Jump for joy

Jorjia Farrugia and Finch Farm Cusack – jumping for joy after a long journey to restore his health. Here is his story ….

Back in February 2017 Cusack was sent to Denise from Finch Farm in Toowoomba for herbal treatment as he was not responding to vet treatment to heal his shoe boils.

Cusack a 17.1 hand Warmblood gelding had become ill after a Hendra vaccination in 2016. He lost weight, his coat was dull, his hooves were dry and shelly and he was prone to abscesses. An injury to both elbows resulted in shoe boils which were infected and weeping.

Denise treated him holistically as his whole system needed cleansing and revitalising. His herbal medicine prescription was designed to overhaul his immune system, detoxify his liver and resolve the infection. The liquid herbal extracts were syringed over his tongue twice daily and the shoe boils had a herbal ointment massaged into them twice daily.

Cusack’s Natural Diet was based on ad lib pasture hay and abundant pasture which was a good start as he had come out of drought. His mixed feed consisted of lucerne and oaten chaff, boiled barley & linseed porridge, black sunflower seeds and Equi-Vital – Walkenny Park’s own all natural supplement.

After some time Cusack started to respond to the treatment, the shoe boils began to reduce in size, he gained weight and his coat and hooves improved. But every now and then the infection would break out again, two steps forward one step back.

But after 8 months he became a picture of health, with the shoe boils completely gone and with the only sign being the loose, floppy skin which had been stretched due to the size of the boils.

Cusack then became part of the family as Denise decided to purchase him for her daughter Jorjia and he is living up to his jumping bloodlines.

Disaster struck in June 2023 when the infection broke out again and Denise called her colleague Victoria Ferguson to see if she could help. Her opinion was that the horse needed a full blood cycle (3 months) of herbs to cleanse the blood and specifically address bacteria commonly found in this type of encapsulated infection. Denise made up Cusack’s new prescription and started administration along with syringing hydrogen peroxide/water solution into the shoe boils and dressing with raw honey. Cusack responded well and continued to improve to what was hoped to be a full resolution, but the herbal prescription was continued for the full three months despite him having no signs of infection.

Cusack has been completely healthy since August 2023 so after six months we are all feeling cautiously optimistic. Pix below show after on left and before on right.