Physio/chiro/craniosacral therapy

[KarinUS]

Minnie had the physio out today and it was very enlightening.

Her diagnosis explains pretty much everything that has been going on lately.

Just as a summary: Minnie used to be a joy to ride. Then I sent her off to training and within 2 weeks she became almost unrideable.
The trainer tried to get her used to a bit and her mouth was so sore. I broke off training and brought her home. I put her back in her bitless assuming her bad experience with bitted caused her explosive behavior under saddle.
But even with the bitted bridle any type of rein pressure resulted in her speeding up. She was next to unstoppable. My last ride on her ended with me getting bucked of.
It's true she's green but this is what she used to look like under saddle:

See totally not freak out crazy!

After the bucking off I went back to ground work. It went well at first but then she went ape just entering the arena.
With what the physio told me today that episode makes more sense.
She had been leading well to the arena and I had tugged the reins to cue her to walk through the gate, that's when she lept forward out of the blue.

So in today's physio visit the findings were that she is as flexible as a cat, no back problems, nothing with the legs. A slight adjustment on the neck/shoulder. But then indication of major discomfort in the poll.
She asked about any trauma to the head in in fact Minnie did hit her head hard enough while she was at training to lose a fair amount of hair.
I had asked the trainer what had happened and he said she must have hit her head.

So the physio treated that area and suggested another focused session with working just head an neck in a month.

I asked her how long it would take for the injury to heal and she seemed to think Minnie should already be feeling much better after today's treatment but may expect and remember pain from before.

This is the first time one of my critters ever had any physio work done. The vet came highly recommended and I was impressed with her findings. I do believe that.
But I am skeptical in how one treatment/adjustment could relief the problem.

Does anybody have experience with this type of therapy?
From watching it it seemed kind of like a combination between massage and chiro.

Can one time really fix this right away?
I am so hopeful right now that Minnie and I will be back to normal in no time.
But I also don't want to fool myself and expect too much...

 

[OwnedbyChanter]

So pleased that you have found what the problem is. When I first got Chanter he pulled back when tied up and broke his leadrope/headcoller and a couple of days later he was funny with his bridle/head coller and not happy when ridden I got someone out to take a look and she said he had put his poll out. One session and yes all fixed.

Now I have a different lady that comes out every 13 weeks, in fact is due this saturday. He gets a full head to tail treatment I can see while she is working on him his eyes do soft and his bottom lip wobbles, he loves them. Afterwards I can tell he feel free in his movements and more supple.

 

[Jane&Ziggy]

I am so glad you have found someone to help Minnie. How was she after the treatment? Did the treatment itself hurt her?

Ziggy's first neuromuscular treatment was very very painful but it did in fact fix many issues. His relief afterwards was very visible - stretching, sighing, enormous yawns. On the next visit he was 80% improved and all sorted by the next one. And he had trauma everywhere.

I believe that poll issues are quite responsive to treatment, but I'll be interested in what everyone else says.

 

[bitsnpieces]

That's great news that you've managed to find out what the problem is and also someone good enough to diagnose and treat it properly.

It is possible to fix the issue in one session, kind of like when you visit a physio or chiro yourself and they pop things back into place. You may have to be careful of any soreness in surrounding muscles/ligaments for a few days but that should disappear pretty quickly. I have to say that your girl is sooo stunning! She's lucky to have a Mum who listens to her

I've recently found a local guy who worked wonders on Inca the first time he came, you could visibly see the difference in how she was holding herself. She was much more relaxed too. Her issues came from stressing when she was away from a field mate (who is also her mum, we have since split them back up as this was making it difficult to build her confidence whilst on her own) and also from scratching from the flies....the shapes that pony can put herself into if she needs a scratch are something else!!! So we're working to try and reduce these causes, in the mean time I'm trying to get this guy out fairly regularly so any trauma to the muscles is released pretty quickly.

 

[KarinUS]

I am so glad you have found someone to help Minnie. How was she after the treatment? Did the treatment itself hurt her?

Well at first head went sky high and she looked pretty freaked out. But then again Minnie can be very reactive. At the end she dropped her head way low.

We also got a couple of exercises and massage to continue doing to loosen her up in that area.