The Animal Chiro

Some food for thought…

This makes it easy to remember which way your clip should face!

As blanket season is in full force upon us, here is a very important reminder courtesy of the horse doctors at Miamitown Equine Veterinary Services:

"When securing blankets, make sure that the snaps/clips are facing inward, toward the horse! If they are facing out, they can easily become stuck on something, like the hay net in the picture."

Quiet Legs

Decades ago, I removed my spurs. Research studies suggested that lack of forward movement was not due to insufficient propulsive activity of the hind legs but instead, the incapacity of the thoracolumbar spine’s muscular system to properly transmit forward through the thoracolumbar spine, the thrust generated by the hind legs. Basically, lack of forward movement was due to spine dysfunction instead of lack of a hind legs’ activity. The thought behind removing may spurs was that keeping my spurs, I would likely address problems increasing the hind legs activity instead of concentrating on the thoracolumbar column dysfunction.

It was amazing how fast the horses adapted to the no-spurs situation. In fact, very soon, they responded with greater accuracy to any touch of my legs. At first, I attributed their calmness, subtleness and higher sensitivity to the fact that they no longer feared the sharp contact of the spurs. Equine research had already demonstrated the wrongness of Gustave Steinbrecht’s “spurs attacks.” Jean Marie Denoix DVM, PhD explained that having two heads, on inserted higher on one vertebral body and the other lower on the adjacent vertebrae, backward movement of the rib stimulated by the contraction of the muscles situate between the ribs, “spurs attack,” compressed and therefore altered the mobility of the two vertebrae connected to the rib.

Further studies demonstrated that the old concept of the rider’s legs stimulating muscles engaging the hind legs was unrelated to equine functional anatomy. The muscles situated under the rider’s leg are the re**us abdominis and they don’t engage the hind legs. The rider’s leg touch in fact sensors, which are designed to feel touch. Theses sensors have the capacity to feel a fly. ”Protection against external parasites involves feeling their presence and taking appropriated action.” (Carol A Saslow) In its more elementary form, the touch of the rider leg is interpreted by the horse’s brain as a forward movement signal. This is the simple concept of conditioned reflex. The touch of the rider’s leg is compared in the memory with previously stored stimulus and recognized as an indication of forward movement. The message is transferred to the cerebral cortex and the cortical decision is “go”. The cortical decision is integrated to the elements of the brain such as the olivary nuclei or cerebellum, which monitor the horse’s body state, and the cortical decision is adapted to the body situation. If the body state is a dysfunctional spine, the message “go” is resisted by fear of discomfort or pain. This very basic understanding of equine perception exposes the infantilism of the belief that if the aids are properly applied, the horse responds executing the correct movement. Instead, the horse response is always a compromise between responding to the rider’s aids and protecting existing muscle imbalance, morphological flaw, weaknesses, memories, or other issues.

“Once, we humans, have divised ways to measure the physical world, it became apparent that our perception of “reality” was a constrction of our human minds and not a faithful physical replica.” (Plato) Our sensors functions as filters which pass only a minute proportion of physical energies. Our brain uses this fragmentary information to construct a view of the world that was advantageous to the survival of our primate ancestors. With education, the horse’s brain constructs and refines responses to nuances in direction, duration and intensity of the touch of our legs.

Once chaotic stimuli created by the spurs were no longer disturbing the horses’ perception, the subtlety and precision of their responses suggested a sensitivity beyond the scope of conventional beliefs. Carol Saslow’s recent study provides the scientific answer. “Using stimuli developed for gaging human tactile sensitivity, we were surprise to find that horses sensitivity on the parts of the body which would be in contact with the rider’s legs is greater than what has been found for the adult human calf or even the more sensitive human fingertip. Horses can react to pressure that are too light for the human to feel. This raises the possibility that human instability in the saddle results in inadvertent delivery of irrelevant tactile signals to the horse. And a consequent failure in teaching the horse which signals are meaningful. Horses deemed insensitive to the legs (dead- sided), may simply have never had the chance to respond to consistent, light and meaningful signals. Similarly, the seeming ability of a well-trained horse to have extrasensory perception for his rider’s intentions may be instead its response to slight movement or tightening that the rider makes without awareness. “ (Carol A Saslow, Understanding the perceptual world of horses, Applied Animal Behavior Science, 78 (2002) 209-224) ,

There are riding techniques as well as saddle designed that result in inadvertent delivery of irrelevant tactile signals to the horse. Basically legs instability result from seat instability. Saddle with high cantle and enormous knee pads often lead to rider rolling on the back of their seat bone and lifting the knees into the contact of the knee pads. The aberration makes then squeezing the thigh above the knees moving the calf away from the horse flanks. In order to have contact, riders have to squeeze the legs disturbing the horse’s sensitivity with intermittent and strong physical contact. Riding techniques emphasizing such approach as well as techniques such as kicking with the heels, causes disturbing stimuli in an area of the horse’s body that is highly sensitive.
Jean Luc Cornille

😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😳

🥵

𝗧𝘂𝗲𝘀𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗧𝗶𝗽 - 𝗪𝗮𝗹𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝗮 𝗿𝗮𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗲

This is a great exercise to do in-hand. Walking over a raised pole requires greater flexion in your horse's joints than trotting.

Place a raised pole, or small log in a place where you can regularly walk your horse over it - for example to and from the field.

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗮𝗶𝗺
✅ To lift and flex the back, hip, shoulder, elbow, stifle and hock.
✅ Strengthen the muscles and structures involved in engagement, hip flexion and pelvic stability.
✅ Improve suppleness and flexibility through the shoulder, elbow, hip, stifle and hock.

𝗛𝗼𝘄 𝘁𝗼 𝗱𝗼 𝗶𝘁
🐴 Walk your horse over a pole on the floor.
🐴 Gradually raise it until it's around knee height.
🐴 Encourage your horse to lower his head to look at the pole.

To really see the benefits do this on a daily basis

If you personally know me, you know how much I love mushrooms! I started learning about them when we moved to our farm, where we found wild chanterelles and lions mane growing in the woods, which later progressed to harvesting our own shiitake logs. They have so many amazing health benefits for people, and I am curious to learn about how they can benefit pets too! Should be an interesting YouTube live to watch tonight!

The Surprising Health Benefits of Mushrooms for Pets w/ Dr. Robert Silver of Real Mushrooms Make sure to Join us live in the Facebook Group on LinkedIn or YouTube Wednesday, 8th of February, at 7 pm EST. In this episode, Pet Summits co-founder Isaa...

I see this all…the…time… Even with the big dogs!

Very interesting. The first thing I address when getting a new horse is to zone in on their diets, especially if they were known for being high energy/spooky/touchy. Change in the diet alone would help tremendously and will decrease your need to add in calming supplements. This is a more scientific explanation on how and why behavior can be affected by targeting the Microbiome. And if you have kids, this also helps you start thinking about how diet can affect their behavior… 🤔💡🤯

https://thehorse.com/1106463/horse-behavior-and-the-microbiome-whats-the-connection/?fbclid=IwAR2xK2Trap-XdutGyYdsBh025Ft8JXz_rMWKgSamSQsrISXgSnSF93Fn-eM

Horse Behavior and the Microbiome: What’s the Connection? – The Horse Is your horse’s diet and microbiome to blame for bad behavior? In this article we'll break down the research.

https://m.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=1158387584917254&id=419693468786673

Is our riding breaking our horses?
Is how we keep them compounding the problem?
How is all of this linked to the hoof?

In a recent webinar Jillian Kreinbring discussed the subtle complexities of the horses natural movement patterns. How if we restrict them, we not only affect their performance but predispose them to musculoskeletal problems and affect their posture. Statically and dynamically. Also expressing the importance of understanding that what we do with the head, for example, affects the entire body.

This echoed a recent webinar with Maren Diehl where she discussed biotensegrity and the consequences of asking for an excessively open lumbosacral joint on the horses static and dynamic posture.

The principles of the interconnectivity of the horse along the myofascial lines was brought to us in a webinar with Dr Shultz. Then Tuulia Luomala, who outlined the further connection between horse and rider and how our myofascial systems affect one another. And our postures.

In a webinar with Dr Tabor we discussed how riding style, confinement and feeding protocols affected head, neck and spinal posture. Again, with the same principle running through it, that creating unnatural postures affect major proprioception centres namely the Poll, teeth and feet.

This of course beautifully explored in the webinar with Dr Gellman who outlined the affects of domestication on proprioception and posture. With another webinar comprehensively delving into the link between dentition, the TMJ and posture.

What does this all have to do with the feet!?

As I research further the abstract influences on hoof morphology it’s clear to see that what we impose on our horses affects their physiology. Posture becomes a mirror of that physiology and posture changes the loading on the hoof. Understanding the material science of the hoof explains why it’s a deformable structure between the weight of the horse and the ground.
Therefore it becomes subject to everything, from the amount of tension in your reigns to where you hang your hay net.

Posture becomes the functional link between what we see in the hoof and what is happening through the rest of the body. All of this begins to answer questions like what came first, negative plantar angles or the associated pathologies along the dorsal myofascial line!?

Read more..

https://www.theequinedocumentalist.com/post/physiological-implications-of-domestication-on-the-horse

Here are the links to the webinars listed above which when put together, with others as well, really begin to tell a story…

Jillian Kreinbring

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/functional-anatomy-training

Maren Diehl

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/lumbo

Dr Rikke Shultz

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/myofascialkinetic

Tuulia Luomala

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/horseriderconnection

Dr Tabor

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/quantifying-posture-webinar-2-hours

Dr Gellman

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/proandpos

https://equineeducationhub.thinkific.com/courses/Dentalandperform

Merry festivus! Wishing you all a wonderful holiday, and that you and your furbabies all stay warm and safe during this cold snap❤️❤️❤️

As severe winter weather marches across the U.S. and Canada, Dr. Sarah Reuss, chair of the AAEP's Horse Owner Education Committee and a horse owner herself, shares the following advice for keeping your horse safe during this extreme weather event.

1. While lots of hay is ideal for horses to eat to keep warm, now is NOT the time to introduce a round bale if they’ve never had access to one before. It may be more work, but keep throwing them their normal hay source, just more frequently.

2. Similarly if your horse is not used to being locked up in a stall, now is NOT the time. The stress of a major change and the decreased activity can be risk factors for colic. Be sure they have access to shelter, hay, and drinkable water but let them move around if they choose to do so.

3. Horses that are thin, older, or fully body clipped are those most at risk in extreme weather.

4. Well fitting blankets are great but be sure horses do not get sweaty under them or that the blankets don’t soak through if snow or rain covered. Wet, cold and covered is worse that dry, cold and naked.

5. Some of the highest risk times are when the temperatures hover right around freezing, as that can result in sleet/freezing rain/ice that can make horses wet and therefore colder. Slippery footing is a concern, too.

6. If using electric water heaters, be sure they are functioning and not shocking horses. Take your gloves off and stick your hand in the water (briefly!!!) to double check.

7. “Trick” your horses into consuming extra water by flavoring a bucket, adding electrolytes to their meals, or soaking their meals in warm water. If you’ve never fed beet pulp before, be sure to add LOTS of warm water. Dry beet pulp is a common source of choke.

8. Tips of ears can be at risk for frostbite. Putting a jumper-style ear bonnet or other ear cover can protect them from wind chills.

Stay safe, friends! ❄️🥶❄️

Photo courtesy of Dr. Reuss.

https://thehorsesback.com/transitional-vertebrae/?fbclid=IwAR3hNKlmEWk6C8SPv-pvPweJ-d4_9DFarmEoD7ILXQ1W-XuwGxsh-FgArPQ

Transitional Vertebrae: What They Are and the Problems They Can Cause Transitional vertebrae are rarely identified while a horse is alive. However, they can lead to lifelong spinal asymmetry - and they're more common than you might think.

Happy Thanksgiving! May health and happiness find you wherever life takes you today❤️❤️❤️❤️

Happy National Doggie Day!! Lets see pics of your pooch🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗🤗

What an honor it is to be invited back to the Carolina Cluster again! These two besties will be making their debut in the peewees! Looking forward to it❤️

We will be closed till July 6. Have a safe and wonderful holiday!

What a journey the last month has been! Can’t believe that it has only been a little over 3 weeks since having brain surgery, one of my biggest fears… But I have realized going through this has been the biggest blessing and a second chance to live life to the fullest!
As some of you know, I had to have an emergency suboccipital craniotomy on Feb. 11 to remove a large cyst (that was placing an abnormal amount of pressure on various parts of my brain) as well as the tumor it was encapsulating. Pre-surgery that was a pretty tough pill to swallow after just losing my Dad to cancer in December. But I started to have minor health issues shortly after he passed, which got louder as time progressed to the point where I didn’t want to move or leave the couch because the vertigo and nausea were so bad. I lost roughly 15-20 lbs in January because I could not keep food down. We did not have a lot of time to prepare in terms of family and businesses before the surgery and left a lot of loose ends during recovery because of treating this as a traumatic brain injury which meant none to very little screen time to let the brain heal.
I finally had my post op consult with my neuro today and he says my recovery has gone remarkably well and to start gradual return back to normal life🤗🥳
So over the next few weeks, I will be scheduling appointments for current clients at the farm, and possibly going on routes starting in April. I won’t be starting at the load I was carrying before but will be working up to it as I listen to what my body needs. Thank you all for your support, thoughts, prayers and encouragement!! We have been so grateful for an understanding tribe and I have not had a chance to thank each and everyone of you personally❤️ Looking forward to seeing you soon!

Hi everyone! Sorry for the inconvenience, but we are closed till further notice due to health reasons as of 2/2/2022. If you would like to be put on our waitlist to get an appointment once we start taking appointments again, please send us a message or a call/text 864-680-6735. At this time, we do not have a timeline as to when we will be back to work, but prayers will be greatly appreciated!!! Update: Dr. Natasha‘a husband and Sister have started a Caring Bridge page to keep people updated on her healing journey: https://www.caringbridge.org/visit/natashajaskiewicz

"To everyone who thinks chiropractic is about headaches and low back pain- it’s so much more than that.

Chiropractic restores and maintains the neural communication pathways between the brain and the body so the body has the ability to self-heal. When there is a breakdown in that communication, dis-ease occurs in the cell/tissue/organ supplied by that neural energy. Breakdown of physical matter leads to dis-ease, of which pain is a symptom.

It is similar thinking to that of a garden hose— when there is a “kink” in the hose, water can’t get from point A to point B and the flowers never get watered. When your brain and body fail to have proper communication, the tissue supplied by that affected nerve begins to die and manifestation of dis-ease sets in.

Chiropractic has nothing to do with cracking backs and everything to do with the maintenance of a homeostatic environment that promotes health and fights sickness. Pain relief is also a proven benefit of being under care, but not the sole intent of an adjustment.

We don’t take credit for the healing, but rather allow your body to achieve an internal environment where it can heal itself. Do you have to ask or direct your skin to heal a cut? There is an innate intelligence inside all of us that strives to be alive and well- the body is an amazing thing capable of self-healing when the circumstance allows it.

Don’t get swept up in the medical paradigm of chasing symptoms- you don’t want to treat symptoms anyway, you want to fix the problem. Chiropractors are skilled at finding the root cause of dis-ease so that you get back to true health and avoid drugs, surgeries, and other unnecessary interventions.

“The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.”

Sounds about right 👌"
-Kayci Cleveland Obarr

Happy holidays!! See you in 2022!!

We are off for the rest of the year to be with family❤️❤️❤️ Thank you everyone for your love and support! I appreciate each and every one of you!