How Long Should My Horse Rest Following an Adjustment?

Talk about a question that receives a lot of different answers… I’ve heard anywhere from 2 hours, to 3 days. If you’ve read my previous blog posts, you know that I like to be thorough with my explanations. This is for two reasons. First, it’s in my nature to teach and provide people with value and understanding. Second, I want what you want, which is whatever is best for you, and primarily, for your horse. I am aware that depending on who you ask, you will get various opinions, and most of the time, with little to no explanation to back them up.

So let’s get down to the nuts and bolts. How long should you wait before you ride or work your horse, following a chiropractic adjustment? First, let’s consider the utopian situation. You’re at home, your horse is at your barn (not at a show), and you have all the time in the world before you have to ride. In this situation, how long should you wait? My answer: wait at least until the following day. Without getting too in the weeds, I want to address the neurology of movement. What is the purpose of the adjustment? It is to restore (not improve) the function of the nervous system. You know, the system that controls absolutely everything in the body? When we think about how we move our bodies, we usually think about the information that is being sent out from the brain to our muscles. We want to drink a glass…