Why My Horse Does Not Move Well - Horse Chiropractor Massachusetts

Muscles cause movement. Muscle movement is initiated by nerves from the spine. Many times an owner or trainer will tell me the horse does not move well. It is important to know that specific muscles are responsible for forward movement and all too often I find muscle and spinal imbalance which will inhibit the horse.
Two main muscles are often at fault and these are the Lats as well as the medial gluts and tensor fascia latae {TFL}. The first muscle namely the Lats control backward humerus {front leg bone above the elbow} movement. If there are saddle issues or alignment problems in the mid back, the Lats will be weakened and inhibit front leg movement.
The Medial Gluts need to relax and allow the TFL to pull the rear leg forward for engagement. If a pelvic subluxation{alignment fault} or lumbar{low back vertebrae} exists then there will be power loss and your horse may even through the head or buck.
Chiropractic can often evaluate and correct these problems.

Foal and Chiropractic - Horse Chiropractor Massachusetts

Dr Bill Ormsted published this article. If you reside in New England please contact me at 617-472-0661 Dr Bruce or email me.

Everyone with a new foal wants to know when they should have him checked by the chiropractor.


Chiropractic subluxations are thought to be caused by three major factors: stress, toxins and trauma. Your newborn foal has just experienced two of these in a big way. Birth is very stressful for both mom and baby. The newborn requires a slight period of no oxygen to be able to switch from passive living in the womb to an active life outside. Birth itself is probably the biggest trauma that most living creatures experience.

I recommend that all newborns be examined by a certified animal chiropractor as soon as the owner is able to handle the baby. The most common subluxations I see in newborns occur in the pelvis and in the upper cervical region. These subluxations will definitely affect performance as the foal ages and, if left unchecked, can turn into a real problem when you start riding this horse in a couple of years.

Horse toe in or toe out - chiropractor for horse mass.

TOE OUT OR TOE IN

Many times an owner will tell me that their horse’s front leg is toeing out or in. To start with you must remember that a horse carries more weight on their front legs and this issue can really hurt your horse.
The first issue that needs to be checked is shoeing if indeed your horse is shod of course. There may me an imbalance caused by the shoes. If your horse is barefoot then when was the last time your trimmer came out to check and trim your horse’s feet? Remember any hoof imbalance can cause a toe to rotate. One easy way for you to tell is by looking at the coronet. Is this line parallel to the ground or is it angled? I had one horse recently that had a rear leg rotation on every step he took; it turned out to be a shoeing issue. This poor horse was getting sore hocks and hips and everyone wanted to inject the hocks. Sometimes you need to look a little deeper into the reason why the biomechanics [how your horse moves] is at fault and not just treat the symptoms.
If the feet check out fine then there may be a fetlock, knee or shoulder issue [we are of course talking front legs] not to forget there may even be a neck or wither problem. When the animal chiropractor checks out your horse they look at all these joints to come up with a cause and thus adjust the main joint that is at fault.
The fetlock on a horse is anatomically similar to your knuckle and the knee is similar to your wrist. These joints can lock up and small movements may be hindered and the horse will toe in or toe out to compensate.