Bringing a horse back into work

[Coffeeandcakeandchocolate]

Looking for some advice…my horse injured himself in the field and was lame. The vet said 2-3 months rest. I wanted to make sure he was definitely better so started riding again today (yay!). Just wondering if anyone has any advice on how to build up fitness? We have a sand school, a field we can ride in and a riding track (around 20mins) around the farm. Hacking not great. Thanks ?

 

[Coffeeandcakeandchocolate]

Ps he’s not been ridden for 6 months

 

[Tiddlypom]

Straight lines in walk to start with, either ridden (if he will be good) or initially in hand if he might be over lively. Your 20 min riding track sounds ideal for this, as long as the footing is good .

Stick to no more than that for a month or so, and only as long as the horse is happy. If all goes well, then you can up the time/distance and gradually introduce some trot.

Good luck.

 

[Britestar]

Walk, walk, walk. When my horse did a tendon, he walked for 16 weeks, gradually increasing the distance ( starting in January, brrr).
Horse that had stifle surgery in sept 20 has just finished 6 months of walking. Cleared by physio last week, now introducing trotting and a little schooling.

 

[sbloom]

I would start with in hand, to compare I would ask would you want to start back movement after a 6 month illness carrying a rucksack on your back? We need to prepare the horse to have the right muscle to carry us otherwise their posture is likely to suffer, even if we don't realise. It's something that often isn't addressed by vets etc when looking at rehab.

 

[ycbm]

What was the injury?
.

 

[Coffeeandcakeandchocolate]

The vets weren’t completely sure…the was a suspected keratoma which ended up not being that and has now grown out. He also has a bit of pedal bone osteitis (which may have caused some issues, vets weren’t sure). He had x rays and mri in July. He was chased and kicked in the field too so may have had a tendon injury. The vets couldn’t be 100% sure. Been sound since end of September, I wanted to give him time to completely recover.

 

[Coffeeandcakeandchocolate]

He lives out and I’ve been taking him for 20 min in hand walks 3-4x a week for 3 weeks…

 

[sbloom]

He lives out and I’ve been taking him for 20 min in hand walks 3-4x a week for 3 weeks…

Which is a start but I'd want to do more, some postural work specifically. Vets and bodyworkers in an ideal world would be recommending this stuff but otherwise you can search out a rehab specialist that does this work, I have a sheet of groundwork links which I can email across if you pm me your email address . Also ensure to use as many different surfaces as possibly, utilise little banks, road cambers, anything you can, to help the horse move across challenging surfaces slowly, helps proprioception as well as directly physically. Also applies to horses in work, good advice for long term soundness.

 

[Coffeeandcakeandchocolate]

Thanks. Am out at the mo but will pm u later. Thanks for all of the advice so far…how long should I walk? Could I use the school if I walk, only do large loops/circles just in walk…

 

[chocolategirl]

Looking for some advice…my horse injured himself in the field and was lame. The vet said 2-3 months rest. I wanted to make sure he was definitely better so started riding again today (yay!). Just wondering if anyone has any advice on how to build up fitness? We have a sand school, a field we can ride in and a riding track (around 20mins) around the farm. Hacking not great. Thanks ?

Has your vet not given you advice on how he should be brought back into work? Our horse has just been given the nod to be worked again after 9 months off with injury, vet told us no more than 30 mins hacking in walk only as many times a week as we can manage, then after a month, he wants to see him again to see how he’s looking. Absolutely no school riding and no circles, straight lines only but hills are ok. Have a chat with your vet, much depends on the type of injury. Ours was soft tissue hence why firm footing only for the forseeable.?

 

[Polos Mum]

Old fashioned advice is that it takes as long to get back to where you were as the time they had off. So if he was off for 6 months it should take 6 months to build back up to the level of fitness he was before he was injured. So be prepared for it to take a long time.
My personal opinion would be at least 3 months walking before trot but I do everything v slowly.

I wouldn't walk in a 20 x 40 school as I don't think you can make loops long enough - the farm track would be much better.
Maybe have a look at trec type in hand exercises to do more in hand than leading like a dog. (bending poles, stepping over poles, stopping nicely etc)

Once you've done lots in hand add a saddle but no rider and then if you can borrow a small person that's ideal to build weight slowly.

 

[SEL]

I have done in hand laps of a sand school when the hacking wasn't suitable for the horse I was bringing back into work. Fortunately it had a good surface. We also did in hand laps of the village - lots of comments about me walking my giant dog.