acupuncture at LEqMC

Last week, I spent my field day with Dr. French who does a lot of lameness, chiropractic, and acupuncture.  We spent most of the day at a barn doing acupuncture.  All the horses at that particular barn receive acupuncture on a regular basis as a part of their maintenance program.  Before placing needles in a horse, Dr. French would run his hands over it looking for areas of tightness or soreness.  He would then watch it walk and trot to look for baseline lameness.  These initial assessments gave him an idea of where to focus the therapy to address that particular horse's problem areas.  Some of the horses seemed to enjoy the whole process while others were nervous about the needles.  After a few minutes, though, each horse would visibly relax, their heads would drop, and they would begin licking and chewing.  In addition to acupuncture, a couple of the horses also received laser therapy to help relieve pain and reduce inflammation.  The process looks like something you might see on Star Trek: passing a device emitting a red light over a patient.   The benefit, however, is far from fictional.  The horses became more relaxed and seemed to enjoy it as the laser was applied to problem areas. 
About a month ago, I posted about a mare that had shattered P2 after coming off a jump.  She recently had her cast changed and check-up radiographs taken. She is healing well, and the surgeon is pleased with her progress.  It is, however, unlikely she will return to performance.  Right now, the goal is to get her sound enough to breed.