Tallgrass Animal Acupressure Institiute

EQUINE CASE STUDY: Corraggio’s Eye Abcess

Submitted by Tallgrass Equine Acupressure Practitioner:
Gillian Magnabosco
Mt Darragh. Cathcart, NSW, Australia
Em: gillian56@bigpond.com

I went to get my horse 'Corraggio' (my 6 year old Anglo-Arab gelding) out of the paddock a few months ago and I noticed he had been kicked on the shoulder and had a few scratches on him. It had been wet so I imagined that he had been racing around with the other gelding in his paddock. He could have also slid into a fence or a steel post. Those injuries appeared superficial.

A few days later I noticed his left eye was swollen badly and weeping a little. Having a look at it closer there appeared to be a milky white spot on the outside corner which increased in size over the next few days. He may have knocked it or scratched it.

I looked in my vet books and concluded it was an injury to his Cornea, an Ulcer or Abcess. I rang my local vet who is very good with horses. He was very busy at the time and said he could not come out and look at him for three or four days. I was concerned that the horse may have an infection and asked if I could get some antiseptic ointment for his eye - just until he could have a look at it. He was not happy about giving me anything as he said he did not want to diagnose it until he had a look at it for himself. He suggested the only way to get the eye to heal would be to sew it up so that it would not be subject to light or anything getting into it. That was not something that I would agree to - told him I would get back to him.

My husband’s idea was to bath it with saline wash. But Corraggio was so sensitive that I could not get anywhere near his eye. I started off working distal acupoints: BL60 (for pain), ST36 (Immune booster), LIV2 (Benefits eye diseases), and GV14 (disperse heat), plus tapping the Thymus gland as this is the master gland for the Immune system. Thought he may be a bit run down and his body not repairing as quickly as it should.

The eye was very swollen, a Predominance of Yang, and it needed to be resolved quickly. As I was taking some of Schuessler Tissue Salts - Comb 12 General Tonic, at the time I decided that this might help heal the wound and gave him six (6) crushed tablets in his feed a day. I did this for about four weeks.

Concerned about the infection I went to the chemist who gave me Chlorsig Eye Ointment (Antiseptic ointment). His eye was very hot. I imagined it would also feel very gritty. After managing to get a small amount on his eyelid, I lightly brushed it over the top and bottom of the lid. He liked it and it was quite soothing to him. So I was then able to get near the eye and start working on the acupressure points around the eye. That was about two days later.

I thought about the concept we learned called “circling the dragon” at the time. I decided to work on the local points around the eye: GB 1 and 2 (Gall Bladder opens to the eye);TH 23 (Benefits eye - relieves pain); ST 1 and 2 (Eye problems and conjunctivitis); BL 1 and 2 (eye discharge/infection);and in subsequent sessions, I added SI 18 and 19 as other local points.