Making points with equine patients
November 30, 2006
Equine acupuncturist.
She has added acupuncture to the roster of treadmill, surgery, radiation, and high-tech diagnosis and treatment for horses at the Marion duPont Scott Equine Medical Center in Leesburg.
Smith took the four-month International Veterinary Acupuncture Society course last year. She will complete a study and an internship with one or more of the 10 certified equine acupuncturists in Virginia and Maryland to complete the requirements for certification.
Smith admits to moments of skepticism in the first days of the course. Xi? Channels?
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Even the professor told the class, “I know this is weird. Give it a try.”
She had to “turn off” the western part of her brain for a while, Smith said.
“I now believe it works, and I’m happy to use it not knowing exactly why it works. A lot of the things we use, we don’t know exactly how they work.”
Smith did her veterinary training at Iowa State, and a residency in anesthesiology at Cornell University in New York.
Even with all that western medicine can pack in her medical tool bag, she said, she came to the realization that “our pain management for horses is a little bit lacking. They have different physiologies, they react differently to the common pain medications that we can give, those meds sometimes don’t work, and they sometimes have unacceptable side effects.”
The bottom line, Smith said, is she ends up not treating pain as best she might.
Enter acupuncture. With a very few rare exceptions (a pregnant mare), she might not succeed but she won’t add to the problem. Failure, she said, is the absence of a response.
The basic premise of acupuncture, Smith said, is that the operating systems of the animal’s body must in balance - light and dark, warm and cold, male and female. Chinese practitioners stumbled on the fact, centuries ago, that applying pressure to certain points on the body brings relief. It restores balance.
Smith memorized 130 acupuncture points on the horse, 120 on the dog, for her final exam. There are many more.
The explanation is that the acupuncture needle frees up the flow of “Xi,” or life force, through the body.
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“Xi” is very non-western. Can’t see it, can’t measure it. But you know it’s there. It recirculates three times a day.
If it gets stuck somewhere, the result can be pain, soreness, congestion, dementia and the other ills the body is heir to.
One of her first patients at the equine medical center in Leesburg was Tilly, a 13-year-old thoroughbred mare. Tilly competes as a jumper, and has developed the stiff back and sore legs that go with making a living jumping over large objects.
Two tiny needles in her poll went in without as much as the twitch of an ear. Those points will help calm her, Smith said.
She worked along the mare’s back, down the thighs, along her gaskin, inserting needles. Finally the ankles and feet.
A point labeled “gall bladder 23″ on the left rear hock brought a dramatic reaction - kicking, lunging around the room.
Horses don’t actually have a gall bladder, Smith said, but the pressure point still works.
Tilly stood quietly, even sleepily, for the rest of the session. Smith said she likes to leave the needles in at least 15 minutes, sometimes longer, to be sure they have done their work. If they have, the surrounding muscles have relaxed and they slide out easily.
The needles range from .2 to .3 millimeter in diameter, and from 25 to 50 millimeters in length.
Any horse that is ridden, especially at the higher and more demanding levels of performance, Smith said, is a candidate for acupuncture. It will also be useful, she predicts, with horses that come to the center for treatment of traumatic injuries and for surgery.
It won’t be appropriate for a fracture or impaction colic, although it might help in recovery. It will help, Smith said, reduce stress in hospitalized animals.
Smith will be offering acupuncture at the center. Prices will range from $100 to $300 a session, and she recommends starting with a session every few weeks, and then perhaps four times a year, at the change of the seasons, for maintenance. Every patient will have individual needs.
Smith will give a talk on “Acupuncture and Pain Relief for Horses,” Jan. 16, 7 p.m., at the center. Call 703-771-6881 to reserve a free seat.
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