Cerise is my Fire horse temperament and she often suffers with Liver Qi stagnation. Her symptoms include tightness and pain in her ribcage, loss of appetite and loose manure. She does not have strong heats but she does have a tendency to get ovarian cysts which cause her major discomfort. When she is suffering from Liver Qi stagnation she is moody and depressed.

I do several things to help her with her liver. I feed her a low fat feed for horses and supplement her diet with bitter and chlorophyl rich foods like alfalfa and blue green algae. The algae is also high in omega 3 fatty acids. Occasionally I give her omega 3 rich seeds such as chia, pumpkin or black sesame. I also give her wheat sprouts on a daily basis. If she is having special trouble such as ovarian cysts I give her licorice or the herb, basil, to help her be comfortable while we are working through the problem.

When I work her I make sure I get her moving and loosened up before I ask her to work. Liver Qi stagnation tends to make a horse stiff and loping will free them up faster than trotting. Once we have loped for a few minutes she is more free and able to flex and bend.

I have noticed that similar to this pattern in people, Cerise has more trouble when she is frustrated or angry. This usually occurs when she is not understanding some aspect of her training or I am not able to ride and spend time with her.

I don’t tend to use a lot of acupressure points on Cerise but I would use GB 34, LIV 3, LIV 13, LIV 14, TH 6 and PC 6 to get her Liver Qi moving. As a matter of fact I may do more accupressure on her in the future. Madalyn