Expert horse trainer, competitive rider, and the performance editor for the publication Horse Journal, John Strassburger, wrote an article in the August 23, 2011 issue of Horse Journal explaining why he believes in chiropractic for himself and his horses.
In the article, Strassburger begins by saying, “I’ve been meaning to write about why I’m a big fan of chiropractic treatment for horses and for humans for a while.” He notes that he has been under chiropractic care for some time and goes to see his chiropractor every 4 to 8 weeks. He also has an equine chiropractor come to see his horses every 4 to 6 weeks. He reports, “Our horses have been her (Suzanne, his equine chiropractor) patients for about three years.”
In the article, Strassburger offers his testimony of how chiropractic has helped by stating, “I truly believe, based on my observations of my own body and those of well more than a dozen horses, that using chiropractic treatment is an example of how traditional and non-traditional medicine (including chiropractic) should be complementary. Every horse Suzanne has worked on has felt better and, thus, performed better, and I can think of four horses with whom it’s caused tremendous improvement.”
In the course of writing the article, he also explains his own story with chiropractic by saying, “I’ve fallen off dozens and dozens of times over the last 45 years, and many of those falls have wrenched my neck. The only thing Western medicine has to offer is a wide range of inflammation-reducing and pain-relieving drugs. Again, from experience, I know that those drugs certainly do have their uses, but I don’t really care to live on them. But a visit to my chiropractor never fails to relieve the pain in my neck—and it’s my neck that’s the reason why I’m going again this afternoon.”
John Strassburger completes his article with the story of a horse named Bill, a 2-year-old warm blood gelding. Strassburger was having trouble training Bill as the horse would rear backwards with certain maneuvers suggesting that Bill was experiencing neck pain. Strassburger had the equine chiropractor work on the horse and the results were dramatic. The horse can now perform many of the maneuvers that Strassburger was trying to teach him. Strassburger reports, “Bill’s now had two treatments, and—I swear—he’s almost like a different horse. He’s far more relaxed and confident (he hasn’t reared back on the crossties since his first treatment) and he’s now longeing, in tack, at all three gaits.”
