Season’s Bleatings
Well-Known Member
Rehab is a peculiar thing… you do it, and while there’s definitely a start… does it ever really end?
Thought I’d pop in a little update on my horse here - it almost scares me to do it, because I’m so afraid to tempt fate
but perhaps this might be useful to someone else in future.
Roll back to March 2022, my horse was a wee bit lame. We consulted with our vet chiro, thinking / hoping just a tweak, but with no improvement she referred us to our primary care vet.
Work-up ensued, initially thinking a strain to fetlock.
After several weeks of no improvement, referred for MRI which showed injury to
DDFT. We had 3 (or 4) options really
1. Surgery at UCD with PRP
2. Box rest & see what happens
3. Turn away and see
4. PTS
Advice was that surgery was our best option - with a 45% chance of return to previous activity - but with the caveat that the rehab would be emotionally & physically difficult, time consuming and ultimately quite expensive.
We were v fortunate to be able to do the surgery, in June 2022, and the initial rehab was hand walking plus 10 sessions of laser therapy.
We got back on board in January this year and did lots of walking on a hard surface. Come May, we were ready to start hacking but confidence-wise I just couldn’t do it, so off he went to a local pro for 6 weeks… truly transformative.
Hacked all summer and in October started doing some walking in the arena, after hacking. Built up to a wee bit of trotting in November. And this week, we have done tiny bits of canter.
Are we done? No, probably not. He’s a big horse and needs to build up. But he is feeling good and I am cautiously hopeful that there is life after serious injury. We won’t jump him again, but we will enjoy him and give him a lovely life.
Thought I’d pop in a little update on my horse here - it almost scares me to do it, because I’m so afraid to tempt fate
but perhaps this might be useful to someone else in future.Roll back to March 2022, my horse was a wee bit lame. We consulted with our vet chiro, thinking / hoping just a tweak, but with no improvement she referred us to our primary care vet.
Work-up ensued, initially thinking a strain to fetlock.
After several weeks of no improvement, referred for MRI which showed injury to
DDFT. We had 3 (or 4) options really
1. Surgery at UCD with PRP
2. Box rest & see what happens
3. Turn away and see
4. PTS
Advice was that surgery was our best option - with a 45% chance of return to previous activity - but with the caveat that the rehab would be emotionally & physically difficult, time consuming and ultimately quite expensive.
We were v fortunate to be able to do the surgery, in June 2022, and the initial rehab was hand walking plus 10 sessions of laser therapy.
We got back on board in January this year and did lots of walking on a hard surface. Come May, we were ready to start hacking but confidence-wise I just couldn’t do it, so off he went to a local pro for 6 weeks… truly transformative.
Hacked all summer and in October started doing some walking in the arena, after hacking. Built up to a wee bit of trotting in November. And this week, we have done tiny bits of canter.
Are we done? No, probably not. He’s a big horse and needs to build up. But he is feeling good and I am cautiously hopeful that there is life after serious injury. We won’t jump him again, but we will enjoy him and give him a lovely life.
