A couple months ago – pre-fire – I caught word that a German vet was coming out to the barn to do bodywork on several horses. Acupuncture, chiropractic, massage, etc. He came highly recommended by another trusted boarder. I added Confetti to his list. She’s 24, it’s been a few years since she was last worked on, it seemed like a good idea.

The vet was delightfully thorough. He watched her move out, assessed full body, took history. Some notes:

Her left hind is the suspensory injury from getting her head stuck in the fence three years ago. He thought it looked more like a superficial tendon injury. Reality is it doesn’t matter much for the level of work (light!) she’s engaged in, and she’s sufficiently sound and recovered.

He did chiropractic adjustments at her jaw and her poll, noted a bit of restricted movement at her jaw.

My partner got a direct quote when I trotted Fetti out – “Not bad for a 24 year old. Good very nice. You got a solid horse there.” High praise indeed.

Her left hip drops when she walks. This is what I and others have felt for a few years. It’s not super major and I could do more about it if I really get her back in working shape and not retirement shape. He did a chiropractic adjustment at her hindquarters and noted she’s high at her left hind. (I’m translating notes four months later that were taken by my non-horsey partner; he does pretty well but some of the nuances get lost in translation back and forth.) Overall, noted tight lower neck and tight lumbar.

We moved to acupuncture. I appreciated the variety of modalities he brought to the table! Right top of shoulder and lower neck, right front leg, both hinds lower hock joint, behind the knee right front, left shoulder. With the needles all set up, he went ahead and used a laser on her right front knee. This is the first vet visit I’ve had that called out likely arthritis in that joint. The original injury is LH, so RF is likely compensatory. Left hind is a little irregular but not bad, slight lumbar tightness left rear likely also compensatory.

Fetti’s 24. I have chronic pain. It’s always delightfully surprising when there are medical visits that end in “yep, carry on as you’re doing.” Nothing terribly wrong. No new problems. I appreciate a vet that acknowledges workload and age when assessing movement and injury, I’m probably a little pickier on what acceptable lameness is than he was, but overall: amazing. He didn’t have time to fit Polly in on this visit but I’ll be following up to get her on the schedule next time he’s out.