Neurological damage

A young horse had flipped over and landed on her back, her symptoms did not appear overnight, but it shortly became evident that there was serious neurological damage. She dragged her back feet and was not able to move her tail. She was under veterinary supervision. I was called out 4 months after the accident, and the week following my visit, she was due to have a milligram. The prognosis was a years box rest or PTS.

The young horse selected wintergreen essential oil and St. John's Wort (nerve pain) which were licked off the hand. She licked 2ml of undiluted Wintergreen, which,  provided the greatest interest. I also offered it for topical application to C5 on the neck, as it was being applied her eyes softened and she stayed with us for several minutes before walking away. Immediately after its application she stopped dragging her hind legs and there was movement in her tail, which she was able to move slowly back to position when put to the side (previously it would have stayed where it was placed).

Several days after my visit she was taken to her pre scheduled appointment at the veterinary hospital.  The vet noted that it was obvious that her condition had been severe since her toes were squared off and x rays confirmed that C5 was a problem. He then went on to say that the myelogram should be cancelled since he would not want to put a horse through unnecessary procedures when her condition had improved so significantly. He requested for the horse to come back in 6 months for assessment. In the weeks to follow the young horse no longer wanted to ingest the wintergreen but still wanted a small amount applied to C5, she also took dandelion root, large quantities of rosehip shells, some comfrey and seaweed extract.  10 days after my visit, I was told that the horse had been galloping around the field feeling good.

Brain Injury

Self-selection, a personal story by Lucy

Driving down to Bristol for the level 1 practical at HorseWorld in February 2012, I was wondering how I was going to cope. I have a traumatic brain injury which, for me means my brain has to work extra hard to appear to function normally. Today I was driving a 120 mile round trip and would be concentrating all day. It was going to be a real test. I mentioned to Caroline that I may glaze over in the afternoon and not to be concerned.

In the classroom that morning Caroline passed round a tub of liquorice root powder. The purpose was to demonstrate the innate knowledge of the body. If your system needed it then the liquorice would taste nice until you have a sufficient dose. If you didn’t need it then the liquorice would smell / taste horrible, in fact if it smelled horrid you’d be very unlikely to want to put it in your mouth in the first place!

I wasn’t altogether surprised that I liked the taste of the liquorice root – I’d had a liquorice craving for several months. What did surprise me was that I instantly felt more alert and able to concentrate, Caroline then told us that Liquorice nourishes the brain. By the end of the day Caroline noticed that  I had remained alert.

Day 2 arrived and I was surprised to wake up without the usual headache and actually felt OK. We spent the morning in the stable yard before returning to the classroom for the afternoon session. In the afternoon I felt the beginning of a headache and the various sensations that accompany it, so was relieved when Caroline turned her attention to helping my problem. I was offered Carrot Seed oil that I also responded to and armed with a 5ml bottle and a quantity of liquorice root powder, I settled into a spot of self-medication!

As before, the liquorice was divine, that is until about the seventh finger full when it suddenly tasted very bitter. The carrot seed was like eating very carroty carrots and I had 5 drops undiluted before it tasted disgusting. I was already feeling and looking a lot better and the headache cleared.

Most amazing for me was to wake the next day without excessive fatigue or the migraine that usually accompanies it. I wanted less liquorice root than the two days previous.  I tried the carrot seed again but it was absolutely vile. I waited for my body to tell me when I needed a liquorice ‘fix’ and soon it became every other day or even longer. After about a week I had no interest in it at all.

The experience reinforced to me the importance of self-selection and re-offering plant extracts because the body may not need them every day.

CHINA 2012

China went exceptionally well. The media was well represented by Psychologies magazine, Cosmopolitan and China’s largest readership magazine Trends. I was told that the journalists usually stay for 30 minutes, and it would be a compliment if they stayed for an hour. However they stayed for the full 2 days, Psychologies magazine invited an extra reporter along to the second day, which was the practical workshop. The reporter later remarked that she was moved to tears with what she witnessed during the session with a dog that had been shut in a cage  for 22hrs a day for the first 3 years of its life. Cosmopolitan were moved by the partially paralyzed dog that had more movement after the session. My anxious cat, responded as to the book and was asleep in no time, the arthritic immediately showed more activity – so all were very impressed.

                                                         Practical Workshop Bejing

A couple of days later I received a phone call from my host, asking me to prepare 3 outfits for interviews and photo shoots with the magazines (you would have never recognized me with the pink lipstick!). Cosmopolitan were focusing on ‘my life story and the creation of the work’. Psychologies were as the name suggests,  looking at the powerful therapeutic effects on behavior.

My host is a presenter for a national TV program in China, she originally thought of having me on her show, however due to the unpredictable nature of working with animals her producer decided against it.  After the classes she tweeted the main 3 things that she had learnt. 1) - Respect for Animals  2)  - The importance of herbal medicine  3) - That animals are not ours to use and control in the way that people can do to them.

My host was amazed to find 400 tweets responding to this in half an hour, she then answered a question, asking her ‘How do you know if an animal wants or doesn’t want a remedy,' – to which she replied ‘You give it the freedom to choose by letting it walk or turn away from its application’. This evoked 700 immediate positive responses.

I personally found the students in China great to teach, one of whom was a vet, they were open to learning, and showed an immense interest in the subject. My host couldn’t have treated me better showing a great deal of generosity and kindness. She also arranged for me to walk on the Great Wall of China and a visit to the Forbidden City. What an amazing trip and a great opportunity to share this work.

Cat stories and the one of the bear to follow.