Recently, my trainer mentioned that my horse may benefit from chiropractic work. What are some telltale signs that a horse needs an adjustment? We aren’t sure if the horse is just out of shape (weather has messed with our schedule the past few months) or if he would really benefit from this. After jumps (recently only up to 2’6" or 2’9", mainly 2’3ish), he lands cross cantering a great portion of the time and will also swap leads randomly after singles despite his usual lack of a lead change. In your opinion, do you thing it is necessary/would help? Also, what else would an adjustment help with? I’ve never had one that needed this done. Thanks! 
My horse gets chiro, and so do I. I know what it has done for me, and so I insist my horse get it done regularly. Swapping and cross cantering either sounds like he’s getting mix signals, or hes uncomfortable. It can’t hurt to get his back done. If you have it done, and he improves, you know it worked!
I have had great results with it for my mare.
Have his hocks checked first, if they are in need of maintenance his back will continue to be out of whack.
[QUOTE=mroades;7984288]
Have his hocks checked first, if they are in need of maintenance his back will continue to be out of whack.[/QUOTE]
this but the chiro will definitely help too.
I actually didn’t believe in chiro for humans until I saw how well it worked for the horses. I’d say 9/10 horses the chiro does make a noticeable difference, at least the ones I’ve ridden.
Oh I didnt mean to say not to do chiro, we have ours done every 30-60 days.
Read this first: http://www.doctorramey.com/wouldnt-bother-equine-chiropractic/
If your horse is having hock pain, he may need injections. The place to start is a lameness exam.
I have certainly seen the benefits of bodywork and if it’s not joint pain, I’d start with massage. If your horse’s muscles are tight from how he’s been going, those muscles will “snap” back to how they were before, even if you pay for an adjustment. The best equine bodyworkers are very good at figuring out exactly where your horse is tight or sore and helping to relax the muscles.
Key to any kind of treatment is to find someone reputable.
Good chiros are worth their weight in gold. So is a good vet who can do as little as possible but as much as necessary for a lameness evaluation 
Given what you describe, I doubt there’s anything that would contraindicate chiro work, and it’s likely cheaper than a good lameness evaluation. BUT, they are looking at 2 different things to a large degree, which makes them complimentary.
Many vets are good at telling you where a horse is lame, but not always good at finding the source. They can tell you it’s hocks vs stifles, for example, but most of them can’t tell you it’s because the pelvis or SI is tipped. Injecting hocks won’t fix the problem.
You mentioned he’s not in as good shape as usual - I would be critically evaluating saddle fit. Lack of work means loss of muscle which adversely affects the fit of a saddle that fit before. That alone could be making landing uncomfortable.
Evaluate how his feet are being trimmed - sore feet make sore hocks make sore stifles and it works up from there. Even if he’s had the same farrier for years and never been “lame”, a slight out of balance adds up over time in terms of compensation and soreness.
If you can locate someone who’s both a vet and chiro, that’s the ideal way to go. Most people don’t have that around though.
If I were in your shoes, having the experience with chiros that I do, I would have a good chiro out first. IMVHO ALL horses, or at least all in work, benefit from regular chiro evaluations, even if that’s only once a year. They are athletes, they are big, and they are just like people in that things get sore, they compensate, and they need body work. Every professional human athlete, and even the more serious amateurs, seek out body work on a regular basis.
I would also ask the chiro about a good massage therapist around. They are complimentary therapies. Ideally you’d have a MT out first, then a days later the chiro, followed again shortly by the MT. While that’s usually a necessity for things that are really out of whack and have been for a while, that doesn’t sound like you situation, so I wouldn’t have a problem, in your case, with just a chiro first, but keeping a MT in the back of my mind.
GOOD chiro is critical. There are plenty of quacks. I’m sure there are quite a few good ones in VA, but if you are more specific about where you are, I’m sure someone can help you find a good one
Once the work has been done, assuming the chiro finds things out, you should see improvement within a few days. How quickly you get back to full work is going to be dependent on what the chiro finds. You might be surprised and discover he’s got quite a problem in his SI for example, and the chiro might tell you to hand walk for a couple of days, then light lunge for a couple, then get on and take a few days to get back up to speed.
[QUOTE=Bogie;7984417]
Read this first: http://www.doctorramey.com/wouldnt-bother-equine-chiropractic/
If your horse is having hock pain, he may need injections. The place to start is a lameness exam.
I have certainly seen the benefits of bodywork and if it’s not joint pain, I’d start with massage. If your horse’s muscles are tight from how he’s been going, those muscles will “snap” back to how they were before, even if you pay for an adjustment. The best equine bodyworkers are very good at figuring out exactly where your horse is tight or sore and helping to relax the muscles.
Key to any kind of treatment is to find someone reputable.[/QUOTE]
This. I can’t get my own back to stay in alignment (despite a wonderful chiro) without some massage and PT support.
With those little fences, it’s not his hocks and unlikely to be his back unless you have a pinchy saddle. Sounds like a rider problem to me–are you not giving him a positive bend, could you be collapsing your hip, are you not looking around the corner to your next fence?
Lots of times lead issues just require a little more positive ride.
My horse gets an adjustment and a massage about every 6 weeks, or the week before we go to a show. And I also go get an adjustment and massage when he gets his done - I found out the hard way that if I only had one of us done, it really affected the other LOL.
Signs that I know he/we need it?
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He is more reluctant to bend, or takes a lot of warmup before he’ll bend equally to both sides.
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He will cross canter or swap.
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He gets heavier on one side of the bridle.
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It feels like one of my stirrups is longer than the other.
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He carries his tail to one side on the straightaways.
I notice an immediate difference when it’s done. My next ride on him will always be much freer and he’s a lot more relaxed through his jaw and body.
Hocks or back can cause problems just on the flat, don’t even need fences, so just because the fences are small doesn’t mean it’s not hocks or back or SI.
