Schwartz' First Acupunture Treatment

I was a veterinary technician for six years before I started training and rehabilitating horses full time, and I met my vet about fifteen years ago while I was a tech.  Since then, we have worked together for many years specializing in rehabilitating horses.  Dr. Landes with Equine Medical Services has been certified to the hilt with acupuncture and has studied with the leading veterinarians in the field, and I've worked with him for years on horses very similar to Schwartz.  Lately we've been discussing Schwartz and his vague belly pain, history of difficulty gaining and keeping weight, his cribbing, and his general body soreness.  Dr. Landes has spoken with some of the best specialists at Colorado State University and we have decided to do some experimenting with Schwartz.  Lest you imagine something like Kermit the Frog in the Muppet Movie and think ill of the situation, let me clarify what we will be doing.

Our goals are to reduce pain and stress, decreasing cortisol levels in his body and increasing norepinephrine.  By doing this we hope to begin to resolve his body soreness and hopefully get him to gain weight and hold it.  Since he is already on a balanced diet that I'm gradually increasing to get more good quality calories into him, we are going to target his brain chemistry with acupuncture in an attempt to increase his endorphin levels and get some happy brain chemical juices flowing.  Today was his first acupuncture assessment and treatment.

We found him to be quite sensitive and irritated when palpating and testing the points associated with ulcers.  He was also very body sore in his haunches and shoulders.  Even though he had good care when he came off the track and was treated for ulcers at that time, sometimes ulcers take longer to resolve than a thirty day treatment.  Additionally, if the horse is stressed it's likely that the ulcers will reoccur, even if the first ulcers resolved with initial treatment.  Since we know Schwartz was a stressed horse from the behavioral report I received before he came to Bit of Honey, ulcers are a pretty likely suspect.

Dr. Landes did an acupuncture treatment on Schwartz this afternoon after the assessment.  Schwartz had probably never had it done before, he was very alert and needed a brief treatment because he was very sensitive.  The needles are thin and are just placed into the skin.  Depending on how tightly wound the horse's nervous system is and how tight the associated connective tissues are, the horse may need the needles in place for a longer or shorter time period.  Schwartz' body reacted quickly to the needles, and the fibers under his skin twisted the needles into odd contortions.  At the end of the treatment usually the needles come out fairly straight, but he had a couple that looked like bendy straws, and in places that showed us his body really needed the treatment.  Schwartz was really well behaved.  He stood quietly, but he kept turning his head to stare at the needles and then at Dr. Landes. 

First on the Schwartz list was assessment, second was the acupuncture treatment, third is to get him started on a treatment for the ulcers.  That prescription should come in this week, then hopefully we'll get his system quieted down and him on course to become a happy healthy gelding.  I love working on these complicated horses to address the interwoven layers as they reveal themselves.  It's terribly interesting to me to follow the latest research on different issues, and really satisfying to see the horse change, relax, and then start to bloom as he gets healthy in mind and body.  I'm excited to see what we can do for Schwartz as we continue to peel the layers off of this onion horse.