Andrea McGee and Zaga - Aiken, SC
June 2010
Zagamore came to us as a 3 year old. KWPN horse, newly imported from the Netherlands and all too soon presented a violent and repeated snatching of the reins combined with a reluctance to move forward. He would bend his neck far to the right and refuse to move. When we removed his shoes and gave his feet a “natural” trim it revealed that his left forefoot was larger and more spread than his right one.
It was difficult to find a qualified equine chiropractor here in a smaller southern town, so after several unsuccessful attempts I paid Dr. Heidi Bockhold to drive down from northern Georgia to adjust him. She found that his sternum was twisted to the right, stretching the whole left side of his body but contracting the entire right side. She was able to straighten the sternum, but the muscles and tendons would take time to follow.
As time went on we found he could school comfortably for about 6 weeks or so, then needed another adjustment. The areas of concern gradually began to concentrate on the right shoulder and the right front heel wanted to become longer while the left forefoot continued to flatten, still showing a greater bearing of weight on the left side.
In the summer of ’09 a new certified equine chiropractor moved to town – thank goodness, help was closer now, and Dr. Keelin Redmond has been caring for him since.
By February of 2010 his training of laterals was progressing but there was an inability to give a true medium trot and suspension in the gaits was still lacking, so I started him on the “Shoulder Tight” formula figuring these difficulties were coming mostly from an inability to extend that right shoulder caused by whatever accident had twisted his sternum as a youngster.
After the first 90 days on the formula he is beginning to collect, showing a bit of suspension and also is beginning to develop a real medium trot. He probably will always need his adjustments every few months, but I will keep him on the “Shoulder Tight” for at least another year, as his gaits are becoming more and more free. He is now willing to work at the collected gaits because he hurts less.
We took him to his first show over Memorial Day weekend- just easy stuff – First level test 1 and test 4. He scored a whopping 71.3% and 66.8% the first time out.
We are very happy campers.
