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For two years now I have been completely in the dark as to why Dippy, my grey mare, hated being girthed or mounted.  Once I was on her back she did nothing which could be called ‘bad behaviour’ but tacking up and getting on were a nightmare.

When I bought Dippy I was warned that she did not like to be girthed, but would not be a problem as long as she had a head collar on.  I was given a saddle with her which I was informed was hers.  The yard I took her to had a large mounting block so this was great.  She hummed and arrhed a little when I girthed her but I always did it as gently as I could.  I always used the mounting block, which was actually a pile of braise blocks left over from the building of a new stable block.  These had been arranged to make a step type mounting block and I was able to just put my leg over Dippy’s back.  Once out on a hack however, I could not get her to trot.  She would grunt and walk along with her nose to the ground.  I took this to be due to the fact that she had been stood in a field for 12 months before I bought her and she was unfit. 

Gradually her behaviour started to change.  I rode out every day, building up from about 20 minutes to 2 hrs over a period of about 3 months.  During this time we did most of it in walk with a little very reluctant trot and no canter at all.  This was because no matter how much I tried I could not get her to go any faster than a very slow trot, but even the trot was maybe just 50 yds or so before she would go back to walk with a grunt and put her nose to the ground again.

By this time I had convinced myself that this was something a lot more serious than just being unfit.  I decided to call on the services of a chiropractor.  This was a young lady who came highly recommended.  She examined Dippy thoroughly and told me that her hips were out of alignment and she had a problem with the cantle area of her back.  It was very tender and at that time quite swollen.  She also pointed out that she had one shoulder a lot bigger than the other and stiffness in her neck and withers.  She gave her a course of treatment and said to rest her for 3 or 4 days then bring her back in to work gradually.  She also told me that I should have her saddle checked as this could be the cause of her problem.

I called a saddle fitter immediately who came out and confirmed that the saddle I had got with Dippy was indeed too small for her.  And the quest to find a second hand saddle for my beautiful mare began.  The saddle fitter came back three times, each time with a vast array of saddles in the back of the car.  Nothing was suitable.  The enlarged shoulder was the problem, as everything sat to one side.  I decided that I would put her on long term rest from riding and try to do something with the muscle by ground work. 

We started a lunging programme and it took me about six months to say that there was any improvement in the problem.  Friends and other ‘horsey’ people kept telling me that she was just being naughty and was getting away with it.  I was not convinced.

After seven months of rest I decided that I’d try again to finding a saddle.  The saddle fitter I had been using was ignoring my phone calls so I decided to try someone else.  This gentleman looked at Dippy and said “oh yes, she will be a medium fit, we’ll soon have her sorted”.  I panicked immediately.  Dippy is a 17h Shire/Thoroughbred cross with a very healthy appetite.  She is a ‘big girl’.  There was no way a medium width saddle was going to fit her.  I told him not to bother.

I went onto the internet and did some research on the Shire’s Benefit System.  I had been told about this by a tack shop owner who spoke very highly of it and said it may be the answer to the problem of the big shoulder.  I decided to give it a try.  The saddles weren’t hugely expensive so if it didn’t work then I would not be that much out of pocket.

The saddle arrived and for the first few weeks it seemed like things were getting better.  The threatening to bit was still there but she was not avoiding me when I mounted.  It was at this point that I had to change yards.  The new yard was right in the middle of a network of bridle paths so it meant no road work.  I was overjoyed.  I bought a wooden mounting block, but this was not high enough for me just to put my leg over, I had to mount from the stirrup. 

Within three weeks Dippy had turned into a nightmare to mount.  Tacking up was becoming more and more of an issue too.  She just had to see the saddle and would hide in the back of the stable.

I got another chiropractor to look at her.  Her hip was out again and she was tense in the neck and shoulders.  The Cantle area was sore again and she showed a slight lameness on the right foreleg.  She was due her booster vaccination so I had a word with the vet when he came out.  He said that he could not find anything that would cause the behaviour and related problems but I should maybe get the saddle checked. 

I asked a therapist to have a look at her and give her a course of massage treatment and in the meantime we stopped riding again and went back to the lunging.   She now displayed lameness in her right foreleg on the lunge when asked to go on that side. 

I was continually on the internet looking for anything that matched Dippy’s symptoms.  But I was hitting a brick wall.  In desperation I went along to a Monty Roberts Demonstration.  I don’t know what I expected to achieve from this but to be honest with you I was grasping any straw I could.

The demonstration was very interesting, but to be honest I’d seen it all on tv so was a little doubtful I was going to find any answers here.  At the end of the demo I went to Kelly Marks and asked her to sign some books I’d bought in the interval.  This was my excuse.  I explained to Kelly why I had come to the demo and asked her if she had ever come across the problem before.  She had experience of some of the symptoms but not all.  However, she introduced me to one of her students who lived in my area.  This was a young woman called Alison Johnson.  Kelly explained the situation with Alison and suggested that Dippy may make a good case study.  Alison agreed and arranged to come out and see Dippy the following week.

Alison and her associate came along the following week as promised.  She examined Dippy and took her out on a Dually halter into the yard.  She lead her around then asked to see what happened when I tacked her up.  Dippy was her usual self.  Alison scratched her head.  She suggested several things that could be possibilities and asked if we could get the vet to check her over again next time he came out.  Alison felt it may be gastric ulcers.  I was very sceptical.

Gastric ulcers cause the horse to lose condition.  Dippy was on a diet but was not losing condition, nor was she off her food (another symptom).  So, when I got back home I went back to the internet for help.  This time I decided to ‘Google’ Girth pain.  This brought up an article by an Australian vet called Ian Bidstrupp.  This article was part of a thesis this guy had done.  The symptoms he described fit Dippy to a ‘t’.  This was my answer I was convinced.

The vet was due out the following week for inoculations so I printed off the article and decided I would discuss it with him.  This I did.  I was so deflated when he told me that as the article suggested that it was a problem associated with the withers, spine and rib cage which could be alleviated by manipulation it would be impossible to carry out the treatment on Dippy as she was so big.  He suggested a Bute trial to see if we could rule out pain being the route cause or whether it was psychosomatic and could be helped with behavioural training.  I was so disappointed I agreed to the Bute trial. 

I felt I was back to square one.  I ordered a magnatherapy rug to see if this would help.  Whilst ordering the rug I noticed that the lady who ran the company Equimagnets also did hair analysis so I sent her an email explaining the problem and asked if she felt she could help.

The following day I received a telephone call from Kerry Campbell of Equimagnets.  We talked for over an hour and she explained to me exactly what she thought she would be able to do.  From the hair analysis Kerry would be able to establish whether or not Dippy’s body was deficient in any of the vital vitamins or minerals it required.  If she was then we would need to get her body back in balance and this hopefully help her to overcome the other problems.  It would also pinpoint any intolerances Dippy had which may be causing problems from within. 

So I sent of the hair sample (a very small lock of her tail hair).  Within a week Kerry came back with her report.  Dippy was showing signs of deficiency in many vital minerals such as potassium, magnesium, vitamin C, and several others.  Her gut was in such a poor state that it was having great difficulty digesting cereals and could not tolerate hay or haylage.

I could not believe it.  I had thought that I was providing her with a good diet (if a little too much of it).  It had not occurred to me that I could have got it so wrong.  Kerry telephoned me the day after I got the report.  She told me that it was quite common in horses and that the pesticides and chemicals we feed them on their hay, haylage, carrots or hard feeds where the main cause.   We discussed how I was going to get her back into balance and what I needed to do over the next six weeks.  After that period we would do another hair analysis to see if thing had improved.

I agreed to give it a go.  I contacted Simple Systems and ordered a few items from their range of natural equine feeds.  These were delivered within days and I started to gradually change Dippy’s diet.

At the end of the first week we had managed to replace half her hay intake with Just Grass and her hard feed with Lucie Cobs and Eclipse Recovery.  At the end of week two she now has no cereal hard feed at all, and only enough hay to last her about an hour.  She also had to have certain supplements added to her feed and these I am adding one at a time gradually, the most needed first.

By the end of week two I can see that Dippy’s whole persona is changing.  She seems a lot more alert and responsive than normal.  She is moving more freely and seems to have a lot more energy.  The other day she was playing with our colt Casper.  As she was chasing him down the field she was bucking and her back feet were reaching approximately seven feet into the air.  I have NEVER seen her get them higher than three feet off the ground before.  I was amazed.

I have not tried to tack her up and am not going to try until the end of the six week period.  This is purely to give her body time to adjust to the new diet and to hopefully start to heal itself.