Skip to primary navigation Skip to content Skip to footer
Back to Blog

HORSE RETREAT, EQUINE ACUPUNCTURE & RECOVERY CENTRE

HORSE RETREAT RECOVERY CENTRE
  • High care after injury?
  • Horse holiday while you are away?

a woman holding a brown horse standing next to a fenceWe aim to provide you services where you may struggle to provide that extra attention needed to your horse when times are tough through injury treatment or recovery. This may save you some hard earned dollars spending extra time at the vets when we can offer you some basic first aid care services that just take time and a little bit of extra expertise you may not be able to offer to your horse.

OR that peace of mind for a happy horse while you are away on holidays you can rest easy knowing your horse is being cared and pampered twice daily for the duration.

  • Stable agistment and peace of mind
  • Twice daily attention to your horse needs
  • Bandaging & needling (as supplied)
  • Equissage twice daily (included) & Acupuncture for assisted quicker recovery or all round pony pamper
  • Feeding & Rugging (as supplied)
  • Boost to your horses natural renewal system through StemCell Nutrition for optimal health (included)
Our Experience – your peace of mind

Over 35 years experience growing up on a farm training and breeding horses and competing in many disciplines. See more about my qualifications and experience click here.

I have experienced the lifelong hardships of 24×7 responsibility and horse ownership that offers you the traditional post vet care and home remedies that can nurse your horse to health with absolute dedication and knowledge. Owning and running Bonogin Valley Horse Retreat for over 7 years we have had to deal with a long list of injuries and treatment programs for young and old horses and I’m sure many of these injuries would ring a bell for many of you:

    • Ringbone & Navicular disease needing feed supplement & special shoeing
    • Underarm leg stake from a dam severe cut 2 inches deep to keep clean and repair unable to be bandaged
    • 33yr old needing a tooth out and feed supplement joint care
    • Thoroughbred rainscald issues
    • Joint infection needing 2 joint surgical procedures followed by a year of lameness until revolutionary repair and recovery supplement found to enable her to be back in work
    • Long term respiratory infection severe cough and also shetland with constant colds and asthma recovery from revolutionary supplement
    • Repeating Colic and twisted small intestine surgery followed by pneumonia and unable to walk recovered through diet and equissage
    • Major foot abscess treatment plan
    • Severe laminitis and cushings disease, a shetland unable to walk with history of high heel shoes, pergolide & founder guard now managed through one supplement
    • Eye infections and cataracts
    • Eye cancer needing removal
    • Severe mud fever and greasy heel
    • Spinal injury
    • Stringhalt

Severe tendon damage at 6mths old treatment with high heel repair shoeing with cast bandaging and 3 months 3x3m stabling. 4yrs old in full high performance work playing polocrosse.

Rob Kirsch

man treating relaxed horseRob Kirsch specialises in treating animals using acupuncture and shiatsu massage.

He has experience in treating horses, cattle and pets. Using a range of traditional and contemporary treatments, Rob has an uncanny success rate of restoring injured animals to health and performance horses to optimal fitness.

The amazing success of his work has produced many thankful clients. Many of whom have provided testimonials (below). Rob has a solid reputation for reliability and results. He travels the Australian East Coast providing his equine acupuncture services.

Bonogin Valley Horse Retreat provides day and week horse acupuncture packages to agist, care and treat horses. For further information or to book, please contact us.

Testimonials

man treating horseMy horse had spasmodic lameness with some swelling around the coronet band. She was inspected by a vet and x-rayed without anything showing up. The vet said he couldn’t find any reason for her problem and had no answers. I approached Rob and he treated Jessica for 2 weeks every other day. The lameness went out and she was able to resume normal work.

Trudy Bates

 


Rob has treated our show horses with great success. We had a pony that was not able to be ridden due to a problem like Chronic Fatigue. Rob took him home and treated him for 3 weeks noticing a great improvement. We have been able to show him again at major shows and he is performing at the top level.

Diane Newbury


I approached Rob about checking my 21 year old gelding who was lame after working hard. Rob treated him and the lameness went, enabling me to work him the next day.

Paul Carter


My horse went lame on the Saturday at Polocrosse and I asked Rob to have a look at my mare. Rob gave her a treatment and I was able to play my mare without a problem the following day.

Les Parker


I approached Rob at Albury Polocrosse Nationals 2004, as my son Simon’s horse (a 17 year old gelding) was out of sorts, not performing his normal self. A chiropractor had inspected the horse before we travelled to Albury and couldn’t find anything wrong with him.

Rob checked him over finding some muscle soreness and treated these points as well as giving him a chi flush clearing all meridians, This made a notable difference to Simon’s horse. He treated him again in 2 days, and gave him a pick up treatment before playing the final. Simon went on to be awarded the best no. 2 and best under 21 man player at the Nationals, as well as their team taking out the under 21 open title.

Robert George


a man wearing a hatJohn Greenwood asked me to check his son Josh’s horse at the Albury Polocrosse Nationals as he was not right. I found muscle soreness and gave him treatment for this as well as a chi flush to clear and boost all meridians, Josh worked him finding him much improved. I then treated the horse again in 2 days. Josh went on to be part of the winning under 21 open side as well as taking out the best no. 3 in the grade.

John Greenwood


Just a quick note to let you know how Leo (big horse with stringhalt) is getting on. He is feeling much better and was running around the paddocks a couple of Thursdays ago (the day after the last time you saw him) and he was even kicking out at Cooper which he has not been able to do before! Along with the massage therapy you have shown me.
I am very pleased with the outcome and I think Leo is too! As I said before, I have not seen him have a spasm since you came out last, he looks much more relaxed and his eye is a lot softer. Thank you for all of your help and concern about Leo – his condition has improved immensely from your help, he is in a lot less pain and enjoys life more!

Thanks again.

Amber Hedgcock (March 2006)


Does anyone need an acupuncturist out to see their horse? Leo’s acupuncturist lives in Tamworth and I am trying to persuade him to come up to do a session on Leo. He has magic hands – he first saw Leo as a crippled horse who could hardly move (this is not exaggerating) and after 2 sessions with Rob, he was like a mad horse running around like a 2 year old using acupuncture and bowen therapy alone – no pain
killers!

I had the vet out to Leo first and I feel that he misdiagnosed him as the treatment (bute for the rest of his life – up to 3 sachets a day) didn’t work so I looked for alternate treatment. Leo is now on no pain killers at all and with acupuncture every 2-3 months, he can strut his stuff around the paddock and is not lame or showing any soreness at all.
Anyway, to get Rob to come up again, I need to make it worth his while and get a few appointments lined up for him. Last time Rob was not available I called another acupuncturist (his invoice for the service was approx $240 – but he did have a couple of injections) and others are not taking on any new clients (it
is hard for existing clients to get in anyway!) there are not many other alternatives. Rob charges $80 for a treatment and is well worth it!

Amber Hedgcock (June 2006)


I was selected to be part of the 2000 Olympic opening ceremony of which was a spectacular musical ride of 120 horses. My horse had always been a Polocrosse horse without troop drill or flag experience and was also quite a flighty horse. He would jig jog at a walk and wasn’t accustomed to clapping or waving flags in the wind

Rob began treating my horse 20min before each night practice and our major performance, with a calming acupuncture point. My horse was a totally new horse and I even had to tell Rob that I didn’t need it a few nights because the previous night he was too quiet and lazy. I have since ridden this horse again in the Stockmen’s Ride at Newcastle and Sydney shows without a problem.

Debbie