And this is where the “horse crazy” term comes into play. I had my highly qualified vet take more than one look at her and we x-rayed various parts of her body. I gave her pain killers, anti-inflammatory drugs, hock injections, and expensive supplements to no avail. Left with no answers, I then turned to more holistic methods. I had an osteopath come out to work on Casey - Casey met her with an attempted kick… I had a massage therapist come out - Casey absolutely LOVED it! Massage did make her feel better, but the positive effects seemed to wear off after about a week. With no answers to show for all the attempts at care, I finally decided to try equine chiropractic care and I'm so glad I did.

Equine Chiropractic Care

I was initially very skeptical about chiropractic care. Without fully understanding it, I feared that Casey could get hurt in some way, but at this point, I was desperate for any solution. I just wanted her to feel better and be happy, and so was willing to stretch my comfort zone so Casey could return to hers. I went with a very well-referred equine chiropractor (who asked to not be named). This chiropractor has been working on horses for many years and is extremely knowledgeable. When Casey had her first appointment, I was very nervous, which I think the chiropractor could sense. They started out by asking me about Casey and what the issue seemed to be. They then ran their hand across her body, shockingly lightly, to see where she was responsive. It was magical to watch, the chiropractor was literally barely touching her, but Casey was communicating with them through her eyes, facial expressions, and body movements.

After doing a thorough examination, the chiropractor explained to me their findings, which were that Casey was essentially out of alignment in her entire body. She had subluxations in her upper cervical vertebrae, lumbar vertebrae, and sacral vertebrae. In layman’s terms, her spine was out of alignment in her neck, lower back, and pelvis region. This caused pressure to be put on her nerve roots, which resulted in inflammation. Her brain was sending energy down her spinal cord, but since the subluxations were interrupting that, it caused weakness and radiation in her lower back and hips. Due to these subluxations, she was incredibly muscle-sore essentially everywhere, since she was having to compensate for these subluxations. Her shoulders were especially sore. Since her lower back and pelvis were unable to “push” her forward due to pain, she was having to “pull” herself forward with her shoulders, which is not how horses are meant to move.

Having this knowledge made me better understand what was going on with her and how to fix it. It now made sense why the veterinarian couldn’t determine what was wrong with her because it wasn’t just one part of her body that was hurting, it was everything. We had taken x-rays, but not of her spine since the lameness was presenting more like a leg injury. The drugs had only masked the pain, but since we were not treating the actual cause, it hadn’t improved her overall symptoms. Massage had really helped the muscle soreness issues, but again, since we hadn’t addressed the root cause of that muscle soreness, it inevitably came back. It was a lightbulb moment for sure.

After the equine chiropractor explained all of this to me, they then adjusted Casey - which is a very interesting event to watch unfold, because horses are rather large animals. The chiropractor moved at Casey’s pace, adjusting one subluxation at a time, then giving Casey a chance to breathe and relax which gave me room to do the same. As they moved down her body, it was evident just how much pain was leaving her body. Her eyes softened and she began relaxing into the adjustments. When the chiropractor finished, Casey just stood there with a blissful look on her face.

The chiropractor handed the lead rope back to me and explained Casey’s care plan moving forward. She would get adjusted every week for the first month, then every two weeks until her symptoms started to subside. They also stressed the importance of physical therapy in helping Casey to improve. As they explained, since she had been compensating for her pain with her body for so long, she had trained herself to move in certain ways that were less painful. Those ways of moving though were incorrect. Now that her spine was correctly aligned, if she continued to move in those ways, her muscles would work against her, and it would cause more subluxations in the future. Since she had been in that compromised position for so long, the muscles were pulling the vertebrae back into that subluxation. By doing physical therapy, we would be pulling the vertebrae in the opposite direction, into the correct alignment. The chiropractor gave me specific exercises to work on with her on a daily basis in between adjustments. They included backing up (even better if it was on a slight up-hill), trot poles to get her to extend and stretch her back, long and low movements (where she could drop her head and again, stretch her back), neck stretches, and a lot of walking.