Bringing back into work after boxrest

[atropa]

I'm currently bringing my mare back into work after 4 months off, most of which she has spent on boxrest.
I know there are general guidelines and probably threads on this already, but just wondering out of interest what everyone's regimes would be for this? I have sat an written out a plan for us and I can't help but feel demotivated at the weeks of walking that lie ahead, but I know that's the wrong attitude to have and I should be grateful and taking the opportunity to work on our walk work.
Hoping that reading about other people's plans will give me some ideas or motivation.

 

[Equi]

Think of it as starting a horse from scratch. Yep it may bore you, but you are not the important one here. You don't mention if you are able to ride again or if you have to start in hand?

If in hand, you will want to walk for a good week or so 10-15 mins building up to 30. Then move to riding 10-15 for a couple weeks, building up to 30. do the same introducing trot for 1-2 mins building to 10 per 30 then add poles or x poles etc, then starting to introduce canter etc.

 

[Sugar_and_Spice]

Coming back after a holiday I'd say 6-8wks riding 5 times/wk to get fully fit depending on what you want them fit for. After injury I like to double that just to play safe, but then I'm not one for scans or xrays to see what's happening internally, I'm just trotting up regularly and when it's sound the work starts again. I've seen a few people now get the ok from the vet, told to bring back to work as usual only for the horse to go lame again when they do, so I definitely think playing safe is the right way. I start with hacking, generally over all terrain, building upto schooling a little before starting to trot. This is generally due to facilities/time, in an ideal world if the horse is well behaved I think hacking on the flat is best for the first month or so with roadwork only for the first couple of weeks, to avoid straining anything, that might be me being over cautious though. I've never reinjured anything when bringing it back into work, even if it's been a bit full of itself and we've had to start in the arena from day one for safety.

A friend of mine uses daily lungeing and starts with literally a couple of circles in walk on each rein, building it from there upto about half hour in all paces and with side reins, starting ridden hacking in walk when they're upto about 20min lungeing in walk and trot.

 

[Dizzydancer]

I think It depends on why the horse has had box rest.
My mare has just been treated for psd and her rehab regime has been tailored for her with Physio, vet and myself discussing it.
She will hand walk for 3 weeks building from 10-30mins twice a day. will then hack her out for 30mins building to 60mins twice a day in walk only, assuming all ok at this point then she will then start trot which will be 5mins broken into 30secs interspersed in the walking. Then gradually increase prob won't be cantering until she is trotting 20mins at a time. This will all be done on hard ground initially then add in field ground if it's ok then eventually in the school. Realistically this is a 9month rehab program to be back in work

 

[atropa]

Equi I am WELL aware that I'm not the important one here, otherwise I wouldn't have spent the past 16 weeks having my life completely revolve around nursing my mare back to health. Sorry for the short reply but that part of your comment has really riled me. I know what I'm doing to bring her back into work, sorry if I wasn't clear in my OP but I'm more looking for what other people do as a topic of interest really. Thank you for your reply though, I appreciate you trying to help and I apologise as the strain of the boxrest on top of other things has made me quite snappy so please don't take it personally.

Unfortunately I'm limited at the minute to working in the school as she is really finding it hard to keep a lid on herself in hand or on the lunge, I'm hoping the ground dries a bit soon to get her out hacking as we have a clay field to navigate before we can do any road work, and she is currently wearing heartbar shoes (recovering mild laminitic). I'm not really worried about her going lame coming back into work, as the vet actually gave us the go- ahead to start ridden work again 8 weeks ago, for several reasons I have waited until now to start.

 

[Goldenstar]

The time passes quicker than you think .
I work horses returning from box rest every day and if I can I do them twice a day , this is good with horses who are being a bit silly .
You don't say if the horse is having turnout ATM if the horse is not I would attempt to work four times a day .
Pole work on the lunge in the school in walk at first is very valuable I do this by doing what I call walk lunging I have the horse a short distance from me and walk with it ( you get very fit ) this way the horse is moving round the whole area not just going in a circle .
I tend not to long rein fresh unsettled horses to much risk of a nasty muddle when I do I will always have a second person there.
When you get to ridden work it does depend why the horse has been off work if it a limb injury lots of walking building up time .
A horse returning from say KS surgery needs a different approach as its best to limit ridden walking at first and lead the horse from another .
I like to lead horses coming back to work from others I think it extremely good for their backs .
The time passes quickly once your into it .
I hope it all goes well .

 

[chestnut cob]

I think it depends on why she had to have box rest, as the routine may differ. What has your vet suggested?
I had to go through this and my vet and physio were very prescriptive about how the horse should be brought back into work. We had to start with 20-30 mins hacking in walk for 2 weeks, in an outline, even if it was a fight initially. I could then begin adding up to 5 mins of trot over a week (best done in short bursts rather a whole 5 mins in one go), again in an outline. Over a few weeks, the trot work was increased to be around 50% of the hack, and I had to increase length of the hack to an hour. Thankfully I did it through spring and summer so the light nights were on my side. We then increased to "proper schooling" on hacks, so 1.5 hours hacking with lots of W-T-W and W-H-W transitions, LY and SI where possible as horse was bent in all the wrong directions due to injury.

After about 2.5 months, horse was allowed to begin short bursts in the school, which I would do after he'd hacked for maybe 45 mins. I just did 5 or 10 mins, in walk, long and low, and gradually increased length of time and introduced trot. We started just going large, then introduced large (bigger than 20m if poss) trot circles. I also had to find a field to ride in so that I could begin to introduce canter at this time. Vet wanted horse to begin with cantering up hills, as slowly as possibly. Physio also wanted me to introduce canter circles of 80m (yes, 80!) diameter, with plenty of transitions up and down to get him working properly.

I found the hacking utterly mind-numbingly awful but once we started the canter and school work, it got better. However, at this time, horse started to feel very well and got very silly so I went through a phase of needing a calmer. I used a valerian based one which really helped. Around this point I was then able to start DR lessons again, which I just took really slowly. It was a long, hard slog but very much worth it. I do think you need input from your vet and/or physio though (which you may already have) as to what is the best way to do it. I wasn't allowed to lunge at all, or do any small circles, because of the nature of the injury whereas for some issues/ injuries, lungeing is recommended from day one.