Dee Howe has been working with our rescued Mustang Bella to prep her for adoption. Bella has been being "just a horse" in the pasture the last year and we wanted to hone up on her previous training. Bella returned from the now infamous 3 Strikes Ranch in Nebraska and didn't want to be caught and also pulled her head away if you got near it on the left side.
One of the first things Dee noticed was scar tissue on Bella's left eye. I never noticed it because she has multi-colored eyes. Realizing this explained why she was so difficult to catch and was very nervous about having the left side of her face touched - she couldn't see what was happening. In the very beginning of the video you will notice a translucent blue area on the bottom of her eye - that scarring blocks any vision in that area.
There were other issues that Dee also noticed. Bella had tight and swollen muscles in her neck and when you touched her whithers her shoulder muscles would twitch. Once we got her settled and were able to take a really close look at her, we saw two areas on her neck where it was clear that at some time she had been roped - severely and twice. She has some nerve damage in her neck because of this.
First thing we did was her teeth to be sure the pressure and chewing surface of all of her teeth were balanced so there was no undue pressure on her TMJ. Dee also worked on body issues related to her neck, back, ribs and feet. These adjustments gave her much relief of pain she was felling that was extremely difficult to notice while she was just be a horse out in the pasture.
Dee spent a lot of time working with Bella's blind side wanting to teach her to allow someone to approach and touch her halter - not grab her halter - but lightly touch it so she has no pain. You will see in video that Dee addresses that fact that Bella appears to have had her halter yanked on at some point.
I have a much better understanding of Bella now. In the past, once we had her on a lead line she would do what ever was asked of her. I just couldn' t figure out why she was being so difficult to catch after she returned from 3 Strikes Ranch. Now we know that she was injured, in pain and afraid. Having relieved the pain that we could and working with her to over come her fear on her blind side, we hope that Bella will settle back in to enjoying life as a horse - without the pain.
I am so thankful for the knowledge that Dee has in working with horses and her calm and patient manner that gives horses the time to work through issues without feeling stress and pressured.
www.DeeHowe.net Check out her site and call her if you have a horse that you have concerns about.
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