Examples of Equine Chiropractic Problems
Example 1:
A 2 year old stallion thoroughbred race horse kicked, reared up, bit, refused to be trained, and had 36:1 odds.An exam found an atlas (c1, first vertebra in the neck at the poll) problem.
The stallion became easily trained, showed improvement with practice and performance, did not bite, kick, or rear up anymore, and ended up showing at the breeder's cup.
Example 2:
A 15 year old mare dressage horse could not turn her neck to the left. She could not perform the carrot stick test to the left, had a short stride on the left front leg, had low head carriage, and was heavy on the front limbs. Because she could not turn her neck and head to the left, she used her entire body to turn or would shy away from any left turns.An exam showed that she had a lower neck vertebra on the left (c7).
After the equine adjustment, she could perform the carrot stick test, walked and trotted lighter and better, showed marked improvement during training, and could easily turn her neck to the left.
Example 3:
An 8 year old gelding dressage horse had gait problems. While walking he had a right rear leg weakness. He noticeably gave into the right leg by dragging the toe, dropping the hip, and having a toe flare out.An exam showed him to have a right hip joint problem, a right pelvic and sacrum problem, and a lumbar problem.
Post-adjustment he had no toe flare, or toe dragging. His gait was normal.
Example 4:
A 10 year old gelding, retired race horse, now dressage horse had suffered some trauma. when he was 2 he did a somersault and broke his withers. Since then, he had constant spasming over the withers, shoulder blades, shoulders, lower neck and upper back.Exam showed the withers, lower neck, and right shoulder to be out of place.
After the adjustment, he had no more spasming at all, and he performed better.
Example 5:
A 2 year old mare hunter/ jumper horse had performance problems. When the owners would show her, she had loss of collection. They also felt that she was not performing to her optimum. There was noticeable weakness on her right hind leg. Her hocks and stifles were injected several times, but showed no improvement. Upon examination, I found that she had no collection reflex on her right, the right hip, pelvis, lumbar, and intertransverse joint were misaligned.By the third adjustment, her collection reflex had returned to normal. The right hind leg functioned normal. The owners felt that she improved tremendously and is very competitive now.