Acceptable?!

Dumbo

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Story goes... Horse in work, ridden 4 times a week (hacking/schooling/jumping) and reasonably fit. Goes slightly lame. Vet out to assess and scan. Nothing found so 10 days box rest with bute. Horse now sound and in light work for one week (short walk hacks and starting to trot again).
Is it unfair and bad ownership to take horse to sponsored ride (7 miles) in just over a weeks time?
 

applecart14

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Story goes... Horse in work, ridden 4 times a week (hacking/schooling/jumping) and reasonably fit. Goes slightly lame. Vet out to assess and scan. Nothing found so 10 days box rest with bute. Horse now sound and in light work for one week (short walk hacks and starting to trot again).
Is it unfair and bad ownership to take horse to sponsored ride (7 miles) in just over a weeks time?

Depends what the horse will be doing. If its just walking and trotting I can't see there is any issue. It could have been a very small abcess, or a stone that caused a bruised sole or a million other things. If the horse is sound and nothing was picked up on the scan I can't see the issue. Seven miles is nothing at the end of the day. But I work closely with my vet so would always take their advice. Maybe a quick phone call to your vet would sort this out if its your horse.

And if its not your horse why not let them decide for themselves? No disrespect, but why do you feel you have to have any right in dictating what they do with their horse? Just curious.
 

ihatework

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If the horse was fit enough prior to lameness and if over this next week the horse can do some more work, then sounds fine to me (provided lameness doesn't re emerge)
 

Wheels

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If it was bad enough to need 10 days box rest then no, I wouldn't be going. Especially as no diagnosis
 

TGM

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As the leg has been scanned (so ruling out tendon or ligament damage which could be aggravated by work) then should be fine if rider takes it slowly.
 

spike123

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the average hack is around 4 to 5 miles for me so assuming the horse is reasonably fit which by the sounds of it that it was before the 10 days box rest and it stays sound with increasing work in the next week then yes i would go. 10 days rest does nothing for a horses fitness level and is no more than a short holiday.
 

spookypony

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How lame is "slightly lame"? Why did it merit 10 days' box rest (that sounds rather extreme to me, for a slight lameness without diagnosis)? Was it trotted up during the box rest at all? Has this horse been lame before on that leg?

Last summer, my pony vetted out lame at the end of a hilly, stony 30k endurance ride. He trotted up sound the next day, and got the rest of the week off in the field. 10 days after the ride, he went for a slowish, hilly 1.5h hack, was sound, so 2 weeks after the lame vetting, he competed in a flat 60k ride (40 miles), which basically means 5 1/2 hours of trotting and cantering. He finished that sound, too! But his lameness was very slight and a known, recurrent problem, and the competition was obviously under veterinary supervision!
 

el_Snowflakes

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Story goes... Horse in work, ridden 4 times a week (hacking/schooling/jumping) and reasonably fit. Goes slightly lame. Vet out to assess and scan. Nothing found so 10 days box rest with bute. Horse now sound and in light work for one week (short walk hacks and starting to trot again).
Is it unfair and bad ownership to take horse to sponsored ride (7 miles) in just over a weeks time?

Depends on a variety of factors!

If unsure id phone vet for advice.
 

Carefreegirl

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Halton ? If so depends on what you're planning to do. If going for jumping then I'd say no but just for the ride then probably, not much road work and Id imagine the usual rubbish bit after the airfield will be nice and dry.

Only you know your horse and how they'd cope.
 

applecart14

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the average hack is around 4 to 5 miles for me so assuming the horse is reasonably fit which by the sounds of it that it was before the 10 days box rest and it stays sound with increasing work in the next week then yes i would go. 10 days rest does nothing for a horses fitness level and is no more than a short holiday.

My hacks also average about 4-5 miles, normally out for 1 - 1/4 hours and good striding out walk, not slopping along which does nothing for fitness, I'd say my horse is quite fit as we have lots of hilly lanes by us. Horses cover 15 miles per day in the wild, seven miles is nothing to them and like Spike says ten days box rest should have minimal impact on a horses fitness.
 

Prince33Sp4rkle

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i wouldnt know, you dont know what it was, so you dont know how a longer than normal ride will affect it.

15miles a day in the wild they may well do but they arent over fed, under worked, un fit, shod badly and having to deal with overweight and badly balanced riders in the wild! like comparing apples and oranges! for some horses 7 miles may be nothing and for some a real struggle.
 

eggs

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If it was my horse I would check with my vet. If it isn't my horse then it really isn't anything to do with me.

If this horse was reasonably fit, went slightly lame but nothing found on scan I would tend to think the 7 km sponsored ride would not be a problem from a fitness perspective.
 

mandwhy

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I wouldn't take them quite so soon no, after two or three weeks you'd have a bit more confidence to say they're probably ok now, but it could recur after a week's work easily. Some things will flare up after a bit of work even though I agree that 7miles isn't very far at all.
 

Puppy

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How lame is "slightly lame"? Why did it merit 10 days' box rest (that sounds rather extreme to me, for a slight lameness without diagnosis)? Was it trotted up during the box rest at all? Has this horse been lame before on that leg?

These would be the questions that I'd be asking, too.

Personally I wouldn't risk it when you still don't know the cause of the lameness.
 
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