I suppose that statement right there reveals a somewhat limited horsemanship perspective.

Regardless, there are a few things that happened that changed that view. First, I don’t have the money to “move on to the next one” or for that matter a string of horses from which to pick each time I need to get a job done. I’ve got two horses that have to be ready to work when I am. The other thing that changed my view was that I had some severe back and neck pain that was solved by a chiropractor. Finally—and maybe it’s because I’ve only got a couple—I’ve grown pretty attached to my ponies and I don’t like them hurting so I’m willing to do what it takes to help them.

With that change of focus in mind, our horse Deuce came up lame. During my trip to Montana, he kicked into a mesh-wire fence and cut himself. It wasn’t bad, but he had to have a month off for the wound to heal. When we brought him back, he wasn’t behaving properly. I thought he was fresh from his time off, but a few days later he was still bad. While working him on a cow, I felt him pop up coming out of his turns to the left. I knew he was hurting. I thought he must have strained a joint.

Our vet did a complete flex test and determined it wasn’t his hock (where the injury was) but somewhere higher. She theorized it was the sacroiliac area.

We had an appointment with a well-respected equine chiropractor in our area (recommended by our vet and our farrier) set up for a few days after the vet check. Our vet told us to keep the appointment and use it as a second opinion.

When the chiro came, we filled her in on the history and she went to work. As she worked down his back with very little pressure, at about the point where the back of the saddle sits, Deuce’s back legs went out from underneath him and he all but fall down. Our chiro felt she had found the problem. She worked on it for a while, checked the rest of his back and his neck and got him all adjusted. She then performed some acupuncture around the spot that she hit when he reacted so dramatically.

After a litany of instructions, she left feeling cautiously optimistic that she had found what has making him lame. We didn’t do any flex tests simply because they might have forced the spot back out of whack. In a week she’ll be back and I’ll be sure to include an update, but I too am cautiously optimistic. He seemed like a new horse, repeatedly yawning, licking his lips and—in a strange way—thanking the good doctor.

So while I might not jump all over every trend in treatment that comes along, hopefully I’m learning to--at the very least--check them out.

As you can tell from this picture, Deuce was a little uncomfortable. Hopefully the session with the chiropractor pays off.