ridecamp@endurance.net: Re: my horse's visit to the dentist

Re: my horse's visit to the dentist

Truman Prevatt (truman.prevatt@netsrq.com)
Wed, 16 Apr 1997 10:13:33 -0400

>I'd really love to know what the hell a chiropractor is doing when he says
>he's realigning the knee. That sounds about as preposterous as "repositioning
>the brain".
>In 22 years of dealing with the very nastiest of injuries I have never, ever,
>encountered a veterinarian, or any other person claiming to realign the knee.
>What did he do? What did you learn?
>

Someone else responded to this procedure. I will give you my one experience
with it.

My mare has the thrust at a walk that could dislocate a riders hip. She
has a true 6 mph walk and a true 12 inch over stride at a good relaxed
walk. When you spend as much time in the saddle as most endurance riders
you know your horse - you know when something is wrong. Misty was not lame
- I knew something was wrong - but we could not find the problem. One vet
suspected something in the right rear but again she was not lame in the
normal sense. But Doc she only has a 9 inch over stride doesn't usually
give the vet much to work on. We were even considering cancelling our trip
to the ROC unless we could solve the problem. I had the head vet at the
Biltmore look at her during a break in the action. He found some adhesions
under the left shoulder blade and broke them up (boy what some horses will
stand for is truly amazing) and he said she needed some work but I should
go ahead to Utah - which we did.

We got an appointment with a vet out of Park City Utah to come look at her.
She was coming down to vet the ROC and was one of the highest respected
alternative vets in the country. She examined Misty on the Thursday prior
to the ROC. She watched Misty walk and trot. I told her about the
adheasions and she surmised they were not the root cause of the problem.
She then went to the knees and realigned (or derotated the left knee).
Sounded like someone discharged a 30-30. She actually did both kneesbut
the real problem seemed to be in the left knee. The mare was immediautely
more relaxed - again this is based on spending many many hours with this
horse. Misty also slightly (very slightly) toes our on the left front. The
vet said that that could cause the knee to rotate and that I should keep an
eye on her and may need to have the procedure done periodically.

The mare actually got stronger by the minute. By the moring of the ROC her
long powerful stride was coming back. The vet that worked on her was the
vet that checked us at 50 and 80 miles. She said the horse was looking
stronger as the ride went on. This is what I was also feeling from the
saddle. We finished in great shape and I haven't noticed any problems since
then.

This was the only thing done to the mare prior to the ride. I do know that
the mare was much stronger on that ride - which was a much harder ride -
than she was on her previous 100. I could feel the thrust and power return
to her hind end - something that had been missing for a while. Since the
only thing done to the mare was the knee relignment, I have to believe that
had a positive impact on the well being of the horse.

Truman

Truman Prevatt
Sarasota, FL

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