Bringing a horse back into work - to lunge or not to lunge?

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_jetset_

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I am bringing my 7 year old mare back into work at the moment after an operation on her suspensory ligaments. I have been instructed to treat her like a 'normal horse' coming back into work after time off which is no easy task when I have thought of her as a glass ornament for 8 months!

So far she has done 3 weeks of walking (starting at 20 minutes, increasing to 35), after which she was reassessed and I was then instructed to do two weeks of walking for 45 minutes with 12 long side of trot a day.

Following this, she was to be turned out in a regular sized field, and brought back into work over a six weeks period.

We are just finishing week two of six and I have started introducing some circle work in her walk and trot and lateral work into the walk (I was told to use lateral work to supple her up). However, my mare thinks she knows better than I do and keeps cantering whenever she feels my legs on her sides (the canter feels fab though)! So she has done a few long sides of canter with me trying to get her back into trot >:-D

The problem I am having is that she is supposed to be worked 'correctly' so that she is using her hocks properly, but I am always on my own and do not have anyone on the ground to watch her for me. I do not think she is ready to have a lesson with my trainer just yet, so for the time being I will continue working with her alone. Because I cannot 'see' what is going on beneath me (she feels great) I was wondering about riding her in walk to warm up and then putting her on the lunge to do some of the trot work perhaps once or twice a week so I can watch the movement.

Would this put unneccessary strain on her?

I do not want to do anything that might set us back as we have been through more than enough in the past eight months, and I have persevered because this mare is something special. She had only been out competing for three months (I rebacked her at 5)and qualified for the Area Finals Prelim and Novice. So I very much want to get her back to where we were!

She is a very hot mare to ride at the best of times, but since coming back into work she has been even hotter!
 
I , personally , don't like to use lunging on a horse that has had a problem unless
a) the surface is perfect and flat.
b) the horse is an excellent ,quiet lunger and will not leap in the air and slip.
c)the circles are kept very large.It is quite a strain on the joints being on a constant circle.
You know your horse best . If it was Rafi , our dressage horse , then I wouldn't with him as he can be excellent to lunge then get a bit lazy and then when I ask him to work a bit more he will twist and buck . Penfold , I would he is perfect on the lunge and loves it .I love to watch him on the lunge because I can check he is straight through his body by watching the two outside legs and making sure they are in the same track and I can make sure he is tracking up or over tracking depending on what I am asking.
If your horse is good to long rein that is always an option but if you haven't done much of it , maybe not the time to start.
 
I haven't done much long reining if I am honest, although she has done I believe so she could probably show me how it is done
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I might try long lining her and see whether I get the hang of it.

I have seen some people still use side reins when long lining... is this the normal practise?
 
It is a huge bugbear of mine to see horses recovering from injury being lunged endlessly in circles (not that you would do that B LOL!!!). It is bound to put extra strain on them. I would longrein or lunge in large circles with two reins, on a very good surface and for short periods only.
 
I have a lovely level surface (the main reason I moved onto the yard after she was injured) which does not move. I have never really done much long lining...
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Personally i wouldnt lunge her, especially after the op shes had.

Just carry on with riding her - im sure you can tell whether shes using her hindlegs properly or not, as you will be able to feel whether she is properly engaged.
 
Im going to go against the grain now! Spider had the exact same op and whilst on box rest I had to do ALL her walk and trot work on the lunge because she kept throwing me off!
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vet said to do that as it was all I was safe to do and she recovered perfectly, legs were re-scanned as was given the all clear quite quickly
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its up to you
 
When Ralph had a tendon scare I had no option but to lunge, he's a big boy and was exploding. I use the whole school when I lunge, so, big circles and walking with the horse if you get my meaning!

As the horse gets fitter, start to do smaller circles at the markers and again walk along with the horse, so that you get straight lines as well, it works. I've not been able to ride for a year due to an accident, so in between my instructor riding and a friend hacking out, I use this lunging method to keep Ralph fit and change the routine daily
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Thanks to everyone for your comments so far... they are much appreciated
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It is so difficult when you are on your own and trying your hardest to 'feel' whether everything is as it should be
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I find myself feeling things which are perhaps not truly there and then backing off her (which I am not supposed to be doing).
 
Knowing your vet I would say that he would say not to lunge as it will put a lot of strain on your horse's legs - maybe trying long reining where it's not a continuous circle, certainly until she's strengthened up anyway.
How's she going?
Kate x
 
im having the same issue at the moment. I 'lunged' my boy who's come back from injury last night but let him use the whole arena so I did a lot of walking! Physio recommended using side reins held loosely between his legs to make him really stretch through the back....this seemed to work quite well, and only did it for 10 mins in walk and a bit of trot. I certainly wouldnt have him on a tight circle, but did find it beneficial to see how he was moving from the ground. He looked fab!!
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I think lunging puts a lot of strain on the limbs at the best of times.

I wouldnt use it as part of a recovery programme but I very rarely lunge anyway!
 
Having had a horse go through hind limb coproximal suspensory desmitis I would be rather cautious of lunging on a fixed circle early on in the recovery process if you have other options open to you.
 
i definitely wouldn't lunge a horse coming back into work for any reason, let alone a lameness and especially a ligament issue. I was told straight lines only when Dan had PSD. i took it extra slow because i was paranoid but we did 6mths altogether of walk and trot before we started cantering and i wasn't meant to go in the school until he was happily cantering out hacking. as it was, it was winter and i had nowhere else to do the work, so i did school, but not on circles, only round the edge.
 
Thanks everyone... thinking of trying long lining instead
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I wish I had someone on the ground who could video it, then I wouldn't have to be thinking about me being on the ground
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