20/11/2024
A lovely testimonial from Lisa Cameron a great result for teamwork and a big thank you to Rob Holder from EarthEco Equine Services for sharing the "core heat extraction" method with us.
"For the past 3.5 years I have been on a hopeless journey trying to find an answer as to why my beautiful mare just isn’t right. She’d been through 4 practices, multiple workups, xrays and scans. We have found things that have been addressed and have helped, but never got to the root cause of why she just struggled to perform so much.
Despite what I kept being told by various instructors that “it’s just a straightness issue”, deep down, I knew it wasn’t.
I’d almost given up with ever finding out what was going on, but after a long chat with my lovely Chiro Amy, and subsequently with my fabulous trainer David, they helped me believe that it wasn’t in my head and that a reason had to be found. I then had a discussion with our wonderful Laura of LMT Equine who recommended Sarah and her Thermography technique. To say what an eye-opening experience it has been would be an understatement!
I took Zara to Lingfield Equine Vets where I met Sarah who performed the Thermography. She was so good with her, and took the time to explain to me what she was doing and what to expect. A day later I received a comprehensive report of findings written by Kate of Lingfield Vets based on previous videos of Zara moving that I had sent, and that of the Thermography. Her recommendations for further investigation were listed out and an offer to call to discuss further which I did. Kate really listened to my thoughts and together we decided what to investigate first. A couple of weeks later she was back at Lingfield for neck & back X-rays, and there the issue was found.
Kate spent close to an hour sitting down with me, going through each X-ray and explaining exactly what she’d found. It finally felt like the lights had been turned on. Whilst devastated with the findings, it was an enormous relief to finally be able to have a plan to help Zara.
I’d never heard of the condition that Kate told me about and seemingly neither have a lot of people. In short, ECVM is a genetic malformation most commonly occurring in C6/C7, which affects the balance and symmetry of a horse. The bone to connect muscles and ligaments is misplaced or missing on one or both sides, meaning that it is impossible for a horse to bend one way or both, for Zara it has always been to the right. A consequence of this is Osteoarthritis believed to be caused by constant strain of riders trying to “correct” or “straighten” the horse. In Zara’s case her neck is pretty badly affected in multiple places, along with areas through her back which may or may not be related.
Why was this never picked up before? Good question! But all I can say is that I am so grateful to Laura for her recommendation, to Sarah for her amazing technique and to Kate for her above and beyond attention to detail. I can’t recommend Equine Performance Thermography enough and only wish I started here those years ago. Sarah’s work didn’t stop at the scan, she has also taken the time to call me and share her own experiences and we will keep in touch as things progress.
Thankfully we now have a plan. Zara may always have limitations, and that’s ok because now I will never have to put her through anything she tells me she can’t do"
