Myofascial Release

Once again, I must apologize for my lack of updates on this blog. I am preparing for starting college next week, riding riding riding, working quite a bit, and also my cousin and aunt came into town this past week. So, since things are a bit slow today, I figured I'd take advantage of it and give y'all some updates!
Charlotte has been struggling all summer with slight lameness and crookedness. It has become such a mystery as to what the cause is; we treated her feet with CleanTrax hoping that would allow the possible abscess in either of her front feet to burst, however nothing came out. This forced us to look further up and consider her shoulders as the source of the problem. We called and made an appointment with our good friend, Rhonda, who does myofascial release with both horses and humans. She came out and determined that the root of Charlotte's problem is in fact not even in her shoulder, but actually in her hind end. Charlotte has always had an underdeveloped hind quarters and has never fully used her back end as she should. Therefore, it comes as no surprise that this is the source of Charlotte's problems.
Rhonda worked on Charlotte's hind end quite a bit, more specifically her right side. She said that her whole right side is compressed and off and just not equal to the left, and because of this Charlotte has been over compensating and therefore has a sore left shoulder. It was quite interesting to watch and see that truly Rhonda treats the horse just by suggesting changes and using the energy she gets from God. She uses very little pressure, because more pressure than a fly would cause the horse to move away from it.
Charlotte made nice changes that day, however the treatment needed more than just that one session, so Rhonda also came back out this past Sunday.
There were many changes in Charlotte during the week between appointments, for the better of course; however, her imbalance and lameness was still evident, so Rhonda worked on her again.
She also worked on my mom because she has been having shoulder and back pain for many months now and the chiropractor has not helped as much as hoped.
Interestingly, Mom's diagnoses was spot on with Charlotte's. Mom's left shoulder has been a bother for many many months, and Rhonda discovered that her pain, too, was originating from her pelvis. Her whole right side is scrunched up and she is in pain and not balanced. It was such a neat discovery and it really goes to prove the old saying "your horse is your mirror."

Along with helping Charlotte with her lameness, Rhonda also asked if I would like any work done with Woody. I briefly explained his tightness in his left front shoulder that Terrie always commented on, and also the sinovial fluid sac he has on his right knee. She worked on both of his shoulders and he made some really nice changes and relaxed the tension in them, then she moved to his knee. She said that as she worked she realized that the sac originated from when he hyper extended his knee when he was younger. We have never had any knowledge of how the sac appeared; it had been present when he was just a young colt at Terrie's farm. So, along with providing us with the source of the sac, she also worked on it and when she returned on Sunday she observed his knee was much less swollen and that, though the sac was still present, it had decreased greatly. This was of course great news, however she mentioned that his knee would in fact be arthritic in the future and that I should do all I could now to preserve the knee. The next time the vet comes out I plan on asking for her medical opinion, but Rhonda thought it would be a bad idea to jump him frequently. This was hard to hear, but I plan on asking Dr. Hatchett when she returns to our farm and inquire further about it.

All in all the treatment Charlotte and Woody have been getting has been extremely beneficial and I am so glad that Charlotte is slowly recovering from her lameness. Rhonda is such a blessing to us and I am so grateful for the work she does with both horses and humans. Keep up the good work!