Bringing a horse back into work

[scheherazade]

Some of you may remember that my beautiful chestnut went lame at the end of last year. He is now sound and I have been given the all clear to start trying to bring him back into work and see if he stays that way / can cope with the work. I have been advised to start with walk, 15 minutes to begin with and build it up over a period of weeks (6 ish although I will be taking it at his own pace, I am in no hurry with this horse) til I am walking for an hour and a half. Mostly in straight lines and no schooling!

I have never brought a horse back into work after such a long lay off before and was wondering if the walk work should be done every day, or start with a couple of times a week and increase the frequency or what??

Also I took his shoes off when he went lame (not as a conscious 'barefoot decision' but more because I felt he didn't need them) and he is completely sound in the field (although a little stiff) but do I need to put them back on now as a lot of the walking work will need to be on roads. If I do keep him barefoot, do I need to make any other changes / get him hoof boots or put him on a special diet??

Thanks in advance

 

[leflynn]

My vet always advises slow and steady and at least every other day and pref every day when coming back into work and only increasing 5 mins the first week and then 10 thereafter until an hour walk then add in 1 min trots and go from there.

With regards to hooves, it depends on the horse and your choices - I have hoof boots until mine is more in work and can cope with uneven ground better as I didn't want to put shoes back on

it takes time but it is more than worth it to have you horse back I'm about to start again with mine after a year off, 4 weeks on a horse walker, 3 bad weeks of trying to ride and we are currently long reining then soon riding again, good luck

 

[scheherazade]

Thanks leflynn, that's really helpful, and seems to be along the lines of what mine has said, I was just unsure about the frequency.

What hoofboots do you use? Do you leave them on all the time or only while you are working? (Sorry I am really dim with this kind of thing)

 

[leflynn]

I only use the hoof boots if we aren't in the arena - I did test them on him in the arena and also out in the field just to check they were okay under all paces (he hoons in the field).

I ended up with a pair of 2nd Old Macs as he has very round feet and I couldn't be doing with a mallet for the easy boot gloves as they are super tight fit!

 

[scheherazade]

Thanks, do you think I need to do anything funny with his diet? Or is that just in case of soreness that adjustments need to be made (shoes came off 6 months ago and the only signs of soreness seem to have been linked to the original injury and look fine now)

 

[leflynn]

Crikey I have no idea! Try the phoenix barefoot forum and the very helpful barefoot knowledgeable on here

I didn't adjust as he was already ona vaguely good barefoot diet and has good feet

 

[Gloi]

If you are only working the horse at walk and building up gradually from 15 minutes you may well find that as he is sound in his field barefoot this is also ideal for his hooves and not need boots. It will depend on his feet of course, but if they are reasonably good they should cope with this buildup of slow roadwork. A mineral supplement like Pro hoof or Pro Balance will help.
I use Easyboot Epics on mine, he could cope with this amount of roadwork but he can't manage the number of miles I do.

 

[scheherazade]

Thanks Gloi, His feet seem ok condition wise, but they are wider and less rounded / symmetrical than when he was shod - is this normal / symptom of the injury? Farrier hasn't said anything about change in shape. Will try him without shoes then, at least until we start trotting or doing more. Hopefully some very clever barefoot people will magically appear and point me in the right direction of all things barefoot (as I only ended up that way by default and am not a proper disciple!)