Lunging after injury... help!

[LouiseG]

Hey folks,

I have a dilemma I am looking for advice on!

My boy hasn’t been ridden in almost a month, he had 2 and a bit weeks box rest, then unfortunately he lost a shoe in the field the day after he got the all clear from the vet to bring him back into work… 8 days later (today!) the farrier is coming. He had an upper hind leg injury of unknown cause or origin so the plan to bring him back into work was lots of straight lines, hacks etc etc. As it has been so long since I’ve ridden him, and the last time he was injured I ended up coming off as it was all too exciting coming back into work and he bronked (he had just had his teeth done and was getting a balancer back then which didn’t help and probably the cause!), anyway, because of this I was going to pop him on the lunge tonight for 10 mins just to be on the safe side, I spoke to my vet and she said obviously my safety comes first but wasn’t overly keen on the idea I don’t think, so I’m just terrified I put him on the lunge and aggravate whatever was wrong with his leg, especially is he has a yeehaa around in an uncontrolled manner!

Can anyone offer advice? I want to do the best for him, but don’t want to end up in A&E (again like last time!)… thanks very much

 

[AmyMay]

My view is that if he's not sound enough to lunge for 5 minutes, then he's not sound enough to return to work. So if he's been given the all clear to be ridden - I can't see that 5 minutes would do any harm.

 

[PandorasJar]

If a vet has given an all clear back into work I wouldn't be too worried about a short session.

Any vet worth using would have mentioned anything to steer clear of. If it was an issue she should have stated why it was a real issue. If she just seemed 'not keen' on the idea I probably would have dug more to find out but wouldn't be overly concerned.

Pan

 

[LaurenBay]

My view is that if he's not sound enough to lunge for 5 minutes, then he's not sound enough to return to work. So if he's been given the all clear to be ridden - I can't see that 5 minutes would do any harm.

Not true in all cases AmyMay

Ruby is not sound in the school on circles, she struggles with the soft surface due to a weakened/locking stifle. She is far better on 1 rein then the other though. However she is fine in straight lines and is getting stronger each day. She happily hacks out on most surfaces though. I was advised not to lunge and hack instead, by both my vet and pysio.

Obviously its not the same for every Horse.

 

[LouiseG]

Thanks everyone! He looked completely sound on the lunge when the vet was last at the yard so that's not a concern, however if he did a session on the lunge it wouldn't be good for him as he is weak after box rest and the lameness initially was exacerbated on tight circles so I need to build him up on straight lines first.

But 5 minutes will be fine, much better to have a little explosion of energy on the end of a lunge line rather than me sitting on his back!