Ronnie’s Story

“For almost as long as I’ve known him, Ronnie has had clipped legs. It was because of this, that I decided to grow his feather out over the first national lockdown and see what my pony looked like as a proper traditional. Though I constantly washed, oiled, and meticulously cared for his legs, I couldn’t for the life of me stop him from stamping, biting, or scratching his newly grown feather.

It took months for me to finally hear about CPL when asking for more treatments on another equine fb page and to my horror, the diagnosis for CPL was based solely on the ridges that form. Knowing that throughout the many years my horse had his legs clipped on the riding school he was always bullied for his ‘fat lumps’ on his legs, I instantly knew that the feather needed to come back off to start treating him.

The minute I joined this group I was offered support, advice and never once a word of judgement or even a hint of ridicule, and it’s purely for the help of Hannah and Rebecka that I can now say, just 4.5 months later, my pony has finally got rid of his little ‘fat lumps’, and thanks to the miracle of marigold and cleaver we have finally, after 9 years, stopped his stamping completely.

No group I am a part of has ever felt so welcoming and supportive when offering advice on how to care for my horse, and it’s absolutely incredible how well policed it is to stop the spread of misinformation. Every time I see a feathered cob, or hear of issues with legs in heavy breeds, I now think of how little I knew of CPL and am quick to offer what knowledge I have and point people in the direction of this group. With so little being known about the disease, having such a well of information so readily available is a blessing.

You’re probably sick of seeing pictures of Ron’s legs at this point, but here’s another couple just because I’m so proud of how good his legs are looking now and I want everyone to see just what the advice from this group alone can achieve. I cannot thank everyone enough “

– Alycia Barker