Equine acupuncture

[jamie]

Hi there, I'm new to the forum and have really enjoyed reading all of the posts here so I thought I'd register and join in the discussion.

I'm in my first year of studying acupuncture and what I would like to know is if there are any practitioners here that work with horses? My hope for when I graduate is to practice equine acupuncture, I have a lot of experience handling horses and would really like to marry this skill with my TCM study. I'll also hopefully be looking forward to helping my fellow humans with my new skills, but having a natural affinity with horses being able to blend my new found knowledge with an old love would be brilliant.

Jamie

Equine acupuncture demo.. http://www.howcast.com/videos/151736-Ho ... cupuncture

[Andre]

Hi Jamie,

I used to do a fair bit of equine acupuncture then moved interstate and subsequently returned to treating people.
Equine acupuncture is very rewarding however has many unique challenges.
Firstly, your patient is quite likley to bite and kick, even all at once and in the one move.
Secondly, if your using acupuncture needles rather than LLT (Laser) the horse often thinks these are flies and twitches them out leaving you to literally find a needle in a haystack... Bear this in mind if utilising copper handles.
When you are treating horses that may be "worth" half a million or more its also worth reviewing your insurance to make sure it's all in order.
On the upside, with the extra 4 vertebra and the weight of a jockey, it not at all surprising that that many horses get back pain. They generally respond well to acupuncture, infact often much faster than humans do.
I am not presently working with horses but maybe soon.
Ps, have you looked into equine chiropractic (other uses for a tennis ball), massage or equine dentistry, as these can be good synergy.

[lyndaroxanne]

Hi Jamie,

I'm not a "horse person" myself, but I know a good acupuncturist who specializes in equine acupuncture. Her name is Zoe Dodds, she's a lovely person and I'm confident she would be happy to answer any questions you have if you dropped her an email. Here's her website-
http://www.equinimity.com.au/

Lynda

[jamie]

Thanks Andre and Lynda..

Andre, there are always challenges with horses no matter what you do with them, thats one of the things I enjoy about working with them. When I was very young my dream was to become a vet, although I'm not much of a blood and guts man so when I found out I had to cut animals open that kind of ruined it for me. Natural medicine though for me seems to be a way I could possibly still realize this dream.

Lynda, thanks I'll follow up on that info, cheers!

Jamie

[Andre]

The thing I liked best is not having the overhead of clinic rent. "its quite literally... a stable income".
Knowing from the hands on, which horses were or not going to perform on the race day can be helpful too.
It's very satisfying treating horses as the results are just about always there.
Using a twitch it makes treatment far easier.
All in all a nice career direction. Horses are fun even if they don't talk too much.

[SustainHealth]

Acupuncture studies are indeed one of the fastest growing academic disciplines. I think acupuncture has better future.