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Amazing Results.

By Sue Palermo.

Added: December, 2009.

 

I was assured he was very quiet and would suit me well. He had come from fairly drought conditions and he was fine for a short while until my green pasture hit his system. He then became unmanageable for me, both to handle and ride, shying violently and becoming highly reactive to stimuli in his surroundings. I couldn't believe it was the horse that was assured to be very quiet and gentle! He then became very uneven in the front foreleg, so even if I had wanted to sell him I couldn't have.

 

 

 

Anhydrosis (Puffing or Dry Coat).

By Belinda Palmer.

Added: March, 2011.

 

Rocky was foaled in Victoria but moved to Darwin at the age of three. We purchased Rocky in May, 2009, at the age of six. His previous owner hadn't worked him a great deal but in the time she did, she noticed that he did 'puff' quite a bit. She said she had tried various remedies but to no avail. Toward the end of 2009, as we worked him more and the weather became hotter, it became clear that Rocky had anhydrosis. At one point at the end of 2009 he stopped sweating all together.

 

 

 

Barry's Back Competing!

By Nirelle Somerville.

Added: February, 2011.

 

Barry was broken-in in March, 2009, at four years of age and quietly worked through the winter, attending some winter clinics. After shedding the winter woollies and going from the ugly duck to a beautiful swan, he was shown three times in August for a promising start with three Champions and one Supreme. Things looked good for his newcomer season. On the 1st of September things started to crash with Barry starting to get a bit scratchy, a subtle lameness that would seem worse on corners and not real evident which leg it was.

 

 

 

Big Head 100% Reversed.

By Belinda Bass.

Added: August, 2011.

 

In December 2010 my horse was diagnosed with signs of big head disease. The swellings on each side of her head were extremely large and appeared over a matter of weeks. She was reluctant to go forward and spent hours each day standing around with an extremely depressed look in her eye. Her coat was dull. When she was ridden it was almost impossible to get her to canter and when she did she had very short, choppy strides. Apart from the facial swellings the other signs I mentioned appeared twelve months before she was diagnosed, however, as I was unaware of the early signs of big head disease I thought that she was just being difficult to ride and not wanting to go forward.

 

 

 

BJ is Back! The Story of Annette and BJ.

By Annette Hatherley.

Added: August, 2010.

 

BJ started head tossing again and the odd time of trying to bite at the girth while I was riding. He would also plunge his head down to rub on his legs and not bend or relax at all, never mind the constant flapping of his gums! At one stage I could not even get him to trot without really upsetting him. After one such non-lesson where he was drenched in sweat, I took him home and put him on the lunge to see if he could relax, however he just head tossed incessantly and was quite upset, particularly if we tried anything other than a walk.

 

 

 

Casper Couldn't Canter (Can Safely Canter Now).

By Leanne Aarts.

Added: September, 2009.

 

All went well for the first three months then one day out of the blue he started biting at himself whilst being ridden. The first time he did it I thought he had been bitten by something as it was so violent. I got off to inspect gear and see if there were any insect bites. Nothing seemed out of the ordinary so I got back on and asked him forward, he did it again and this time it was so bad I thought he would rear if I asked him forward. In addition to Leanne's story, you can read her stable diary. Learn to keep a stable diary, noting any changes, improvements or set backs.

 

 

 

Dollie goes Crazy! - Savannah's Story.

By Savannah Watkins.

Added: September, 2009.

 

I couldn't get anywhere near her without her BOLTING for the fences! Or running and hiding behind the tree. She was near dangerous to be around (even on the other side of the electric fence). Any noise would set her off, even the sound of our gumboots walking towards her would send her galloping straight towards the fences. This all happened within one week of grazing on the clover. My first thought was that someone had gone into the paddock and beaten her or tried riding her. Any noise or movement what so ever would trigger her mad running.

 

 

 

Duke - A New Horse.

By Darcy Nicoll.

Added: April, 2011.

 

I bought Duke in early January, 2010. When I went to try him he was a calm, unflappable horse who seemed to take everything in his stride. My mother and I brought him home and put him in a large paddock with lots of feed because he was a little skinny. The first few times I rode him, he was just as good as when I looked at him but he soon deteriorated and every time I caught him, he would try to bite me. One time he even reared up and started lashing out at me with his front legs. It was like he thought I was a ghost.

 

 

 

Ferg's Story - Happy Ending for Monkey!

By Jenny Paterson, B.Sc.

Added: September, 2009.

 

Monkey 'could buck like no other', he just didn't stop. He always bucked with the saddle and no amount of lunging made any difference. Ferg finally got where he could ride him, but bucking fits were frequent and he would often cow kick violently up at the stirrup and get him in the heel every time. The difficulties went on for years, there being long periods of time where Ferg would leave the horse turned out until he would get him in and try again. Ferg even got him to the jumping Show at Amuri this year where he bucked in the middle of the ring after a jump and "nearly got me off!" A great read even for non-horsey people. Ferg is such a character!

 

 

 

Founder, Feed and Fat Horses.

By Sue Hocking.

Added May, 2010.

 

I would like to tell Horse Riding Clubs Association of Victoria (HRCAV) members all about the problems with my horses and how the ProVide It Plan has helped. I have a Riding Pony Thoroughbred cross and my daughter has a Percheron Clydie cross. They both are very good doers and over the years I have had to learn very quickly on how to prevent a laminitic episode, etc. About three years ago in the middle of winter my Galloway could not walk or move so I called the vet and he told me he had foundered. I could not believe a horse could founder in the middle of winter.

 

 

 

From 'Work in Progress' to Now.

By Des Miller.

Added: July, 2011.

 

When I was asked to do a follow-up story by Gotcha Equine on my horse Prudence, I was happy to oblige as I have so much to tell from the last time I did a story back in October, 2010. If the results from using the Gotcha Equine supplements were positive back then after some months of use, they are even more evident now ten months later. As most of you will know from reading her story, Pru has not been the easiest horse to own. Very sensitive, quick on her feet, herd bound, spooky, and always tense in her gaits and work. After speaking with Lucy last year, I put Pru on the Gotcha Equine supplements, and she has been on them religiously and without fail.

 

 

 

Grass Affected Horses.

By Katie Jones.

Added December, 2009.

 

Her behaviour was also affected. When she was wearing a halter or bridle she would shake her head like sand flies were around her ears. When the saddle was on she would continually itch at the girth and do full body shakes like her skin was crawling with ants. She would be so irritated she could not concentrate on riding but would just scratch/shake until I got off and if I rode her down the road she would have rearing explosions and continue rearing even when I got off.

 

 

 

Juno the Fussy Eater.

By Shauleen Rooney.

Added March, 2011.

 

I started hard feeding Juno as he came to me in the winter. I was giving him lots of feed, mainly bulk, however he was not putting on any weight, if anything he was losing weight. What to do? If I increased his Lucerne, he would lose even more weight so I started playing around with his feed. I quickly realised I could not feed him big feeds as he just would not eat it all. I went on to processed feed and if it was too sweet he would not eat it, pellets he just did not like and cubes were a no go. So I decided just to go plain feeds such as oaten chaff, barley and a little Lucerne and made up my own combination of feed, specifically tailored for him.

 

 

 

Lucky’s Story - Time to Retire a Gentleman?

By Sharyn Kennedy.

Added December, 2009.

 

I have owned him for nearly four years now and in that time we have had our issues (big time). Most of our troubles have been with his body, joints and lameness mostly. Also the nervousness was a little unsettling at times, things that he had seen one hundred times before, became like the big bad monster all over again. We also went through a period where he would take off through his paddock gate, kicking up his legs which was becoming very dangerous. He would nearly knock you over to get through the gate. I couldn't understand it as he was normally quiet, only having the occasional outburst but it was getting worse and happening more frequently.

 

 

 

Naughty Noah (Or So We Thought).

By Nikki ?.

Added: September, 2009.

 

We have had Noah ten months. His previous owner had bought him for his wife as a novice rider's horse. They gave me Noah with great caution as he had bucked, reared and succeeded in getting them off. He refused to float for them. He acted like a monster lived in that float so it took me two hours to load him when I first got him. Now loading was one area he has learnt to master since being with me but other behaviours stuck. Noah has always been a bucker, rearer, over excited, spooky, tense, bolshy horse with a head flicker who always sweats excessively with little work. Over all unpredictable. All of this led us to think that Noah was naughty as no amount of training and desensitising worked. I had also spent big money on different calmer products, only to find they did not work.

 

 

 

Off Rye Grass and Winning Classes!

By Alison Stavenuiter.

Added: March, 2010.

 

As a current member of the Horse Riding Clubs Association of Victoria (HRCAV) I'd like to thank Gotcha Equine for all their help as it has been invaluable to me. I'm just sorry I didn't hear about all this information before I had my Thoroughbred euthanised as he was on the same pasture. I'd like to share my story in the hope it can help another horse owner to shortcut the road I have been down with my mare as it was certainly no fun. As a matter of fact I was ready to give up on her.

 

 

 

Pinto Boy (aka Fatty).

By Emma Kay.

Added: December, 2009.

 

Fatty also had big hoof problems. He had a stretched white line, white line separation (which meant his hoof wall would flare out about 10mm from the bottom and never grew down), coffin bone rotation and dropped soles. Small, regular trims were as much as he could handle. He was very tender footed - even on dirt, which made hoof boots essential. I had to put hoof boots on him in the paddock at times to keep him comfortable. He would never canter in the paddock.

 

 

 

Race 6 Resource Recycling Technologies NZ Ltd Handicap Trot Special, 2600m.

By Amanda Tomlinson.

Added: December, 2009.

 

We discovered the highly absorbable organic magnesium with boron a few years ago when we were told to use a magnesium supplement to help our trotters who couldn't seem to settle enough to get on with the job! One in particular had become somewhat 'unruly' and was breaking gait during the race. We found this product to have an excellent calming effect on these horses who immediately went on to place and win races. The other major benefit was in the spring when dung tended to be loose. Toxin-binders that don't bind nutrition, given the night before would firm them up by next morning. We found both trotters performed and behaved much better when on this product.

 

 

 

Rye Grass and Clover Strikes Again.

By Cathryn Colin.

Added: December, 2009.

 

After a period of about two weeks on the Rye Grass my Anglo mare developed rain scald. I got rid of that and then came mud fever followed by behavioural problems. After a period of six weeks she began to sweat profusely, especially around her chest, neck and forequarters. Her coat was tacky from the sweat and it seemed to lather up and not brush out and the only way to groom her was to wash her. At the same time she started pacing the fence line, not for five minutes but for hours at a time and when her paddock mate would go out she would go berserk and stay in that state the whole time she was out, whether it was half an hour or four hours. She would run and run, she would be dripping with not a dry spot on her.

 

 

 

Ten Years Turned Out - Now Back Under Saddle.

By Lisa Catherwood.

Added: June, 2010.

 

We had begun canter work and it seemed a constant battle to get left canter lead from him. For a while I just put it down to him not being balanced and continued on with his schooling. At around the age of five, Vander had started to do this annoying head flicking and it was much worse on the arena when it was dusty. There were times when he became so agitated that he would strike out at his nose with a foreleg or stop all of a sudden to itch his nose on his leg and he became unpleasant to ride.

 

 

 

Winner New Zealand Grand Prix Dressage Horse of the Year (HOTY) 2008.

By Angela Fergusson.

Added: September, 2009.

 

Riding Monique used to be quite an affair as she was a 'super spook'. Some days if she was feeling insecure we could only do half the arena as the gremlins at the top end were just far too scary. This as you could imagine made our training rather difficult at times. Hacking out was a complete no no, she would be absolutely terrified of everything, so unfortunately not much of this was done. I came across the ProVide It Plan at Sue Lucas' Saddlery and thought well it was worth a try. I had nothing to lose.

 

 

 

Work in Progress.

By Des Miller.

Added: October, 2010.

 

I made sure I had Pru on a balanced diet with the correct supplements and I was always getting help with her training from people whom I trusted and who understood her. I also had to be more mindful about supporting her more and allowing her to become more confident in me also. I referred to her as my 'work in progress'. I chipped away at the groundwork, the ridden work and trying to help her to be 'less sensitive' about things. I had her on a magnesium supplement and on a diet which was fairly low energy, but I always felt that I was missing something somewhere.