Chiropractic care for horses: facts and mythbusters

Horses are incredible athletes and can perform well with many handicaps and minor issues. Whether these issues come from overexertion or overuse from long term riding or competition, rough play with pasture mates, or even a “bad roll” over a rock in the pasture, aches and tweaks can occur. Like humans, horses will compensate by “not using” or not flexing the part that is sore or painful. The more they compensate, the less flexible that joint will become. Ultimately, that joint restriction, whether it came from the injury or the avoidance, results in what chiropractors term a vertebral subluxation complex (VSC). These can cause handicaps that inhibit movement, create pain and discomfort, and reduce performance. Older horses are more susceptible to loss of spinal flexibility and muscle strength, contributing to a lack of performance or increased discomfort and poor mobility. That is where chiropractic work may be able to come in to relieve pain and restore freedom of movement to the locked up joint. Chiropractic manipulation, or adjustment, treats the VSC thereby restoring the spinal cord’s function and improving the animal’s comfort and performance. The best yet is that chiropractic adjustments are drug free. This article will explain the steps of the full equine chiropractic visit, from start to finish. We will be using a sandwich as our analogy, as we all know how satisfying a well made sandwich can be!