Bad back & physiological scarring

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LadyS&J

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I've recently taken back on a mare I had many years ago, unfortunately around 6 months ago she had an extremely bad back due to a treeless saddle. Her back has now recovered and I had started brining her into work. We were doing great until the winter weather started and we had a week off work. Now she seems to be freaked out about having her saddle on let alone girthed up and getting on is a complete no no. She hasn't got a bad back and the saddle isn't the problem so it's been put down to her remembering the pain when being ridden before. Has any one got any advice on how I can begin to get her to realise she doesn't need to fear being ridden, have got a few ideas but would be nice to hear what others think. Thanks
 
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How do you know her back has not started hurting again? IME horses do not start coming back into work okay and then act like your mare after a few days off. Psychological scarring as you put it is most likely to show itself at the beginning of the return to work, not after a good start. The other possibility, especially at this time of year is that she may have gastric ulcers.
 
I agree with wagtail, it sounds as if she has not fully recovered and that having started well then had a break has caused the pain to return to some degree, often with rehabbing from injuries of this type they do revert if they have any time off, especially in the early stages when the muscles are changing almost daily.
I would get your physio back and in the meantime do the stretches and exercises required to keep everything moving, possibly some long reining or lunging, the horse I am rehabbing missed two weeks of work due to a minor, unrelated injury and went slightly backwards in that time, early in his rehab I was doing something with him twice daily without fail to get him as strong as possible so that missing a few days is no longer a real setback, you really have to invest so much time in these horses to see the result you want.
 
Thanks for the replies. Started lunging and long reigning trying to steer clear of putting weight in her back at the moment as I don't want to aggravate it. Started her physio again and stretches twice a day was just hoping there was something else i could do to help her. In for the long haul but it will be worth it. Got the saddle fitter coming out to check her saddle again. Fingers crossed it will eventually help her.
 
I would have her back re checked and if she gets the all clear then start putting a saddle cloth on and roller and then the saddle if its just 5 minutes every day until she starts to realize that there is no pain and reward her for the days she is good to build up the trust, mine had ulcers and she use to go ballistic at the saddle i spent all winter last year putting the saddle on and off so she got out of the habit, took time but with patients you win the battle xxxxx
 
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