When I tried him he was fussy in his mouth and rather spooky. I put this down to him being green. He was vetted by a local vet. She said although he looked fit he was not, as his resting heartbeat was elevated after work. He also became very tired very quickly. Once again I put this down to him being young and unfit. He had the remains of a ‘nipped’ sarcoid. The vet said that in spite of this he was such a quality horse I should buy him. I did and brought him home.
During the weeks that followed he became more jumpy & very spooky to ride. He was clearly unhappy in his mouth although he had his teeth rasped. I noticed him twitching in his stable one day. As he had his whiskers cut off I assumed it was just them growing back and being sensitive. The following week we took him to his first show, when for no apparent reason in the show ring he panicked and galloped off. Shortly after this during a lesson he bucked and threw my daughter off & then started coughing & snorting. within 10 min his head was being thrown violently up & down. I had my headshaker. 

In the following weeks he became totally unrideable and also unmanageable due to his panic attacks at the slightest thing. The vet suggested we try Tegretol & Periactin. This worked briefly –approx 1 week. I was not happy to increase the dose. The horse was now drinking a tremendous amount of water per day; he also had a craving for salt, licking everyone & everything. His sarcoid was enormous, & he developed a thick cresty neck. I could not walk him out in the sun as he would strike out at his face and fall over. He would bang his head against the wall whilst eating because of the pain.

During my research on the Internet I came across Melatonin. His symptoms fitted Melatonin deficiency. My vet took a blood test to check his levels & in the meantime we started the Melatonin. Within 48 hrs I had a calm horse. Soon he was rideable. This lasted 6 weeks until the blood results came back as normal levels – I was wrong, but why had it worked? We took him off the Melatonin; he became manic with pain again.

Over the next 3 months my research together with my study of TCM brought me to the stress theory. I discovered the adaptogens & also the product APF that I ordered. I started Shadow on a varied assortment, based on my TCM & herbal knowledge. We started on 10 different herbs including the APF & reduced it down to a cocktail of 6. Within 6 weeks the horse was calm. Gradually I started to introduce tack & gentle leading around the school. I was careful not to overdo anything or cause any stress, treating him as a person who had had a nervous breakdown and was starting back to work. Now 4 months later I have the most wonderful rideable horse that is 100% better than the horse I originally bought.

Whilst treating Shadow I also bought a pony –Jack. He was thin, very tired. Headshook even whilst eating. However a different type of character to Shadow & I did not know his history. The herbs I used on Shadow worked up to a point but were not perfect. I changed to a different cocktail, also including APF. Jack is now normal.
By now I have several HS horses and all of them are fine.

Annabelle Knight, UK, July 2004