Dawn Says "Much Better!"

Dawn and I had a visit from our wonderful vet/chiropractor Dr. Alice this morning. Dawn's been telling me, even before she ran into a fence last weekend, that she was sore, particularly in her right shoulder, sternum and the area below and in front of her withers on the right side. I think a number of those issues related in part to the increasing problem with the fit of the close contact saddle we'd been using - as she'd muscled up, the saddle no longer fit in the shoulders, and the problem was worse on the right side. Then her neck got very sore as a result of the fence impact.

So Dr. Alice worked on her for more than an hour. First we checked saddle fit - in fact the close contact saddle no longer fit. The Kieffer dressage saddle with uniform riser pad was pretty good, and Dawn didn't really object when we put it on to test it - she'd made very ugly faces at the close contact saddle even before I put it on. So that's good news - I have a saddle that fits her, and that also fits me well.

Then Dr. Alice went to work - she did lots of things all over Dawn's body. I took a number of pictures, and perhaps those will give the flavor. Dr. Alice almost always works with the horse unconstrained - she wants the feedback the horse give by moving into or away from what she is doing. The only time she had me hold Dawn's head was when she was working on the sternal area, as that sometimes can hurt and lead to biting. Otherwise, in all the pictures, Dawn is choosing to have the work done and in some cases even leaning into the pressure.

Work on the left shoulder - this really captures Dr. Alice's personality - she loves doing this work:

The area behind the withers on the right:

Some lumbar work:

Using pressure to help muscles below the withers uncramp:

Crest work:

Dawn saying "aaaah . . . , that's nice":

More shoulder work:

Some neck stretches:

Dawn expresses her approval of the shoulder work with a big yawn:

Both parties are engaged in the work:

Neck work - Dawn really likes this part: she's chewing here:

I think she feels much better, and when I took her out to the pasture, she led the mares at a trot out to the far pastures. I can't wait to get on and see how things feel.

I'll be out of touch for several days as I'm taking a trip and will be off the internet - I should be back by the end of the week.