Wouldn’t it be nice if your horse put all his manure in a nice pile for you?

In this episode of Holistic Horseworks Talks, I talk about my own personal horse journey. Among the things I learned, by accident was that you can potty train horses!

It is much easier to pick up the poop when it’s all in one place. If you can pick up your horse manure and pile it in one area for a week (I recommend you sprinkle the organic Diatomaceous earth in it daily) you will find the horse(s) start pooping closer to that pile.

I have found it harder to retrain where they urinate, especially the mares.

You can pick up shavings with urine and move them closer to the manure pile. Also, spray highly diluted bleach water over that area you do not want them to use along with the Diatomaceous earth.

I prefer essential oils as horses usually pee in the same area by smell. Geldings prefer not to “splatter” on themselves so put a little pile of shavings where you do want them to urinate. I also share how I developed my bodywork system.

If you cannot get someone to come out to do bodywork on your horse, you can learn how to do it yourself at home or a clinic.

Live help is so challenging to find these days. Some clinicians want you to buy their DVD or package and then — Good luck!

I can help you through all the steps and you can send me a picture of your horse for a recheck to make sure you got everything correctly.

How did I develop this program?.

I used to sell treeless saddles. The clients were sending me pictures of their horses. I noticed the ewe necks the roach backs, and the feet that were off angles. The owners thought they needed a treeless saddle to fit their crooked horse.

You actually need to fix the crooked horse if you want them to last longer.
If you get on a bucket about 10 feet behind your horse and you look at your horse’s back, you will see one hip higher, one side of the back lower one shoulder bigger. When you look at the withers, there will be a curvature of the spine like scoliosis, and part of the mane might flip to the other side.

I had taken a course with Kelley Mills and Dr. Regan Golob. They had given us some mane hairs and a pendulum and said, to ask a whole bunch of “yes” or “no” questions about a horse. When you ask the question, the way the pendulum swings determines if the answer is yes or no.

I thought it was weird, but we did it. And then we got to go out and meet the horse. The pendulum was right on! All the health issues we asked about were correctly identified.

Because people kept sending me pictures of their horses, I would tell them to get some bodywork. And they would say, “But I’m way out in the country, and nobody will come out here!” Or “it’s $300 for a horse chiropractor, and I don’t have that money. How am I going to fix my own horse?”

So that is what made me put out my first video and later my home study courses.

I found that it was NOT a training or behavioral issue, it was the horse trying to say that something hurt or it was uncomfortable to move a certain way.

My whole program has grown from that.

Foals as early as six months of age need this bodywork. So if you start this program sooner, you are going to have your best equine friend longer.

With Distance Readings, you can gauge how well you are doing. When you are done you get a FREE recheck to help you feel good about what you are doing.

It is really an affirmation that you did it right. And you can really get that feeling instead of just buying a video that shows you how to do something….and you hope you did it right. You are not sure. So you did not have the confidence. So you did not do it again.

I can look at a horse tell you everything that is wrong, how to fix it, and let you know that you did a really good job.

 When your horse is lame, you will watch him move to figure out where he hurts. However, what you see, may not always be the result of the actual cause of the issue. I see a lot of horses and the owner will say “he’s off on the left hind,” and I will say, “No, it’s actually the right front.”

It is interesting how quickly they can compensate! By the time they are bobbing their head, they are more like three-legged-lame. Many times when you think they are lame, it is going to be the area that was overworked and overcompensated, rather than the site of the original injury.

So if you are riding and the horse seems to be lame on the left front, you should look at the right rear. You need to look at how tight the muscles are in each shoulder and each hind leg. The over-tight area is the one that is over-working. I have a video on how to palpate the front leg suspensory and tendons.

Follow the tight muscles, they will tell you where there is an issue. You want to look for heat. There are a couple of products that are pretty amazing when you are not quite sure where the lameness is.

I like Dynamite Release Spray. You can put it on an area and it will foam wherever the issue is.

Bigeloil is another one. The oil will dry everywhere except where the issue is. Apply the oil daily to help that area heal a little bit better, but you still need to trace the lameness back to the cause.

I have quite a few videos on my YouTube channel for diagnosing where things are starting. The Horse 102 book that I sell on Amazon, has a little bit of information in that as well.

notually, it is a few HOURS before the vet can get to you, so what can you do to help your horse while waiting?

Recently, I worked on some horses that were distressed with colic symptoms while I was at their farm. The first gelding, we got out of the colic by the time the vet arrived 2 hours later.

In this picture above we are combining my horse yoga moves, the butt tuck, and belly lift, which can move the blockage around to let the gas pass.

(Watch this)

In my horse emergency kit, I have DoTERRA DigestZen. It is an essential oil, it tastes like black licorice. I let them smell it and then I put the bottle in their mouth to let it come out. I then put it on my hand and I rub it all over their belly, especially on the belly button area. It is amazing for helping to relieve the pain from blockage causing bloating and gas.

As we walked the horse around, we did the Horse Yoga every 5-10 min and gave more of the DigestZen. By the way, DigestZen also works great for people that have gas and bloating!

When colic strikes, the horse wants to drop and roll because its stomach is bloated and hurting so much. There is some kind of blockage going in on in there. Unfortunately, if they drop and roll, when they have that huge gas bloat, they can twist their intestine.

Colic surgeries can cost $5,000 to $8,000 and that is IF you can get the horse into the vet hospital. Many times people cannot!

So I always say to have the DigestZen on hand, and Epsom salt as well.

Have you read the side of the box where it says to drink Epsom salt in warm water for constipation? I have a list of what you should have ready for any emergency in my Horse 102 book.

When you are in panic mode you might not be thinking clearly, it helps to have the list in front of you.