Equine Wellness: Chiropractic Care for the Older Horse

Reducing pain, increasing mobility

Like aging humans, elder horses accumulate a lifetime’s worth of injuries, scars and body parts that don’t function as well as they did in their prime. Chiropractic care can help a horse living with a chronic problem live as pain-free as possible. Obviously, arthritis is not something that can be cured with chiropractic, but pain we often assume is coming directly from the arthritis can have other sources, and those other sources can be affected in a positive way.

Pain from compensation can be addressed by chiropractic. Compensation is the body changing its biomechanics to work around an injury. Chronic compensation puts extra stress on the body part asked to pick up the slack and work overtime. Muscles working overtime get fatigued and fatigued muscles begin to spasm. A chiropractic adjustment stimulates the nervous system to work efficiently and reduce compensation. This gives spasming muscles a rest, sometimes providing immediate pain relief.

Another consequence of tight, overworked and painful muscles is the resistance to movement they provoke. Widespread soft tissue tightness can involve multiple joints or an entire body region and discourage even basic movement. A severe source of pain can even make moving between the food and water sources a daily challenge for your older animal. Painful movement leads to sedentary habits and overall muscle loss, generating cycles of pain and inflammation. Conversely, if pain is removed, then movement is encouraged and muscle strength builds. Joints remain well supported by healthy muscle tone and moving joints continue to self-lubricate and self-nourish. Movement is very much a friend to an aging body. Reducing pain also reduces the need for pain medication and the concerns of any side effects associated with such drugs.

The musculoskeletal system is one of the most obvious body systems in which older horses begin exhibiting problems. Chiropractic can help in this regard because its ultimate goal is to make the entire nervous system work more efficiently. The benefits of chiropractic extend to every body system. The immune, digestive and nervous systems all get a boost to productivity from being adjusted. A chronic disease anywhere in the body is a constant energy drain that takes energy supplies from other areas. If chiropractic can make the body work more efficiently, then more energy is freed to address the chronic disease and allow easier living despite the animal still having disease.

The story of “Fiona” illustrates how dramatically chiropractic can help an older horse to thrive. Fiona’s story starts off like many others we know. This 29-year-old Thoroughbred mare was removed from a situation of neglect and very, very poor health. She was several hundred pounds underweight and had many health problems accompanying her starvation. Weight was slowly added to her skeletal frame.

At her new home she joined a young Arabian mare as a pasture mate. When her owners started chiropractic care, Fiona had attained a moderate, stable weight. Radiographs of her joints showed severe permanent arthritic changes to several fetlocks. On pasture she was only observed to walk and trot, a lack of mobility assumed to be a consequence of her advanced arthritis. However, after several chiropractic sessions over several months, Fiona’s owners were astounded at the change they saw in this older mare. She was cantering and galloping around the field! True to her Thoroughbred nature, she would actively engage the young Arab mare in races across the pasture. Chiropractic care elevated Fiona’s quality of life dramatically.

Older horses have earned a retirement filled with the best we can offer. Making this time as pain free as possible and keeping their health at a high level are important goals. Chiropractic care is one healthcare option owners can choose to keep providing the very best for their equine companions.

NWHS

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