Exercise regime for old tendon injury

[lucy1984]

My horse had a suspensory ligament injury and after 11 months at rest (3 months stabled and 8 months at grass) I am now looking to bring him back into work (hacking only).

Can anyone tell me what I should be doing with him to stretch it? I feel more in control riding him than hand walking. How long should I ride him for (at walk) ? and how many days should I do this for? etc

Any suggestions will be appreciated as dont want to over do it and have to start from scratch with him again. Thank you.

 

[RachelB]

1) If I were you I'd be ringing my vet for advice. Next year hopefully I will be in a similar position with my mare who has a tendon injury, and I shall be calling my vet to advise me on what to do with her.
2) If he's sound and less likely to prat around with you on board, get on and walk out for 5-10 minutes. I was advised with my horse to do 10 minutes in hand one per day for a week, then 10 minutes twice per day for the remainder of the first two months, building up to 20 minutes twice per day in hand. Then I would have been allowed to get on board and start again at 10 minutes twice per day, building up to 20 minutes twice per day by the end of a month. I don't know what the plan would have been after that, but that is a very conservative regime as my mare has had a bad tendon injury and other problems as well.
I think option 1 is the best though. Good luck

 

[cellie]

I have had tendon ligament and surgery for hock spavins.Each time we have had the all clear for starting work its always been between 2 to 4 weeks walking building up from 20 mins to 1 hour.The following month add 5 mins trot building up to 30 to 40 mins after a month then begin canter work.Bear in mind this is after I have had scans done and he has healed .I agree with silmarillion about ringing my vet I have never done anything without his go ahead .

 

[Dolphin]

Hi Lucyfer,

Totally agree that you should be asking your vet this question, but having been there myself this should give you an idea. I also progressed straight to ridden work rather than in hand and I rode my mare 4 times per week. I started riding at walk for literally just 5 minutes, and then increased this by 5 minutes each week until we got up to 1 hour and 10/15 minutes (which took 14 weeks!)

I then introduced a tiny amount of trot work and gradually built this up so I was riding for an hour at time but very slowly doing more and more trot work within that hour. To be honest I went even slower than my vet advised me, for instance I did not start any school work for about 8 months and I did not jump her again until I had been riding her for 15 months!

Having said that it did work and she came back sound into full work, although I was always a bit paranoid about jumping her and never really felt comfortable doing so. Unfortunately, following a kick in the field, my mare did exactly the same injury again and has currently been off work for 6 months, with at least another 3 to go, so I've got to do it all over again!

This time however I will only be aiming to be able to lightly hack her - I know the chances are high that she will do it yet again having already done it twice.

 

[lucy1984]

Thanks for your replies. I will give the vet a ring tomorrow.