Chiropractor and Massage

Koda had an easy week and weekend this week.  Temperatures dropped again, and along with it came a blistering cold wind.  We still got out for a couple hacks down the field road (that has been plowed, yay!), but all in all, very easy.  On Sunday, a fairly local (4 hrs away!) equine chiropractor and massage therapist came up to treat a group of local riders' horses.  I wanted to take Koda since he is new to me and I always like to know where he may need some help, what could be underlying causes of issues we have, etc.  Koda has always been very stiff to the left, and has trouble picking up his left lead in the hind (front lead is fine, hind lead will be disunited).  His neck has always been a bit of a snap, crackle, and pop situation, but all in all, he's had no huge red flags saying something was seriously wrong.

The consultation went as expected, with nothing major coming out of it.  His left hip was rotated out and down, along with his left shoulder.  One point on his neck on the right side was out as well, along with a vertebrae.  We went through different stretches and massage that I could do to help him develop evenly behind, making sure that the muscles on the left hind remain loose and not knotted.  She found a few knots and worked them out, allowing me to try and practise as well.  I liked that she explained a lot of things, demonstrated things that I can do at home.  She had a very "if it ain't broke, don't fix it" kind of attitude that I appreciated since everything she found was reflected in what we were having issues in, plus she wasn't telling me that Koda would need constant adjustments that didn't reflect in what Koda was telling us that day. 

Going forward, the plan is to work a bit more on the left than the right, making it maybe a 60/40 split.  Continue with the long and low, working on developing those back muscles that will help his slightly dippy back (SO glad she didn't see anything to be super alarmed about with that!).  Another cool thing we're going to fix doing is our carrot stretches.  Before, Koda would twist his head all over on the ground, under saddle he keeps his profile perpendicular to the ground.  To remedy this, she mentioned to ask with one hand each at the top and bottom ring of the halter.

On a slightly sour/worrying/alarming note, Koda may have been exposed to something dangerous.  I cannot say much on the subject, but posts may be a bit more sobering... let's hope it's a  false alarm.

Please let it be a false alarm