Advice - using a horsewalker for the 1st time

My Horse has been on box rest for 2 months now with a tendon injury, I am moving him to a yard with a walker at the w/e, vet wants him to be on it for an hour a day, would it be wise to sedate him the first couple of times?

Also any dos or donts for using one as i have never used one before.
 
Just keep an eye on it, the one down the racing yard gets faster the longer you have it going, it must warm up or somthing, not quite sure why this happens. It doesn't go stupidly fast, just a little bit.
 
For my horse's first time I put her in with another she was familiar with. I let her follow the other horse therefore only going in one direction at a speed she feels comfortable with and only for a fairly short time.

The second time I made sure she had a familiar horse in front and behind so that she could try turning to change direction.

She was fine. I didn't switch on the current at all as she soon got the hang of avoiding a boot up the backside when she tried to stop and sniff the dung
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We just put them on with a quiet horse either side and leave the to it.

Build up to the hour, wont you? Start with 20 mins and gradually increase
 
Put the other horses on opposite or 1 in front leave a bay clear directly in front, mine always tried to get over the partition to get to his friend, keep an eye on it too. Don't panic if they don't move they soon get the gist. Don't forget to change direction so they go on both riens for the same amount of time, intially you may hve to get them out to swap them over but mine could squeeze round once they got used to it.

The walker was handy if they were in all day and warmed them up quick but I'd be apprehensive to use it for injury rehabilitation but then ours had a concrete base, plus an hour on a small circle is allot.
 
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Actually, thats a point, why, after a tendon injury, does your vet want your horse walking in quite a small circle for an hour each day?

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Ditto that, my horse has a tendon injury and she is not allowed to be forced to turn at all. Walking in a straight line is far better for them, at least at first.
As for introducing the horse to the walker, give him a tiny bit of ACP if it makes you feel better, but as Boss says all we do where I work is put some quiet horses on and keep an eye on them. *touch wood* we've only had a couple of them freak out, but they were "established" on the walker before they decided it was scary... Generally they don't seem to mind it!
 
I have been walking in hand from day one for 20 mins a day, I have to walk him along a busy public footpath/bridle way and its getting a bit dangerous with so many walkers/cyclist etc, i dont feel i can safetly handle him anymore so as i need to up the amount of walking i feel it would be safer for him and me on a walker
 
My vet did advise us to use the horsewalker after a ligament injury because my boy was not safe inhand. However, he only did 10mins a day. Since I've stopped using the horse walker his feet haven't been hot and there has been no filling. I'd be very wary of using a horsewalker following soft tissue injury. Ours was a big 8 or 10 horse one and it still was too tight a circle.
 
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