I’m feeling lost

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EllieLouLou

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My boy had kissing spine surgery beginning of this year, we are rehabbing still & he is only at walk level under saddle as he has found coming back into work very difficult mentally & physically.
I’m seriously loosing the will to carry on now, I’ve put my heart, soul & all my energy into him but now I’ve burnt out. I don’t know what to do. I’m struggling to keep going & I’m struggling with money. I can’t sell him in his condition as I know he’ll get taken advantage of as he’s still being rehabbed, I can’t loan him out for the same reason but he also has quite a lot of behavioural issues (which have been hard to deal with) & I can’t risk him hurting himself or a person. I don’t know what to do anymore
 
EllieLouLou said:
My boy had kissing spine surgery beginning of this year, we are rehabbing still & he is only at walk level under saddle as he has found coming back into work very difficult mentally & physically.
I’m seriously loosing the will to carry on now, I’ve put my heart, soul & all my energy into him but now I’ve burnt out. I don’t know what to do. I’m struggling to keep going & I’m struggling with money. I can’t sell him in his condition as I know he’ll get taken advantage of as he’s still being rehabbed, I can’t loan him out for the same reason but he also has quite a lot of behavioural issues (which have been hard to deal with) & I can’t risk him hurting himself or a person. I don’t know what to do anymore
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I'm sorry to hear you are having issues.

Does your horse have other issues related to KS like possible PSD or SI or hock issues and have these potential sources of pain been ruled out by a vet? Sometimes when an area becomes free of pain a horse will carry itself differently and go on to create sore areas elsewhere in the body.

Has he been on a bute trial since bringing him back into work?

Does he see a physio, have they said if he's tight anywhere, just thinking maybe he's overcompensating somewhere. Maybe they could suggest some groundwork exercises to build his core and top line and to make him a stronger frame.

Have you had his saddle checked at all?

How is he reacting for you to think he is finding things difficult? He doesn't sound a happy boy which makes me think he's hurting still.
 
Hugs first of all!
You sound utterly drained and overwhelmed poor thing.
To start with give yourself a break!
Take at least a week off from struggling with it. His rehab will not fall apart from a week off and it will give you a bit of time and space if you're only doing the basics, feed water in/out etc. If you have a friend that can do you a favour and do him for you for a few days even better.

Trying to make plans or decisions when you're burnt out and overwhelmed is usually a recipie for more frustration. Give yourself a bit of space take the pressure off and reassess when you feel more able to approach it calmly and logically.
There's always a way forward its just hard to see when you're in the thick of it.
 
It typically takes 6 months to rehab from KS surgery normally. I work at a Newmarket yard that specialises in KS rehab so see cases at differing stages. If you're 4 months in then you should be 8 weeks from putting the saddle back on. I would go against anyone advising to turn away, this with undo any rehab work and you'll have to start again. A water treadmill is the best thing you can use, ideally three times a week, combined with walk poles. If you can't afford this then raised walk poles in hand in a straight line will do the same thing. Walk is far better than trot and you'll need to line up say 10 poles and walk over 100 times per day (obvs build up to this). It's extremely boring but it'll all be worth it when you're back on board. The behavioural issues usually go once they realise it doesn't hurt any more. I've rehabbed two of my own from it. Best of luck!
 
I think the reality is that rehabbing them is REALLY hard, physically emotionally and financially. I have rehabbed one horse (successfully) and it took about year longer than it was "supposed to" but it was OK and he is in full work and wonderful. Once he started playing in the field, he quickly learned it didn't hurt anymore and thigns got better. We used a lot of bute to push through the harder weeks because the alternative was PTS so I figured it didn't matter anyway. I decided that "next time" I will use a credit card or whatever it takes to send the horse to professional rehab with water treadmill, etc. I just don't think I could do it. It worked for me because I knew the horse REALLY well and he trusted me and I trusted him and we worked through it. But I can't imagine doing it again. I think I would cry until I died. It's really bloody difficult so please don't be hard on yourself. Is giving yourseklf a break an option? Any decent rehab yards nearby?
 
Neddie123 said:
It typically takes 6 months to rehab from KS surgery normally. I work at a Newmarket yard that specialises in KS rehab so see cases at differing stages. If you're 4 months in then you should be 8 weeks from putting the saddle back on. I would go against anyone advising to turn away, this with undo any rehab work and you'll have to start again. A water treadmill is the best thing you can use, ideally three times a week, combined with walk poles. If you can't afford this then raised walk poles in hand in a straight line will do the same thing. Walk is far better than trot and you'll need to line up say 10 poles and walk over 100 times per day (obvs build up to this). It's extremely boring but it'll all be worth it when you're back on board. The behavioural issues usually go once they realise it doesn't hurt any more. I've rehabbed two of my own from it. Best of luck!
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100 x 10 poles? As in 1,000 raised poles?

I do 5 raised walk poles, 5 times on each rein to strengthen a normal horse!

Am I being a bit conservative? I felt walking over total of 50 raised poles was a reasonable effort?
 
Fieldlife said:
100 x 10 poles? As in 1,000 raised poles?

I do 5 raised walk poles, 5 times on each rein to strengthen a normal horse!

Am I being a bit conservative? I felt walking over total of 50 raised poles was a reasonable effort?
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It is a lot of effort - I know horses who have ended up injured and very sore when their owners put 5 sleepers down for them to get to a water trough which they did about 8x a day as thought it would be good for them.
 
It is extremely draining and hard work doing any rehab but you are not far away from the end now.

Do you have a friend or someone that may be willing to help you out a bit?
 
Fieldlife said:
100 x 10 poles? As in 1,000 raised poles?

I do 5 raised walk poles, 5 times on each rein to strengthen a normal horse!

Am I being a bit conservative? I felt walking over total of 50 raised poles was a reasonable effort?
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You lose the postural benefits when they are tired so less is more. On one of my rehab Cpd courses the instructor said have 2 exercises laid out - one easy and sandwich the easy one between the harder one to give them a break.
 
It's really hard and I'm struggling too. Can you turn him out? Forget the rehabw, just turn him out, maybe stable at night and leave it like that til late April when things pick up and there's more light,start walking rehab then and see how you feel.
 
SEL said:
You lose the postural benefits when they are tired so less is more. On one of my rehab Cpd courses the instructor said have 2 exercises laid out - one easy and sandwich the easy one between the harder one to give them a break.
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LEC said:
It is a lot of effort - I know horses who have ended up injured and very sore when their owners put 5 sleepers down for them to get to a water trough which they did about 8x a day as thought it would be good for them.
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Yes, I have been told the same. I very much adhere to less is more with the roughly weekly raised poles work I do, and I have built it up from even less. It used to be obvious if I did too many as my horse would lose form / tire / knock them. But he has got pretty good over time.

But I do wonder about slowly increasing it further, maybe a repetition on each rein each week?

I was curious to pin down the number Neddie123 was really meaning to build up to. Even one repetition of 10 raised poles is a lot for a rehab horse.

I have seen various demos / videos of raised poles where horse is visibly tired and wobbly after a relatively small number of repetitions which stick in my mind. .
 
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