So many horse owners that I have worked with over the years have talked about how frustrating and even heartbreaking it is to not know:

• What is wrong?

• What to do next to help?

• Is their horse in pain or not?

Where Does My Horse Hurt? has these great features to help you enjoy learning how to check your own horse:

Keep one copy in your barn and trailer for sudden events.

An excellent gift for all your horse-loving friends!

Great news! My book is now available in digital eBook format directly from my publisher Trafalgar Square Books! Visit this link to order: www.HorseandRiderbooks.com

Buying publisher-direct is beneficial to authors and supports small, independent businesses.

The following list of horse problems is excerpted from Where Does My Horse Hurt? These are all symptoms or behaviors that horse owners face. Each “complaint” in the book is fully addressed with probable causes, plans of attack, and easy-to-follow solutions.

Most of these complaints you will never find in a veterinary textbook.   So veterinarians often don’t know what to do with these problems.   Yet horse owners still need to know what to do.  If you see your horse’s problem on this list, the Where Does My Horse Hurt? book will definitely help you.

Common “complaints” that can have chiropractic causes:

Atlas, recurrent subluxations of

Back, “cold-backed”

Back, muscles sore

Back, muscles tight

Bit, avoids contact with

Body, reluctance to bend, one or both directions

Body, stiff, may warm up to perform acceptably

Breath, shortness of

Brushing, hypersensitive to

Bucking/Crow-hopping/Kicking out, wants to, especially when ridden

Cantering/Loping, difficulty picking up, maintaining, or changing

(see also Leads)

Chewing food, difficulty on one or both sides of the mouth

Circles only, short-stride in front, one direction or both

Collection, difficulty with

Dental problems, history of

Direction, obviously prefers on over the other

Downhill, reluctant to go

Ears, ear-shy

Ewe-neck, has

Facial Expression, often indicates “I have a headache. Don’t bother me.”

Farrier, difficulty holding up front feet for

Farrier, difficulty holding up hind feet for

Fetlock, decreased flexion

Focus and Concentrate, inability to

Foot, “clubby”

Foot, “high heel – low heel” syndrome

Foot, “tender-footed”, especially if no obvious conformational cause

Foot, hoof wall medial-lateral imbalance

Foot, landing toe first

Foot, tendency to grow excess heel

Front end, lack of extension

Front end, reluctance to stretch legs

Gait transitions, difficulty with

Haltering/Bridling, uncomfortable with

Head, head-shy

Hind End, difficulty with tracking up straight

Hind end, uneven takeoff when jumping

Hocks, sore or other problems

Impulsion, difficulty with

Interfering, front end

Jumping, reluctance to

Knee, “bobbing” or “buckling over”

Knee, decreased flexion

Lameness, “phantom”, front end

(see also strides, short in front)

Lameness, “phantom”, hind end

Lateral work, difficulty with front end

Lateral work, difficulty with hind end

Leads, counter-canters or cross-canters behind

Leads, swaps out behind

Leads, difficulty picking up, maintaining, or changing

Leads, has an obvious favorite

Leg, “hits the ground heavy”

Lumbar hump, has

Lumbar, recurrent subluxations

Mouth, inability to open wide

Mouth, reluctance to chew on both sides

Mouth, reluctance to open for bit

Neck, difficulty bending

Neck, stiff

Nose, tips to one side

Poll, difficulty flexing

Poll, tight muscles around

Reins, braces on, especially one sided

Ribs, recurrent subluxations of

Rider, feels like “horse stepped in a hole”

Rider, feels like hind end “dropped out from underneath”

Rolling, excessive

Saddle, difficulties with fit

Saddle, rider feels crooked in

Saddle, slips to one side

Saddle, uncomfortable with girth or cinch tightening

Saddle, uncomfortable with saddle placement

Shoulder area, muscles sore

Shoulder Blade, decreased range of motion

Shoulder Blade, high on one side

Shoulder, anything weird with

Shoulder, decreased range of motion

Shoulder, difficult to stretch

Shoulder, tightness in movement

Spooky, frequently

Standing, consistently resting one hind leg (either the same leg or alternating)

Standing, one hind leg turns out to side

Standing, reluctance to stand still, especially when being mounted

Standoffish/Non-affectionate, frequently

Stiff, front end

Stiff, hind end

Stifle, sore or other problems

Stirrups, rider feels one is short, but they’re even

Stocking up, in hind end

Strides, “off” in front, one foot or both

Strides, “off” in rear, one foot or both

Strides, short in front, one foot or both

Strides, short in rear, one foot or both

Tail, clamping

Tail, held to one side, either moving or at rest

Topline muscles, difficulty developing

Topline muscles, difficulty using

Tripping, regularly trips in front end, one foot or both

Tripping, regularly trips in hind end, one foot or both

Trot, prefers to over other gaits

Turns only, short-strided in front, one direction or both

(see also strides)

Turns, difficulty with

(see also body bending)

Turns, drops shoulder, one direction or both

Turns, goes wide, one direction or both

Turns, holds shoulder out

Turns, trips frequently

Work, “long & low” difficulty

Work, inability to (“exercise intolerance”)