The Power of Whole Foods, Who would have known???

I consider myself a student of Equus. On this journey people have come into my life with interesting and important information.  Each of us carrying part of the whole and excited to find each other and add to this most amazing puzzle.  We have long discussions about the depth of the horse on a whole and how fascinated we are with this huge cavern of information that we have stumbled upon. This is my path. So much so that I have made a career out of learning and in return helping the great horse feel better, perform better, live better, and connect with their owners better.

It is my own horses that push me along like mothers sending young kids to the school bus for the first time. I want to explore the unknown they present to us, but that means I must grow and change as a person. Change used to be hard for me. I have grown to love the rush of change and growth, most of the time!

For my whole life, I have struggled with my weight and how to eat right. What the food industry and the media present never really worked for me. I have tried it all…

In November of 2008, Heidi Lowthorp, who  was quickly becoming an expert in food therapy turned me on to “In Defense of Food” by Michael Pollan. It changed the way I looked at food, the food industry and the grocery store. Eating whole foods made my body feel so much better and I began to lose weight without the tons of exercise that had been required before. Well, what is good for the goose… How much better would the horses feel if they ate the same way? So they all went on the whole food diet in January 2009.

Two of my horses went through detoxification with the change in diet. I expected these two horses to have a dramatic response, based on their past histories. One broke out in rain rot over a good portion of her body in completely dry weather. It was gone in about 3 days. She is now really healthy looking and covered in dapples. In addition to the Optimum we used the Tumease and extra aloe and mung dal on this horse to help her with a longstanding ulcer issue. After about 2 months on the Tumease from Biostar she began to refuse them which means she no longer needed them.

The other horse was a bit more complicated. He has required a full court press. A little veterinary care, different foot balance, chiropractics, bodywork AND the whole foods. I think all the rest would have not made as much of a difference without the food.

Now the Whole Foods diet is part of the protocol for any new horse that we work with.  It is amazing to see how each horse responses to the food and innately knows it will help them feel better.  Most plow through it and lick the tubs clean.  In addition to loving it we can see the change in the quality of the hoof, coat and even the horse’s willingness to work and cooperate for training.  Dax's case study has been one of the more profound nutritional changes in the program to date.  

For more information click on Hiedi's page or browse this site

www.biostareq.com

Case Study: Dax

Dax is a 6 year old gelding that came to me for help. He had been started dressage and had shown tons of promise in his first year showing as a young horse. As the year progressed it became more and more difficult to keep him forward and he also showed some weakness/lameness in the right hind that could not be diagnosed or treated to improve his willingness to work.

I picked him up in February 2010. He has his fancy shoes pulled and a bare foot trim done on him that day. This alone resulted in a 50% improvement in his movement at liberty.

His diet was changed from a "Shiny Bag high soy diet"  to whole foods. Within a week he lost the bloated look and his energy began to improve. The huge growth rings on his feet also told us the diet had been adversely effecting him for some time.

Then came the task of reconnecting this beautiful athletic horse with his body, so he could move like nature intended him to do. In the beginning he could not canter except on the lunge line and even then could not hold a clear canter for long. Working to reconnect him with his hind end took some time.

His recovery is pretty much complete and he is jumping happily and has found  a home where his arenas always have jumps in them!!!!