Horses and their owners
Being a horse owner is no small task. It requires a lot of work and patience, but the rewards and bonds that can come from it are priceless. It doesn’t matter if you have a performance horse for competition or have horses on the ranch to go horseback riding; Horse health and well-being are of the utmost importance in being a horse owner. Some critical aspects of horse care include regular grooming, horse vaccines, fixing horse injuries, routine veterinarian visits, chiropractic adjustments, and even dental care.
What is an equine chiropractor?
Equine chiropractors are a type of horse veterinarian. Like a human chiropractor, a horse chiropractor targets specific areas of the body using therapeutically controlled force towards precise spots on the body to improve function and movement within the body. Equine chiropractors specialize in evaluating and treating skeletal, joint, neurological, and muscular disorders. An equine chiropractor’s goal is to improve agility and ability, reduce pain and restore motions/reflexes. Although, you wouldn’t take your horse to an equine chiropractor for cancer, infections, metabolic disorders, etc. It could be the best choice to see an equine chiropractor if your horse is experiencing back pain, joint stiffness, altered gait, or any symptoms we talk about below.
How do you know if your horse needs a chiropractor?
There are many ways to determine if you should take your horse to an equine chiropractor. Some symptoms could be as minor as poor performance, and taking your horse to a veterinary chiropractor could be very beneficial. In other more severe situations, like an uneven pelvis or a nervous system issue, equine care can be essential to prevent pain or limited joint motion from getting worse without more invasive operations. Here are some of the symptoms you can look for to know if your horse needs an equine chiropractor.
Symptoms that mean your horse may need chiropractic help:
-Poor performance
-Abnormal posture
-Changes in behavior
-Lameness
-Stiffness
-Back, neck, or tail pain
-Head tilt
-Uneven Hips
-Uneven muscles
-Hesitation to do regular things
-Sensitivity to touch
-Sensitive nerves
-Ears pinning back
-Difficulty moving in different positions or directions
-Limited motion
-Joint pain and motion
-Muscle Tension
-Uneven Gait
-Holding head or tail abnormally
-Hollow topline
-Refusing Jumps
-Muscle Atrophy
Does horse chiropractic care work?
Chiropractic treatment alongside traditional veterinary medicine is the way to go. You can treat many conditions using traditional medicine and or chiropractic care. Chiropractic techniques can treat many conditions with more preventative practices and lesser invasion than conventional veterinarian medicine. Equine Chiropractors can evaluate spinal and nervous system conditions to determine if spinal manipulation with chiropractic treatment will resolve the issue or if traditional veterinary medicine would be a better solution. Equine chiropractors specialize in evaluating and treating conditions not as notably treated within traditional veterinarian medicine. Most traditional equine veterinarians are not as trained to assess the spinal column and joints function the same way that animal chiropractors are.
How often do I need to see a horse chiropractor?
How often you see the equine chiropractor is up to you and your chiropractor. To treat a specific issue: 2-5 visits within 1-3 months may be necessary. It may be beneficial for your horse to get regular adjustments to maintain balance, joint pain, and agility while performing. When you see your equine chiropractor, you can expect each adjustment to take less than an hour. Regular adjustments are a great way to prevent minor issues or things that aren’t even an issue yet from becoming major. You should not only react to treat what is wrong with your horse but prevent what could go wrong. Instead of only medical-based symptoms to determine if your horse could use regular adjustments, here are some more things that you could consider.
-Is my horse in a trailer frequently?
-Do I expect my horse to perform hard?
-Does my horse carry heavy loads?
-Does my horse spend a lot of time on trails or in other natural environments?
-Can you not achieve specific goals or performances with your horse?
Horse chiropractor qualifications
Only qualified people who have the necessary experience with chiropractic adjustments should treat your horses. For someone to practice equine chiropractic, they must hold active chiropractic or veterinary medicine licenses. For a veterinarian or chiropractor to become qualified to practice animal or equine chiropractic, they must attend post-graduate animal chiropractic programs and pass the Animal Chiropractic Certification Commission (ACCC) exams. Dr. Jones with Peach Creek Chiropractic is a Doctor of Chiropractic and certified by the American Veterinarian Chiropractic Association. (AVCA)
Mobile equine Chiropractor in Utah
Peach Creek Chiropractic practices all kinds of chiropractic care throughout Utah. From Animals to children and everything in between. Peach Creek Chiropractic specializes in Utah County but has mobile options. From the red rocks in St. George to the snowy mountains in Logan, she can travel statewide and come to visit you right at your farm. Because Dr. Jones is a licensed Doctor of Chiropractic and certified by the AVCA to practice animal chiropractic, she does Horse and Rider package adjustments to increase the well-being and performance of both the horse and the rider all in one visit.
