Doctor Visit

So, today we went to see Dr D in Henderson. I knew from the lessons I had taken with Amanda and from our struggles to bend to the right, that he definitely needed adjusted. Circumstances had kept me from getting him out to see her earlier, but I'm really glad we finally made it this week. Come to find out, when you freak out in the crossties and flip yourself, it does have consequences in your body that need to be addressed. Yes, this has been pending since March. Unfortunately.

We got up fairly early and got T off to finish his first full week of work. Yes, we have reached that point in our young man's life, where he is making his own money for the first time ever. He scored a position as a AP file clerk, making a little bit more than minimum wage and today was his fourth day of work. He was a touch disappointed that he had to wait until next Friday to spend his new found wealth, but seems to be settling in and doing well. We are very proud.

Then we raced to the barn and hooked up the trailer. We mostly only needed Ashke, so loading him was quick and easy. I had already made sure the boots were in the trailer. The Doc's barn was about 30 minutes from the new barn and we got there just at 9:30. Ashke was a little stressed when we got there and seemed a bit uncomfortable. I told Dr D that I also wanted her to evaluate how he moved with the boots on, since I was feeling something but wasn't sure what.

I have to say here, that Ashke is a lot more open and honest with her than he is with me. I think he knows why we are there and that he needs to show her the things he has been trying to hide from me. It's a wall he hides behind until she is there and then he's all like "here, it hurts here, and this too". I've been seeing some of it, like his slight hesitation when turning in the wash stall, but it's intermittent and hard to identify. So, we turned him loose in the round pen and he was slightly off on the inside front leg. Dr D thought that perhaps it was his hooves, since he was also slightly off on the inside front going the other direction as well. We put the boots on and as soon as he started to move she knew it was his neck not his feet. She said it was a good thing I wanted her to watch him in the boots, since other wise she would have assumed it was just his feet being tender.

This is good news, because it means I can use the new Back Country boots I just bought, but bad news because that subluxation occurred when he flipped himself in the cross-ties. We brought him inside and Dr D did her acupuncture assessment of him. She goes over all of the acupuncture points on his neck, chest, back, barrel, belly, hips and stifles. Some of them she checks twice and she does both sides. She measured his frogs (6, 6, 5.25, 5.5) and I was amazed his left hind wasn't more off than that, considering his injury. Then she checked his lower leg to evaluate what was happening in the base of his neck. Finally, she checked his poll. What she discovered when she was done was that he had dislocated (subluxed) his T1 and T2, with a corresponding issue in his left hind. His SI was out and rotated on the left side. This confirmed all of the subtle things I was seeing in him - his hesitation at turning on his left front foot, the almost lameness I could sense but never pinpoint a foot or leg, the squared off toe on his left hind, from him dragging it just a touch (this is a strong indicator of an SI issue).

After the assessment, Dr D drugged him good to do his teeth and the adjustment. She drew blood from his neck, injected the drugs and then placed her needles at the acupuncture points in his chest, hips and along his barrel (liver). Then she put some acu needles at his poll to help release the energy and the final one in the swirl on his forehead. He was so stoned.

Drugged out horse with his floppy tongue hanging everywhere. 

You can see the needles in his chest. Dr D put the needles in and then injected a small amount of blood into the spot. This puts a bit of pressure right over the energy point.

 His tongue was cracking me up.

 No hooks but ERT on pretty much all of the teeth. Syd got them smoothed out and the fronts fixed so his jaw moved easily back and forth. 

Dr D still inserting needles in the SI area. He had more needles than in times past.

 If you look closely you can see the edge of his tongue sticking out of his mouth.

Placing the last of the acu needles.

Once the needles were in place, Dr D let Syd finish his teeth, while we let the needles percolate. Once his teeth were finished, we decided to clean his sheath before he woke up. Once again, I held up his hind leg while Dr D managed to fish out two beans. By this time, a lot of the needles were popping out on their own, which I was gathering up and tossing in the biohazard bucket. Then Dr D started the adjustment.

First she adjusted the base of his neck and said that she could feel it move. Then she moved the left hip and adjusted the SI. Finally, she used her accuator to move his spine from his withers to the SI joint. After the adjustments, she did some stretches with his neck and checked the lower leg, which moved freely, unlike before we started. Finally, she had him lift his back from tail to withers to stretch everything out. She was very pleased with how well everything moved back into place. 

He goes back on the 30th of July for a follow up and to make sure nothing is out of place after my next show.