Head shaking/Bowen update

Tempi

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So for those of you that wanted a report on how Bloss's Bowen treatment went for her head shaking.....

Firstly Bloss had been a severe head shaker for the last 8 years, its triggered by high pollen count, tree pollen and is also worse when it is very sunny. To control it she wears a nose net which works percectly (no head shaking at a when she has it on) without it (in any weather) she is in rideable. She also wears a full face fly mask in the field at all times.

A week before her treatment I took her off her allergy supplement so that I knew it was just the treatment working. My bowen lady worked on pressure points around her head and when certain areas were pressed she twitched and head shook. When the first session was finished my Bowen lady said we would probably need another 4 sessions to totally cure her.

Throughout the week she had not so much as twitched in her stable - quite often she looks uncomfortable and rubs her nose all the time when she is in and has to have her fly mask left on. On Friday I decided to school without her nose net (I had if in my pocket just in case). Not so much as a twitch or snort!!!!! I schooled her totally as normal nothing was different apart from no nose net!!! I even took her for a gallop around the farm afterwards which often promotes a twitch/Shake even with her net on as it's all tree lined which sets get off.

Saturday I schooled again (in her double this time) again not a single twitch. Today she hacked out without a nose net, again perfectly behaved and no head shaking!!!! Tomorrow she will be lunged which is when she is at her worst as she always wants to rub her nose and can get quite upset so I tend not to really lunge. It will be interesting to see how that goes.

I don't know how my Bowen lady did it and neither she nor I expected it to work after only 1 session!!!! She will still have another 3 follow up sessions but I am so thrilled it really is unbelievable. I know Bloas responds well to Bowen any way which obviously helped.
 

KatB

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Wow! Sounds fantastic, will look up a bowen therapist locally I think, L headshakes, its getting better, but Id love to get a quicker solution!
 

KatieLovesJames

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Wow! Thanks for posting this I'll look up my local Bowen therapist too and give it a go.

Will it work indefinitely or will you need to keep treatments up in future?

Off to read up on Bowen Therapy ...
 

Tempi

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The only thing I would say us that I'm not sure it's something all Bowen therapists can do. And if you do go down the route for treatment make sure you use a recommended therapist as with most things there are some that aren't as good as others! I'm very lucky with mine as she's super. Also your horse needs to respond well to general Bowen treatments in the first place. Bloss has always responded really well to it, physios and chiros have never made much difference to her.

With regards to keeping up the treatments after having the initial sessions I don't think you would need to, it would just need to be checked in any routers session after that. For example all my horses have Bowen every 3 months so it would just be something that was added into the regular session.
 

MrsMozart

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Excellent!

We had a good result with a Bowen Therapist (Lucy Spooner) and LC last year :D. It didn't work quite as well the next time, but at least we had the first time :). Hope yours goes very well :D
 

kerilli

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Excellent!

We had a good result with a Bowen Therapist (Lucy Spooner) and LC last year :D. It didn't work quite as well the next time, but at least we had the first time :). Hope yours goes very well :D

I use Lucy too, i find her excellent. afaik she does a few other things as well as Bowen, she's very experienced and mixes other things in.
that's very very good news about Bloss and very interesting, thanks for posting. fingers crossed the improvement continues, huge relief, i know the misery of a true headshaker.
 

Tempi

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Thank you both :) am v pleased she must have been very uncomfortable at times, it's lovely to see her 'normal' again (althought very strange seeing her without a net on)!
 

Clava

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That's brilliant, my Tb has just started up again which is very upsetting, can anyone recommend a Bowen person in the South?
 

posie_honey

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funnily enough i've just tured to Bowen to try for my Headshaker after she was sneezing so badly that she ruptured a blood vessel a few times - was scoped etc and vet couldnt find anything and put it down to her allergies. so i was open to suggestion for alternative therapies

a few weeks after that she had some work on her head from an enquine chiropractor and massage lady - and i must also say that this did appear to help - her symptoms definitly improved - so also worth a try

anyway - back to bowen - a friends mother happens to be a highly respected Bowen therapist (among other therapies) for horses and she agreed to try a free session on HRH to see if she would respond

the 'response' was amazing - mind blowing - my normally highly suspicious highly untrustworthy mare went so deep into a trance that she kept buckling at the knees! you could see her whole body process the work - for about 20mins - and she was in such a deep state that she was also dreaming vividly!

i went into it with a sceptical but open mind - had anyone described the above and said my mare had reacted like that without me seeing it i'd have laughed (this is the horse who has in her notes to send one specific vetonly out to her after she sent a different one home in tears :rolleyes:)

i am also pleased to say that although she is still a headshaker - she still needs a nose net occasionally - she is far far better than what she was and not half as frantic or stressed with her head. we have a few moire sessions booked now and i hope that these will continue to relieve her and - in an ideal world - cure her - but if not i'm happy that the therapy is helping - it must be horrible for her and i will try anothing to relieve the symptoms

on another note - noticied on another thread someone mentioned a different type of bridle (forget name now but the one that is very odd shaped around the poll)
I have also swapped to a micklem bridle and that also seems to have helped a bit
 
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