The Horse Herbalist

Fighting Fear with Settle Petal

Long term client Joan reached out to Angela Davison and The Horse Herbalist as she was concerned about the escalating problems her daughter Amelia was having with her young horse, George. He had been started 12 months prior and had been brought along slowly and quietly. All was well until they went to their first small training day.

He started the day a little nervous (understandably) but settled quite well as she rode him all round the showground and in between the rings in the company of a friend. She tied him to the float, which he’d experienced several times at home, with his new mate and a haynet.

Disaster struck when the new mate was taken away. George panicked and broke away, madly galloping around the grounds until Amelia caught him. Once settled enough she loaded him onto the float and took him home.

The next day whilst riding in the paddock he spooked and she fell off. This was Amelia’s first fall from George, and didn’t help things as Amelia wasn’t the most confident rider to start with.

Joan told me that Amelia had used quite a few of the ‘calming’ products on the market for horses but none had the desired result for George, he was becoming more and more spooky, and increasingly unreliable when Amelia rode him.

Joan could see that Amelia was anticipating trouble as she went to ride and felt that Amelia was creating anxiety in George, as her own fears and worries transmitted to him through her body.

It sounded like the perfect scenario for both Horse & Rider to get some Settle Petal under their belts!  George and Amelia started on a course of daily Settle Petal for the next 6 weeks. George was to have a 2 week break from work to allow time for the treatment to start to calm him down whilst he was not under what he considered ‘pressure’. Angela requested that they ask Amelia’s coach to school and ride George for the first few days he was back in work and then the coach give Amelia several lessons in a row to build confidence all round.

Angela also suggested that they had The Horse Herbalist homeopathic formula Stage Fright or the flower remedy No More Fears on hand (for both horse and rider) to help them over the anxiety hump of the first few outings.

After about three months the pair went to another training day which proved to be a positive experience, confidence repaired in both horse and rider.  Amelia has continued her lessons with George working closely with her coach, and both are doing really well together as a partnership at competitions.

 

Find out more about Settle Petal, by clicking here.