I have met John before. I liked him then, and I like him now. I think some of what he says is bull shit, but I think a lot of it rings true. He is, above all else, a sensible man and that can be hard to find in the world of homeopathy and natural horsemanship. Trust me.
John started with Spaulding. He asked for a brief recent history of the horse, which I gave. Spaulding has been in slow work since his right front bowed tendon (which, while no longer sore or hot, has tons of yucky scar tissue) and has been showing some soreness in his left front, specifically the pastern area.
John pushed against Spaulding’s shoulder. He lifted his legs and pulled. He put resistance into Spaulding and then let the horse use his body to figure out how to get out of it. Example: he pushed against Spaulding’s left shoulder. Spaulding moved his right front to get out of the way instead of his left front and almost made himself fall over in the process. BINGO! Spaulding must be sore in his left front. Upon further examination John discovered what I already knew was there: Spaulding is arthritic and has a bit of side bone setting in. This doesn’t come as a surprise, as I said Spaulding is in his early 20’s and was used very rigorously as an eventer in his younger years. John popped in a couple acupuncture needles (he talked about gall bladders and center meridians and blocked intestines and lost me completely) and moved on to Finn. 
I could tell immediately Finnegan was more of a puzzle for John. He went into the stall, gave the big guy a pat, and went to work on rolling the loose skin around Finn’s shoulder and pushing into him to see where Finn’s natural weaknesses were. Finn slammed into the wall like a firecracker had exploded and almost crumpled to the ground. Not a normal reaction from a little bit of pressure on his shoulder. We talked a bit about how Finn moved naturally. He is a big horse, 16.1H, with long legs and a lanky upside neck and bad angles everywhere. He doesn’t have any heat or swelling anywhere. There isn’t any obvious soreness. He just doesn’t move… right. John put it best:
“This horse,” he said, scratching his chin, “moves like he’s been in an accident. He’s forgotten how to use his own body. It’s your job to make him remember.”
John worked a little bit more on Finn, popped some needles in, and told me to start riding him daily. In John's opinion Finn needed to work. He needed to learn how to be a horse again. Somewhere, somehow, his body had forgotten. It made sense to me in a round about way. I nodded and said I would give it a try starting tomorrow. The owner came up and she and John talked about heavy metals in the water and supplements. It got a little heated at one point, so I just kept quiet and melted into the background. When you're a barn manager sometimes the best thing you can do is not have an opinion. Watch, learn, and observe. Remember that the horses you care for are not your horses. It will save you a lot of back tracking and foot eating. Before John left he told me to pull out the needles in about half an hour. I went up, had a cup of coffee, and went back down to do just that. I was surprised by how DEEP the needles were in there. They are just flimsy little things, easily bent, but long and sharp. Neither Finn or Spaulding flinched when I took them out. Come to think of it they didn't flinch when John put them in.I don't know if acupuncture on horses works. I know that the owner believes it does, and that's all that matters. If I could afford $175 a pop I would get Darwin and Poppy done. I don't know what the needles did, but I know a lot of what John said made sense. At least to me. Because when it comes down to it, acupuncture or no acupuncture, supplements or no supplements, hock injections or no hock injections, wand waving or no wand waving, the most important thing to remember is that a horse is a horse.
Of course, of course.
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