Cloudy for me was by no means an unusual case. Until recently he had been at a very good and professionally run riding school. However, he had picked up an injury that had rendered him unable to work and the owner had sent him away for a bit of rest and recuperation to see if it would help. I first saw him when he had been resting for 3 weeks. The owner had come to the conclusion that cloudy was not happy in the riding school and thought he would be better off in a private home.

There were several things that were apparent about Cloudy.
1. There was a "stirring" action with the right hind leg that would have made it impossible to pass a vetting.
2. He was roach backed.
3. He could not cross through when spun in a circle in either direction.
4. He could not stand with his hind legs square.
5. He seemed generally quite depressed despite the 3 weeks of freedom.

As I began to work on Cloudy for the first time he very quickly became very relaxed and allowed the energy to flow well. Different things came up, not surprisingly, backache but also anxiety in the front legs and shoulders. The treatment lasted for about an hour during which I work my way all around his body balancing out the areas.

Afterwards we took him outside and trotted him up just to see if there was any immediate difference. We were pleased to see that there was, the right hind was running much straighter and albeit with difficulty he was managing to cross through his hind legs. His hind legs were still not square but that was enough for one day.

I returned 2 weeks later to see how he was doing, he was in a different box and to my embarrassment I didn't recognise him! He had put on a huge amount of weight, although on my first visit he had been by no means thin, he was now beautifully covered. The most striking difference, however was his mood. Cloudy was now holding his head up and was looking very pleased with himself and happy. Once again we trotted him up and turned him in a circle to check his crossing through. There had been little further improvement since my first visit but neither had he gone back.

I went to work again. Everything we had done on the previous occasion had held. The anxiety in the front legs had gone along with the aching back. Again I worked all over his body and he drew energy quite happily. On the second occasion most horses have got the idea about why I am there and what is required of them so work much better. As I reached the point just behind the wither a strung vibrating began to build under my hand, I waited to allow it to settle. Cloudy, up to this point had been standing there very relaxed and sleepy. All of a sudden he began to stretch, he reached up with his neck and arched it, pulled his chin in and as he did so a long drool of clear saliva dribbled out of his mouth. The rest of the treatment passed without incident and once again we took him outside to see if there were any immediate results to be seen. This time He trotted up completely sound and crossed through in both directions with ease. He was also standing square behind without effort.

He was now a magnificent, sound horse and ready to find a new home

This article is kindly provided by Alison Hastie MGCP. MAR. PCR. TATh. For further information please click here to visit Alison at Sandford Therapies. Alison will be very happy to answer any questions you may have