Ok advice needed... engergetic but recovering ned...

[showjump]

Ok some of you might recall that my horse had managed to rip a big hole in his check ligament around Dec time.

He was on box rest then walk on hacks, then abit of trot, now he is able to some canter work. All this was, and still is being done after he has had 1ml of sedaline gel. Last time i posted some people said i was mad to ride a sedated horse. I agree but it is the only way he is safe enough and vet has told me to give him it.

Anyway, i now feel that sedating needs to stop (its costing ££ and is not good anyway) So heres the dilema... Horse is sharp, very spooky dutch warmblood, he will piss off in the school if someone makes the slightest noise. He will piss off and buck if a car goes down the lane, if a bird flys past. I dont see how i can ride him with no sedation.

Vet has said it must be controlled work (made a point of saying whatever you do dont fall off!! so he doesnt gallop around and undo all the healing)

So i think lunging is out, turnout is banned, so what can i do? I dont mind that he bucks, or whatever im used to it and have good balance now, but he just has so much energy bottled up that the slightest thing and hes off!!

I know its not his fault, but i just dont want to be back to square one.

Ideas please guys...

 

[6103claire]

My horse ruptured her check ligament and had months of box rest and was going a bit crazy everytime i brought her out of the stable. In the end i made her a smal paddock in the corner of the field about 16 x 16 ft with electric fencing with tall posts and electrified it. She seemed to calm down alot just with being outside in the day and the paddock was too small for her to run in and posts tall so couldnt jump out. I also used loads of strands of tape so she couldnt try get under. It really worked for her and when i started to ride she wasnt half as bad as i expected.

The only thing was that towards the end she learnt to pluck the posts out with her teeth and step over the electric fence but by the time she had figured that out she was just about better anyway!

also it helped that there was plenty of grass as she was more interested in this the first few days after having hay for weeks. I moved it every couple of days to keep her interested.