RachelB
Well-Known Member
As I'm sure many of you are aware, my horse tore her deep digital flexor tendon in February last year. She has been off work now for a total of 15 months, and has been turned away for nearly 10 of those. She was supposed to start work (walking in hand) this Saturday just gone, but at the beginning of March she went lame again and we thought it was the tendon. After a couple of days on one sachet of bute/day (she weighs 650kg, I doubt it made an impact really) she was sound, and has been sound ever since even when I stopped the bute after a week. I called my vet (who had seen her sound, then lame) who said "oh good that's a really good sign that she came sound so soon, when did we agree to start working her?" but I cut her short and told her I was going to leave her until next year. Oh, and when I say "sound" I don't mean 100%, more like 99.5% and the vet thought she would benefit from light walking work for six-ish months.
Ok so my predicament is, Maiden is moving on Saturday to a field closer to home. Not only is she closer to home, I will only have her to look after (I currently care for two youngsters) so I will have more time, and she will be at a yard for at least a week (instead of a field in the middle of nowhere). I am now rather tempted by starting her walk work and seeing how she goes. If I leave her until next year, I doubt I will have the time to rehab her properly and she will probably be pottered about on once or twice a week (she will only be a light hack anyway, whether rehab-ed this year or next). If I rehab her this year, I will have more time to do it properly but of course she will have had less time in the field (vet says "more time can only do more good").
Basically, pros of working her this year are: I have the time to do it properly, she needs to lose weight and it's better to work it off her than starve it off her with a muzzle, she loves working and would be (relatively) happier doing something, vet wanted me to start working her although I'm not entirely sure when. Cons are: she will have had less time to recover, vet says more time would be good.
Would it be selfish of me to think Maiden can start work now (because I want her to, TBH I'm bored and miss having my own horse!)? Would it be worth calling my vet and seeing what she thinks?
Ok so my predicament is, Maiden is moving on Saturday to a field closer to home. Not only is she closer to home, I will only have her to look after (I currently care for two youngsters) so I will have more time, and she will be at a yard for at least a week (instead of a field in the middle of nowhere). I am now rather tempted by starting her walk work and seeing how she goes. If I leave her until next year, I doubt I will have the time to rehab her properly and she will probably be pottered about on once or twice a week (she will only be a light hack anyway, whether rehab-ed this year or next). If I rehab her this year, I will have more time to do it properly but of course she will have had less time in the field (vet says "more time can only do more good").
Basically, pros of working her this year are: I have the time to do it properly, she needs to lose weight and it's better to work it off her than starve it off her with a muzzle, she loves working and would be (relatively) happier doing something, vet wanted me to start working her although I'm not entirely sure when. Cons are: she will have had less time to recover, vet says more time would be good.
Would it be selfish of me to think Maiden can start work now (because I want her to, TBH I'm bored and miss having my own horse!)? Would it be worth calling my vet and seeing what she thinks?
