1 week box rest - carry on where we left off?

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Brandy77

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If your horse is in full work and ridden 6 times per week and then gets a kick for which they have to have a weeks box rest, after the week is up, do you carry on where you left off or do you give them an easy week or so to get back into it?
 
You have to consider that they are at higher risk of azoturia if they are fit and have a week inside .
Presumably you have stopped all the hard food .
I would do walking exercise in a warm exercise sheet hour the first day and hour and half the next two then two to three days indroduing trotting then have a canter then back to normal work .
 
I would get back on and start off with a couple of days easy work - where was the kick? One week off depending on how bad the kick was is not a lot. I've just done 12 weeks box rest for a check lig problem on a horse that was hunting fit and in hand walking was downright dangerous. How I didn't end up in hospital on several occasions is a miracle.
 
Start off with a few days walking then trotting and then cantering. You horse wont lose any fitness for being in a box for a week and then easy work for a week.
 
The kick is on his radius. He has been rayed to make sure no serious damage and all clear thank goodness. Vet will check him one the week is up just to make sure, and all being well he can go back out & back to work.
Yes, he is getting a third of his normal size feed, something to put his bute in.
I'll turn him out the first day for a few hours on his own sedated, no way could I get on him after a week in!
Then as suggested a couple of days walking etc will build it up to be back to normal the following week.
Thanks for the replies, always very helpful to know what others do/would do in similar situations!
 
The rule of thumb used by my mentor in my youth was that if a horse has x amount of time off, it needs x amount of time to get back up to the same level of work and fitness that it had achieved before the time off. So one week off needs one week to get back up to the same level of work.
If that makes any sense at all . . .
 
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