Mariah Healed Herself
I’ll never forget standing out in the rain one cold October day, soaked from head to foot because the rain wasn’t expected. The temperature was only in the mid-fifties, but to me, sopping wet, that was freezing.
I looked at our horses, heads down, dripping with water, and I just couldn’t stand it. I went for the halters and lead ropes and brought them into their covered stalls. The stalls were open, actually only half-covered, with one solid side facing the usual weather assault, but if we’d had a cozy barn with central heating and warm fuzzy pillows I’m sure I wouldn’t have hesitated to take them right in. Or cover them with blankets had there been any available.
It’s difficult for humans, especially when cold and wet, to understand that the horses do not feel like we do. Or eat like we do. Or react like we do. We want to believe that the horse will always be better with human intervention. Human “help.” How can they possibly make it without us?
Later that month I was wandering through a barn in northern Idaho. As I walked down the center aisle, I was struck by how clean it was. Pristine! When the owner happened by I said, “Do you never use this barn? It’s so clean.”
“Oh sure,” he said. “We use it for hay storage.”
“What about the horses?”
“They like to be outside.”
“Even in the winter? In the snow?”
“Yep.”
We were only twelve miles from the Canadian border. Winters are not warm here. I was amazed.
The owner walked around the barn to show me a lean-to he had built which was attached to the side of the structure. Just a roof, with divided stalls, to keep the horses separated when eating their supplements. They had free access to this shed, but never came into it except for the feed. Again, I was amazed. This ran so counter to everything I felt for my horses. We want to think of them as children, or big dogs, and treat them in the same manner.
They aren’t aren’t children, or big dogs.
Not even close.
What sometimes seems too simple for me to grasp is the fact that horses have been around for millions of years, evolving to survive as a prey species, and those evolved genetics are precisely the same for every horse on the planet, wild or domestic. Given the opportunity they can take care of themselves. They’re built to do it. If not, we would have never heard of the horse. They would’ve been extinct eons ago.
At both our former California home and the new one in middle Tennessee we had worked hard to mimic the wild horse lifestyle as closely as possible. But it never fails. Just when I think I’ve got it, when I’m certain I understand the concept…WHAP!
Along comes a blow to test my faith.
Mariah quite suddenly went dead lame in her right front foot. With a pounding digital pulse. Couldn’t put any weight on it al all. An abscess! Apparently a bad one.
Fear rushed in and faith went right out the window.
It could’ve happened a few days earlier, before Kathleen ran off to California. But it didn’t. No, it had to be while I was home alone. With no one to help, or soothe, or listen. I was frozen in place.
Freaked out.
Tharn!
I love that word from Watership Down. It’s rabbit-speak, and there is simply no English equivalent. It’s what happens when a rabbit gets caught in the headlights and is so suddenly petrified that he can neither move nor think.
I was tharn. Our vast experience with horses – almost 5 years at the time:) – had never shown us an abscess. I was told gory stories of digging out all this gross-looking stuff with a knife and soaking the horse’s hoof several times a day. High doses of antibiotics. And all the terrible things that can happen if it’s not properly cared for. I was so tempted to violate my firm beliefs, my faith in Mariah’s systems and the wild horse lifestyle, and lock her up because she was obviously in a great deal of pain trying to walk and keep up with the herd. But keep up she did, wherever they went. It was painful to watch. I was told the vet should come and dig it out. And told I absolutely HAD to soak it.
Mariah grew tired and annoyed with keeping her foot in a tub for fifteen minutes at a time and finally she said enough!
And: Where’s my herd?!
And off she went. On three legs.
The herd heads for the grove – Mariah bringing up the rear
Mariah in “the grove” – a quarter of a mile away from the first photo above. Surrounded by the herd just out of the frame
“Get a soaking boot. You have to soak,” someone said.
I bought a soaking boot.
It was never used.
When I arrived back at the house with the boot there was an email from Yvonne Welz, the amazing editor of The Horse’s Hoof. She said: Joe, when a horse has healthy hooves and is living like horses are genetically designed to live abscesses are often here today, gone tomorrow! Just not a big deal. Yes, when the hoof has good blood circulation and lots of movement, the body just absorbs the problem area. Why do abscesses happen in healthy horses? Some sort of trauma or environmental cause, usually.
Natalie Cruz of Shoe Free Performance Horses went a step further: The vets won’t like this but abscesses will heal themselves. The best thing you can do for your horse is give it a couple of tablets of bute a day for a week or so and baby the horse a bit for your own peace of mind. Keep the horse turned out so it can move which increases blood flow so the abscess either blows out or disintegrates inside the hoof. But check to make sure the horse was not kicked or otherwise injured, of course. If not, and the horse is suddenly dead lame on one hoof, it is usually an abscess. Take a couple of aspirin for your own headache and wait it out. But don’t allow anyone to dig it out! This is counterproductive to healing and can actually introduce bacteria into the hoof and cause problems! No need to wrap the hoof either. It just annoys the horse and doesn’t help its healing one iota. So drink a glass of wine and prop your own foot up instead. :) Some drawing products like Epsoms salt may help a little bit though I don’t use any of them.
I had barely finished reading these when suddenly Mariah was better. Limping, but putting weight on the hoof. The next morning she was walking fine. A day later she was cantering down our steep hill with the herd racing to the barn for breakfast.
A few months ago we had watched an abscess on Skeeter’s belly (caused by an allergic reaction) slowly disappear as the body dissolved it. Likewise my tharn-ness began to dissolve away leaving an embarrassed logic. Of course, it’s the blood circulation that does the dissolving. So why shouldn’t Mariah’s body do it’s job. She has terrific circulation in her feet because she wears no shoes. She gets tons of movement which increases circulation even more. Her diet is good. And her body is working as it’s designed to work.
The verse Oh ye of little faith came to mind.
Unfortunately appropriate.
Since that time we’ve had a few more, one that lasted a week and finally blew out along the hairline. But we’ve never touched or soaked a one of them. Or put any of the horses in stalls.
The lesson? Nobody says it better than Rick Lamb: Give them as natural a life as possible. Then get out of the way.
Anybody want to buy fifteen pounds of Epson Salt?
——
The story of our journey with horses (to date) is told in the two books that follow: the national best seller The Soul of a Horse – Life Lessons from the Herd and its sequel Born Wild – The Soul of a Horse.
And what a story it is as two novices without a clue stumble and bumble their way through the learning process so that hopefully you won’t have to. If you haven’t read both of these books already please do because with that reading, I believe, will come not just the knowledge of discovery but the passion and the excitement to cause you to commit to your journey with horses, to do for the horse without waiver so that your relationship and experience will be with loving, happy and healthy horses who are willing partners and who never stop trying for you. Horses like ours.
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“One cannot help but be touched by Camp’s love and sympathy for animals and by his eloquence on the subject.” – Michael Korda, The Washington Post
“Joe Camp is a natural when it comes to understanding how animals tick and a genius at telling us their story. His books are must-reads for those who love animals of any species.” – Monty Roberts – Author of New York Timers Best-seller The Man Who Listens to Horses
“Camp’s tightly-written, simply-designed and powerfully drawn chapters often read like short stories that flow from the heart.” Jack L. Kennedy – The Joplin Independent
“Joe Camp is a gifted storyteller and the results are magical. Joe entertains, educates and empowers, baring his own soul while articulating keystone principles of a modern revolution in horsemanship.” – Rick Lamb – TV/Radio host – The Horse Show
Great Post. I love the description of the fear that sets in when one of my horses or donkeys gets hurt. My little formerly wild burro, Kestrel, has been a great teacher on these matters. He is a very loving boy but if I have anything that could be construed as medical ointment, wormer, soap etc he will not come near.
He has had a couple of abscesses, making him dead lame. I live on a very hilly property and I did bring food and water to him when he as laying down away from the herd who was up the hill where they are fed. Even then he would come up the big long hill at least once a day, limping along. Soon he was fine though and all healed up.
His latest injury was a seven inch laceration. Even the vet said that because of the location, there was no point in trying to suture so I had to let Kestrel heal on his own. Of course this is the middle of summer/flies in central texas. His methods involved lots of rolling in clean sand, a couple of days of laying down and being quiet. Now the wound is not healed but it is much smaller, the large flap of skin fell off, the wound is clean, sometimes it will bleed but is getting smaller each day minutely.
As a human, I have to work with the fear, the guilt and all that stuff while trusting the universe and the donkey to heal. :)
Terrific lesson Forest Horse
I think Chico only had maybe 2 abscesses in the 16 years I had him. Lucky – because he was shod all the way around up till the last few years – then I pulled his back shoes. As I said before, Joe, sure do wish you & your blog had been around then. BUT – after reading Veronicas mailbox flag story – it made me think of a ride we went on with a friend. It was through the woods & down into a little gulley. Started across what looked like a lot of brush.
AND Chico dropped down thru all 4 legs. It was a beaver dam!
(I had never seen one). We stood there a minute (seemed like longer) my friend calling to me to “get off get off”. But all I could think was then I would drop down thru & I wouldn’t be able to help him. So I Sat there!! Finally Chico figured since I wasn’t going to get him out of this – HE WAS!
He started rearing a little & turning – rearing a little & turning and worked his way right off the beaver dam. I checked his legs – no scratches at all! I feel he saved both of us that day – if he had panicked – theres no telling what could have happened. We had many rides – where I did something stupid & he got us out of it.
Miss him
That’s very cool Maggie!! Good boy Chico. Good girl Maggie!
I learned a lot of things when I adopted a 15 year old stud horse from the BLM back in 78. He was part of the first roundups. Horse #169, from Fish Fin Rim in SE Oregon. No freeze branding. Just big numbers shaved into his bony sides. I saw him and just knew that he was the one.
Came back the next day to pick him up, and he was dead lame. However, with the cowboys jacking him up with all kinds of prods and devices, he was running about a stallion filled pen, and finally down a chute into a livestock truck.
He was a true wild one. Once he was unloaded, he tried to climb over the 7 foot log fence I had constructed. A closer inspection revealed that he was covered in deep old scars nearly all over his body. Somehow he had managed to survive out in the desert without stitches, salves or fussing.
The lameness resolved over a week as the abscess came through the coronet band. This horse never took a lame step in his life after. Died at age 44, ridden thru age 42, albeit lightly with small children perched on his back. The other amazing thing that was noted about him is that he had the worst case of ringbone and sidebone that anyone had seen that probably developed due to the hard volcanic surface that he lived on for 15 years. Other than some loss of range of motion, time and the ability to keep moving had helped him to remain functional all those years. I never stalled him. He preferred trees and the sides of buildings.
A terrific story Janaly. Just goes to show. We’re shooting for 43. With all of them :)
Joe, I agree, so far, with everything of yours I have read. I am a wife, mom, dog trainer (owner educator), horse owner/hobbyist trainer and, most importantly, a sister in Christ. I read Soul of a Horse last year and have wanted to get in touch with you ever since. (I don’t know any other way except this blog comment, so I am going for it.) I agree, totally, in communicating with animals in their language and providing them the needs that God created them to have. I believe that “having dominion over them” means we have to learn to speak their language before we become their trustworthy leader. We can’t expect them to be human and give them human emotions because they are not humans; they are animals. I am praying as I write this and trust that if you are meant to get it, you will. I listed my blog page (which I have not yet posted anywhere on-line) in the website block. On my blog page is an 8 minute video of me explaining my dog training. This is me about 10 years ago. My philosophy has not changed, but now I am more mature and am learning more every day! God in His awesome love is using my husband, 2 children, more dogs, friends, family, etc to keep on teaching me! I believe God has given me a gift with training and I have a big dream that I would like to use that gift for. My dream came after training dogs for over 20 years and working intensely one-on-one with dogs and their owners full-time for 5 years. I have also worked with a few different animal shelters and that is what my dream pertains to. However, I feel like what I have to share with the world will, unfortunately, come as a surprise. It goes against the current treat training philosophies. I teach people to live with dogs in a way that is not easily understood and accepted by people in this age. I hope and pray that if it is God’s will, I will hear from you soon. Joe and Kathleen, I will continue to pray for you and the work you are doing. Respectfully, Sarah Sujkowski
Hi Joe.
Glad to hear your story. I’ve had my gleding barefoot for four years now, and he’s had a somewhat cronic abcessing issue for about a year and a half now. I’m growing SO tired of it, and have diligently kept a journal on when it happens to try to figure out WHY it happens. Trauma to the hoof could be the culprit because the owners of the property where I keep him have quarried granit in all three driveways which the horses must use to get to the pastures and into the barn each night. (nothing I can do about either of those facts at this point unfortunately) It’s got sharp edges and is very hard and uncomfortable for all but one of the horses in the herd of 4. BUT, my horse only abcesses in the rear, so I tend to think if it were outside the hoof trauma, it would appear in any of his feet notjust the rear…to that end, though, I have opted to boot him 23/7, taking off the (excellent fitting and vented) boots daily to clean and check things. It seems to be very helpful to his comfort.
He gets very little grain,and only gets that to add fat to his diet for a PSSM issue. It amounts to about 4 cups a day. I don’t deworm him traditionally, I get fecal tests done and deworm only when needed. I now pracitce spacing out immunizatoin shots to reduce the stress on his system….only becuse I’m still too scared not to immunize. I’ve been in contact with Dr. Dan Moore, and Eddie Drabek, who was helpful in suggesting something I hadn’t thought of- Adding Magnesuim to his diet. Apparently, it won’t hurt him if in fact he doesnt so much need that, but will equalize his metabolizm and help the body’s onslought to get something that is in there ballanced, like from the hay coming in with changes that we can’t predict, like being harvested during or after a draught…or being furtilized, as you have touched on before… I also think I may have the hay and the horse’s blood tested to see what isn’t jiving there. It’s really hard not to follow traditions, when everyone around you is judging what you are or aren’t doing for your horse. Thank you so much for being there with regular horse owner stories, and how you are handling it naturally! Some day, I’ll have my own place and be more able to set things up for the natural success I’m striving for! I wish I could just move him, but here, there are few to no ‘natural boarding’ situtations.
“Hanging in there”,
Kim
All good Kim. Do stay the course and do hang in there :) Grain you know turns immediately to sugar upon entering the body. You might want to look at rice bran for added fat. And maybe a little olive oil (cold pressed extra virgin). Skeeter was on 100% alfalfa when he came to us. As we got him off of that he began to lose weight. We tried several things and settled on rice bran as it has less potentially bad in it than anything else we researched. Skeeter gets three cups in the morning and 2.5 at night. If he plumps up we reduce and vice versa. I know how hard it is to keep plowing and digging and doing what is best for the horse when everybody says you’re nuts, but that’s what we must do. – Joe
Never,especially now that they have their wings!!!
Keep the Epsom salts for yourself folks. Nothing feels better than a very warm bath with Epsom salts in it if you are stiff and sore.
For the gal with the apparent stings/bites on her horse, I am wondering if she has ground wasps on her property? The nest is most easily found before it starts to get dark as they come back to the nest for the evening. They are ornery by nature. We have had them by tree trunks, fence posts basically any place they decide to create a nest.
Thank you for sharing Joe. Thank everyone for sharing.
My water hose was frozen yesterday a.m. Time to start preparing for winter around here. Last week we were in the 90’s temperature wise now we have frost in the mornings.
Have a wonderful fall and enjoy the beauty of the changing colors, cooler temps., and hopefully less bugs.
HEY Joe . My horses have had abscess many times. Most burst out of the coronett band. Normally last a few days.
You may find this interesting . My pally mate ran through the bush by my creek injuring her belly on a tree stump. The result was a massive hematoma about 16 inches long , six inches wide and hung down about 3 inches. The vet said leave it as it will heal itself. I was amazed that after 2 days a hole formed by itself and grew until it was 1 inch wide and the hematoma drained itself over the next week.I was very worried about this constantly dripping hole in her tummy..
Once it had drained the hole closed up and left a tiny scar. All this without me doing a thing.
Horses are remarkable creatures who as you said have been around for millions of years well before man evolved..
Thanks for this Harry. Y’all all read please!! So cool in reinforcing the concept that sometimes we just need to “get outta the way” :)
Jane and Joe, about the tick bites…horses can get Lyme’s Disease from ticks. I’ve had it and it is NOT fun! If your horses show any signs of lethargy, stiffness in joints or other pain, get them tested please. Horses respond well to treatment, much better than humans! I watched Dr Susan do a chiropractic treatment on an equine patient a few months ago and she said when the treatment doesn’t “hold,” it is almost always Lyme’s. She ran the test on him and it was positive. He went home with antibiotics and she told his owners to watch out, he would be his feisty old self in just a few days!
Hi Joe. You are so good at telling story’s. I could never stop reading in the middle of one of them. I just love your blog’s. So how’s it going with the round pen? I’ve been waitting to hear this adventure.Please let me know when you have a moment. Hope you and your’s are haveing a wonderful holiday. Louanne
Louanne… So far (sorry to say) only Cash and Mouse have been in the round pen to work and learn. We planned to start on Noelle when Kathleen was here for 4 weeks during the summer (July & Aug) and it was soooo hot neither one of us could get up for it. Unfortunately for all of us we’re just not in a hurry. We’ll get to it when the mood, the weather, and Noelle are up to it :) She’s making a few micro steps during morning and evening feeds, growing (slightly) less and less apt to leap to the other side of the paddock every time something brand new comes from me. It was funny today. When I walk to the gate to drive the Gator in I usually drag my hand along her entire body, neck to tail, and just keep going to the gate. Something happened this morning when I started down her body and she flinched and took a step back… but then stopped. When she flinched so did I and for a moment we both just stood there, as if she were saying: Okay, I stopped are you going to scratch my tail or not? I lifted my arm straight toward the top of her tail (which I had never done… always having slid down her back to her tail) and there she stood as I scratched. When I walked on, she stepped back to her tub and continued eating. It was nice.
Well Joe
I may have got to the middle of your story about Mariah and her absess and was thinking of my husbands Mare Shiolh who came to us and we got rid of her shoes, she had abesses for two years till all the toxins were finally out of her body and we have had no absess in 2 years.
Then my husband walked into the kitchen and said we are about to have 3 visitors, I knew exactly what he meant.
We don’t have a lot of pasture here maybe four acres divided up in sections and parts gets closed off like now so we can re-seed, but our horses do have access to the 100 Acres of woods behind our home, and they have been venturing more and more.
To the point that they found a route that will bring them right back to our front lawn, the problem is we may be out in the woods, but sometimes we do get traffic, so it’s always on our minds when we see them come around and show up on the lawn, that we have to stop this and we keep running more lines and more lines all over the place to guide them back to make sure they don’t go on the road.
So here we were after supper, I was reading your blog and my husband was watching TV, when we suddenly had to try to get them back up into the safe part of our property and all they did was run kicking up their heals like kids threw the 3 Acres of Pine trees that run in rows on both sides of the drive way in the front of our house. The pine trees run back from the road to the house about 300 feet. They knew they were getting away with something. And shooing them back was not working so I had to play boogie man. I am short as it is so I didn’t have to crouch too much and walk funny and slow as they came running to avoid my husband they spotted the boogie man, and up the driveway they ran to safety.
So I had to laugh when you said ” Give them as natural a life as possible and get out of their way”
So true so true, and you know they had the same access only a couple years ago but did not have the trust. Now with us taking them out more to gain their confidence we have almost created a few Monsters of our own.
As my husband is putting them back under the line of electric fence I joked with him. Well !!! we’ve been taking them farther and farther away and now we even had them on the road today, so what do you expect?
We are not sorry and especially after such a wonderful day. Both of us have always wanted to ride our horses and I mean on our 100 Acres there are trails for hours from the loggers who cleared a lot of space and our neighbour who opened it up for us All the spots lead to logging roads in the middle of no where.
But a couple of years ago we could not get them to move from each other or the front window. They had to see each other at all times.
Well Joe, I would never have imagined it, but we were gone today for 3 hours and the beauty not only of the woods and the hillsides and the sky over every hill, but when fear would hit and we both had to encourage as we never could before. Only took a bit of coaxing and we were on our way again.
Our way back led us by choice to the road that leads to our driveway. See!!! anyway about a mile up the road and we were almost home we came apon my neighbours mailbox with his Canadian Flag waving in the wind. Which up to this point was also a major accomplishment. Remember we were suppose to get a major storm? Well we didn’t get the major storm but we did get quite a bit of wind and rain yesterday, no rain today but still quite a bit of wind. You know horses and wind. Well my Klipse noticed this boogie man mail box and flag and I was sure this was it. He was going to throw me and bolt!! But I stayed calm and was firm and led him forward. He did not want to go, but he did with reluctance and once he got past that mailbox his head came up so proud and I just kept telling him what a good boy he was and then we were home.
There is lots more to tell as I took him in the paddock to let him cool down and brush him but I will end with. This boy has come a long way , he showed me today. ” He trust me” That is heaven in my eyes.
None of this would ever have happend If I had not done as you have. Questioned that other life. That life that seemed to say we needed to barn our horses and keep them safe from wind and rain and storms and put shoes on their feet to keep them strong.
One day at a time Joe.
All very cool Veronica. Congratulations. But don’t relax :) …too much.
Thank you for telling us all this, its very very helpful to people who dont know how to deal with this,Im So glad Mariah’s well =D im sure she missed the herd so much, horses are such routine animals, and when one tiny thing is different, its too much! they cant take it, funny thing is, when we first got Chance, After he had had the first trimming in July, he went very lame on his left front hoof,, my trimmer Cedrik said its just an abscess.. he told me and Sultan NO STALL REST! DONT LSN TO ANY VETS, just let him do what he wants to do, and we did, we stayed on the same schedule, but we did soak his hoof, and put a boot on, but three days later, it came through =D no abscess till now! he just got his second trim done, Cedrik says his back feet are looking better than his front, but its only the second month=D
Hope ur work with Noelle is going superb, would love to know more about what u guys are doing! hows cash? skeeter? hows the weather now? its so soooo much better here, with only 29% humidity! the horses are finally comfortable =) and we started riding as well, just walk since they have not been ridden for over 3 months now. Take care of urselves =D and MORE PICS!!!
Lots of Love
Aisha
Btw any new tele workshop? plz let me know
That last line got me – made me laugh out loud. I can add my gallon-or-so of Epsom salts to yours – only you can have mine for FREE! Sparrow did a similar thing this spring (and this would have been her 3rd abscess in two years). She was limping and we discovered what looked like an abscess near her white line. I gave her a homeopathic remedy and just waited. She was fine.
I can so empathize with your words here though!! I STILL have to keep telling myself (and trying to convince others) that they are OKAY outside. all. the. time. Happier even. That they each other and larger areas to move around in.
My newest issue is bee/wasp/hornet (??) stings. My poor old guy has 4 huge welts on him, the newest one this morning near his mouth! I cannot find out what they are, exactly, but am fairly confident they are stings/bites from bees, wasps, or hornets. The area is the size of a silver dollar, with a oozing crusty middle. Ever seen that?
We’ve had a few horsefly/deerfly bites that have welted up but I don’t think any stings yet. What you describe sounds like some tick bites we had in the spring, especially in the rear armpits (legpits?) up in the soft tissue. Me being unprepared for the onslaught (ticks were everywhere for about two months!) and not knowing what the welts were until the vet started guessing. Cash had some gross ones around his anus. A few years back I would’ve never bet that I would be cleaning a jar full of puss out of welts in that location and then treating them with ointment. Never seen anything like it.
Another great blog entry, Joe!
I know the “tharn” feeling well and the sense of helplessness it brings. I suppose this time it actually had a purpose as you didn’t leap headlong into getting the abscess out at all costs.
It sounds like you have a great network of knowledgeable friends and Mariah is lucky to be owning you! ;-D
Keep the faith Joe – it helps people like me carry on.
All the best,
Catherine.
Now that is perspective! I laughed out loud. I think you’re right. It did indeed have a purpose. Many thanks also for the kind words. Joe