From retirement to a new lease of life………

Brandy is and always has been our Horse Sense leader. His bold attitude and loving nature has always made him a favourite with our clients. So it rocked us to our core when, following lameness tests, he was diagnosed with soft tissue arthritic changes.
The following months rushed by ……How could we retire a 14-year-old with so much life in him? Would he ever be able to be used again? What options did we have?
The team at Severn Edge Vets has been on hand to guide us through every step of the process, and we had to endure weeks of endless X-rays and re-assessments. We can now as a team say that we are old hat/ professionals at getting a horse to stand correctly for X-rays. The X-ray safety apron was sadly becoming a regular part of my wardrobe and did absolutely nothing for my figure. Forget the gym membership, our fitness regime now involved running up and down the road with Brandy while the Vet assessed his lameness. What an experience.
After one wet and windy visit from our Vet, Kate she suggested a course of Cartrofen injections. She took the time to explain how Cartrofen works.
It is important to emphasise that Cartrophen is only licensed for use in dogs but has been widely injected into horses with encouraging results. It is what is known as a chondro-protective agent – that is that it helps to protect the cartilage on the ends of the bone within joints. It improves the quality of the joint oil, making it thicker and thereby enhancing its lubricant characteristics. It also has a mild anti-inflammatory effect. Because it is injected into the muscle it travels to all joints in the body and sometimes has a marked rejuvenating effect on older, arthritic horses and ponies.
We decided that we had nothing to lose and everything to gain. We embarked on a 4 week course initially. We first noticed a marked change in Brandy’s attitude; retirement was really not suiting him and he had no problem letting everyone know this was the case.  He was looking happier and the improvements just kept coming. Brandy’s lameness had clearly been significantly reduced. Kate came to review him just after Christmas 2015 and suggested we carry on with a further course of Cartrofen. It was the easiest decision we have made.
So fast forward to March 2016 and we have our Horse Sense Leader back and although we are taking it very slowly, in addition to resuming his role as an Equine Assisted Coaching Horse, he is now back being ridden in our arena and loving life again.
For more information about our Horse Sense offering or to keep up with Brandy’s story check out our web site or find us on FB.
https://www.facebook.com/HorseSensepage/
Telephone: 01584 890 636
Website: www.horsesensetraining.co.uk

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