The Atlas

I am now moving towards the head of the horse. Today is about the first cervical vertebrae, the atlas. There are, in total, seven vertebrae in the horse's neck. When doing my adjustments, I can only feel to the fifth vertebrae, the sixth and seventh are not able to be felt due to the muscling of the shoulders. Take a look...

The atlas works with many different areas around the head and brain. It works with the oxygen flow, the eyes and the sinuses. When the atlas is badly misaligned, the oxygen doesn't flow to the brain like it should. Pretty much, it's a bad headach until someone adjusts it.

Often a horse responds to the adjustments by licking at chewing, but with the atlas you hope to see lots of yawning(they're getting O2 to their brain) the nose will maybe drain(sinuses are clearing) and the eyes should clear up(often they can get crusty).

In Barriere we went to this Arab place and I got the pleasure of working with a mare who had a very bad headach. Not only did she let me know it by laying her ears flat against her head, but any time I went to move a foot, or even just stand near her, she would try and take a bite outta me! Thank goodness for my partner who held her back! As I finished my assessment of her, I came to find that indeed her atlas was badly misaligned. She was also very sensitive to the stress points in that area. When I finally was able to get her all adjusted she was a WAY nicer horse. Her ears came forward and there was no more biting. It was interesting to see how quickly she responded after I got her all back in place!