"The Stallion Who Wouldn’t"

A Stud had a stallion who had stopped covering – unexpectedly!

He was certainly interested but he would refuse to mount any mares offered. This had been going on for at least a week and everything the yard had tried had not worked. The vet had no diagnosis. Clearly the Stud were worried about it. He had been expected to cover four mares a day for a long season: a great deal was at stake.

Vav Simon, chiropractor, had previously been to the yard to treat an event horse liveried there. Her success with that challenge led to this invitation to see if she could help.

Painful pelvis problem
Vav assessed the stallion with her usual methods. She found he had a severely rotated pelvis, which would have been so painful that it explained why he would not try to mount the mares. After the chiropractic treatment, she watched him walk down the yard and felt sure he was immediately better. She advised a day or two’s rest to help him settle and regain the fitness he had lost.

As it turned out, he was put back to work that afternoon, and covered satisfactorily.

Preventing recurrence
Vav was concerned about what had caused this problem. It was worth trying to make sure it didn’t happen again.

There seemed to have been no incidents in fields or yard that would make sense of it. She enquired about the covering routine itself and discovered that the methods used had caused the problem. She predicted that all the other stallions standing in the yard would have the same pelvic rotation to some degree. She was asked to check and found that all of them had!

Saving more than the horse!
This stallion was charged out at £5000 per covering. He had probably lost £120,000 in fees already by the time Vav was asked to treat him. If he did not recover for the rest of the season, his career would be finished. Add in the risk of the other stallions suffering the same fate, and the loss of reputation from such a disaster, it might not be an understatement to say that one visit by Vav saved a multi-million-pound business.

It doesn't take much imagination
to see that a stallion with back-ache won't perform much!

Less obvious is the back problem that could reduce the activity of genitals in both mares and stallions, leading to reduced fertility.

For studs, these are serious problems!

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Foal development is also a crucial concern for all in husbandry. Joints may not form quite right, and many things can cause a failure to thrive. Critical decisions may arise for the future of this investment and thankfully Vav has from time-to-time had record-breaking successes.

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Race and show-jumping yards can find a great benefit when slightly trapped nerves are released, allowing the muscles to develop maximum power.

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Colts, geldings and fillies can benefit from chiropractic in many ways, too!