Before I took my dive into the profession of hoof care I regularly bruised myself. Half the time I never realized how the heck I gave myself one but there it was in all it's multi coloured glory.
This was a kick by a very spoiled, rude paint horse. Unfortunately my Arnica was several hours away from being put on, hence the big bruise.
Now that I am underneath horses on a daily basis as a profession I seem to bruise things more often. But let me tell you, it's never the drafts or warmbloods or over sized goofy horses that bruise you; it's the mini's.
When one trims a mini one can almost guarantee to scrape a knuckle, pull off a fingernail or get thumped, bitten or tromped on. There's something about small hooves and your hand that don't mix well when stirred in a pot with rasp and hoof knife. People in our area have a hard time getting farriers to come and trim mini's so I get called. Not that I mind I just don't give discounts for "smaller" horses because they are ALWAYS more work. Hence why farriers don't come out for them.
If you remember the post about Arnicare gel that I use? The Boiron company that manufactures Arnicare gel seen that post and sent me a tube of Arnicare. The best thing about Arnicare besides it's amazing anti inflammatory properties? Well it's a homeopathic medicine, meaning it has no artificial colours, perfumes or parabens in it.
The question is, what to do with this Arnicare gel? Well I didn't have to think twice, I'm going to give it away to a lucky reader!
Here are some arnica facts!
- Arnica (Arnica montana ([Latin]), also commonly called mountain tobacco or leopard's bane, is a wildflower resembling a daisy that grows in the mountains of Europe and North America. Arnica is commonly used in topical herbal medicines to speed healing from bruises and other traumatic injuries. Arnica is thought to provide the body with pain relief as well as anti-biotic and anti-inflammatory benefits.
- Arnica contains sesquiterpene lactones, substances that are known to reduce inflammation and decrease pain. Arnica prevents bruising by keeping stimulating the white blood cells to disperse trapped blood and fluid from the site of injury. Arnica’s effectiveness as a treatment for bruising, sports injuries, and inflammation is well established and many commercial creams used for treatment of pain, bruising, and swelling contain arnica as an active ingredient. Arnica creams are also used to treat pain and inflammation resulting from carpel tunnel syndrome and arthritis.
- Arnica can also be used externally to treat tired, overstressed muscles. One study performed in Norway showed that marathon runners who applied arnica to their skin before the event experienced less pain and stiffness afterward. Arnica is a relaxing addition to the bath, and has been shown to be particularly helpful for soaking tired, aching feet.
I can vouch for how well this works. Wile just last night I had my foot stomped on by a mare. I picked her foot up to put it on the stand and she stiff-legged and STOMPED as hard as she could on the top of my foot and just kept her hoof there until I squalled and gave her a what-for. Rubbed Arnica on it and voila, no bruise. My back was also a bit stiff this morning from fighting a mare with arthritic hocks last night and as soon as I rubbed arnica on it not 15 minutes later it had loosened up. Great stuff.
The only bad thing I found about this stuff? Well the gel has alcohol/the gel/not sure? in it. I had some on me once and spent the day in the sun and it burnt me. I don't burn easily and it was in the area I rubbed it on and nowhere else. Just cover it up I guess.
So what do you have to do to receive this amazing homeopathic remedy? Well I'll tell you.
1. You must be a follower of this blog.
2. Post here in a comment with either a story (with pics? Please if you have them) or a link to your story of a bad bruise, bump, break, crack, tumble or otherwise unplanned bodily meeting with a substance harder than yourself
3. Tell your friends! If you have a blog I would love to see a mention of this contest and how wonderful Arnica is. I love this stuff, I am sure you will too!
This contest will end next weekend! Get telling those bruise stories and please, no intentional bruising for the purpose of this contest hehe!
11 comments:
I almost didn't open your blog today, because over the last month every time I did it popped up a warning that your blog contained Malware- that you had a link to a website that had Malware. So, since I love a good contest, I chanced it- and I'm glad to see that warning is gone.
Anyway, I love arnica, especially since I bruise so easily. The last tube I bought was because I did a knee plant off the concrete steps of my bank, on to the sidewalk. I had stopped two steps up to read my receipt, and when I went to step forward my heel caught on a rough spot, and graceful thing that I am, I landed on both knees on the sidewalk- don't know how I missed the first step! Tore matching holes in the knees of my only good pair of jeans too. I headed straight to the store for some arnica, and although I did bruise a bit, I healed faster than normal. Good stuff!
Count me in. I bruise easily. I've never tried Arnica, but need to. Currently my biggest boo-boo is a rope burn on my shin, near my ankle. Well, it's more like 4 burns, made by that icky nylon yellow rope. Uh, I don't thin you really want to see pictures!
Tom says the same thing about minis. He's laid them on the ground and essentially hog tied them to trim their hooves as it was easier on both him and the horse.
I took oral arnica within a minute of being double-barreled in the stomach. Went to the hospital and got checked out and was fine. My stomach was tender but never showed a bruise. I was impressed!
I have heard you talk about Arnica for a long time now. I seem to keep forgetting to get some.
The worse bruise I had was almost 2 yrs ago at the Arabian U.S. Nationals in Tulsa, OK. But I also broke my toe. That darn horse that spooked and decided I would be a good object to jump over. Landed on my foot and broke my little toe. I could barely walk for a few days and made for a miserable show. I probably would have benefited from some Arnica!
Well.... I coulda used some of this a few weeks ago when I dropped a jump standard on my bare foot and my poor baby toe took the worst of it. Busted the skin open as well as busted the toe.
Right now, I am struggling with tendinitis all through my arm:( The worst thing that I can think of was being thrown over a corral when my horse stepped on a bee's nest.
Love,
Neighgirl
P.S. I follow ya'll
As I have said before, I use it almost everyday!!!! Since me or some of my pets get hurt, LOL. I should have stock in this stuff. My latest for me was a huge purple toe! Due to walking into something. It's super now!!!! My horse is on the 200c pellets now for a swollen bump on his nose and he gets the gel on his nose as well. Love it! But I am sorry to say, I hate your word verification, LOL.
Due to the large amount of spam I used to receive back in the younger blogger days I did have word verification. Due to popular demand I just deleted it.
I wonder if it would help my ankle. Since I broke it last year, it seems to have eternal bruising all around the joint.
I became a follower just to have a chance to try the arnicare...even if I don't win I am putting it on my endless shopping list to get....half of the bruises I get I have no idea HOW I get them, I just find them and like "what the?? How did that happen??" I know when I fell off my roof and broke my right leg and had More bruising on my LEFT ankle (it just about turned black) and I even had bruising across my toes from where I squished my foot under the ladder I ended up tangled with. ...ollivernewton
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