Does Your Horse Seem Sluggish Or Lazy?

11/11/21 • 7 min

Holistic Horseworks Talks with April Love

Does your horse feel sluggish to you? Many riders may think the horse is just being stubborn, but it’s more likely the horse is unable to move freely, rather than choose not to .

Recently at a barn, while I was working on horses I looked up and noticed there was a big tall thoroughbred in the arena who just didn't want to go and I could tell his hips and neck, and the rest of his body was out of alignment making proper movement possible. The rider was whipping him, and forcing the horse to do the move again and again in the heat, trying to get him to do the move correctly, and I had to turn away. The horse was not physically able to do what the rider wanted because it caused him pain to do so.

This hurts my heart when I see this again and again and the horse is mislabeled lazy or stubborn. How would you feel if someone says, ‘Hey, let's go for a run or a bike ride.’ And you're like, “Yeah, I really don't want to.” Then they whip you and make you do it anyway.
But if you do my bodywork program, and you do the horse yoga, your horse will be light and free. I used to do 50-mile endurance rides. Other riders noticed that I never needed to kick my horses to get them moving.
So when they're sluggish and lethargic, and heavy in the hind, and heavy on the forehand, you need to look into the body issues of why.

In summer, it may also be electrolytes out of balance. Giving a horse too many electrolytes will cause diarrhea. If you work them really hard, just give them electrolytes a little the night before and later that day. I prefer the Dynamite Dyna Spark which is in a liquid electrolyte in an organic molasses base and the horses just love it!
Also, do the horse yoga to make sure everything's working well. And then look into how much they're eating and drinking. Because when you don't feel good, they aren't going to want to perform.
When everything is out of alignment in the horse, it’s like riding a concrete block. Loosen them up with the horse yoga and the horse will be happy when they see you coming to ride.

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Learn About Holistic Horseworks' Distance Readings

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If you can't 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'll see one hip higher, one side of the back lower one shoulder bigger. When you look at the withers, there'll 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'd 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's what made me put out my first video and later my home study courses.
I found that it wasn't 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. In the distance reading, you send me left- and right-side pictures of the horse after trying the methods in the video and the workbook. I can see if the horse is in alignment. If not I can tell you where work needs to be done.
The home study program teaches you how to find the problem on every other horse for the rest of your life. Anytime a horse falls, goes down in the trailer, flips over backward, sits down, or pulls back when they are tied, you're going to have something you have to go fix.
It really hurts my heart when I hear, “But the vet said that he was fine.” And three months later, the horse isn't fine.
My program teaches you everything about the head, and the rest of the body.
The home study comes with a free distance reading on one of your horses so you can get started. And then you learn how to keep your horses going because my goal is your horse should be healthy sound and ridable through their 30s not be done when they're 20.
Foals as early as six months of age need this bodywork. So if you start this program sooner, you're going to have your best equine friend longer.
With D

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Eeeew! Why do horses eat manure (and other things)?

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Why would a horse eat manure?

We've noticed is the horses that eat manure, whether it's theirs or another pasture mate, are looking for pre-digested greens because their digestion is off track. They also need minerals and things that they're lacking. I really like the Dynamite company that makes all organic vitamins and other things. Without having to guess, you can call (800) 697-7434 and just tell them April Love sent you.

Get the Dynamite Plus vitamins, the plus meaning it has things for the gut and getting rid of parasites in the horse. It will give you better feet and you don't have to grain them. So the horses like the vitamins so much, you have two big scoops that they will eat it out of a pan or your hand. You have to be careful because the cats and dogs, chickens, everything else likes it too!

You'll notice that then seven to 10 days, they'll stop eating the manure because you're giving the horse what they're looking for in digestion, nutrients, and supplements.

Another thing that we see with the mineral-deficient horses is, especially the young horses, is eating the dam's tail hairs. You'll see one horse chewing on another's tail. It’s same thing, he’s looking for digestion, to get minerals. So even the foals, you can put them on a little bit of the Dynamite Plus pellets. And it's amazing how their coat changes, their hoof changes, or attitude changes when you can get them bio-available nutrients.

And for people that don't want to grain the horse because they're not working hard, it's a really good way to get the good nutrition into them.

You can also look at probiotics. I believe a liquid probiotic is better than a powdered probiotic. If your gut flora is off, or if you take antibiotics, which kills all your gut flora, a lot of doctors will say to eat yogurt. Well, can you imagine eating powdered yogurt? No!

If you're going to be feeding a probiotic to your horse, it should be in between meals and it should be a liquid that you can just put in their mouth. Dynamite company has a good one called Dynapro.

You can learn more in my free e-book at HorseAcademy101.com. And I have a book on Amazon, Horse 102, Holistic Alternatives. And of course my website holistichorseworks.com.

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