Meet an Old Friend

The time I have spent working on horses and researching the uses of essential oils has given me some very special equine friends. I would like you to meet some of the horses that contributed to my knowledge and experience and will feature as I discuss the use of essential oils. This excerpt is from Horse Scents (soon to be reviewed and in eBook format.

True Red

True Red is stabled up at Kia-ora Stables in Randwick. Fortunately, this it is just up the road from where I live. Red, as he is generally known, was the first horse on which I was able to practise my skills. He willingly allowed me to experiment with all sorts of massage strokes. He has the patience of a saint.

His owner offered Red to me after he had been trained as a dressage horse. He had been reasonably successful on the track but a fall against the rails left him with a weak hind area on the off-side.

He leaned so hard on me while I was massaging this area that I fell into his water bucket when caught off guard for the first time. Now, rather than relating to this area as a painful experience, I have helped him associate it with pleasure. As horses learn by repetition, I often just attend to his hind quarter in passing to remind him how good it feels.

Red has a recurring spasm that builds up regularly in this area. With frequent applications of chamomile oil in base oil, the spasm is kept in check. The chamomile oil is able to trigger the use of magnesium in the muscle, making it less prone to spasm.

His owner and I have also focused on schooling Red more seriously, and as the fitness of his muscles improves, the use of chamomile is allowing the previously weak muscles to develop healthily.

One frustrating area while working on Red was his shoulders. They would not respond to massage for a long enough period to satisfy me and he was continually pulling up lame. Eventually a keratoma was diagnosed in one of his fore hoofs. This had to be removed surgically and meant Red was put out to pasture to mend for five months.

Now Red graciously allows me to ride him, though I get a better performance if I give him a warm-up rub first. His shoulders were still tight after his five months spell while his hoof healed, but he shows a definite improvement in his movement once the shoulder area has been massaged. He still requires maintenance massages to ensure the shoulder does not return to its previously chronic state.

Both Red and myself are slow to warm up for our lessons, so a warm up massage, particularly to his shoulders and his racing injury, helps both of us “get into it”. It is always noticeable if I haven’t had time to work his muscles with my hands before I saddle him up.

Red has an affectionate nature and he uses his top lip to give me a gentle massage as a thank you after I’ve finished rubbing him. It is a special moment when a horse wants to give back what he has received, though I have to keep a wary eye as he sometimes wants to groom me with his teeth.

As a proud member of True Red’s fan club, I am pleased to boast Red was soon placing in most of his dressage tests, where previously the girl who competes on him was relieved if she didn’t finish last.

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