A call from an old horse-owning client of mine took me over to his farm to have a look at Bertie, his barrel-racing gelding. It was my first meeting with the gray quarter horse. I was told that he had been inconsistent in latest runs, way below his regular standards. Bertie tensed up and glared at me from a high and rigid head when I approached him. His defiance made my job of diagnosing his state difficult; I made up my mind to perform some network chiropractic actions and judge his reactions.
His posture modified by the time I had finished some moves. He started breathing shallowly and his head started to sag. After some more moves, his head was quite low and he began to lick and chew. I did not receive a single glance from Bertie, nor did he even acknowledge my existence in any other way during my time with him, but he stunned his owner by acing a barrel race the following day. He appeared to perform well above his normal standards.
Over the next one or two years, I found Bertie now and then. After a few years, he was sold to someone that was not among my clients, and thus, I didn’t see him for a few years. Bertie did not last long with his new owner. The woman resold him to a professional tutor on the condition that the tutor would not let children ride Bertie. Even though she wasn’t well versed in equine temperament types, she realized Bertie was too quickly and too difficult for even a professional kid to handle.
The tutor sold Bertie to some kid. When the kid’s parents got to know about the nature of pony they’d bought for their child, they tracked back to Bertie’s original owner, who purchased him back. She got him barrel racing again. It took a while for Bertie to get back to his old ways , but shortly he was winning again.
Generally, Bertie was made of sterner stuff, and he didn’t have much of an issue with the rather demanding rodeo life. Nevertheless while taking part in a barrel race in Alibene, TX, he was beset with a rather severe impaction colic. He had just travelled from East Texan humidity to the aridity of Northwest Texas, and hadn’t had enough water. Rather ironically, Bertie’s tolerance to agony was extreme, and he showed no symptoms of colic until his state had reached a really advanced stage. He was brought to a local veterinary clinic, where he spent the night on IV fluids and heavy treatments of analgesics.
Maybe if Bertie’s owner had known that he was a classic Metal pony specimen, the colic impaction might have been prevented with the right kind of care. The key Metal pony organs are the lungs and the massive guts, and great care must be taken to keep these organs in peak condition. Bran mashes and water-soaked pelleted feed are wonderful diet options for any pony with a hydration problem. Another awfully advisable option to stop impaction is to scale back on hay if reduced water content is seen in dung.
For the moderately dehydrated horse, electrolytes combined with food or fed in a paste will encourage the pony to drink. This won’t work with horses affected by grim dehydration. Metal type horses need to be watched with eagle eyes because they tend to continue performing with apparent normalcy even when they’re impacted.
Metal type horses utilized in competition should be given sufficient lung and lower bowel support with Equilite’s Bleeder’s Mix. Bioflavanoids in Bleeder’s Mix are good for the lungs, while the mucilaginous herb mullein, also a part of the formula, moisturizes and comforts the big intestines.
Bertie recovered soon enough from that specific impaction. He was meant to win lots more races before one day he extremely unfortunately bowed a front leg tendon. The scar tissue that resulted visited awful pain upon him, and while he continued to limp around, it was shortly obvious that he would never recover. His owner put him down to alleviate him from the constant agony. Bertie was a typical Metal type: he had a hard, give-no-quarter temperament and the physical capabilities to go with it. He knew what he had to do and did it well. He was consistent in performance and was undemanding.
Horses are Heather Tomspassion and she enjoys sharing her extensive knowledge through her 100s of articles with other horse lovers go here
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