Equine Chiropractic

I've been witness to a lot of equine chiropractic adjustments, and it's a treatment modality that I'm utilizing more often now. I used chiropractic myself as a teen and into my early 20s. During that time, I was doing multiple sports, growing, and working part time, and periodic chiropractic adjustments were a lifesaver back then. So it wasn't much of a leap for me to choose to use chiropractic care for my horses once good, credentialed equine chiropractors became affordable in my area.

Just this past Saturday morning, I had my 5 year old mare, Briar-Rose adjusted. It had only been about three months since the last time she was done, but she had shown signs of being sore and she's been in moderately heavy work. Because her feet aren't the best, in spite of my excellent farrier's best efforts (Jesse Coker, for those in the Orange County, CA area), she had gotten sore in the front of her shoulder/base of her neck. Even though she'd shown no signs of being lame in her legs or feet, the chronic issues with her hoof angles had caused her to be sore much further up - which is a good reminder to take a holistic approach to horse care.

I have to say that I had never seen such an instantaneous and dramatic change in a horse in response to chiropractic work as I did in Rose this past Saturday. It was Dr. Don Moore who came out to work on her, and as soon as I pulled her from the stall he could tell where she was having problems. He gently pressed on the front of her shoulder, squeezing the muscles lightly. Rose trembled as if besieged by flies and pinned her ears. After the very first adjustment to her neck, Dr. Don touched her there again and Rose showed no reaction to the touch at all. He then did the same on her other side. Dr. Don also did a range of motion test for Rose's front legs, and after a few more adjustments, her range of motion was greatly improved. And though Rose has always been sensitive to being curried and brushed, after Dr. Don's adjustment of her wither and upper back area, he encouraged me to take a rubber curry to her, and she showed none of her usual reaction - no flinching or tail swishing. It was such a clear and obvious change in Rose that I dearly wish I'd gotten it on camera.

Not all horses will show these kinds of dramatic improvements, and not all horses need regular or semi-regular maintenance adjustments - but so often our horses put up with physical discomfort of various kinds. And those discomforts don't always manifest in the way you'd expect. And because animals don't suffer from the Placebo Effect, if they act more comfortable, move sounder, and generally seem like they feel better - that evidence is hard to ignore.