Journey of Phoenix - The horse everyone gave up on

12/17/2024

Today was special.

Recently, Phoenix showed a "change" to his right front hoof (not lamness but balance wear change). It was time to evaluate further.

Phoenix was a classic case of modern dentistry and training. This did not help his body, which was plagued with trauma. In general terms, his teeth had "too much" dentistry. The reason for this was no one understood why he had the pathology he did in his teeth. This made his molars very small "low crown". He had a hard time chewing his food amongst many other consequences.

Phoenix being the muse in my life, the reason I went back to school... I held him in a regard that in order to help him, I wasn't good enough. I constantly would second guess myself.

Today was completely different. Humbly and confidently, we worked to help Phoenix. Knowing exactly what to do to help him.

Over 8 years of school to get to this point and looking at him, the horse he has become, not one second or sign he was in distress, worried, fearful or stressed is the best feeling in the world.

Thank you to my family for sticking by me and Phoenix, allowing me to venture down a rare educational path and believing in us.

Thank you Lauren Poteet not only for being my friend but my partner and the "objective" one when it comes to my guys. It's not always easy to be the practitioner with your own herd... when feelings are involved.

Thank you Vanessa Helvey for your support and friendship. It's been a road huh?! You are an incredible healer and TRUE Osteopath.

Phoenix is the reason I became an Osteopath, Osteopathic Dentist and Podiatrist. Finishing school isn't the celebration, it's being able to help Phoenix and horses like Phoenix that is. In order to help and understand him, it required YEARS of study and school. Unfortunately, veterinary means did not have the answers, understanding, or able to provide the help Phoenix needed. This doesn't mean veterinary medicine isn't helpful. Veterinarians are not Osteopaths and Osteopaths are not Veterinarians. The specialties are just different.

If your are interested in learning more, check out Infinity Equine. If you are in Arizona & surrounding areas reach out to Vanessa Helvey!

09/18/2024

𝐄𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐧𝐞 𝐎𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐜 𝐃𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐲

Equine Osteopathic Dentistry takes understanding the horses WHOLE body mobility into account while "balancing" the dental occlusion of the horse.

Horses erupt tooth throughout their lives however, they ONLY HAVE A LIMITED SUPPLY for a lifetime. Once it's gone it gone.

This fact is incredibly important to understand as Equine Dentistry currently does not have the horses' individuality or long-term wellness at the forefront. Not on purpose but the education and understanding the bodies' entire anatomy, physiology, and mobility lacks. The immediate "sharp points" and "malocclusion" pathologies are identified and removed. The teeth are viewed as structures that need to be symmetrical, visually perfect, and so on. The problem with this is not being able to understand why pathologies and imbalances occur in the first place in the mouth.

Not only "how" we do what we do is important but "why". So many theories and schools of thought exist. Osteopathic Dentistry sets apart the questions and takes into account the entire anatomy, physiology mobility, and more of the horse.

Our goal is to not only improve the balance but identify and work with the cause of the imbalance (which can be anywhere in the body). VERY often nerves and vascularity are affected. This causes behavior concerns, reluctance to the bit, headshaking, adverse reactions when touching ears or pole area, weight concerns, stress, salivation issues, reoccurring areas of tension, reoccurring areas the need "to be adjusted" & more.

We are often asked why our dentist evaluates the entire body prior to addressing the mouth. Simply put "it is all connected, and to be able to effectively address any imbalance, we need to be able to work in your horses individual best interest".

If your interested in Equine Osteopathy or Equine Osteopathic Dentistry reach out, send us a message, call or FB us.

01/19/2024

So many different dimensions explored up to this point. Phoenix is a muse!

Completely different horse.

11/25/2023

09/21/2023

09/08/2023

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=242330072136354&id=100090780892908&mibextid=avESrC

What is relaxation and why is it important when with horses?

Horses’ natural response to uncomfortable situations is to flee and can startle easily. Horses are also very sensitive, and they can feel a human heartbeat 4 feet away. Knowing these things, it is only logical to want a horse in a relaxing atmosphere when interacting with them.

Horses are non-verbal communicators (obviously), but they do talk if you are willing to hear them. They talk through body language. Even very subtle movements are clear communication. Sadly, most only hear loud communication such as pinning ears, kicking, stomping, biting. Imagine how much happier horses would be if they didn’t have to yell so loud. Any parent can understand and relate to this. This goes both ways, such as a rider that has loud aids. Horses are sensitive to touch. How I see it, strong aids are our way of pinning ears, kicking, stomping, and biting at the horse.

If we are willing to be in the moment and listen to the subtle communication, then the horse will in return be willing to listen to the rider’s subtle aids. When I say “subtle” I mean flowing, soft, effortless. It’s being so in the moment, open enough where the conversation is magical. It’s like a faint whisper, a frequency, an intuition. True understanding that is a complete effortless flowing feeling.

If a horse is stressed, annoyed, misunderstood, pushed, feeling off, tired or just having a bad day like us, their body will hold tension. It is our job to help them find relaxation so they can cope with emotions. If they are having trouble, can’t cope, don’t feel listened to or respected, they naturally go into protection. Fight, flight, or freeze. Nothing good comes from this as they cannot use their body correctly. By incorrectly using muscles will create compensation patterns. Horses will sacrifice themselves to please us. It is important for the rider to be educated enough to know the differences and how to create relaxation. If not, over time it will create injury. This usually starts with labeling a behavior then to lameness. Often, this is where a rider loses confidence not only in themselves but also in their horse due to behavior.

In the end, this is truly unfair to both the horse and rider.

So, what if there was an instructor that could help and educate the rider about themselves and horse so they can thrive in true partnership? Someone that could see imbalances whether it was the horse or rider? Able to offer understanding and help to find true relaxation, flow effortlessness, soft connection, true partnership and confidence between horse and rider?

Would you take a lesson?

-Lauren Poteet

08/30/2023

Does your horse need a trim? Are you concerned about lamness, laminitis or founder?

We have some openings to work with our Podiatrist & Anatomy/Physiology Specialists!

Focusing on Rehabilitation and taking on regular clients as well.

Reach out to get on our schedule!

*Located in Chesapeake City*

Trailer in prices slightly less than travel
Trailer in $60 & up
Travel $70 & up

Donkeys & Mules too!

08/29/2023

Frank...
Is a 24ish year old "rescue" OTTB living his life out in a sanctuary. Frank is a shell of a horse and the only emotion he expresses to humans is that of fear learned from pain.

He has acres upon acres of grass to graze on. Unfortunatley, he can no longer process nutrients efficiently to maintain a healthy weight.

Upon examining his mouth, he presented with multiple fractures due to previous trauma. It was also evident that untreated oral bacteria/Infection events caused significant decay and additional fracturing. One of which was in his incisors...decayed and broke into many sharp pieces that caused a huge ulcer. This led to permanent scarring under his lip.

The tooth in this picture is one of the last teeth in his mouth. It came out in hand very easily and unexpectedly. It was extremely sad because he no longer has the dignity of his teeth.

The importance of dental care in horses is so essential. It is not about smoothing every edge or "sharp point" but truly understanding what the individual needs. They have a LIMITED supply of tooth eruption in their life and we MUST treat it with caution and care. Horses develop anomalies in their mouth for a reason. Humans, need to learn this. Floating the teeth due to antiquated ideas or limited education needs to change.

Frank had years of "removing sharp points" through power floating and typical hand "floating".

I will forever carry this tooth with me as a reminder how precious and important Dentistry is to each and every horse.

Each is an individual. Patterns of their body and hooves, show up in their teeth (and vice versa).

Thank you Frank for showing how important this journey is. Your struggle is not without purpose.

08/24/2023

These are incredibly important words....

The degree to which you are able to regulate your own nervous system has a direct impact on your horse's nervous system.
You’ve heard me about this many times, but it’s so incredibly important.

Your horse reacts to your tension and relaxation through co-regulation. This means that your horse's nervus vagus is designed to assess how you feel and adapt to it.

Are you tense? Then you pass this on to your horse. We secretly know that already, but this is HOW it happens.

And how do you influence this? Regulate your own nervous system. Both in your daily life and during your workout.

One of the main ways to regulate your nervous system during your workout is:
👉 Don't cross your own limits in training 👈
As soon as you get into fight/flight/freeze yourself, you can no longer be optimal for your horse and your horse's nervous system takes that energy flawlessly.

How do you do that?

If you feel tension; take smaller steps. How can you break something in a way that feels safe?

Do you ever cross your own boundaries? And do you shoot in fight/flight of freeze?

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=857544499226381&id=100049125173101&mibextid=Nif5oz

De mate waarin je in staat bent om je eigen zenuwstelsel te reguleren, heeft directe impact op het zenuwstelsel van je paard.

Je hebt me er al vaker over gehoord, maar het is zo ongelofelijk belangrijk.

Jouw paard reageert op jouw spanning en ontspanning via co-regulatie. Dat betekent dat de nervus vagus van jouw paard erop is ingesteld om in te schatten hoe jij je voelt en zich daarop aan te passen.

Ben jij gespannen? Dan breng je dit over op je paard. We weten dat stiekem al, maar dit is dus HOE dat gebeurt.

En hoe heb je hier dan invloed op? Reguleer je eigen zenuwstelsel. Zowel in je dagelijkse leven als tijdens je training.

Een van de belangrijkste manieren om je zenuwstelsel te reguleren tijdens je training is:

👉 Niet over je eigen grenzen gaan in de training 👈

Zodra je zelf in fight/flight/freeze komt kun je er niet meer optimaal zijn voor je paard en pikt het zenuwstelsel van je paard feilloos die energie over.

Hoe doe je dat?

Als je spanning voelt; maak kleinere stapjes. Hoe kun je iets opbreken op een manier die wel veilig voelt?

Ga jij wel eens over je eigen grenzen? En schiet je dan in fight/flight of freeze?

07/04/2023

When we learn something new...there is still a process of change that takes place.

Be kind to yourself and allow the process ❤️