08/19/2026
🥵HOT TOPIC TUESDAY🥵
You ready for another one of my rabbit holes? You know I'll bring it.
Let's talk about the backslide: we've all seen it. We thought we were through the toughest part and here they go backsliding like we never did anything to help them.
When is there a backslide? When is there a functional/learned compensational level? When is the therapy stacked? Why is it stacked like that? Why is there overlap in supplementation? Why do we NEED the overlap?
WHEN IS THE NEEDLE MOVING IN THE RIGHT DIRECTION????
Good questions. Glad you asked. I'll cover them very soon using my personal favorite EPM cutie, my own Sweet Kodiak.
I've made several posts about him, one of which sparked a memorable argument with another Barn because I am known to steer away from big pharma and their chemical warfare on any living being as long as I possibly can because I believe it can trigger more problems than it solves SOMETIMES.
Quick backstory: Kodiak appeared to have a neurological episode one fall evening when the girls were feeding but by the time I got there, he was normal. About a week later he lost continence and began peeing all over himself all the time. 6 veterinarians, an osteopath, and a specialist couldn't do anything to change it and $6000 in diagnosis and medications that were supposed to help did nothing and he started to look like death. I watched him rally for almost two years before I sent the hail Mary hair sample to Nicole Reynolds and prayed he would get a stay of ex*****on. She said he flagged neurologic, metabolic, parasitic, that his gut was on fire and that his feet hurt. I wasnt sure I wanted to spend any more money so I wanted to wait. And in the meantime he spiraled into that well known crab walk: the first clinical sign of neurological injuries or even EPM. We started him on her EPM protocol and within 24 hours he was walking almost normal. I got on the phone with my mentor in New Zealand and my friends daughter at the University.
Turns out there are 7 other recorded cases of epm that had neurologic injuries that affected their bladder control.ybsweetwst boy is number 8.
Their results are an absolute crapshoot. Kodiak's results have been an absolute crapshoot of a roller coaster ride.
I have learned over time with these kinds of cases that a backslide may not actually be a backslide. It could be a compensatory level that requires another level stacked in order to unlock the compensatory levels their body has spent so long normalizing.
For Kodiak, I have noticed when he runs out of this or that supplement he returns to a compensation pattern that even in my eyes looks like a slow death of a backslide. It's taken me almost 2 years to unlearn a perceived backslide. He is just returning to the movement he learned while he truly was dying because that's what his body knows to do without some more adjunct therapy, which he will get more of once we can both tolerate the weather better.
I'd like to discuss his carefully crafted rehan plan, and all of his perceived backsliding, in depth over the next few posts.
The list of what therapies he has gotten includes: craniosacral therapy, nerve release and regulation, proprioceptive therapy, acupressure, bemer blanket, and infrared therapy.
The list of lifestyle changes and supplements we have changed are immense: unbeetables complete, alfalfa cubes, Su-Per B12 w/ folate, EPMSD Old West Holistic, Culbac Elite, Equinety OEC, Simply Equine: Neurological balance, kidney Balance, Cool Aid, and Fly Fortress.
What I am doing next to stabilize the remaining 10% compensatory level: veterinary approved ozone, muscle stimulation, and some in hand rehab exercises.
I know. I know.
It appears there is a lot of overlap in all of the stacks.
It only appears that way on paper. You guys can look it over and have a healthy AND POLITE discussion in the comments or ask questions and in the next day or so I will explain all of the stacking.
I really want you all to understand how the rehab protocols stack and the thought process behind it, so that is what we will do over the next two posts. And you are free to gain some insight about what I really spend my career doing.
See y'all soon.
