Whether your horse is coming back from an injury, living with chronic pain or just needs a tune-up, integrative therapies can help. We always use them with a proper diagnosis and treatment plan, never in place of one.
Chiropractic care
A horse's spine has 7 cervical, 18 thoracic, 6 lumbar and 5 sacral vertebrae, plus a variable number in the tail. Each joint moves only a little, but together they give the spine its flexibility. When one area stops moving well, another part of the body has to make up for it, and that part takes extra stress.
Restricted motion can cause muscle tightness, swelling and pain, and it can irritate the nerves that leave the spine between the vertebrae. A chiropractic adjustment is a quick, precise thrust at a specific angle that restores normal movement to the joint. Adjustments stay within the joint's normal range of motion, so most horses tolerate them well.
Regular adjustments can help prevent lameness and slow degenerative conditions by keeping the body moving correctly. They can also help with a hard-to-find lameness. Once spinal compensation is removed, the lame limb is often easier to pinpoint.
Signs your horse may benefit
- Reduced performance
- Back, neck or sacroiliac pain
- Less flexibility in the poll, neck or back
- A change in behavior or attitude
- Shortened stride or abnormal gait
- Lame only under saddle
- Trouble picking up a lead
- Stiff in one direction
- Bucking
- Refusing jumps
- Sore when groomed or touched
- Trouble collecting
- Resents the cinch or girth
- Uneven muscling
- Pelvic asymmetry
- Changes in posture
Acupuncture
Acupuncture places fine needles at specific points where nerve bundles meet muscle, bone or fascia. The needles send a normal signal to the nervous system, which acts like a reset switch.
Around each needle, blood flow improves, muscles relax and tissue repair speeds up. Across the whole body, acupuncture reduces inflammation, raises serotonin and releases the body's own pain relievers.
We use acupuncture to help injuries heal, to relieve pain from acute or chronic lameness, and to keep sound horses performing by releasing trigger points and tension in sore muscles.
Shockwave and regenerative therapy
Extracorporeal shockwave therapy uses the same kind of energy human medicine uses to break up kidney stones. In horses, it helps treat tendon and ligament injuries, and clinical trials have shown generally positive results.
Stem cell and platelet-rich plasma (PRP) therapies use your horse's own cells to speed tissue repair. They work especially well for tendon, ligament and joint injuries. Depending on the case, we may recommend Pro-Stride APS, Alpha2EQ, Pro-Vet ACP, Regenaflex RT, StrydaFlex or Renovo.
Nutritional supplements
We recommend supplements for your horse's specific needs, whether that's healing, digestion, immune function or general health.