Whitesboro chiropractor Natalie Hair helps horses, riders thrive in and out of the arena

It’s not often that a doctor’s patients have anywhere from two to four legs, zero to five fingers, stand between five feet and 16 hands tall or possess 33 to 54 vertebrae. 

However, Dr. Natalie Hair’s roster of patients spans the full range of these anatomical variations. 

As a Whitesboro-based chiropractor for both horses and humans, it’s clear why Hair treats patients with such varying limbs, digits, heights and vertebrae.

Raised as a cowgirl from the North, Hair has been involved with horses from the start, but the path of becoming a chiropractor—for both humans and horses—is something that unfolded later on. 

“I began riding at a very young age,” Hair said. “My family had hitch horses, and we did cart classes with our haflinger ponies. When I was nine years old, my mom started taking me to this boot and saddle club where they ran barrels. That’s what really started the Western discipline interest, and it just grew from there.”

After a childhood spent running around Michigan, competing in barrels, poles, goat tying and roping at jackpot, 4-H and playday shows, Hair decided to attend Southern Arkansas University, earning a spot on their rodeo team. 

In a sense, that spot on the rodeo team is also what encouraged Hair to pursue a career in chiropractic medicine.

“What really got me into the chiropractic side of things was I always had headaches growing up all through high school and in college,” Hair said. “Being on the college rodeo team, we traveled a lot… I would sleep a lot of times with my head up against the window of the truck on drives, and my neck and head would hurt horribly. I decided to see a chiropractor, and it completely changed my life and made my pain disappear. And I was like, ‘I need to go to chiropractic school.’” 

Hair shifted her focus from pursuing an agricultural degree to chiropractic and went straight to Parker College of Chiropractic in Dallas after earning her bachelor’s.

Although Hair planned to become a chiropractor for both horses and humans, she initially focused on human anatomy – that is until the opportunity to expand into equine care fell into her lap. 

“At Parker Chiropractic School, one of the faculty members, Dr. Gene Giggleman, actually had an animal chiropractic clinic on campus, and he started the animal chiropractic program at Parker,” Hair said. “It was like my second year of school when it was offered right at my back door. I knew I absolutely had to go through this.”

After earning her doctorate from Parker and an Animal Chiropractic Certification in 2004, Hair moved back home to practice in Ohio. 

For 10 years, she worked as an associate under several doctors before joining a medical complex recognized as the largest primary care office in Northeast Ohio.
Although she was back home in familiar territory, Hair’s heart tugged her back to the Southwest. 

“I always knew I wanted to come back to Texas,” Hair said. “All my family was in Ohio. I had this fantastic job, I had a beautiful house. But there just wasn’t an option of it not working out – I was moving to Texas one way or another. There was no doubt, no matter what happened.”

In the fall of 2014, Hair moved back to the Lone Star State. 

She ran a chiropractic office in Pottsboro for roughly four years while providing mobile equine chiropractic care. As her equine clients became her primary focus, she closed the Pottsboro office and completely dedicated her time to her four-legged clients.

“As a horse person, people take better care of their horses,” Hair said. “Horses are the priority. They usually have a better diet, they exercise more and they have less wear and tear on them versus the people taking care of them. I’d see horses more frequently than I’d see their owners.” 

Focusing solely on the equine chiropractic industry kept Hair busy, but after three years, Dr. Kelsey Howard (a Texas chiropractor Hair had worked closely with doing coverage work) told Hair she was moving to Arkansas and asked her to take over the practice.

Although Hair had plenty of equine business, she simply couldn’t refuse. She took over the practice underneath her own brand, and Gold Buckle Chiropractic was born. 

Now, Hair’s practice is 50% horses, 50% people. 

“Even if you don’t compete, just taking care of horses and farm work is really hard on your body,” Hair said. “I have a lot of trainers – cow horse people that go down the fence, colt starters that are getting bucked off. Horse people are hard on their bodies, and chiropractic is a great fit for that. And that’s why I really think Whitesboro is just such a good location for me because those are the people that I network with on a daily basis.” 

Fostering connections with these Whitesboro trainers and competitors—along with their horses—is what initially brought Hair to Texas and back into the realm of human chiropractic care. As such, she strives to keep their specific needs at the forefront of her schedule. 

“You have to focus on the people and the animals that you really want to serve, and I want to serve the North Texas area,” Hair said. “I shrink my travel radius in order to serve the people I see often – whether I rope with them, see them at local barrel races or at the grocery store.”

However tightly knit it may seem from the outside, the horse community in the Whitesboro area is actually vast. Making a name for yourself in the industry as a go-to professional among other experts is no easy task.

“I think the biggest challenge of any entrepreneur is just setting yourself apart from everybody else,” Hair said. “By nature, I’m not super outgoing. But you have to get out of your comfort zone and network and meet people, and that’s why I think I’ve done so well in Whitesboro with just the horse community – I’m already so actively involved in that.” 

With such bustling business, Hair has outgrown her previously rented space for her human clients and is moving locations to an office off Highway 377 in Whitesboro in May. 
With this new space will also come new amenities. 

“I don’t just do chiropractic,” Hair said. “I do dry needling, which is similar to acupuncture, but it’s more dealing with trigger points, muscle spasms and tendonitis. And I have a new spinal decompression table coming and will have a massage therapist on staff, too. So with more room, I’m going to be able to offer that as well.”

Hair’s equine services will remain mobile for the time being, as she spends Tuesdays and Thursdays traveling to equine clients and Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays seeing in-office clients.

No matter the type of patient, chiropractic care is something Hair will always be an advocate for.

“It’s much easier to prevent a problem than to play catch up,” Hair said. “Our health is something that is very hard to get back, so I encourage people to take care of a problem quickly. Chiropractic care is not only just about pain relief, but it’s about helping keep your body functioning the best that it possibly can. When a rider is more balanced, it’s going to be easier on their horse’s body.”

Getting to see her daily impact on how she is helping people live a more functional life, which in return helps their horses live a more functional life, is one of the most rewarding aspects of Hair’s career – especially when her clients experience the success to show for it. 

“I’m looking at highly trained, take you to the next level type of horses that are at the top of their game. I do everything from 4-H horses, high-end hunter jumpers, to multiple world champions in the Western pleasure world,” Hair said. “When I say multiple world champions, I’m talking about horses that have won 23 to 40 world championships. My clients are all over The Paint Horse Journal and the Quarter Horse Journal.” 

Getting to work on the accomplished riders of these horses is just as rewarding.

“I work on million-dollar riders all the time,” Hair said. “It’s really cool because as a little girl growing up in Ohio and Michigan, I’m now living her dream, getting to work on these top-notch clients and top-notch trainers.”

For Natalie Hair, living the dream of adjusting professional horses and riders is one she couldn’t imagine any differently – even though her patients are exactly that. 

Although those clients may range in anatomical structure, their chiropractor’s drive and passion for their welfare is one that remains constant.