NORTH GRAFTON - A group of men and women gathered recently arounda miniature stallion named Jimmy who has arthritis so severe itperiodically locks his short legs.
He's irritable at times, his handler said, and, outside of femalehorses, his main interest is food.
With that information, equine acupuncturist Peggy Fleming beganher treatment, feeling key points on Jimmy's head and neck for tell-tale twitches that could correspond to problems.
She held her own wrist as she rubbed her elbow against Jimmy'sflank, taking the horse's 'circuit pulse.' She talked of Jimmy'senergy flow or Qi (pronounced chee), which can cause imbalances inthe body if disrupted.
'You've got to always think about what the energy is doingeverywhere,' Fleming told the students.
A few years ago, this lesson might have been for an audience ofNew Age adherents. Fleming, however, was teaching licensedveterinarians at Tufts University's School of Veterinary Medicine.
The audience for holistic and homeopathic medicine is growingamong people dissatisfied with symptom-based conventional care. Andwith it has come an equal rise in holistic veterinary care, as humanpractitioners extend those values to their pets.
The demand is so great that veterinarians are asking for moretraining in this newly recognized field. 'It's sort of oozing intothe curriculum,' said Anthony Schwartz, associate dean for academicand outreach programs at Tufts.
There is resistance within the veterinary world to this new trend,with some saying that the benefits of holistic veterinary care areunknown, the outcomes scientifically untested through traditionaldouble-blind studies.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania's School ofVeterinary Medicine are among the first in the nation to conduct suchstudies, using a computerized pressure pad to measure how wellinjured dogs are walking after being treated with either traditionalpain medication or acupuncture, according to a universityspokeswoman.
In Bellweather, the school's news magazine, Dr. Robert Poppenga,associate professor of pathology, wrote that such holistic treatmentscan be dangerous, citing the case of a 7-year-old female Germanshepherd who died after being treated with pennyroyal oil, a naturalflea repellent. The cause, he wrote, was pennyroyal oil toxicosis.
But holistic veterinary care passed a crucial litmus test in Maywhen the American Veterinary Medical Association said treatmentsranging from herbalism to acupuncture - which has been practiced onhumans and animals in China for thousands of years - can play alegitimate role in animal health care.
Back at Tufts, Jimmy was carefully stuck with Chinese needlesaround his hooves and right ear, stimulating areas on his body thatcorrespond to what Fleming believed were his problem areas - hisheart and spleen. Jimmy hardly flinched and his pulse rate neverdropped, according to Fleming, who said he was not relaxed and thather efforts might not have worked.
But when the needles were removed, Jimmy let out a loud whinny.And his audience smiled.
Please send Children's Literature quiz answers by Sept. 21 to:Newsline, Boston Globe, PO Box 2378, Boston, 02107-2378.
