My first exposure to chiropractic adjustments in horses was in the late 1980s when a veterinarian used a block of wood and a hammer to adjust the vertebrae. The process has evolved, but I was in the dark about it until one day, in the late 1990s, I saw a veterinary chiropractor in a barn. He asked me if I believed in chiropractic therapy, and I lied, saying I did. One shoulder was lower than the other, and my hip was twisted. It was a pitiful sight.

He offered to go over my body right there in the barn aisle. He got to my left rib cage, and I cautioned him to go easy there. I had broken a rib in that area several years earlier. He jumped for joy, exclaiming he had found the reason for my left forearm pain and my use of 6 to 8 Tylenol per day to get through. Then, he placed the butt of his hand against my rib next to my backbone and shoved me there with a quick and powerful stroke. The next day I felt I had been run over by a train, but the arm pain was gone, and to this day, 25 years later, it has never returned.

Another time, I had completed floating a horse not far from home. That evening, the owner called, saying the horse could not open his mouth. I went to the farm and discovered the horse was unwilling to open only one side while the other side worked normally. I made a quick adjustment to the locked jaw and relieved him immediately.

Veterinary chiropractic adjustment works if the chiropractor is experienced. Unfortunately, I see many who are ineffective, just like any other profession. Choose carefully.

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