The James L. Voss Veterinary Teaching Hospital at Colorado State University is now among the first veterinary teaching hospitals in the country to offer acupuncture and chiropractic services to equine clients.

Gayle W. Trotter, DVM, MS, Dipl. ACVS, an equine surgeon in practice for almost 30 years, 20 of them at the CSU Veterinary Teaching Hospital, has expanded his practice to include these alternative procedures. From personal experience using acupuncture to help with his own lower back pain and seeing firsthand how manipulative therapies worked on equine patients, Trotter sought to learn more about alternative therapies.

“As an equine veterinarian, I became increasingly frustrated in being unable to help cases involving deteriorating performance or unspecified lameness,” Trotter said. “Qualified riders would tell me that their horse’s performance had changed, but through conventional veterinary approaches I was often unable to locate and diagnose a specific problem.”

”I believe the integrated approach to equine veterinary medicine is the answer–using both alternative and conventional methods to help equine clients,” Trotter said. “Veterinary chiropractic is a science that views the equine as an integrated animal, treating the musculoskeletal, neurological and vascular systems as being interrelated