>>>> Karen, since I am rather new to the list, would you say again why Loftur is less stiff now? Did you find a way to relieve his pain? His stiffness?
We bought Loftur in late May 2004 as a reputed bolter. He was imported, but had been living in Florida (two different homes) for about five years when I got him. Prior to that, according to the story I got from the person who imported him, he was living in Iceland, breeding meat foals, unhandled and virtually wild. When the original owner decided he no longer wanted him, Loftur was to go to slaughter himself. Somehow, she managed to get him imported. Prior to importing, according to her, a group of men went to the field, cornered him, and gelded him in the pasture. Then they put him on a plane, a few weeks later he arrived in Florida...talk about a rude awakening to humans.... the climate change alone had to be shocking. I didn't find out this story until after I bought him though. All I knew is that he was bolting with his prior owner - and at least she had the guts to be honest about it in her advertisement on dreamhorse. Anyway, after a few weeks of observation, we noticed him doing these odd "spooks" that didn't seem consistent with his personality. It finally hit me that maybe he wasn't spooking so much as having spasms of pain. I got a chiropractor to check him, then a vet who does acupuncture (as well as traditional western vet medicine). The vet said the horse was as tight and stiff as any he'd ever seen, and he suggested a series of bodywork by a guy who does a combination of acupressure and massage. At that point, the vet said he simply didn't know where to start with tests, x-rays because the stiffness was so widespread. (He took that to mean years of stored pain and tension, and from the story I got from both owners, he'd had the bolting tendency the whole time he'd been in the USA, although the first owner had tried to overcome it with training.) After a few of those bodywork sessions, he could start to see big improvements, so he called the vet back in. It seemed that Loftur had two main sources of pain - a castration scar, and an old withers injury. (Very consistent with the story the woman told me, btw.) The vet wasn't optimistic - he was afraid that Loftur had "kissing spines", and asked me if I wanted to invest the money in x-rays. I did, and he x-rayed him that day. He was beaming when he gave me the report - no kissing spines, so it was all soft-tissue - all the folks at the clinic got pretty attached to Loftur as they got to know him. He then injected his withers area with steroids, and Loftur hasn't been the same since. I saw him trot in the pasture for the first time the next day. He's still a very lateral horse - I can't remember if we've even ever gotten him to trot under saddle, but he uses his back-end in a totally different way now. He moves so much more freely now. Anyway, based on some odd fear/trust reactions I saw from Loftur when a man would approach him in the open pasture, along with the sites of his old injuries, I totally believe the story I was told about his history. People may make stuff up sometimes, but I don't think horses do, and Loftur "told" me essentially the same story, both with his physical symptoms and in what circumstances his suspicions of humans would arise. I wrote this up in detail for the list as it unfolded. You can find more about my struggles and false-starts in the archives, starting from when I got him in late May 2004 until his steroid injections a couple of days before Christmas 2004. He's never needed a repeat round of steroids, but I keep watch on his posture, and I have had follow-up massage/acupressure a few times since. So, I have a constant reminder in my pasture that life isn't always so idyllic for the "free as butterflies" horses in Iceland. Loftur has had a pretty tough life. Here's a little blurb about Loftur on my very out-of-date website: http://www.windgait.com/LofturGroundwork.htm Karen Thomas, NC [EMAIL PROTECTED]
