Over the summer Hollywood (the king horse in our herd) has not been himself, and quite frankly, he’s been experiencing some depression. He developed a couple of medical issues that have left him extremely itchy to the point that he scratches his hair off, and the other medical issue has caused him to be in pain when he walks. Our team has been working with specialists to help him through these issues, but it has been very hard to watch his personality change from his usual playful rambunctious self to standing still in his stall all day with his head hanging low. Hollywood loves to play in the pond all day. One of the solutions to helping him with his pain was to put a new glue on shoe on his right foot to work as a prosthetic and limit his activity. Having this shoe on meant he couldn’t go outside and get in the water so Hollywood had to stay in the barn during the day and not go play with his friend/pasture buddy, Donut. For over four weeks, I have watched him just get worse with his pain, and his depression.

Watching him go through this summer uncomfortable and depressed has made me really question how do we balance our physical needs with our emotional needs. In his case, it has been very important to address his physical pain which meant limiting him from the things he enjoys in life which has resulted in depression, but also more physical issues like muscle atrophy, decreased stamina and endurance, and decreased overall physical abilities. At this point, it has been very difficult to determine how much of his current physical pain is due to his new depression rather than the original issues.

Anxiety and depression are the two most common diagnoses that brings people to our facility. When we assess new clients for the first time, it can be very difficult to determine how much of their physical complaints are a result of long-term depression. Depression can cause a vast array of physical symptoms such as chest pain, fatigue and exhaustion, muscle aches and joint pain, headaches, digestive issues, and much more. In my years of experience, many clients have presented with physical symptoms and had no idea that their depression was starting to affect their overall physical health, and not just their mental health. Most of the time, the physical symptoms are a sign that the depression is getting worse and having a larger impact on their bodies.

Now, when discussing the topic of anxiety and depression, we would need hours to cover all the important details that our team shares with our clients to help them combat anxiety and depression, but one very important skill we teach our clients is how to recognize what true physical limitations they are experiencing and which limitations have they set on themselves. In order to beat anxiety and depression, there are times when it is necessary to push through pain to get to the other side for healing. Pushing through the pain may include physical, mental and/or emotional pain. Our team and herd help our clients recognize the moments in their lives when pushing through is essential to meet the goals they have set for themselves, and we support them through it.

As for Hollywood, I decided that happiness should prevail in order to promote healing because honestly, nothing we have tried has really helped him. Initially, I let him go out alone thinking that would be best for him so I could limit his activity, but it didn’t take me long to realize that he might need his own personal Southern Strides support team. Donut and Hollywood have been close friends for years, and Donut is going through her own age-related physical pain so who could be better than Donut to walk through his journey with him. Choosing to be happy and get active was the perfect therapy for Hollywood. Even though he was in pain, he reminded me that sometimes you have to have fun while you go through the pain. In hindsight, as he limped his way back to the barn this evening, he may have been thinking he had a little too much fun today, but he was back to his old self!