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Does My Horse Need a Chiropractor?

June 10, 2023

Chiropractic Care provides a number of benefits for horses.

Regardless of the discipline in which the horse participates, from trail riding or competitive roping, to dressage, barrel racing, and more, chiropractic care benefits them all. Owners, riders, and trainers, are constantly asking their horses to do incredible, yet unnatural things. Whether that is barrel racing, cutting, reining, team roping, cross country, dressage or jumping, our animals always try to please us by performing at their best.

Most horse owners that I have come across take amazing care of their animals. However, most care that is routinely provided for horses is reactionary. Meaning that we don’t usually provide care for the horse until something starts to show up. That could be something as slight as a grade-1 lameness, a more serious problem such as colic or laminitis, or the rider may notice that all of a sudden the horse doesn’t want to take a certain lead or lope in a particular direction. Whatever prompts the decision to contact a healthcare provider, it is normally something that happens once a problem has been identified.

Many times a person contacts me, it is because they want help with a particular issue, symptom, or ailment. Not realizing that chiropractic care can be something they can utilize for their animals on a regular basis, it is no wonder why people usually ask for symptom-focused care. So with this in mind, I want to address a few things regarding equine chiropractic care, that might be new to most horse owners.

A common question I receive is, “Does my horse need a chiropractor?” So what are some things to look for to indicate that your horse would need a chiropractor?

  • Has your horse’s behavior or performance changed recently?
  • Does unusual or fluctuating lameness exist?
  • Does the rider have difficulty sitting straight on the horse?
  • Has the rider or trainer noticed changes in the various gaits?
  • Does the horse drag its feet or are the shoes worn down on one side?
  • Are lead changes suddenly an issue?

You may have noticed that all of the above questions result in a reactionary care. Once you feel or notice an issue, then you look for a solution. But there is another way you can determine if your horse needs chiropractic care. Ask different questions, such as:

  • Do I ask my horse to go all-out, push him/herself in competition?
  • Does my horse carry a heavy load (be honest…)?
  • Does my horse take frequent rides on trailers?
  • Does my horse spend most of his/her time out in a natural environment, such as a pasture?
  • Have you reached a training plateau that you just cannot push through?
  • Was my horse once a lot faster or quicker and has slowed down (when age related changes are not suspected) and yet is sound?

As you can see, these are not symptom-based questions; they are lifestyle centered. The rigorous routines of competition and travel that performance horses are subjected to, need to be accompanied by appropriate levels of maintenance care! This is what is so often overlooked in the equine world. Human performance athletes are given access to a multitude of maintenance care options. These include but are not limited to, chiropractic care, massage, hyperbaric chamber, ice water therapy, e-stim, acupuncture, etc. These options are now becoming more and more available to animals as well! Chiropractic care should be at the center of any maintenance care plan. Why? Easy! Structure equals function! If the structure is incorrect, the function is going to be incorrect as well. Have you ever thought about what the function of muscle tissue is?

At the basic level, and we are speaking of skeletal muscle here, it is to move bone. That’s it. If the bones that make up a joint, are not in their correct position, can the muscles move the bones properly? The answer is no. So if a horse has a joint out of position, and we give that horse a massage, or acupuncture, or supplements, will any of it work? No, the joint position must be corrected. The purpose of chiropractic care is to correct the joint position so that the muscles can do their job. Once the joint position is correct, then you can treat any remaining issues, such as muscle soreness, tightness etc., with supportive therapies like massage, acupuncture, supplementation etc.

So what this all boils down to is this. Having your horse checked and adjusted by a chiropractor on a regular basis, will ensure proper joint position. Proper joint position ensures proper joint motion. (Remember, structure = function) Proper joint motion results in a horse performing at their optimum level! This reduces the presence of compensatory movements which in-turn decreases the likelihood of pain and injury! This is the purpose of chiropractic care! And what horse wouldn’t benefit from that?

If your horse is not moving properly, or you notice performance issues, chiropractic care can help!

I hope that you have enjoyed this post! If you have any questions about this information, or to schedule a chiropractic adjustment for your horse(s), please contact us at 480–490–6655, or email us at sporthorsechiro@gmail.com. You can also find us on TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, and on Twitter.

Thank you for reading!

Dr. Alex Micek

Dr. Alex Micek was born and raised in Osceola, Nebraska. She grew up on a the back of a horse and began showing quarter horses in multiple all-around events as an active member of the American Quarter Horse Youth Association. She became more interested in roping, running barrels, and goat tying and convinced her mother to travel across the state of Nebraska to the high school rodeos.

She received a rodeo scholarship from Oklahoma Panhandle State University where she went on to rodeo at the collegiate level for four years. She earned her bachelor degrees in biology and animal science. During this time, she accomplished many qualifications to the American Quarter Horse Association World Championship Show in Oklahoma City in breakaway, heading and barrel racing with many top 10 finishes.

Dr. Alex had her equine athletes adjusted during the rodeo seasons and was amazed by the benefits and relief it brought to her horses. She was intrigued by the importance of the chiropractic adjustment. From then on, her passion was to become an equine chiropractor.

Dr. Alex attended Parker University in Dallas, Texas, earning her Doctorate of Chiropractic as well as completing the American Veterinary Chiropractic Association certified course in Animal Chiropractic at Parker University.

Dr. Mike Adney

Dr. Mike is a retired military veteran. He served in the U.S. Air Force as an F-16 Avionics Technician, and then in the Coast Guard as a helicopter pilot. During this time he obtained is Bachelor’s Degree in Professional Aeronautics with minors in Aviation Safety and Business. After he was retired from the military, he started his own business teaching senior citizens basic computer skills and repairing their computers. He happened to join a business networking group where he met a chiropractor that changed his life. Now he provides chiropractic care with the hopes of doing the same for others.

Dr. Mike Graduated from Southern California University of Health Sciences with his Doctorate of Chiropractic in 2016. While he was in school, he was introduced to an amazing person, who had been doing Chiropractic on horses for the past 40 years! Intrigued by the thought of adjusting horses, Dr. Mike decided to find out what he had to do in order to become a horse chiropractor. So in 2015, he attended Options for Animals, an animal Chiropractic certification program.

Upon graduating from the program, Dr. Mike passed the IVCA certification exam, which certified him as a member of the International Veterinary Chiropractic Association, the largest animal chiropractic certification in the world. Being a member of the IVCA ensures that Dr. Mike is always up-to-date on the latest methods and research pertaining to equine Chiropractic.

Dr. Mike’s passion is adjusting performance horses. Realizing that all professional sports teams have chiropractors on staff, and that the Chief Medical Officer for the 2016 U.S. Olympic team was a chiropractor, it became immediately obvious how important it is for performance animals to get adjusted as well. After all, the stresses that a performance horse’s body undergoes is arguably as much, if not more than that of a human performance athlete. After becoming an authorized equine chiropractic vendor at Westworld of Scottsdale, AZ, and providing equine Chiropractic care for those horses, it became clear that the horses needed what he does. The competition results along with the responses of the riders and trainers, confirmed that equine chiropractic is indeed a service that is desperately needed to keep performance horses functioning at their best!

Dr. Mike has a mobile equine practice which is based in Phoenix, AZ; however, he routinely travels long distances to manage the chiropractic care for his clients and their animals. He also enjoys traveling to horse shows and adjusting performance animals during their competitions, to ensure that their structure is in an optimum position to enable them to compete and perform at their best!