Rico and Sunny Get Acupuncture

 As I said yesterday, all three horses (poor Riot was left out, sorry Riot) got acupuncture at the beginning of December. I went over TC already, but Rico and Sunny also got done!

 
I mostly wanted to get Rico looked at because I have started riding him again. I'm riding him twice a week for about 20 minutes mostly walking and trotting, it's not much but I'd like to see him get a little fitter so that we can do a little bit more. I'll write later about why I'm doing this but the point is that Rico has gone from being retired to being mostly retired and I want to make sure he's comfortable. 

I got Sunny looked at as an early Christmas present to my mom. Sunny has silicosis and has had some degeneration in his neck, she's always worried about his balance and strength, so I figured that we'd get some good information about that and hopefully make him feel better. 

Facebook memories reminded me of this 11 years
ago when Rico was heading off to rehab for his
suspensory and when I didn't think eating food was
necessary for my own existence

Sunny went first as my mom was babysitting and my niece went down for a nap right as we got started, good timing, baby! 

Sunny immediately showed TC up by having fabulous flexibility through his shoulders, but his neck showed some resistance turning to the left. Weirdly enough, when she tested out his hind legs, he showed that he wanted to lean right with both hind legs, indicating a restriction back there. 

He seemed to LOVE the acupuncture, he yawned a whole bunch and then fell asleep during the treatment. She did the same electro acupuncture thing on Sunny's lumbar area, as he was also sore there. She and my mom chatted about saddle fit and we have more information about what kind of saddle my mom needs for her security vs what kind of saddle Sunny needs to fit him better. 

By the end of the treatment, he was standing up MUCH straighter, like he looked a full hand taller. That was INSANE. At that point I didn't know how much better TC felt and while I was impressed with what she found on him, Sunny's treatment was the first one that had visible changes the moment she was finished with him. 

Sunny's evaluation

Sunny, see the weirdness on number 6 with his hind end?

Now, while all this is happening, Rico was surprisingly envious. He stood at his door staring at us aggressively. It may seem like this is just what my horses do, because TC stares aggressively at people who he wants to pay attention to him, but it's very unlike Rico. Rico is kind of a wallflower in comparison to TC, he and I are much more alike that way. We prefer to observe from afar. But Rico was very curious and seemed downright giddy when I got him out. 

Rico's case was very interesting as while both Sunny and TC had a bit of pain in their lumbar, normal for riding horses, Rico's pain was in his thoracic area, directly under the saddle. He had almost no ability to lift his ribcage with the belly lifts and showed some pain in the base of his neck. Apparently a lot of warmblood dressage horses show pain there, so it was not surprising. 

As he got worked on, Rico got a little worried. In his older age, he's lost a lot of confidence. I think it's that he doesn't feel as spry, so is probably aware of the fact that if something came after him, he probably couldn't get away as easily. He especially doesn't like that there are noises outside the barn sometimes, so when a car went by behind the barn, he got a little nervous. But, apparently there's a point on the horse's forehead where, when poked by a needle, it calms them right down. And when Rico got his poke, he immediately relaxed. I asked whether we could just leave it in permanently! I'd just take it out to ride him. 

Oh Rico, you've lived quite a life

Rico also had a huge physical change. She worked on his thoracic area under the saddle and did the electro stuff there. Then she did another belly lift and we heard a big CRACK and from then on, his sway back was WAY better. His neck also improved visibly over the course of the treatment, with him being able to bend it better in both directions. 

Her recommendations for him included the equiband, and I don't ride him in spurs, so I might bring that over and ride him in it to see how he handles it. I haven't been using it as much on TC recently because he's been feeling pretty good in that department lately, so it's good timing to try it out on Rico. 

See number 5 for his thoracic issues, I mean he has a
lot of issues being 24 years old, a GP dressage horse and
a preliminary level CDE horse and casually jumping around
4' courses his whole life

I rode Rico a few days after the treatment and didn't feel a huge change, but he did stretch down quite a lot during that ride, which he hasn't done in a long time. I've yet to ride Sunny but I'll ride him today I think. I doubt either of them will feel completely different to me because I'm not actively asking them to work against their resistances like I am with TC. Neither of them are as in tune to me as TC is and they are both rather quiet horses who probably won't run away with me because they feel good, unlike some gray weirdos I know. 

Generally the acupuncture was a huge success. We are definitely doing this again, in a perfect world I'd love to get her out once a month for TC and then have her do Rico every other month. My mom is sold and wants her to come back out and do Riot and maybe Sunny again. I'm so excited to have found a bodyworker that works for TC! Our chirovet is great, but I have never felt this kind of a change with her. I think it's just a matter of finding the right person for the horse and I think TC picked his person.