Horse Health and Homeopathy

Photo by Dusty Perin 

Last winter I went on a new quest to help out the chronic uveitis of my horse.  He had a "corneal ulcer" in 2010 I think it was.  The vet came out and checked the eye, stained it to see what was going on and left me with antibiotic cream to apply to the eye for some time while it healed.  He told me that while it was healing I'd maybe see veins form and then it would heal the rest of the way.  It looked like a white spot on the surface of his eye.  This happened in the fall that year.  Then he got another one in the summer.  I can't recall just now if it was 2011 or not.  Anyhow, after that 2nd one and just applying the ointment again I wondered a little more about it.  

The next year or so I know there were more.  I do recall at one point reading up on it when one happened in the summer...perhaps 2013 and I read about neck threadworm being a possible cause.  My vet was away at a conference so I just wormed with ivermecterin in case.  Worming is a whole different discussion.  I'd been going forward with only worming to the fecal tests which I can say now...isn't the right plan for my horse.  I still get a fecal test done once a year but he stays on a worming schedule throughout the year now.  That ivermecterin dose he reacted to in a big way.  Lumps all down his neck and chest and on the back of his hind legs.  He was actually loaded with little neck threadworms.  We live right next to a beaver pond and this horse is totally eaten alive by mosquitos in the summer.  I guess some had those little threadworms in them.  

Still it was not really the key to his eye troubles.  

One white spot would barely heal before another would pop up.  Always the left eye and always with those incredible veins showing up to heal the white area.  

I did a competitive trail ride in the fall of 2013 where the vet there talked about a new "plasma" treatment for the eye.  It involved drawing the horse's blood and spinning it to separate the plasma and then applying that to the eye 4 times a day for expedited healing of the ulcer.  Hmmm.  My current vet would not have been a good match for that treatment as he traveled a long way to get here.  The farm call alone would be quite expensive.  But we have a new vet who lives about a mile away from me...  Maybe I should see if she'd be game.  She came out and we did the plasma treatment on a healing white spot just to see if he would tolerate the process.  He did.  It was too late in that episode to really know if it would be a good match for him.  The next event was to have the same vet come by to meet and greet my equine dentist the day he came to do work.  While the 3 of us were chatting about horse things in general something was talked about which sparked some thoughts in this young vet.  Turns out she studied in Scotland.  She grew up here and did her undergraduate at UNH but then did her Veterinary Surgeon training in Scotland.  She literally took a step back and started ticking off the health issues with my horse.  Skin issues, uveitis, large intestine ulcers, hoof cracks...

She asked if I had ever though of homeopathy for this horse.

HUH?

More research and finally a call to Joyce Harman to consult.  Her answers were a lot to take in.  It's been nearly a full year now so I think it's worth reporting.  She's been right on with healing his eye.  

King's eye 2 weeks after first homeopathic treatment

He responded beautifully to the treatment.  She was able to suggest changes to his feed and to his lifestyle which have made HUGE differences in his eye.  For 2013 he went through more of the year with white spots than without.  For 2014 he healed that spot in January and each time an episode started at all I'd treat him and he'd never get the white spot.  Never had the veins...it would just heal.  The only time it didn't work was when I was out of the remedy and had to special order it in at our natural food store.  It took 3 weeks to arrive.  He developed a white spot during that time and it took several weeks to heal but it was never as bad as any of the ones he experienced prior to homeopathy.  

Side benefits...

Dew poisoning in 2008

King has suffered with dew poisoning the whole time I've owned him.  It's photo sensitivity and "scratches" that happens to his face when he eats wet grass.  So once we figured out the cause the first year he was kept off pasture during the time that the morning dew was on the grass.  I'd bring him up to the little barn on his small paddock each night and keep him there until the grass dried the next day when he could go and eat grass.  I'd put zinc oxide (diaper creme) on his nose to further protect it from the sun and wetness to keep the fungus off.  It's very painful for him.  It's why I ride him with no cavesson (noseband) and why I can't use hackamores on him.  The skin would be so raw.  I'd put a long face mask on him as well to further prevent sun from burning it.  This was an annual problem that I just had to keep tabs on daily as it can get ahead of us so fast.  I've never had him go into a winter with actual hair on his nose either so I'd worry about the cold burning that skin too.  

Joyce said to put him out on pasture and leave him there.  I told her about the dew poisoning.  She said it would be fine.  I didn't understand.  I did as she said.  The same remedy that we're using for his eye...it works for his skin as well.  

I had one tiny bought of dew poisoning this summer.  Not much.  Then nothing for a long time.  24/7 on pasture and no nose issues.  This was strange.  Then he had this tiny 2nd round.  

Dew poisoning 2014

Well.  The second round happened after I'd brought him up to the little pasture due to the bugs that were eating him alive out back.  He came to his old barn and started eating the grasses and clovers that grow there with gusto.  I'd never noticed what grew in there before as he always had it grazed to nubs.  I noticed a LOT of clover.  I know that alsike clover is a problem but I'd never really seen any on our property.  Until now.  

Red Clover in King's paddock

Alsike Clover in King's Paddock

Alsike Clover causes the issues he had on his nose but that's only a part of the poisoning it can cause.  The remedy has kept his nose intact this year but our change in horsekeeping has also helped us to discover this clover and now I can do something about it.  This is the first winter he has had hair on his nose.  I'm so glad for that.

First attempt at a "selfie" on trail ride Nov. 25

I know this photo doesn't show it well...but that is one fine looking nose on King.  He does still have that nose "bump" from old injury which I still have to be careful with nosebands about...but maybe a hackamore is in his future someday.  I think he'd like that.  :)