Going forward after an injury... What to do for the best?

Nichola_BEquestrian

Nichola_BEquestrian

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I've been rehabbing my boy since last September. Unfortunately this has meant box rest since then. He had inflammation in his SDFT. The vet wanted to do annular ligament surgery in December, but I asked for a bit more time to rehab myself with hopes of avoiding surgery. This has worked, as at his last scan last week there is huge improvement. The vet says he is now 99% sound and there has been a remarkable improvement. My rehab, ten mins walking, ultrasound treatment, box rest and bonner bandaging obviously helped!

The vet has said I can now walk him out, 20 mins a day, building up to 25 mins next week, 30 mins the week after and so on....

We walked him out for the first time on a short hack (led from the ground) at weekend and I can't believe how good he was. This is my big chestnut WB! But he has been a star to lead out on short hacks. The vet said I can ride him, but I'm a little worried about jumping on a horse that has been box rested since September with zero turnout! I'm taking my chances on the ground for now.

This is such a long haul to get him right again and it's killing me that he is not living the life of a horse. The vet said very small paddock turnout would be fine (and I can try sedalin the first time he goes out), but my yard owners have still not sorted this out. I've been asking and asking. There is a small paddock but the fencing is down. They keep promising to get it sorted but nothing yet. I would probably feel more confident getting on board to hack if he had a least a couple of hours per day in there.

My biggest worry is long term.... I want him to enjoy his life, he is a horse at the end of the day! But my worry is how on earth do you ever get them back to being able to be turned out again? Obviously work wise, it will be a case of fittening him following my vet's strict plan and seeing if he stands up to the work or not (hacking and lower level dressage - I will just go with whatever he is comfortable with). But how on earth does he ever get back to being a horse? Surely if I turn him out eventually he will gallop around and re-injure himself? Part of me feels really selfish, that I'm rehabbing him with hopes of him coming sound for work again, maybe it would be best I retire him and let him live out, rather than rehab him for my own gain? As I'm sure he just wanted to be in the field with a couple of buddies.

Can anyone advise?

Sorry for rambling - hope that all makes sense!
 
Could you offer to fix the fencing yourself or to have it fixed? As for field exercise in the future, I would increase the size of his paddock gradually, with electric fencing. I would also ask about giving him one or 2 sensible companions as soon as the paddock is big enough, which I know isn't so easy when you are at livery.
 
I rehabbed a horse after 10 months on box rest. When the time came to get on him we gave him acp and sandwiched him between 2 quiet horses to hack out, he was fine and enjoyed being out. He was a 17.2 Selle Francais dressage horse with outstanding manners. He was actually better ridden than led out. His manners prevented him from naughty behaviour under saddle.

Turn out was a worry because he could jump a five bar gate from one step of trot. We used a tiny paddock and put electric on top of the post and rail to make it 6 foot high, we fenced a pony companion in the middle of the tiny paddock and then put the injured horse alongside. He could not have direct contact to his little friend as being an ex stallion he was a bit unpredictable with friends. He also had a little acp and was fine. He did suffer foot abscesses when he first went out.

You are not being selfish trying to rehab your horse in the hope he can return to work and you can enjoy him again. The rehab will or won't work for you and then you have a decision to make if it doesn't. My rehab failed and my horse retired in 2013, he lived a long and happy retirement and died a few months ago aged 31 years of age.

I hope you have success and can enjoy your lad again.
 
Nichola_BEquestrian said:
I've been rehabbing my boy since last September. Unfortunately this has meant box rest since then. He had inflammation in his SDFT. The vet wanted to do annular ligament surgery in December, but I asked for a bit more time to rehab myself with hopes of avoiding surgery. This has worked, as at his last scan last week there is huge improvement. The vet says he is now 99% sound and there has been a remarkable improvement. My rehab, ten mins walking, ultrasound treatment, box rest and bonner bandaging obviously helped!

The vet has said I can now walk him out, 20 mins a day, building up to 25 mins next week, 30 mins the week after and so on....

We walked him out for the first time on a short hack (led from the ground) at weekend and I can't believe how good he was. This is my big chestnut WB! But he has been a star to lead out on short hacks. The vet said I can ride him, but I'm a little worried about jumping on a horse that has been box rested since September with zero turnout! I'm taking my chances on the ground for now.

This is such a long haul to get him right again and it's killing me that he is not living the life of a horse. The vet said very small paddock turnout would be fine (and I can try sedalin the first time he goes out), but my yard owners have still not sorted this out. I've been asking and asking. There is a small paddock but the fencing is down. They keep promising to get it sorted but nothing yet. I would probably feel more confident getting on board to hack if he had a least a couple of hours per day in there.

My biggest worry is long term.... I want him to enjoy his life, he is a horse at the end of the day! But my worry is how on earth do you ever get them back to being able to be turned out again? Obviously work wise, it will be a case of fittening him following my vet's strict plan and seeing if he stands up to the work or not (hacking and lower level dressage - I will just go with whatever he is comfortable with). But how on earth does he ever get back to being a horse? Surely if I turn him out eventually he will gallop around and re-injure himself? Part of me feels really selfish, that I'm rehabbing him with hopes of him coming sound for work again, maybe it would be best I retire him and let him live out, rather than rehab him for my own gain? As I'm sure he just wanted to be in the field with a couple of buddies.

Can anyone advise?

Sorry for rambling - hope that all makes sense!
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I rehabbed my late mare from a bad ddft tear. She was sound at the end of it but I chose to retire her to avoid re-injury due to work (hill work was what seemed to cause the tear so hacking was out) I accepted that if she hurt herself in her very flat predictable field then that’s just life. While doing the inhand walking daily I also turned her out in a stable sized paddock & increased the size of the paddock very gradually. Eventually when we were all happy she was as sound as sound can be and the tear had healed she went back out in the field. In a section to begin with then she had the whole lot. After an initial wild 5 mins she was just happy to be out mooching about. Over time the tendon must have got stronger as she did still rasp around occasionally with her boyfriend with no ill effects. The gradually increasing paddock definitely helped take the “wahoo”s out of being turned out though so maybe get some electric fencing and set up what you want in the abandoned paddock if YO is being slow about sorting it?
 
i rehabbed both of mine after long stints of box rest - but they’re now back in full work, being normal horses!

i made the pens gradually bigger, and then put my brave pants on, got some sedalin in them, and wacked them out in the long rested grass! it was painful at first, and it’s inevitable they’d run round, but they survived! i did turnout much sooner than recommended too.

one was SDFT both hinds, one was medial meniscus tears in both stifles.
 
I rehabbed mine after a check ligament tear. He was dangerous to hand walk outside of the barn (would just turn into a kite) so I walked him up and down the lane of the indoor barn 4 times a week for about 3 weeks. We then had our 2nd scan (following 4 months box rest) and the vet was happy with how it had healed, so we could start 'proper rehab'. He just told me to saddle up and start walking out. I asked for a bit of sedalin and used 0.5ml for everyday for the first two rides and then only used it when I had to ride with other horses in the arena. In general, he was so much better under saddle. We had to build up to 40 minutes of walking and 10 minutes of trotting (5 weeks of being back under saddle), before we were allowed turnout, in order to get that ligament a bit more conditioned to the movement. I used sedalin for the first two times he went out in a stable size paddock. On the third day, he had a bit of a buck around but settled within 5 minutes. He upgraded to a bigger paddock about 2 weeks after that and 2 weeks after that he has now upgraded to his main field, which is 40+ acres of hilly herd turnout. In the mean time, he started canter work during week 6 of rehab, and is currently building up and additional 3 minutes a week roughly..

Once your injury has healed and you've done all the rehab/conditioning, your horse's body will be more likely to cope with them being silly in the field. One major thing I'm more anal about now than ever, is being incredibly particular with leg care. I use ice boots or cold hose after most rides, especially ones where we've had challenging ground or he's worked particularly harder in the school.
 
Pearlsasinger said:
Could you offer to fix the fencing yourself or to have it fixed? As for field exercise in the future, I would increase the size of his paddock gradually, with electric fencing. I would also ask about giving him one or 2 sensible companions as soon as the paddock is big enough, which I know isn't so easy when you are at livery.
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Thank you, we have offered to fix the fence but heard nothing back as of yet. I think they expect us to buy all of the post and rail fencing, which I wouldn't mind for my own yard, but it is a lot of money to spend on someone else's yard. I have some electric fencing so if they do get the paddock sorted, I can divide it up and increase gradually :)
 
AdorableAlice said:
I rehabbed a horse after 10 months on box rest. When the time came to get on him we gave him acp and sandwiched him between 2 quiet horses to hack out, he was fine and enjoyed being out. He was a 17.2 Selle Francais dressage horse with outstanding manners. He was actually better ridden than led out. His manners prevented him from naughty behaviour under saddle.

Turn out was a worry because he could jump a five bar gate from one step of trot. We used a tiny paddock and put electric on top of the post and rail to make it 6 foot high, we fenced a pony companion in the middle of the tiny paddock and then put the injured horse alongside. He could not have direct contact to his little friend as being an ex stallion he was a bit unpredictable with friends. He also had a little acp and was fine. He did suffer foot abscesses when he first went out.

You are not being selfish trying to rehab your horse in the hope he can return to work and you can enjoy him again. The rehab will or won't work for you and then you have a decision to make if it doesn't. My rehab failed and my horse retired in 2013, he lived a long and happy retirement and died a few months ago aged 31 years of age.

I hope you have success and can enjoy your lad again.
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Thank you
Mine has excellent manners to be fair, it's his spookiness that lets him down sometimes. I'm just so cautious of getting on after he's been box rested for 6 months. I'll continue in hand and see how he goes, he's behaving so far!

I do hope I can get something sorted for turn out. I might feel better about getting on then!

I suppose all I can do is continue to rehab and he will either stay sound or not, he has a home for life with me either way :) I just want him to be happy
 
Boughtabay said:
I rehabbed my late mare from a bad ddft tear. She was sound at the end of it but I chose to retire her to avoid re-injury due to work (hill work was what seemed to cause the tear so hacking was out) I accepted that if she hurt herself in her very flat predictable field then that’s just life. While doing the inhand walking daily I also turned her out in a stable sized paddock & increased the size of the paddock very gradually. Eventually when we were all happy she was as sound as sound can be and the tear had healed she went back out in the field. In a section to begin with then she had the whole lot. After an initial wild 5 mins she was just happy to be out mooching about. Over time the tendon must have got stronger as she did still rasp around occasionally with her boyfriend with no ill effects. The gradually increasing paddock definitely helped take the “wahoo”s out of being turned out though so maybe get some electric fencing and set up what you want in the abandoned paddock if YO is being slow about sorting it?
Click to expand...
Thank you for your reply

I have considered retiring him, but thought I would give it one last shot with the rehab. If I did retire him I'd still need to have the right set up for him. I just want him to be happy :)
I have electric fencing, but I would prefer to use it inside a fenced field with a gate, it is literally just open land on to the yard at the moment
 
dottylottie said:
i rehabbed both of mine after long stints of box rest - but they’re now back in full work, being normal horses!

i made the pens gradually bigger, and then put my brave pants on, got some sedalin in them, and wacked them out in the long rested grass! it was painful at first, and it’s inevitable they’d run round, but they survived! i did turnout much sooner than recommended too.

one was SDFT both hinds, one was medial meniscus tears in both stifles.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your reply. So pleased to hear yours are doing well :)
Mine has SDFT inflammation, but not a tear, in his left fore
 
Albus15 said:
I rehabbed mine after a check ligament tear. He was dangerous to hand walk outside of the barn (would just turn into a kite) so I walked him up and down the lane of the indoor barn 4 times a week for about 3 weeks. We then had our 2nd scan (following 4 months box rest) and the vet was happy with how it had healed, so we could start 'proper rehab'. He just told me to saddle up and start walking out. I asked for a bit of sedalin and used 0.5ml for everyday for the first two rides and then only used it when I had to ride with other horses in the arena. In general, he was so much better under saddle. We had to build up to 40 minutes of walking and 10 minutes of trotting (5 weeks of being back under saddle), before we were allowed turnout, in order to get that ligament a bit more conditioned to the movement. I used sedalin for the first two times he went out in a stable size paddock. On the third day, he had a bit of a buck around but settled within 5 minutes. He upgraded to a bigger paddock about 2 weeks after that and 2 weeks after that he has now upgraded to his main field, which is 40+ acres of hilly herd turnout. In the mean time, he started canter work during week 6 of rehab, and is currently building up and additional 3 minutes a week roughly..

Once your injury has healed and you've done all the rehab/conditioning, your horse's body will be more likely to cope with them being silly in the field. One major thing I'm more anal about now than ever, is being incredibly particular with leg care. I use ice boots or cold hose after most rides, especially ones where we've had challenging ground or he's worked particularly harder in the school.
Click to expand...
Thank you for your reply, so pleased to hear your boy is doing well!

I agree re leg care. I have a bonner bandage that I use after he has been walked out, and if not that he gets cold hosed. I'm going to have a look at some ice boots too
 
Nichola_BEquestrian said:
Thank you for your reply

I have considered retiring him, but thought I would give it one last shot with the rehab. If I did retire him I'd still need to have the right set up for him. I just want him to be happy :)
I have electric fencing, but I would prefer to use it inside a fenced field with a gate, it is literally just open land on to the yard at the moment
Click to expand...

Fair enough - if it helps to know, I think my girl probably would’ve managed some low level stuff after her recovery. she never had a lameness issue again after her rehab even in wet muddy conditions that I thought might cause a pull. we live in wales though and her heart was in hacking the hills so there wasn’t much point getting back on board. that makes sense, I hope your YO can help you get something set up asap and he can make the most of the spring sun soon!
 
Mine was a bit of a handful in hand as I am short and he was excited . As soon as the vet said i should ride , and gave me acp I used a small amount for the first few rides and had someone walk out with me.
 
I've turned out following boxrest and in a postage stamped paddock with sedalin on vets recommendation starting 10m x 10m and gradually increasing in size over around 10 days with sedalin dose decreasing daily.

Vet said the postage stamped paddock 10m x 10m to start and it must stop horse gathering speed so when the paddock long enough for a canter I built a chicane of electric fencing to prevent this.
 

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Birker2020 said:
I've turned out following boxrest and in a postage stamped paddock with sedalin on vets recommendation starting 10m x 10m and gradually increasing in size over around 10 days with sedalin dose decreasing daily.

Vet said the postage stamped paddock 10m x 10m to start and it must stop horse gathering speed so when the paddock long enough for a canter I built a chicane of electric fencing to prevent this.
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This is a great idea, thank you so much for sharing!
 
A big tip for first time turnout (whether actual first day or else when making a change like larger paddock, adding a friend etc), is to have them hungry before they go out. I've always held back the hay/feed for two hours (never as much as four because then their tummy is totally empty and at risk for ulcers) and given a bit of sedalin, and thats enough to encourage them to want to put their head down and eat more than hoon about like a crazy. Definitely helps avoid injuries.
 
Thanks everyone! I feel like I have a better plan now

Another quick question, can I split his walking time or does it need to be in one go?

For example, on a weekend I can take him on a 40 minute walk. But on week days, around work it may be easier to do 20 mins in a morning and 20 mins at night. Or is that not going to work? Should he do all of his walk in one go?
 
Nichola_BEquestrian said:
Thanks everyone! I feel like I have a better plan now

Another quick question, can I split his walking time or does it need to be in one go?

For example, on a weekend I can take him on a 40 minute walk. But on week days, around work it may be easier to do 20 mins in a morning and 20 mins at night. Or is that not going to work? Should he do all of his walk in one go?
Click to expand...

Obviously a slightly different injury with mine but vet prescribed walking 2x a day for rehab starting from 5 mins up 30 then I could’ve got back on for walks or done 1 hr a day+ in one go if I remember correctly. But it was winter and I wasnt going back to riding with her so I didn’t really want to be walking her for an hour at a time PLUS doing all the chores 2x a day so OH would walk her 1/2 at a time while I mucked out & we just stuck to that plus the extending size of paddock until she was phased over to being back out completely. No issues at all! Hope that makes sense 🙈
 
Boughtabay said:
Obviously a slightly different injury with mine but vet prescribed walking 2x a day for rehab starting from 5 mins up 30 then I could’ve got back on for walks or done 1 hr a day+ in one go if I remember correctly. But it was winter and I wasnt going back to riding with her so I didn’t really want to be walking her for an hour at a time PLUS doing all the chores 2x a day so OH would walk her 1/2 at a time while I mucked out & we just stuck to that plus the extending size of paddock until she was phased over to being back out completely. No issues at all! Hope that makes sense 🙈
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Thank you :)
 
Sorry no advice but just wanted to send a big hug of solidarity. Long story short, Wiggy damaged his medial collateral ligament in June last year. He did 6 months box rest and came sound after 4 of those but a week before he was due to go out into a small paddock he went lame again. We did another 6 weeks of box rest and he was getting so depressed (his behaviour throughout was impeccable but towards the end he would just stand at the back of his stable totally shut down and wouldn't even look up when I arrived, let alone come to see me) that I decided to put him out. That was in mid January. He's been so much happier and this week he trotted up sound. He's got another 4 weeks in the field before we start to do some in hand walking (again, he did it the whole time he was on box rest and had worked up to 40 mins before going lame again) and hopefully i'll be back on board by the anniversary of his injury.
 
I would get to riding through leading from another horse or I would just get on and go with a good sensible horse as companion .
Transition to Turnout is tough but in order to get to having a horses life it has to be gone through through I have done it without a small paddock by hand grazing for hours then just slipping the line off and staying with the horse .
It did work but it took up hours each day.
 
Thank you all!

We were very excited to get some turnout (small paddock) this weekend as the owners of our yard have fenced a tiny paddock. But I got the news today that it's going to be months yet as they want to seed it all. Absolutely gutted to say the least!!!! I finally had a plan to get small paddock turnout and get back on my boy.

They want to seed a recovery paddock (will not be useful for any future Lami cases...) but anyway...

I said I wasn't bothered about grass, that leg stretches and hay would do nicely, but they are going ahead seeding.

I'm starting to lose hope. If I can't find somewhere for my boy and I locally (Whitefield, Greater Manchester), I'm afraid I'll have no other option that to put him on retirement somewhere.....

I've done 6 months of hard winter box rest and hand walking, and now I'm losing hope.
 
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