Rehab after tendon injury - walking out vs riding?

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Just a quick question really. Vet said I'd be ok to start riding in a couple of weeks, should I just ride the same distance I'm at walking out or would he be ok to go a bit further?

Does it make much difference if I'm riding or not? It's not a bad injury, he's sound and behaves himself walking/riding.
 
When I was rehabbing my mare after her tendon injury I rode her the same route I had handwalked her. I did that as the route was familiar to her after her box rest and she wouldnt get too excitable at going somewhere new. I didnt ride her too far to begin with as her muscles to carry me and her saddle had wasted away a little though she didnt look bad. We built it up bit by bit, I didnt want to overdo it and put too much pressure on the healing tendon. Its tempting to when they feel so good. Over a year down the line shes doing well, we had our first gallop up a field last Tuesday and shes very fit. Lots of roadwork has been the key with her.
 
He will only have been off for 3/4 weeks when I start riding him.

I'm wondering if I should take him our shortest "round the block" route for a walk tomorrow but will probably take us an hour or so to wander round with his constant need for grass stops!! prob about 2 miles. then can ride him round there next week all being well??
 
My shortest round the block ride was 20 mins long handwalking and ridden. My mares DDFT tear was a bad one though so I would be guided by your vet. Best not to undo the good work you will have done so far. Tendons are funny things and take ages to heal.
 
With a tendon injury I would strongly recommend building the distance up gradually and walking for as long as possible ideally weeks before doing any more strenous work. Tendons take a really long time to heal and although quite often there will be no sign that there was an injury the microdamage can build up without you knowing. It takes a while for the new tissue to get the level of elasticity that the tendon previously had.

U probably do this already but make sure you feel everyday for any heat or swelling as if you are aggravating it at all this will be the first thing you notice. Even if heat and swelling goes down with hosing it is a tell tale sign that there is a problem and shouldnt be ignored.

Good luck
 
My boy had a really bad DDFT tear yrs ago and was on rest for months, he was doing himself more damage by weaving so I started hand walking him and used fencing to extend the front of his stable to give him more space. Under vet advice but before the vet would have let him if he wasn't weaving.

I long reined with tack on before riding and then was riding him for the length of time he was walking. I split the riding in half am and pm to build it up.

The last scan showed he had healed really well, best the vet had ever seen for that bad an injury apparently.

So on my experience I would suggest long reining with tack to build up back muscles first then split the riding into twice a day until you are back up to an hour or so before going back to your normal times.
 
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