body,

10:49

they're always going to come to

10:52

look at your hands and say help

10:52

me.

10:56

So if I'm hearing you,

10:56

right, you're saying that

10:58

basically when it comes to body

10:58

work, energy work, behavioral

11:03

training, not even necessarily

11:03

behavioral training, but it's

11:06

almost just like environmental

11:06

training, getting them used to

11:10

those environmental stimulants

11:10

to just start it as early as

11:14

possible.

11:15

And have it in their

11:15

home environment. I had a 10

11:18

month old Pinto baby mare that

11:18

was walking over and crawling on

11:24

a big pile of tarps. Everybody's

11:24

like, wow, that's really cool.

11:27

She's got it in her teeth. And

11:27

she's dragging it around, I

11:30

said, Yeah, she doesn't really

11:30

spook at anything because, you

11:33

know, they had everything in

11:33

their environment. And they had

11:36

all that hands on.

11:40

So when you're starting to

11:40

work with foals, let's say

11:43

somebody didn't start them from

11:43

a young age and they're coming

11:48

to you for your program, you

11:48

they may have started

11:51

experiencing experiencing some

11:51

issues. What do you look at the

11:55

first time you see a foal and

11:55

how much is it similar and how

11:58

much is different from when

11:58

you're looking at like a full

12:00

adult horse?

12:02

So the what is out

12:02

in the horse will be the same

12:06

but the compensations will be

12:06

different. So we tack up and

12:11

ride the weakest area of the

12:11

horse, you know, that's their

12:14

suspension bridge, their ribs

12:14

and their spine. So if something

12:18

can't move correct in the left

12:18

or the right shoulder and we're

12:22

lunging them, or riding them or

12:22

jumping them or something, and

12:26

we ask for a specific move, they

12:26

can't do, they're going to

12:29

borrow it from somewhere else.

12:29

So you're gonna have over

12:33

tightness, sore tendons,

12:33

dispensary's, overdevelopment,

12:38

and the neck muscles and your

12:38

rhomboids and trapezius, okay,

12:41

because then the shoulder can't

12:41

move correctly. So they're

12:45

overusing these muscles to pick

12:45

up the shoulder and bring it

12:48

through on an adult horse being

12:48

ridden. And in those patterns,

12:54

once we do this bodywork, I have

12:54

to tell the people don't ride or

12:57

work the horse for three days

12:57

keep doing my yoga because all

13:01

the muscles, tendons, ligaments

13:01

have pulled a certain way for so

13:05

long. It wants to pull the body

13:05

back out that way. So just turn

13:09

the horse out. Let them walk,

13:09

let them realize they can

13:13

totally stretch that elbow out

13:13

and knee now that we've adjusted

13:16

them and the whole body's moving

13:16

freely, and they can change,

13:20

where the foal, it's like okay,

13:20

it's been like this for a while,

13:24

but we didn't force the

13:24

compensation. So they only have

13:29

those little issues without the

13:29

whole issue.

13:32

What we're seeing on the foals

13:32

nowadays, though, with the

13:37

mineral deficient hays and

13:37

grains, is both first rib

13:41

misalignments. So we're seeing

13:41

more kissing spine. So when both

13:45

first ribs are misaligned, and

13:45

in the shoulder, neither

13:48

shoulder can move correctly. And

13:48

I'll tell the client so it's

13:52

going to have this lumbering

13:52

kind of Frankenstein kind of

13:55

movement canter and they're

13:55

like, yep, you described it

13:59

well, if neither shoulder can

13:59

move correctly, the horse has to

14:03

throw so far back to the hind

14:03

end overstressing, the stocks to

14:07

pick up the front end, where the

14:07

foal is just going to have a

14:11

short neck, it's only gonna have

14:11

been in that area because we

14:15

didn't tack up and ride and

14:15

lunge and, and do force

14:19

repetitive training on a body

14:19

that couldn't move correctly. So

14:23

it's so much faster and so much

14:23

more efficient. We can get to

14:27

them before they start lunging

14:27

and start training because by

14:32

the time they're a year old, you

14:32

already have the high low hoof

14:34

syndrome. Or you know, some

14:34

people might be calling it a

14:38

club foot when it's only a high

14:38

heel club foot's totally

14:41

different. But it can take six

14:41

months to balance out those

14:45

hooves. You know, with the

14:45

bodywork program, you know

14:49

continued you know, if you don't

14:49

have four hooves, the same

14:52

height and shape and it's like

14:52

you running on a high heeled

14:55

shoe and a slipper on the other

14:55

foot. Everything else is going

14:59

to be out balance where if it's

14:59

a foal and you do the body work

15:04

the trimmer sees all the changes

15:04

within four to six weeks because

15:09

they're now loading everything

15:09

correctly without the

15:11

compensations and in the older

15:11

horses you know you're strained

15:15

or sore or torn suspensories and

15:15

tendons, you know, is just a

15:21

ligament down in here and all

15:21

the stall rest but nobody's

15:25

looking at why was the leg

15:25

overworking you know what else

15:29

in the body was creating this

15:29

effect where just like dogs so

15:34

foals and dogs when not being

15:34

worked will just say oh, I just

15:38

can't run like that so I'm not

15:38

going to you know so it's so

15:42

much nicer like I said to get to

15:42

them earlier get the hooves

15:45

balanced earlier it gives them a

15:45

mind and and personality that is

15:52

willing to work with you people

15:52

say they would ride my horses

15:56

and say, it's so willing you

15:56

click to trot kiss to canter and

15:58

you do a half halt and the drop

15:58

down and they go through

16:01

anything and they don't spook

16:01

anything, at water and dogs and

16:04

bikes and I said yeah cuz their

16:04

head and their body and their

16:07

emotions and their spirit is all

16:07

in balance. And when I was doing

16:12

2000 miles of endurance on my

16:12

white Arab gelding Tiki. He was

16:16

just a joy to ride and we're

16:16

talking 70 mile an hour winds

16:20

with rump road coming up,

16:20

wrapping around my head and

16:23

plastic bags rolling down the

16:23

desert and just a nice little

16:27

horse that just trotted and

16:27

cantered wherever I asked him

16:30

to...

16:31

I had an issue with a

16:31

plastic bag and a horse once

16:35

that ended with me on the ground.

16:36

Yeah. And that can

16:36

be a big hospital bill. I had

16:40

someone say that they had their

16:40

horse had spooked they'd fallen

16:43

off broken their collarbone, and

16:43

they wish they had bought one of

16:46

my horses because if you fall

16:46

off one of mine, they snuffle

16:50

you while you're on the ground

16:50

going, what are you doing down

16:53

there? You're supposed to be on

16:53

my back. Why did you fall off?

16:57

You know, like if they tripped

16:57

or something they that horse is

17:00

just present with you when you

17:00

do this body work. You know,

17:03

even if you're just doing the

17:03

daily yoga and you don't do my

17:05

whole home study program. Just

17:05

having hands on and relieving

17:11

some tight painful areas in the

17:11

horse. Just that bond between

17:14

you and the horse is just amazing.

17:18

Thank you for tuning in to

17:18

another episode of Holistic

17:22

Horseworks Talks with April

17:22

Love. Remember to check the show

17:26

notes for links to all the

17:26

resources mentioned in this

17:28

episode. Have a question you'd

17:28

like to submit to the podcast?

17:33

Email [email protected] for a

17:33

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17:39

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17:39

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17:43

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17:43

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17:47

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17:51

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