Chiropractor visit

Over the weekend we had our chiropractor come to check all of the horses to ensure that they are all feeling as good as possible since the weather has turned horrible and we now have half-melted-snow-thats-turned-to-ice everywhere. None of the horses are particularly happy about being turned out in icy paddocks, but luckily they are feeling alright - a few spots of ‘tension’ here and there but nothing terrible - thank god!

Both Vallu and Basse had to have their shoulder re-aligned. Most interestingly, Basse’s right shoulder was higher and too far back to what it should have been and Vallu’s left shoulder was too high and ‘out’. I say interesting because obviously both have suffered from bad tendon injuries on their front legs last year, but Basse had damaged the SDSL on his left front leg and Vallu had damaged the medial suspensory branch on his right front leg, so obviously both horses have compensated for these injuries by putting more weight on the opposite shoulder. Vallu had also shifted A LOT of weight to his hind legs which was causing tension behind his saddle (not caused by his saddle!). As well as this, when Vallu ended up tearing his left shoulder muscle (can’t remember which one) in summer 2015, there is still a small  bit of scar tissue there which hasn’t gone away despite my best efforts with several different massage therapists and chiropractors. However, Siw said that she is hopeful that it should go away now that the shoulder is in a better place and if I use the laser on him regularly.

Basse had tension in his left leg higher than where it was injured which she managed to unblock really quickly. It wasn’t too bad because it didnt take her long to fix, but Basse’s reaction showed that it had been bothering him because he went into a deep sleep/trance the moment Siw managed to release the tension. Whilst Vallu always reacts by yawning and licking his lips, Basse nods off but this was the first time that I had seen him go into such a deep trance so quickly! My poor little Fat Unicorn 😕 I’m just glad Siw found it and managed to help him feel better. But on a better note, his back is good (very little sign of his kissing spine!!) and she really liked the WOW saddle and thinks this is why neither horse has a sore back unlike a lot of the horses that she treats...

I love having a good chiropractor out to check the horses, I always learn so much and this time I learnt to pay a lot more attention at both boys’ shoulders to make sure they stay in their normal positions. Basse felt amazing to ride afterwards, so I’m 100% convinced is to do with his left shoulder and leg feeling better! I have instructions to ride Basse in a way where he really stretches his back so I’m going to start cantering him first as this is where he stretches better and then do trot work to see if it would help. Vallu has been ordered to do more pole work or then riding in the snow so that he picks up his hind legs more so he’s now going to be lunged over poles once a week and ridden over poles once a week to try to teach him to not drag his hind legs. After yesterday's session, he was absolutely brilliant to ride today! Mum mentioned that he is trotting with a far more equal stride length and for me he felt so much more 'bouncy' with a lot more cadence.