Henry had his first chiropractor visit last night. This is the year of “address any and all possible issues”, so I’m throwing everything at him. He’s only got a few days left on his ulcer treatment (which I really need to update on here – woops), he’s been on Pentosan for 6 months now, and now body work.
Honestly, I was expecting him to be a chiropractic mess. He’s kind of a tight horse anyway that doesn’t have a ton of elasticity, so I just assumed he might have some skeletal issues.
He did have a few issues, but nothing really major. He had a rib out on each side – the second to last rib on the left and the last rib on the right. Dr Jack had me feel them and yeah, no kidding, you could easily tell. After the adjustment he had me feel again and there was a definite change.
Most of his soreness was located in his loin area – no surprise to me at all considering that he has a bit of a hard time crossing his hind legs in the under saddle work and really stetching down through his topline. The symptoms lined up with the findings.
He was just slightly out in his poll and about midway down his neck. Otherwise he was pretty good. It was interesting to me that every spot Dr. Jack found, and his explanation for how I would see that manifest under saddle, lined up. He nailed Henry’s tendency to waterski a bit with his hind end in the left lead canter… everything in the hind end was getting pulled to one side with his mis-alignment, which would make it hard for him to step up through his body and push off on that side.
We will see if I feel any difference today. I at least feel better knowing that he’s getting every opportunity to feel as good as possible. Which reminds me, time to fill our next Pentosan prescription.
In other news, my Devoucoux was released from customs last night. USPS must have heard me whining.
In even more news, I have started an epic stirrup showdown – two different models of MDC (the S Flex and the Sport Classic) versus my Royal Riders. Yes there will be a very thorough review post. Yes a friend has also volunteered to try them out and write up her thoughts on them versus her Herm Sprenger irons. There will be much evaluation happening.
We shall see which ones come out on top! First up – the Sport Classic.
breedrideevent.com 
I should get the chiro out for Baby before I get back into riding her so we can have a fresh start. I’m looking forward to your stirrup show down, but I must say that I am a stickler about basic, all metal stirrup irons.
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Regular fillis irons kill my ankles, but I do like the look, hence why the non-jointed MDC models appeal to me most aesthetically. We’ll see which ones my body prefers!
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You know, regular irons used to kill my ankles, now my cheapie flexible irons hurt, but only my right side and the regular ones don’t seem to bother me as much.
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regular ones don’t bother me in a dressage saddle but they kill me in a jumping saddle with a shorter stirrup.
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I’ve found that with narrow (traditional) irons I can’t use the flexi as my ankles and knees die, but with the wider footbeds I love the flexible as it puts that whole wide footbed on my foot as my heels go down, so much support my ankles and knees love me. Looking forward to your write up. Love a good horse chiro, they are amazing!
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I love the chiro, it really helps. Also, I hate those MDCs! I was all wanting them then I tried a pair and I had knee pain so bad I was in tears. So sticking with my RRs….and a pair of blue JINS my boarder got my for Christmas lol. Can you add a set of those to your review?
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If Jin wants to send me a pair… 😉 Which MDC’s are you talking about, I have two different kinds?
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Courage could probably benefit from a good chiro visit. I love when you find things actually correlated to your under saddle problems.
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Glad everything went well for Henry’s spa day! Can’t wait to see your full evaluation of the irons, I’m definitely curious to read about your findings, and which ones came out on top.
And I’m a firm believer that the UPS gods hear whining 😉
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Love Dr. Jack! He’s on my list to call for Sir Simon next month.
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Back home we had a chiropractor who lived on the barn property. That was super handy.
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I looooove my chiro. She’s also a dressage trainer so she is always on point with what is wrong and gives you a whole body picture of how to fix it.
Do you do stretches with Henry on the ground? I’m kindof up in the air as to whether neck/bending stretches really actually help limber Murray up or not. I do them anyway.
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Can’t wait to hear all about the stirrup showdown! I want to do a full review of my RRs… but that would involve the ground thawing out enough to ride! Interested to hear your opinion of the MDCs.
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Oh my Henry loves the chiropractor! Hopefully your Henry feels great after his adjustments 🙂
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I love the chiropractor! My boys get worked on about twice year, more if needed. I also LOVE my MDC sport classics. I’ve been using them for more than 4 years and haven’t had any problems with them. Well worth the money. :0)
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I love my Jins but I’m excited to see what you think of the MDC Sport Classics. We seem to have the same taste in a lot of tack.
My boy gets bodywork every 2 months right now but hoping to drop that down to twice a year after a couple more sessions. He had a couple issues when I got him so we are trying to work through those. It really seems to help.
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poor Henry is so expressive about the chiro!! my mare is really due for an adjustment but we can’t get on the schedule for our regular chiro’s next visit… boo. perhaps i need to find someone else 😦
will be curious to hear about your stirrups too!
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I’m curious to read how Henry responded to the chiropractor! I know so so many people swear by chiropract-y but it still seems…fake? to me.
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