KS Rehab - Violent Head Tossing

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TattygareMare

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Hi all,

I previously posted about my mare who went in for the op a few weeks ago. All has gone to plan and we started her rehab programme a few days ago.

She is currently doing 10 mins walking twice daily, which I do at 7am and 5:30 pm in our indoor arena. She has been really well behaved apart from a violent head tossing/shaking which goes on for most of the 10 minutes. It stops when stood still.

I understand this could be excitement as she is very good in hand, however I'm not convinced it is down to this. If she wanted to have a hooly I think she would have done it by now and its more of a head shaking and stamp of the front foot as she is walking.

I also understand that she is probably still quite sore and stiff at the moment as she has been on box rest since op, so I am hoping this may get better over time, however I just wondered if anyone else had experience of this when bringing horses back into work after the traditional op?

Nothing else has changed regarding her diet and haylage etc. She is a fantastic weight now and is generally quite content on box rest. I gave her some sedaline the second day of in hand walking but this turned her into a complete muppet and she has been better without it. She is walked in her bridle with a headcollar over the top. The lunge line is clipped to her headcollar but has made no difference when fed through the bit rings under her chin.

(If this continues and/or worsens I obviously will contact my vet for advice, but want to give it 2 weeks at least to see if it improves)

Thanks in advance to anyone that may have experience to share or advice.
 
I think I'd ask the vet now - wondered if it could be discomfort somewhere - mine didn't do this but he was very tricky and spooky and I ended up not being able to walk him as he was plain dangerous. The way she moves will feel different, it might be as simple as the fact that she can use her muscles correctly now and even walking is like physio as they haven't been used for a long time, give her a chance but put your mind at rest and just have a phone call with the vet/surgeon, the head shaking is probably because she is sore and that is exactly why you have to carefully get her moving so quickly. If it helps, I ended up taking mine in to the school having barely walked him 6wks post op and he then proceeded to do handstands on the long lines and was an utter numpty. A few days later when he realised it didn't hurt anymore he settled down and started to work beautifully! Best of luck with the way forward.
 
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Mine was doing head bobbing like they do when lame in front . After nerve blocks etc we discovered he had navicular but he still has Bob not shake even when blocked in foot . My vet feels he is trying to get more comfortable but I'm unable to build top line on lunge due to navicular . As his back strengthened it did improve but obviously we have secondary problem . His op was 6 months ago and back is so much better . There are lots of nerves as well as ligaments that need to repair best to take it slowly and my preference would be long reining rather than lunging given the experience I have been through . Good luck
 
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