Misconception #1. “My horse has a bone out of place”.
Without a tremendous amount of trauma bones do not move out of place. If the bone were indeed out of place the horse would be beyond the scope of chiropractic care and into a veterinary surgical hospital. Bones do not move out of place, but they do become restricted in their movements.

Explanation: There are numerous nerve endings in every joint in the horse. These nerve endings are called proprioceptors. Proprioceptors are a group on nerve fibers that relay information to the nervous system about what is happening at the joint. Every time a joint is moved, stretched or damaged the appropriate type of nerve ending is activated and sends information to the central nervous system. Once the message arrives at the brain stem the body has to decide what to do about it. Most of the time the body decides on a subconscious level because many of these nerve impulses do not reach the part of the brain that understands, or gives meaning to pain (cerebral cortex). Most of the impulses end in the brainstem where the nervous system says, basically, “if it hurts don’t do it”.

So what we see is a horse that does not move correctly because of an inhibited nervous system pathway. Or what neuroscientists would call an “abberant (abnormal) nociceptive(pain-related) afferent (going to the brain) proprioceptive (joint sensing) pathway which leads to efferent (coming from the brain) motor nerve (nerve that controls muscle) inhibitory response (the muscles do not fire correctly).

In Summary Basically, any change in joint function such as injury (which includes trauma, local muscle spasm, and overstretching) causes the nervous system to change movement patterns which leads to your horse being “off”.

Misconception #2: “The chiropractor moved the bone back into place”.
Explanation: We learned from misconception #1 that bones do not move out of place except by massive trauma so it seems obvious that manipulation does not move them “back into place”. So what is really happening?

When the chiropractor feels that a bone is not moving properly, he attempts to restore the motion with a high velocity, low amplitude thrust directed along the plane of the joint surfaces.

The question becomes then “what does the chiropractic adjustment do?”
Much research is yet to be done on the exact neurological mechanism that takes place as a direct result of an adjustment. There appears to be scientific consensus that the nervous system is stimulated resulting in muscle spasm inhibition, pain modulation, and restoration of normal joint motion.

Misconception #3: Chiropractic can’t do anything for your horses “innards”.
Explanation: Whenever the nervous system in stimulated by an adjustment there are multiple effects experienced by the nervous system. When a vertebrae (spinal bone) is moved with an adjustment the autonomic nervous system is stimulated. The autonomic nervous system controls everything from heart rate, blood pressure, skin temperature to intestinal motility. This reflex in called the viscero-somatic reflex.(organ to body wall reflex). This reflex helps to explain why a horse that receives an adjustment and may be relieved of his colic symptoms.

Misconception #4: My horse chiropractor takes care of everything.
Many horseman call a chiropractor and expect miracles. The fact is chiropractic is best thought of as a “subclinical” therapy. Chiropractic is great for improving performance and decreasing discomfort in the performance horse. However, when your horse is obviously lame or in SEVERE discomfort it is time to call the veterinarian.
It must be emphasized that equine chiropractic is no substitute for regular veterinary and farrier care. This doctor has personally travelled over 100 miles to treat a horse only to observe negligent hoof care causing symptoms of pain and irritation (both the horse and the chiropractor!)
Also, while we are talking about science and preventive maintenance (kind of) I wish to emphasize the value of proper dental care in the horse. It’s not just about a sore tooth!

Remember what proprioceptors do (see above)? It is estimated that over 75% of all proprioceptors are in the jaw joint (TMJ). If the teeth do not work properly the TMJ is disrupted and irritated. This neurological disruption affects how the horse performs not just because of pain but because of abberant afferent nociceptive stimulus (see above) balance and coordination are decreased. Olympic level dressage horses have their teeth floated every 45-90 days!