Rehab for PSD,Navicular,Nappy Pony. Advice Please?

[Kadastorm]

Hi All,

Back in June, my pony was diagnosed with bilateral hind PSD and bilateral navicular in the fore. He was on box rest for 8 weeks and then returned to the vets for a scan which the vets were really pleased with. He was sound when trotted up and on the lunge on the soft, however was still slightly lame in front on the lunge on the hard surface. Even so I was given the go ahead to ride in walk for 10minutes, building it up by 5minutes every couple of weeks.

Now, from reading up about it, most people hack out as surfaces are not ideal for PSD horses but this was not raised by my vet. The problem I have is that just before pony went lame, he started napping and dumped me on the road.

So due to moving yards and going back to uni I have been riding him in walk in the school in straight lines but my friend comes at weekends and hacks him while I go on foot. He is now ridden for 40minutes in walk and so it is rather boring in the school. He has been fine hacking whilst I have been on foot so yesterday I gave it a go by myself. Within 5 minutes he tried to nap, stopping, trying to spin, going side ways, backwards etc. Eventually he went forward. We got a fair way and I merrily chatted to him when he really decided he was going home and took a disliking to me saying no. Rearing, Spinning, Broncing - he wouldn't listen to my hand or leg or the whip, I tried nicely nicely and being tough and eventually I came off. Luckily I was in a field and not on the road this time.

I walked a way with him before remounting, he pranced about and ended up on his knees due to not concentrating but eventually we made it back in one piece.

Now...the above cant be great for his legs and is certainly not safe for me. I will keep taking him out with someone either riding or on foot but that can only happen at weekends as im pretty much the only one on the yard in the week during the day. So I have to stick to the school during the week where he is now starting to get restless as I think he just wants to get on with things. he has jogged a few times but eventually settled. I try to encorporate some bending and getting him to soften and round and keep changing the rein to keep him interested but its not easy with a young and bored pony.

The thing im worried about though is that doing this in the school is going to do more harm, what about when we start trotting? which is about 10 weeks away...Am I just going to wreck everything by putting more strain on his legs in the school?

Anyone have any advice or experiences of bringing a pony back into work with these issues? We've come so far I don't want to ruin it now but then he isn't making it easy for me!

Sorry its so long and thankyou in advance.

 

[Auslander]

In an ideal world, a PSD horse should do all the rehab work on straight lines, on a hard surface - ie; roadwork - but in your case, its important that you (and him) are safe. It won't do him any good to be acting up on the road, so if hes safer in the school - do your walking in the school. Maybe once you start trotting, you can just do that at weekends to start off with, and walk in the school during the week.
Mine has bee rehabbing for what seems like months, and I don't take him anywhere near a school - but he's good to hack alone, so it was an easy choice to make - you need to do whats best for your situation, and adapt your rehab regime to ensure that it works for your own circumstances.

Re the napping, you just need to be flexible and react to situations differently to how you would with a sound horse. I had a situation last week where my boy flatly refused to go through a ford. Normally I wouldn't put up with it, him not going where he was told to would not have been an option. Because he has fragile back legs, I decided that running backwards, rearing and trying to spin were not what I wanted him to be doing, so I waited til he stood still for a second, turned him round, and retreated. Discretion, in the case of a PSD horse, is most definitely the better part of valour

 

[Spirit7]

Could you not possibly try leading him on the roads yourself? It would break up the school work and if you lead fully tacked up on a regular circular route (if possible) you could start to get on towards the end after a few walks and then get on earlier each time? Hope you get on ok.

 

[Kadastorm]

Thankyou both for your replies.

I will, for mine and his safety, carry on in the school apart from weekends when my friend comes and we can safely hack together. I can obviously lead him out in hand which is fine and can get on on the way home possibly too and will do this on the days im not at uni so that I don't feel the need to rush around and get stressed out. I agree I need to remember that he was not/is not a sound horse and I need to get him through it another way so will work on that.

Although not ideal, the school im using has a great surface which is not deep at all. The only problem will be when I begin trotting as it is small and so I wont be able to trot whole school but I think im going to have to wait until the time comes and hope he will be sensible enough out. Also, I wont be trotting on roads or hard ground due to navicular. Im trying to manage both issues which tbh, I don't know an awful lot about but both have very different rehab riding. It's all so confusing!

So I guess I will carry on with the above plan and take each day as it comes!

Auslander - how long have you been rehabbing now? How has it been going? Some days it seems like time is flying but others I wonder if we will ever get there! Now with winter coming, im dreading it. Hope you are both doing well!

 

[Auslander]

Auslander - how long have you been rehabbing now? How has it been going? Some days it seems like time is flying but others I wonder if we will ever get there! Now with winter coming, im dreading it. Hope you are both doing well!

He came back into work in May, and I was planning on 12 weeks walking, then introducing trot, but he got kicked in the field and had a month off, then one of his field companions bit him very hard right behind his withers, tearing off a large flap of skin, so he was off for nearly 6 weeks while that healed. He's been back in work about a month, and I've just started a bit of trot - literally 30 seconds at a time twice or three times during a 40 minute hack. Its desperately dull, particularly as I have no-one to hack with!