Bringing a horse into work after a long period of lameness recovery - saddle options

[LadyGascoyne]

Can you get her out being ponied from another horse to build up more muscle before thinking of getting a rider back on her? Or more in hand walks over poles?

She does not yet look ready to carry a rider of any weight, whatever your vet says.

No, it wouldn’t be safe. And walking in hand just isn’t working. She has a much greater chance of re-injuring herself if she’s being silly, and she’s absolutely sweet under saddle.

I really don’t want to have to go into essays on this, but the vets are clear, the physio agrees, the pros agree, and I know the horse and agree. They all see the horse regularly, rather than a snapshot on a forum and they can see how she moves. Everyone who has physically seen the horse has the same opinion, and they will have a more holistic view of her. Sometimes balancing rehab needs isn’t simple but the most important thing is that we get the walking done, and that is most safely done from the saddle.

Hence I’m making a saddle decision, and that is why I have asked for thoughts. I’m aware of needing to be super light and unobtrusive on the horse at the moment because in the ideal world without the need for all the walking, there is a lot you can do in walk, trot and canter in the school without as saddle, but we aren’t there. We can walk, straight, without twisting, and she’s not going to do that properly without being under saddle. So I’m thinking about mitigating risks but I’m not unsure of our course of action.

 

[gunnergundog]

How about water treadmill?? Not sure of the details of her injury but will help with core. Physio/Vet may contra-indicate.

 

[I'm Dun]

How about water treadmill?? Not sure of the details of her injury but will help with core. Physio/Vet may contra-indicate.

Only if she's carrying herself properly, someone on here broke their horse sending it to do rehab on a treadmill, as it east moving properly and damaged itself. I think it might have been ambers echo.

 

[gunnergundog]

Only if she's carrying herself properly, someone on here broke their horse sending it to do rehab on a treadmill, as it east moving properly and damaged itself. I think it might have been ambers echo.

Which is why you need qualified people to oversee and not send to every tom, dick or harry who is buying treadmills at the moment and why I said the supervising vet/physio may contra-indicate. Also, why I sent one of my horses nearly 100 miles away for treadmill rather than ten miles down the road.

 

[Pinkvboots]

Id be questioning why she looks so weak still then. 4 months of groundwork and inland hacks should have made a big difference. Whereas she looks just like you'd expect a horse to look that hadn't done any work for 2yrs. Is she lacking protein in her diet? Or is the ground work done not the right sort?

If she was mine I'd send her to Dan Wain for a month. Hes close to you, don't charge the earth and will find out of there's an underlying issue pretty quickly. Or even have him or someone like him out to work with your usual rider to see where they can make improvements. I wouldn't want to get on a horse coming back into work from injury that had no muscle or toppling at all. You want them to find the work easy, not struggle to carry a rider and she looks so weak, combine that with araby conformation and postural issues I'd be worried your just going to reinjure the DFT or do something else, esp if she's prone to being a bit hot.

Are you serious have you ever had experience of bringing this type of horse back into work?

 

[Pinkvboots]

I think you are giving LG a hard time and need to rein it back a bit and just be a bit more understanding rather than criticise what has already been done.

This forum seriously pisses me off sometimes your so ready to jump on people that have already done the right thing and know what they are doing.

Arab's in general in a good not fat weight will never look like a covered fat horse so will look like they lack muscle which is normal if been out of work.

Most people misjudge fat for muscle.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

How about water treadmill?? Not sure of the details of her injury but will help with core. Physio/Vet may contra-indicate.

It’s an interesting idea. It may be more complicated for her as she is stressy so she might find traveling, going into a treadmill etc very challenging. I will mention it to vet and physio though.

It is a tear to the deep digital flexor tendon, right in the hoof capsule itself and caused by improper foot balance and really bad shoeing. She came with very bad feet in general with lots of abscess tracks and cracks. She was already lame when she arrived because I knew her as a yearling and I’m soft (I know ). But we’ve had two other very successful foot rehab horses so I wanted to take a punt.

 

[maya2008]

Barefoot is what I would do. The whole design is much more kind to a constantly changing horse than a treed saddle.

 

[Pinkvboots]

Barefoot is what I would do. The whole design is much more kind to a constantly changing horse than a treed saddle.

She is barefoot LG did a really informative thread on her barefoot journey when she first bought her.

 

[Pinkvboots]

How about water treadmill?? Not sure of the details of her injury but will help with core. Physio/Vet may contra-indicate.

Thats fine but some horses find the whole experience of travelling to a water treadmill really stressful, one of my Arab's found any kind of rehab travelling really hard and would drop weight so quickly so it's not always a good thing.

 

[Boulty]

I’d go with whichever option the horse seems most comfortable in / moves best in shimmed / padded to the best of your & the pro rider’s ability depending if it’s the treed or treeless option (can you send your saddler some photos until they’re able to attend to ask for suggestions re shimming until she’s muscled up with a view to getting them out when they’re able to attend?)

Can sympathise with needing to do the miles straight line exercise to improve the feet when horse not 100% on a circle & the complications of that if horse is only sensible ridden (I had the opposite problem in that mine was waaaaay more reliable inhand and would not hack alone but my number of willing & reliable babysitters was limited, I think 20 times in 20 mins was my record for hopping on & off!)

Would deffo consult with vet, physio & hoof care provider before trying water treadmill. It could help with core strength but if not moving correctly it could potentially make things worse with the foot. I’m about to take that gamble myself as the thuggish one doesn’t move straight in front for various reasons but I really really need to find a way to get some weight off him whilst he’s on restricted exercise & hopefully it’ll help core & fitness as well

 

[maya2008]

She is barefoot LG did a really informative thread on her barefoot journey when she first bought her.

I meant the saddle! She mentioned a barefoot saddle in the OP!

Although while I’m adding stuff - I have always had no issues just getting on and riding - in slowly increasing increments, straight lines etc first, starting on a nice firm, even surface so nothing gets tweaked!

 

[Pinkvboots]

I meant the saddle! She mentioned a barefoot saddle in the OP!

Although while I’m adding stuff - I have always had no issues just getting on and riding - in slowly increasing increments, straight lines etc first, starting on a nice firm, even surface so nothing gets tweaked!

Ok sorry I thought you meant hooves

 

[LadyGascoyne]

I’d go with whichever option the horse seems most comfortable in / moves best in shimmed / padded to the best of your & the pro rider’s ability depending if it’s the treed or treeless option (can you send your saddler some photos until they’re able to attend to ask for suggestions re shimming until she’s muscled up with a view to getting them out when they’re able to attend?)

Can sympathise with needing to do the miles straight line exercise to improve the feet when horse not 100% on a circle & the complications of that if horse is only sensible ridden (I had the opposite problem in that mine was waaaaay more reliable inhand and would not hack alone but my number of willing & reliable babysitters was limited, I think 20 times in 20 mins was my record for hopping on & off!)

Would deffo consult with vet, physio & hoof care provider before trying water treadmill. It could help with core strength but if not moving correctly it could potentially make things worse with the foot. I’m about to take that gamble myself as the thuggish one doesn’t move straight in front for various reasons but I really really need to find a way to get some weight off him whilst he’s on restricted exercise & hopefully it’ll help core & fitness as well

Photos are a great idea. I’ll send some to the fitter.

It’s always a juggle with horses, isn’t it! My vet did say that getting over this of part of bringing them back into work is generally a bit tricky, and I can expect some peaks and troughs in recovery. It may not be linear on a day to day basis but I need to look at the overall trajectory.

 

[tda]

Water treadmill is ok, but in this instance, hooves on the ground is what is clearly needed. LG is not setting off on a 6 mile ride, it's short walks, which is what the hooves need to start the whole horse repair.

 

[little_critter]

Personally id not get too hung up on saddle weight. A few kg either way is not going to make a material difference.
However fit will make a difference, so I’d go with whatever fits best and make use of shims if required.

 

[sbloom]

Don't worry about the weight of the saddle, choose the one that she is lightest in front in, and part of that is how/where it sits the rider. How the load is carried and how the load's body can work with the horse is way more important than a few lbs.

Just keep an open mind about the groundwork, I hear you, you've taken advice and are following it, but I see enough vet and physio led rehab plans that take no account of how the horse is "fixed" right now to carry a rider. It's all about generic strengthening and fittening rather than correcting the movement pattern that contributed to the problem. And this can be seen at all levels, right to the top of competitive sport.

 

[Goldenstar]

You just do have to let the mare tell you what suits her best in terms of saddles .
You simply can’t be in the ideal situation for everything all the time .
I would explore the treadmill the one near us takes horses for rehab, however I am unsure if this is the best rehab for this injury which is a tricky one.
My go to for rehab is leading from a horse. I do what I need to do to make it work muzzles , side reins squashed between two horses and I have always taught the horse about this before injury because it’s one of things I have in place just in case .
It’s not practical to do this on a pro yard because of the risk to the other horses .
You’re not in an easy place the horse is away from home but not with a rehab specialist that would really worry me .
Is she living in the field ?

 

[maya2008]

Photos are a great idea. I’ll send some to the fitter.

It’s always a juggle with horses, isn’t it! My vet did say that getting over this of part of bringing them back into work is generally a bit tricky, and I can expect some peaks and troughs in recovery. It may not be linear on a day to day basis but I need to look at the overall trajectory.

In my experience, sometimes you just need to get them mostly sound and happy to go forwards, then get on and follow the vet’s slow rehab programme. Leaving them be in some horses means they don’t heal quite right, or over estimate their stage of healing and continuously reinjure. Lunging and ground work in an arena = soft surface and corners. Ponying = an opportunity to leap around, but also to slow down and speed up randomly, to wander onto slippery parts of a path or up the bank. Getting on and riding can start at 5-10 minutes to build muscle, you don’t need a fully muscled horse to get on the first time.

And that said, I’d go for a bareback pad if she’s perfect or the Atlanta if not. Or a TCS if just walking for now (very lightweight even with pads). Any treed saddle you fit now won’t fit in 3-4 weeks.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

You just do have to let the mare tell you what suits her best in terms of saddles .
You simply can’t be in the ideal situation for everything all the time .
I would explore the treadmill the one near us takes horses for rehab, however I am unsure if this is the best rehab for this injury which is a tricky one.
My go to for rehab is leading from a horse. I do what I need to do to make it work muzzles , side reins squashed between two horses and I have always taught the horse about this before injury because it’s one of things I have in place just in case .
It’s not practical to do this on a pro yard because of the risk to the other horses .
You’re not in an easy place the horse is away from home but not with a rehab specialist that would really worry me .
Is she living in the field ?

She is 2 min down the road, so I’m with her daily. It’s purely using their facilities because we have farm hacking but no school and no nice flat area to get a good read on very intermittent lameness. She looks sound to the eye but every now and then, on a circle, she throws an off step and we kept guessing whether it was the ground or not.

She’s in at night, out during the day, at the moment.

She may pony in time but she’s never done it before - arrived with me, then went straight onto box rest. The best explanation of her in-hand, long-lining, lunging is that she bounces front legs. It’s like walking tigger. She’s not spooky or being difficult about anything, more like a race horse heading down to the gate, but I don’t want to start ponying from that point.

And of course, more exercise would be the answer but we can’t do that either.

 

[Goldenstar]

Rehab is simple when the patient behaves like horses in a book.
Sadly standing while your injured horse waves it legs above your head it’s an experience many of us have had .
I have rehabbed lots of horses it’s not fun sometimes it’s a miserable six months at first .
Do you think she will accept wearing a belly band something like an equi core that might help, she needs to be lifting her core engaging her thoracic sling this will help her protect her foot . She’s needs to be straight this injury often occurs because something is making the move not straight and they end up stressing the front foot they step out on to stabilise themselves while saving something else .
Was the injury in the inside or outside of the foot ?
I deal with rehabbing difficult horses by getting them out of the stable five to ten minutes on hour during the day that’s not possible in most situations but that what a rehab yard will do to settle them .
I can’t remember what stage this horse is at riding wise but generally you will find have it difficult to teach a horse much when very fresh that’s why I do all the things that’s rehab entails when I buy them even if they are quite far on in their work .
I would just get a saddle on her and walk ideally twice a day two sessions is better than one .
If you can do a session of ground work as well that would good .
Did you see the lameness in the school when the injured foot on the outside of the circle line ?

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Rehab is simple when the patient behaves like horses in a book.
Sadly standing while your injured horse waves it legs above your head it’s an experience many of us have had .
I have rehabbed lots of horses it’s not fun sometimes it’s a miserable six months at first .
Do you think she will accept wearing a belly band something like an equi core that might help, she needs to be lifting her core engaging her thoracic sling this will help her protect her foot . She’s needs to be straight this injury often occurs because something is making the move not straight and they end up stressing the front foot they step out on to stabilise themselves while saving something else .
Was the injury in the inside or outside of the foot ?
I deal with rehabbing difficult horses by getting them out of the stable five to ten minutes on hour during the day that’s not possible in most situations but that what a rehab yard will do to settle them .
I can’t remember what stage this horse is at riding wise but generally you will find have it difficult to teach a horse much when very fresh that’s why I do all the things that’s rehab entails when I buy them even if they are quite far on in their work .
I would just get a saddle on her and walk ideally twice a day two sessions is better than one .
If you can do a session of ground work as well that would good .
Did you see the lameness in the school when the injured foot on the outside of the circle line ?

She takes odd steps when the bad foot is on the outside, and the weight is coming down the inside of the leg, but not consistently. It usually looks better the more we do, so some odd steps to start and then towards the end of a session she’d be looking ‘sound’.

She also doesn’t head nod, she almost pulls up from the shoulder and gets an exaggerated step on the outside, on a bend and soft or hard doesn’t seem to make a difference. I’d say there is a pause, and almost ‘stop and think’ moment before she comes down on it and possibly once or twice a session (10 - 15 min).

It is easy to see in trot but currently trot is reserved to show a vet or physio. This week, she looked off a couple of times in the first circle, then we did the other rein and looked sound, then we went back to the problem rein and she looked sound. If you didn’t know the horse, and the history, you’d think I was imagining it and that I was having a munchausen’s by proxy issue. But I know it’s there.

My current schedule for her is to do in-hand three times a week, walking over poles and doing her physio stretches (she is very good for those). Then 10-15 min walks in-hand three times a week.

I think twice a day is a good idea, and so I might try to do evenings on the lead anyway. She’s not scary with her nonsense, she’s just clearly not getting the intended result for her foot. We stray into more harm than good territory. I’ve also enquired about overnight turnout.

 

[Alibear]

Perhaps start to do one of the in-hand sessions with a saddle on. To start her carrying the weight of it and see how that goes?

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Perhaps start to do one of the in-hand sessions with a saddle on. To start her carrying the weight of it and see how that goes?

That’s exactly what I did today

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Just to update this thread.

We’ve gone with her original saddle, and my fitter managed to come up and is happy with the fit. We’ve added a le mieux prosorb pad with the different sized shims so we can scale down shims as we start to see muscle development.

She’s doing 3 x a week walking under saddle and I’m doing in-hand 2 a week. She is actually so much better about the in-hand now that she’s also walking under saddle. She’s stopped bouncing her front legs and half rearing, and she’s done some work on the lead where she’s actually been quite long and low which is a breakthrough. We aren’t at long-reining safe level yet but I don’t think it’s far away.

It’s such a brain thing with this horse. Post-box rest, everything seems unbelievably explosive and exciting. But when she’s managed to click back into work-brain, she’s getting better and better every day.

She hasn’t taken an off step since we started so I’m very relieved. I’m trying not to get too excited as vet has said that these things aren’t linear and we will likely see two steps forward, one step back. So I am trying not to get ahead of myself.

Yesterday’s pic on top.

 

[Jeni the dragon]

What a great difference in her! She's a lovely looking mare!

 

[Pinkvboots]

She is looking much better

 

[LadyGascoyne]

Today pre and during her ridden session







Saddle is her original saddle with a sheepskin pad with shims.

She’s going very nicely and we’ve just started to incorporate poles into her ridden sessions too. Still in walk but looking so good!

 

[Pinkvboots]

Today pre and during her ridden session

View attachment 144723

View attachment 144724

View attachment 144725

Saddle is her original saddle with a sheepskin pad with shims.

She’s going very nicely and we’ve just started to incorporate poles into her ridden sessions too. Still in walk but looking so good!

She is looking so much better.

 

[LadyGascoyne]

She is looking so much better.

It’s been such an interesting one with her. Box rest, ok. Pen rest, Better. Field rest, fabulous. Start rehab walking, total world-ending drama. Start ridden work, back to business.

I guess this is what the vet meant when she said ‘don’t expect linear progress’.