A prick here and a prick there and Man Of Action is a happy horse at long last

It’s been a long time since Al Barnes looked forward to taking Man Of Action to the races.

But tonight he’ll float the horse to Redcliffe with a completely different outlook - thanks to an acupuncture session that seems to have completely transformed the horse.

Barnes got into the sulky when he raced last week to see if he could discover why Man Of Action has been out of the money in his last 13 starts, a losing streak dating back to last November.

“He was throwing his legs really wide, kicking the wheels, and they were that wide he was nearly kicking other people’s wheels.

“And he stood in the tie-up stalls kicking all night, so I definitely think he’s been trying to send us a message.

“He’s 10 times better than he’s been showing,” said Barnes who has also seen the horse struggle to cope with the Queensland heat in recent months.

Enter former driver and trainer Jason Proctor, these days in demand for the excellent results trainers are getting from his acupuncture treatment.

Al Barnes … the horse has been trying to send us a message.“We found a few problems in his back end. He had a muscle tear in his lumbar and everything was really tight. Muscles need to be soft and supple so he was in a lot of discomfort.”

With blood flow to the area stimulated by Proctor’s needles, Man Of Action has been a different horse this week, says Barnes.

“He’s so much happier. Normally he’s a pest to jog, his tail swishes and he bucks and carries on, but this week he’s been jogging like a lamb.”

And instead of the grumpy animal who’d continually try to double barrel Barnes, or get angry with him if he even attempted to fix his rug strap, Man Of Action has been super chilled.

Barnes has also “gone hard” treating the horse’s ulcers.

“Ulcers were giving him grief, so I’ve changed his feed, given him more roughage during the day and some liquorice, which really helps them.”

Now that Man Of Action isn’t hurting, Barnes hopes we’ll start to see a different horse in the next few weeks.

“I’m not saying he’s perfect - he’ll be a lot better next week - but I’m really happy with him and looking forward to racing tonight.

“Last week he had a lot of problems and didn’t finish that far away (fourth) so this week, well on the way to healing, I’m hoping he can do better.

“It’s a very even field - a bit weaker than last week - and while he’s drawn badly, I’m happy with that. I can grab hold, go back to the running line and let him run on.

“I want to give him confidence that he’s not going to hurt.”

Man Of Action races at Redcliffe on Wednesday night at 8.47pm.