Cisco Got Adjusted

 Cisco had his first bodywork session yesterday. 

I've been wanting to get it done for a while, but I don't have anyone that I use on a regular basis. There's a vet that does chiro who used to come out to us and I had Phantom done a couple of times, but she won't come this far anymore. She's about an hour and a half away, and since Cisco isn't the best trailer-er I don't know if the trip would be worth it. I worry that he'd be so tense in the trailer that it would undo any work that was done on him before we even made it home. 

One of the instructors at the barn started using a lady who does chiro and acupressure last summer and has been really happy with the results. She lives a couple of hours away but does horses at the Belgian breeding place just down the road so she's in the area every month or so. I was going to get Cisco done in the fall, but she was coming out just as I finished riding before my two-month stint on nights so I decided to wait. Then she was scheduled to come out last week, but the polar vortex hit and the day she was supposed to come was going to be -30 so we rescheduled it to this week when it was a much warmer -18 (said with sarcasm).

Dentist is planned for the spring...

Cisco hasn't had any injuries that I had to inform her of, so I gave her my biggest concerns as to his way of going. Basically, his mouthiness with the bit which I wonder is a TMJ issue (I heard his jaw clicking recently when he was eating) and his preference to push into his right shoulder/rib cage and not step under himself with his left hind as much as his right. 

What did she find? 

Poor Cisco was out everywhere. Nothing significant, just a little bit in a lot of places. Withers, all parts of his spine, his right hip was lower, he stepped shorter on his left hind, tight in his shoulders, out in his poll, carried his tail to one side, he may have slipped and done the splayed hind leg thing at one point - yeah, everywhere. Cue guilty horse mom moment. 

Okay, so I'm not the worst mom out there.

She worked some magic and Cisco slowly released his breath and started to give some releases. Seeing him yawning and dropping his nose to the ground is a big deal as he doesn't show these releases very often. 

She had me trot him up when she was done and he slowly realized that he was able to lift and lighten his shoulders much better. By the third trot up he had it figured out and seemed much freer in front. She said he was still a bit short in his left hind, but better than it was in the beginning. 

I'm always highly suspicious of how effective some of these bodyworkers are. Especially since there is a local "school" so we have a dearth of people at various stages of their training hanging up their shingle in this area.

The horse will be the best judge of the effectiveness of the treatment. I'm not supposed to ride Cisco for two days, which was my plan anyway as the next couple of nights are still supposed to be pretty chilly by the time I get out to the barn in the evening after work. 

But I might have seen the first indication of positive results. 

Cisco ate his dinner right after his appointment. He quite often picks his rubber dish up and flips it around after he's licked it out. This time was a little bit different. Instead of flipping it up and down, he twirled it. One of the things she had adjusted was something was hindering him from turning his head to the right, so I wonder if he was enjoying the new freedom in his poll when he was twirling the dish. He did it a few times for quite a few seconds each time and was in no rush to stop playing with the dish.

Fingers crossed that I notice a difference on our next ride (hopefully on Thursday) and that this 20-minute session fixes all our problems and he turns into a fancy prancing pony. That's how it works, right?