Experience and wisdom required to bring mare back into work!

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milly08

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Hi everyone,

I could really really use the advice of more experienced members please!!

I've had my beautiful mare for 17 months, she's been out of work for 13 of those :'(
She presented with intermittent lameness on the front left, that I was advised to work through, it got worse and we called the vet and she blocked to the left front hoof.

Long story short over the course of 6 months she has seen two excellent farriers, a physio, a chiropractor, a muscle specialist, and two incredible vets, one being an expert on lameness to some national teams. She has had so many different treatments, scans, x-rays etc and put up with every one of them! After all that no one could diagnose her lameness and so the choice was made to put her out for 8-12 months, without shoes, and see if she came right.

After six months she was up in the yard for a trim and I got the physio out again to make sure she was on the right track. Thankfully she is, and we gave her a gentle run around a lunge arena loose and she was completely sound. But being shy of the 8 months and not wanting to risk sending her backwards, she went back out.

I am preparing (I hope not jinxing us in the process!) a plan to bring her back into work.
I am planning to leave her barefoot, and am willing to do whatever it takes to bring her back into work slowly and carefully so she does not have a relapse.

At the moment I want to use mainly in hand walking and long reining in the beginning as she responds really well to this type of schooling. But really I'm a bit lost. I've read a lot about bringing a horse back into work but have never done it before. I will get help in if necessary but she is so precious to me that I would prefer to do the bulk of the work myself.

I would really appreciate any wisdom that comes my way! She is my world and I want this to be done right!

Thank you in advance!
Dee :)
 
Has she been turned in a field all this time? If yes that means she will have retained a bit of fitness.

What is she likely to be like ridden? Ideally you want to hack her, on a long and low online and straight lines to begin with but if she is likely to go bonkers you have to think of your own safety as well and may need to compromise by riding her in a school.

If she is chilled I would do two weeks in walk, starting with 30 minutes and gradually increasing to 1.5. hours, then start introducing a bit of trotting still on hacks, gradually increasing the trot work over two weeks. Then I would start some light schooling sessions, circles, canter work, etc along with the hacking and go from there. This assumes you will be riding her 4-5 times a week.
 
It sounds as if it may have been a foot balance issue where the damage was relatively minor, so difficult to pin point, by going barefoot she will hopefully have found her own balance and any damage has been able to settle and repair itself so keeping her barefoot is ideal as when you are building up the work she will be able to remain in balance and her feet will support her as they were designed to.

I would do as Booboos has suggested but far more slowly, do some in hand work for a week or two to condition her feet and give her a chance to settle into a routine, then if she is sensible get out hacking, in walk for at least 4 weeks, if you are riding about 5 days each week, before introducing trot, the longer you can take before moving on to the next stage the more conditioned and prepared she will be and there is less risk of injury, if she did no ridden work in an arena for 6 months it would do more good than harm as long as you can educate her out hacking, I think many horses suffer from minor injuries partly because they spend too much time in an arena on relatively soft going and not enough time walking in straight lines out on the roads to condition their tendons, ligaments and build up muscle tone.
 
Sounds like you are being really sensible and doing the best thing for your horse.

Essentially walking in straight lines on level footing is the best thing. Whether that is in hand or under saddle is down to personal preference.

I'd avoid the school and definitely no lunging (on the proviso horse isn't too psychotic). So hacking hacking hacking. Roads are good!

I'd do 10 mins for week one and build it up 10 mins a week for at least 6 weeks before introducing trot. By week 10 I'd be introducing canter and a bit of school work.

Good luck. Rehab work is mind numbing but essential
 
Agree with ihw :) I listen to the radio or podcasts on our boring repetitive hacks. Stops me getting too fed up.
 
I did 6 weeks of walking 5 days a week for 1 hour (you should build it up) wth this horse. This was to correct a hind end unsoundness and to take her barefoot.

I think the photos tell the story. She was turned out 24/7 as well but would eat nothing except grass.

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She's now sound, increasing work to poles, circles and having build up the trot work for the last month we have done some cantering and she has stayed sound. Her feet (self trimming like all my horses and what I think you should aim for) are approaching excellent too.
 
Oh my!! Thank you so much for all your replies!! This is fantastic!!

I'm a little worried about her feet on the roads, being new to barefoot and all? Will she be OK? Not tender?

She's not a nutter, but she is a very silly girl and likely to spook at something and then it's every mare for herself! I'm worried that she could give herself an injury in this case. I'll see if I can bribe a friend to accompany us for a week or two until she settles a bit. Will have to be a serious bribe!! Feel like I may be mucking out several stables for a few weeks!!

It's clear I'm going to have to do a lot of research into barefoot, but I'm lucky in that my farrier is very supportive of this and is nearly as committed to bringing her right as I am!! But all and any advice is greatly appreciated!

Thank you everyone!!
 
For be positive!

That's what everyone's best guess is!! But don't think we'll ever be sure! If I can keep her barefoot I will!! Just need to get on top of it myself! Thank you!!
 
Walking on Tarmac is the absolute best thing for feet. Let her guide you would be my advice.

I've taken about 9 horses barefoot now - that's from shod or BF but not in work, to hacking on all terrain, some doing 100kms a week. I've done some with boots and some without.

With your mare if she is sound on tarmac I would personally not use boots and I would work her to her tolerance on it, if that makes sense. Build up gradually, so she doesn't get sore, and aim to be doing enough so ultimately she keeps her own feet trimmed - you might want to gently rasp off any chips but I am talking mms no more.

Look on the Rockley farm blog if you haven't done so already.

Once she is doing well on tarmac you can build up to more challenging surfaces.

Make sure the diet is right and most of all don't panic. Horses have been walking on their own feet for hundreds of years after all ;)
 
lots of long walks , miles and miles of it. You can build muscle up in a matter of weeks. in fact you can build up sufficient muscular strength to wreck the tendons and ligaments,which take many months to strengthen.You need to pace your recovery by the slowest part of the team and not get led astray by the fact that your horse seems fit .
 
I have rehabbed 2 injured horses recently both did all their work barefoot and as suggested by ffionwinnie you need to go at a rate suited to their feet, I found that they were comfortable on tarmac from day 1, even the exracehorse who had started off with the most terrible feet, they were taken very slowly 6 days most weeks and their feet improved as they went along, they are both still barefoot, the tb is now competing and has super strong feet beyond all expectations.
My other one had a few issues which meant he struggled at times, I did not want to boot him so he did have fronts on for a while but has been bare for nearly 12 months now and is now totally comfortable on all surfaces.
 
milly08 said:
Any recommendations?? :-D
Click to expand...

I like comedy, I have to do my hacking in the dark in the morning so it cheers me up. Have a Google but these would get you started
http://www.comedy.co.uk/podcasts/

Agree with mike, the muscles build up quickly and it's tempting to push on too fast. You won't do any harm by being cautious and taking lots of time. Mine is also now barefoot, i use hoof boots as no nice tarmac. Good luck.
 
If she has been without shoes for several months she shouldn't get sore feet from the amount of work you wil need to start with. She may well have kept herself 'fit' living in the field but she hasn't had a saddle/rider on in all that time, so you need to build up those muscles gradually. I would do a couple of weeks, in-hand/long-reining on the road before sitting on her. If you have been off games for as long as your horse, you would benefit from building up your own riding muscles before expecting to be able to ride well enough to deal with any problems. Once you are back on board, I wouldn't do more than 10 mins for the first week or so and build up incrementally, erring on the side of caution, rather than risking doing too much. Which I am sure is what you intend to do.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
If she has been without shoes for several months she shouldn't get sore feet from the amount of work you wil need to start with. She may well have kept herself 'fit' living in the field but she hasn't had a saddle/rider on in all that time, so you need to build up those muscles gradually. I would do a couple of weeks, in-hand/long-reining on the road before sitting on her. If you have been off games for as long as your horse, you would benefit from building up your own riding muscles before expecting to be able to ride well enough to deal with any problems. Once you are back on board, I wouldn't do more than 10 mins for the first week or so and build up incrementally, erring on the side of caution, rather than risking doing too much. Which I am sure is what you intend to do.
Click to expand...

Super :) that's what my plans is, 1-2 weeks in hand then progressing onto long rein in roller for 2 weeks, then onto long rein with tack for about 2 weeks, building up the length of exercise as we go, Once she is working well there I was thinking of starting off with 10 mins out the road with me on her back, and getting off and doing a further bit, then build that up until we're doing an hour in walk, then building up little bits of trot etc.
I should be fine fitness wise as I am still riding, but you need your legs on her in a special sort of hellish manner so I'm sure those muscles will need a bit more conditioning!

Everything I will do with her will be cautiously done, if it takes months or years to have her happily working that is what it will take.

A friend asked me what type of bandaging I would be doing with her, and she was surprised when I said I wouldn't be doing any. Since our issue was localised to the hoof I didn't think bandages would be of any benefit to her, but I am interested to hear others opinion on the matter??
 
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