Bringing back to work after ligament damage

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MissMay

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So background first 16.2 16year old anglo mare used for a bit of everything mainly hacking and cross country.

So 18 months ago came in with lame after trying several things (prone to abscess) was sent to one of the top lameness vets for a full workup. Result was pretty large hole torn in the suspensory branch and a fractured bone with bone chip.
So complete overhaul horse was moved to specialist yard on box rest with completely controlled exercise plan carried out to the letter this was also specialist shoeing
After 12 weeks back again for scans and given the go ahead for turnout and trot work

Mare moved to field living again as she ha always lived like this and was going great. However 4months later came in lame presented with all the Same symptoms however after having the vet out it was decided not to go down the scanning and livery again as first of all financially not feasible and secondly I refuse to have her on box rest in the summer.
So an agreement with the vet was to give her 6 months in the field which I have stretched to a year and farrier is out to trim every 5 weeks. She lives with an old broodmare so it's been very calm with minimum galloping.

So now watching her in the field and daily paranoid leg checks I'm ready to bring her back my question is how to go about has anyone rehabbed this injury from the field.

Obviously before riding the vet will see her and give the go ahead.

I was thinking along the lines of :
(Assuming from the field , ridden 5\6 days a week, roadwork or tarmac lane's only)
Week 1 : build up to 15 mins walk
Week 2: build up to 30
Week 3: build to 35 add very gentle hlls
Week 4: up to 45 Inc hill work
Week 5 : one hour
Week 6: one hour and 10
Week 7 : one hour and 20
Week 8: an hour and a half

Week 9 drop back to an hour but introduce 2x 30 second trot increasing to 3 by end of week
Week 10 one hour with 4 trots increasing to 6 by end of week

And so on until I'm trotting for one minute on two off then start introducing different terain.

Am I anywhere near the right plan??
At what months do you add-in gentle canter and schooling??

Any lastly has anyone ever jumped or got to properly work there horse agin after this injury
 
Your plan looks good but I think I would probably move on a little more, by the end of week 1 be up to 30 mins, week 2 35-45, so by week 5/ 6 you are doing 1-1/2 hours, you do not have to increase or do exactly the same time every day but I think you should be able to push on without too much risk as she has been turned out and moving for some time so should be relatively fit compared with a horse that has been on box rest.
I would still do 8 weeks walking only but do the odd longer ride before introducing trotting and have also been doing some rides on varying terrain by then, trotting needs to be increasing to be long and steady if possible on good grass, I would do at least 4 weeks trotting before either schooling in anything other than walk or introducing canter.

I followed a similar plan, 8 weeks walking, with a racehorse who had done a tendon, so different injury but same risk, he had been turned away for 6 months, he started cantering after 12 weeks in work, went back to racing and retired sound, he is here being retrained now and his leg looks great, he did all his rehab with no shoes on which I think really helped reduce the concussion and his feet are now excellent, the time walking is never wasted although it can be very boring at times, good luck with your mare.
 
I bought a racer at the end of one year off for pulling a hind suspensory branch off the sesamoid bone and he went cross country with no issues.

I had a mare do a front inside branch who had six months in the field and she went show jumping with no problems.

What would worry me is that yours has done hers twice. I hope things go well for you both.
 
MissMay said:
So background first 16.2 16year old anglo mare used for a bit of everything mainly hacking and cross country.

So 18 months ago came in with lame after trying several things (prone to abscess) was sent to one of the top lameness vets for a full workup. Result was pretty large hole torn in the suspensory branch and a fractured bone with bone chip.
So complete overhaul horse was moved to specialist yard on box rest with completely controlled exercise plan carried out to the letter this was also specialist shoeing
After 12 weeks back again for scans and given the go ahead for turnout and trot work

Mare moved to field living again as she ha always lived like this and was going great. However 4months later came in lame presented with all the Same symptoms however after having the vet out it was decided not to go down the scanning and livery again as first of all financially not feasible and secondly I refuse to have her on box rest in the summer.
So an agreement with the vet was to give her 6 months in the field which I have stretched to a year and farrier is out to trim every 5 weeks. She lives with an old broodmare so it's been very calm with minimum galloping.

So now watching her in the field and daily paranoid leg checks I'm ready to bring her back my question is how to go about has anyone rehabbed this injury from the field.

Obviously before riding the vet will see her and give the go ahead.

I was thinking along the lines of :
(Assuming from the field , ridden 5\6 days a week, roadwork or tarmac lane's only)
Week 1 : build up to 15 mins walk
Week 2: build up to 30
Week 3: build to 35 add very gentle hlls
Week 4: up to 45 Inc hill work
Week 5 : one hour
Week 6: one hour and 10
Week 7 : one hour and 20
Week 8: an hour and a half

Week 9 drop back to an hour but introduce 2x 30 second trot increasing to 3 by end of week
Week 10 one hour with 4 trots increasing to 6 by end of week

And so on until I'm trotting for one minute on two off then start introducing different terain.

Am I anywhere near the right plan??
At what months do you add-in gentle canter and schooling??

Any lastly has anyone ever jumped or got to properly work there horse agin after this injury
Click to expand...

My horse has had what was described by the vet each time as a slight suspensory branch sprain on three of his four legs over the years I have owned him. The first two he went back to jump again, although there is a 40% chance of recourrence this never happened, I am waiting to see if he can go back to doing dressage again and the odd jumping competition or fun ride.

Most horses have to be on box rest (I think the vet said for five weeks) but my horse has other issues which means he needs turn out every day. I started with a month of walking (which I actually gave him five and a half weeks) and then a month of trotting (I actually gave him five weeks) and then the vet came out about another issue and I asked him to reassess his leg and he said antoher six weeks of trot, we are on week three this week. The initial walking was in the menage (due to dark nights after work) and I built him up to half an hour walking in straight lines (no collection, leg yielding or circles). At the weekends I walked him for upwards of half an hour to an hour being careful to collect him going down hills.

The vet checked my video I took of him and said I was able to start trot work straight lines only, so I did short bursts of trot uphill on the road (literally ten strides max) and one side of the school on each rein everytime I went in, building to two the following session and increasing each session thereafter. After about six weeks into trot work introduced short sides of the arena to change the rein across the diagonal. I put his ice vibe boots on prior to schooling to warm up his ligament and make it looser and then put the boots on after exercise with the ice pack.

Now I hack out for an hour and a half and we are in week 12 of the injury. I do about five sessions of trot in each hack for about twenty strides and this is mainly uphill. I ride for about 25 mins in the school (until recently the horse has been a nightmare to ride hence why I only ride for a short time in the school as I am terrified!) and have started using trot poles (on vets advice) for the first time last week. The vet came out about three weeks ago and was delighted with his progress, said we are miles ahead of other horses with the same injury, and they have had considerable box rest first. He agreed with the fact that the initial icing of the injury really helps in the first instance and the amount of time you invest in this, will pay dividends in the future. He said I could start doing trot poles and will reassess after antoher six weeks.

Week 16 I can start canter work with my horse - that's four months after injury, and thats after I have filmed the horse being ridden at least three circles on each rein in trot and the vet saying that he is okay to move up a gear. This is for a very slight sprain of the suspensory branch - for your horses injury I would say you are at least doubling that time. Even though your horse had all this time off in the field its ligament needs to be subjected to various stresses with a rider on board. :atest research states that the more different surfaces you subject the injury to the better the healing. You have to increase everything very gradually.

Your vet is the one that knows the horse best and I would go with what they say, not the opinions of people who don't know your horse, or his history. I would invest in a pair of IceVibe boots, they are your best friend when rehabbing an injured horse.
 
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I would get the leg scanned now - at least then you will know what you are dealing with. Is the new injury a repeat of the old one? Is it somewhere else in the ligament and if so, where? Are there any adhesions present? Scanning will provide you with answers to the above and will help you determine the best way forwards.

For a horse that has had two injuries in 18 months and been off totally for over 12 of those I would start by long-reining rather than putting directly under saddle. Your vet is best placed to advise.
 
applecart14 said:
My horse has had what was described by the vet each time as a slight suspensory branch sprain on three of his four legs over the years I have owned him. The first two he went back to jump again, although there is a 40% chance of recourrence this never happened, I am waiting to see if he can go back to doing dressage again and the odd jumping competition or fun ride.

Most horses have to be on box rest (I think the vet said for five weeks) but my horse has other issues which means he needs turn out every day. I started with a month of walking (which I actually gave him five and a half weeks) and then a month of trotting (I actually gave him five weeks) and then the vet came out about another issue and I asked him to reassess his leg and he said antoher six weeks of trot, we are on week three this week. The initial walking was in the menage (due to dark nights after work) and I built him up to half an hour walking in straight lines (no collection, leg yielding or circles). At the weekends I walked him for upwards of half an hour to an hour being careful to collect him going down hills.

The vet checked my video I took of him and said I was able to start trot work straight lines only, so I did short bursts of trot uphill on the road (literally ten strides max) and one side of the school on each rein everytime I went in, building to two the following session and increasing each session thereafter. After about six weeks into trot work introduced short sides of the arena to change the rein across the diagonal. I put his ice vibe boots on prior to schooling to warm up his ligament and make it looser and then put the boots on after exercise with the ice pack.

Now I hack out for an hour and a half and we are in week 12 of the injury. I do about five sessions of trot in each hack for about twenty strides and this is mainly uphill. I ride for about 25 mins in the school (until recently the horse has been a nightmare to ride hence why I only ride for a short time in the school as I am terrified!) and have started using trot poles (on vets advice) for the first time last week. The vet came out about three weeks ago and was delighted with his progress, said we are miles ahead of other horses with the same injury, and they have had considerable box rest first. He agreed with the fact that the initial icing of the injury really helps in the first instance and the amount of time you invest in this, will pay dividends in the future. He said I could start doing trot poles and will reassess after antoher six weeks.

Week 16 I can start canter work with my horse - that's four months after injury, and thats after I have filmed the horse being ridden at least three circles on each rein in trot and the vet saying that he is okay to move up a gear. This is for a very slight sprain of the suspensory branch - for your horses injury I would say you are at least doubling that time. Even though your horse had all this time off in the field its ligament needs to be subjected to various stresses with a rider on board. :atest research states that the more different surfaces you subject the injury to the better the healing. You have to increase everything very gradually.

Your vet is the one that knows the horse best and I would go with what they say, not the opinions of people who don't know your horse, or his history. I would invest in a pair of IceVibe boots, they are your best friend when rehabbing an injured horse.
Click to expand...


Suspensory problems in three legs out of four? Have you checked out DSLD Applecart?
 
ycbm said:
Suspensory problems in three legs out of four? Have you checked out DSLD Applecart?
Click to expand...

He doesn't have that I have already asked. He has just been incredibly unlucky, its a very common injury in SJ and it can be caused by lots of different things, shoeing, conformation, surfaces, etc etc. The last one was due to galloping on the lunge out of control on half a twisted shoe, the one before that was problematic because he got stuck in a wheelbarrow whilst I was at work and inflammed a leg that had healed really well. Just horses for you.
 
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