I just had my horse worked on for the first time
yesterday.The doc who worked on
him is a people chiro who also works on horses. I had done some checking around, like
you, and found she had a good reputation.(Like Chris’s “LalaLand”
stories.)My horse was stiff on the
right side, especially in his hindquarters.
The first thing the chiro did was watch him walk from the
back and from the side, looking at movement.Then she palpated him along his spine
from poll to tail, and checked his shoulder and stifle areas. She told me what to expect at each step,
and what she was seeing and looking for. She even demonstrated the amount of
pressure she uses – on me!It
wasn’t much.
Then she did the adjustments, telling me what kind of
reactions she has gotten from other horses, before she did each adjustment. She went slowly, and let him think about
each one before moving on to the next one.She waited to see the lip licking “I’m thinking about this
and I’m okay” in between. My horse was surprised by the adjustments
– some of them would make him jump or snort or move off (like a spook). But he would then stop and do the licking
lips thing pretty quickly.She did
use padded mallets on him, and those were probably the biggest surprises for
him.But I didn’t see any
stronger reaction to them than to the manual adjustments.
She recommended another treatment in a week, and a third two
weeks after that.I could see a
difference in my horse’s topline after the first treatment.We’ll see if it continues and if
he is more comfortable riding now.He’s got this week off.Then we’ll see.
Chris, how does your chiropractor adjust the lower spine
without mallets?
