Sustainable Equine Solutions

ECVM .. SUPPORT!!!
4 years ago, I started my boy on his first cross country school. I did not know he had ECVM. Today, 4 years later on the dot, we are aiming to move up to beginner novice and had this kind of school today!!! This is my TB “SES 5 Estrellas ⭐️” and it’s been a SLOW, long road with the worst (metaphoric!) sinkholes, roads closed with a 40ft trailer in tow and no turnaround in the dark, and detours you can imagine. 4 and 5 years ago I was sobbing seemingly every other day about whether I was going to have to lose him, my best friend. I hated seeing him spooky, a skeleton (despite a dumpster of feed per day), struggling with balance, and the worst: blank. Like my horse wasn’t inside that body. And I didn’t know what to do. A couple days went ok and I would think we were getting better and didn’t need to put him down and then BAM he would decline in an instant, spiral all over again. And the constant weekly “I’m going to have to put him down” fought with the “but he’s doing better now. Maybe this will be ok…” and they fought. I fought. We all fought science and statistics, argued over welfare and heartbreak. Heading hot into uncharted waters with no support network made this sailor sink or sail. We have patched up the holes and are still sailing today. For as long (or as little) as he wishes. He taught me to listen- to an instrumental piece with a thousand words even when not one was to be heard. Because they were never meant to be heard. They had to be FELT. Like Beethoven, deaf as a… bat? Having to hear the music not through the ears… but through the rest of the body and soul. It’s a constant argument whether you can “teach feel” well maybe humans aren’t so good at it; maybe it just takes a horse…

4 of 5 vets saw his rads and told me immediate euthanasia he will be too dangerous to even be around… he said, hold my cocktail. I remember asking him outloud in English: do you want me to put you out of your misery? And I tear up writing this he responded clear as day: “no… it’s not my time yet” so I promised him.. “as long as you’re wanting to fight, I will fight with you” 😭😭 we are still fighting… As we go into double digits in January, it’s statistically this age 7-8 that will make or break an ECVM horse. Ive been told it’s when symptoms can appear to be the most aggressive and obvious.

But he’s taught me to be his bodyworker for the last couple years (neuro system development (particularly autonomic!), patterning, and dominant motor loops all are solidified by 7-8) so the most change we could evoke, we were lucky to have caught it “early” at 5 when major changes were still promising and had a fighting chance. Early diagnostics were KEY and I credit them to saving his fate because we were able to change important neuro patterning and build muscle responses that can help him compensate for his unfortunate vertebral failure. There are many people (even my mentors) that believe that ECVM horses should never be ridden. I can respect their right to that well-intentioned OPINION! But I care more about what my horse has to say. I hold on to Pam’s words at his diagnosis : “it is not a death sentance” Pamela Eckelbarger: you may never know just how much I have clung to this hope, that came from those words. You may never know this huge role you played in saving this horse. I am forever grateful for your SUPPORT when we needed it most. When the world was falling out beneath us and only told us to fear. And we did… SCARED. We moved on in the dark. We did it scared and alone. When no one answered my phone calls. When no one answered our pleas in desperation, our calls for help. We didn’t know how. But we kept on looking for the answers. And we did it afraid.

Each horse is an individual- each horse has different circumstances. Some are ready to go NOW when YOU’RE not ready. But proper diet, turnout, herd dynamics, dental work, farriery, bodywork and MINDFUL training have made this horse comfortable enough to want to do a job. To have a purpose in life. To still be here today (whether in or out of work, irrelevant). My point? DON’T LOSE HOPE. Ever. You can swear, you can cry, you can scream, you can rest. But we go forwards, time waits for no one. Your horse WILL tell you when it’s time. You just need to ask. And learn to trust the listen. Sustainable Equine Solutions at its core… exists because of Doni…To help horses like him. For as long as they want help 🙏 … to share that hope that we picked up 5 years ago… so please hug your horses a little tighter tonight. And just listen.

First session for this lovely mare today!
Started off by manually “opening the floodgates” then allowing the PEMF to let things flow and finally be able to get into some deeper manual work. This is her response to emptying the congestion and pressure cabin afterwards. It’s a huge vestibular (balance) system reset!! I always love to liken it to shaking up a snow globe- it’s pretty accurate. Things be movin and shakin in there !!
We now can appreciate better that licking, chewing, yawning, etc., are not necessarily signs of release as a hard rule- instead you must interpret the context. What it really means is that there is a difference of pressure from what is perceived inside and outside the body- when those don’t match, the body will adjust itself and then readjust, in the form of these releases. Here you can see she has a leg cocked, her eyes are soft, and the very way she yawns and licks and shoes is also soft. It is not frantic or anxious, but instead deliberate and controlled. The consistent twirling and twisting of the head shows fine tuning. She is absolutely finishing what I couldn’t get to more deeply and adjusting to the whole pressure change I just started a minute before. Her world got all shook up and she’s guiding the pieces back into place as they land. Sometimes the biggest releases will come long after my hands leave the horse ❤️ this was taken about 90 seconds after we finished her session