Alison owns two Criollo ponies called Sancho and Laucha, each with their own set of issues which have required significant effort to improve. Alison’s dedication, along with help from EquiBiome, has resulted in good progress for both ponies.

Two Very Good Doers

When Alison read a book about Criollo ponies as a child she fell in love with the breed as they sounded perfect for endurance and crossing varied terrain. However, they were hard to find in the UK. Sancho came over from Argentina in a consignment on a boat in 2008, imported by Dutch dealers, and was bought from a UK dealer in winter of 2012. These ponies are super good doers and he arrived very fat with pottery feet. Laucha was bred in Wales from the same stock that came over with Sancho and was bought, again hugely overweight with terrible laminitic feet, in 2016.

Sancho’s Struggles: Gastric Ulcers, a Terrible Virus and Recovery

Sancho has been with Alison for eight years and is now 16. He had a very successful Novice Endurance season in 2014 but just didn’t seem quite right and was easily stressed. In 2015, Sancho was scoped and diagnosed with low grade ulcers and put on Omeprazole. Two to three months later, following more ulcer symptoms, he was put on another course of Omeprazole and then started to improve.

Then, also in 2015, he contracted a horrible virus. He was tested for all the usual suspects like Flu, Herpes and Strep Zooepidemicus but all came back negative…. This mystery virus nearly killed him. He was off work all that year and developed heart arrhythmia due to the impact of the virus on his system. He had virtually a year off and then went back into work, hacking at home and doing lessons in Legerite to help him to use his body to his best advantage. He also started having Equine Touch sessions that he really objected to at first, but gradually came to accept that they were helping him as he underwent gut improvements.

Gaining Insights With EquiBiome

Alison had heard about the EquiBiome Test and knew that the ulcers compromised his gut. She wanted to find out more about what was going on with Sancho, as he had plenty of fibre in his diet and natural feeds that were easy on his gut but he still seemed slightly dull.

The test revealed stress and inflammation and low levels of certain bacteria. However, there were some good ones too so it was a mixed picture indicating some room for improvement. The stressed gut was no surprise to Alison.

Dietary Changes and Improvement

Sancho is barefoot and was very susceptible to grass at the time, so EquiBiome recommended various changes to his diet, specifically to increase gut wall renewal and integrity.

Following the addition of various plants, herbs and the Biome Food, by the end of 2016 Sancho was looking and feeling much better. His heart was back to normal and Alison had started doing Endurance again in the middle of the 2016 season when they hit another bump in the road. He vetted normal at the start of the ride and felt fine during the ride but when vetted at the end, his heart arrhythmia had returned.

Said Alison: “We decided it would be best for him to have more time off and after three months, his heart arrhythmia corrected itself again. 2018 saw him doing really well with my daughter riding him and people remarked how well he was looking.

“I worked so hard during this time to increase the diversity in his diet, with meadow hay from three different sources and gathering “pony salad” from the garden and hedgerows. With the recommended Biome Foods, the Equine Touch sessions and the lessons to improve the way he carries himself, we have improved him so much mentally and physically. Changing his diet has had a huge impact.”