The Chiropracter comes a-visiting.

The Chiropracter came to see and treat Red on Friday morning. Apparently the chiropracter is one of the best in this part of New Zealand. Hes worked all over the world treating horses and everyone I talk to about him say hes incredible. He actually lives in the Bay of Islands but comes down to Auckland and the Waikato to treat horses during the week.

I wasn't able to go to the appointment because it was 8am in the morning and I start work at 8.30 so my lovely dad went out for me. I asked if he would take a couple of pictures and he kindly oblidged. As he brought Red down to the washbay the chiropracter said "He is out on his right side". My dad was impressed. Red has always had a problem with his right side, when I bought him his right leg and the right side of his rump was wasting away and he had a big limp because of it. The chiropracter set to work and immediatley found problems. The lower part of his neck was out, and when he pressed on it Red shot back with his head in the air. WHAM! He punched Reds neck. And then moved onto his back. "Does that really work?" asked my dad, "Well look at this" said the chiropracter, pressing in the same place as before. Red didn't bat an eyelid.

Heres a couple of photos of Red getting adjusted, isn't he an angry old man?




Reds back was out in about 5 places. Something was out in the middle of his back, so a few adjustments were done there. One of the most interesting problems was in his lumbar region. The chiropracter thought that the problems with Reds right side was was caused by this particular outage. He also pointed out the difference in Reds muscles of his hind quaters, his right side is very undeveloped whereas his left side is big, and well developed. Heres a picture pointing out the difference:





The chiropracter said I will be able to start building up the right muscle now, and also that Red will probably be able to canter on his right lead much easier. Which I'm glad about since my ODE is coming up this weekend.

Once all the adjustments were made the chiropracter told dad to seperate Red from the rest of the herd so he would have time to heal correctly. This posed a little problem since it was Guy Fawkes during the weekend and we were worried how Red would react. We always have herd watchers during the night at Guy Fawkes so we asked them to give us a call if he was reacting badly. And at 9pm on Saturday night we got the call, Red was running back and forth by the fence side. So I went out and hung with Red in the paddock for a couple of hours till the worst of it was over. He was pretty calm once I got there. The next night we put him back with the herd and he was fine.

So that was Reds chiropracter visit. We're going to get him out every year to get any adjustments that might be needed done. Hopefully Red will be much happier with his back put back in the right place.

This weekend is the Massey ODE so keep a look out for my story and pictures! It should be good.