Holistic Health Care - Does Your Horse Need It?

Yes! Equine athletes especially need it, as they can only perform well when they are experiencing good health.

So, let’s explore what makes an equine performance horse succeed. It goes without saying that a horse needs talent and heart first and foremost. Next, such a horse requires care and an environment that supports her body’s physiology. Of course it is crucial to have a trainer who understands her and can bring out the best in her.

Just like the human athlete, a team of medical professionals is essential to assist the equine athlete in reaching her full potential. In particular, preventative care proves to be of great value, because it minimizes or even helps avoid long lay-ups due to injury and illness. This is where holistic medicine comes in. Now, what does that entail?

The beauty of the holistic approach is that the whole horse is considered – top to bottom and front to back. As a member of the medical team, Dr. Suter starts by looking at teeth and hooves to ensure correct balance and input to the brain. If those aren’t optimal, all other therapeutic modalities will provide limited support. Diet is of course quite important as well. A body can only function as well as what it eats and what it can digest. As the old saying goes: ‘we are what we eat’. Saddle and other tack are also examined for proper fit.

Because she is trained predominantly in Chinese medicine and chiropractic care, Dr. Suter focuses most of the examination and treatment of the horse on these two modalities. Both acupuncture and chiropractic work synergistically in such a way that they enhance one another. They concern themselves with the nervous system which controls all bodily functions, such as movement, digestion, behavior, hormones, etc. 

Chiropractic care focuses primarily on the joints of the vertebral column which houses parts of the central nervous system. When joints become immobile or partially fixed due to tight muscles and ligaments, they affect the nerve bundles that exit the spinal canal between two vertebrae. As a result, proper communication between the central nervous system (brain and spinal cord) and the musculoskeletal system, organs, hormonal glands and soft tissue is disturbed, making the horse more prone to injury and illness. The goal is to restore normal range of motion to the affected joints so that the nervous system can function properly again. Simultaneously, chiropractic adjustments will alleviate pain, inflammation, swelling and stress resulting from hypomobility as well as helping prevent degeneration of affected joints.

Acupuncture is highly effective in releasing muscle tension associated with immobile or partially fixed joints as well as tight muscle groups often found in the equine athlete. Because a tight muscle is also a weak muscle, much of its normal strength is transferred to other structures such as tendons, ligaments and cartilages. Those in turn become stressed beyond their physiologic capacity and are more prone to injury as a result.

Aside from their marvelous benefit of preventing lameness and keeping horses at peak performance level, these two modalities have very powerful supportive value for internal medical problems such as laminitis, respiratory conditions, simple digestive upsets, etc. as well as behavioral problems.

Dr. Suter also addresses behavior problems more directly through communication with the horse, having found that horses appreciate being listened to and expressing what’s on their minds and in their hearts.

As a team the doctors of Prairie Equine can address and care for all aspects of a horse to facilitate the full expression of its potential. So, let’s work together on getting that blue ribbon!