Rehabbing neck arthritis- encouraging horse to take contact??

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horsehappy

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Hi my horse always struggled at taking the contact down and forward- he's since been diagnosed with mild bone changes in his C6/C7 vertabrae. We are now rehabbing under saddle- he's no longer showing signs of pain and on pain relief to get him going but obviously still ducks behind the contact in anticipation of something hurting- any advice on how to encourage him to take the contact forward? Many thanks
 
i had an exracer with a neck issue and found the carl hester elastic reins good. they seemed to relax him and encourage him to strecth as he realised his neck wouldn't get jolted suddenly if he lost balance etc
 
Start by getting the horse to take (and keep) a light contact while you are standing on the ground in the stable. Just have bridle on (no saddle) and begin with just holding the reins near the neck (one rein per hand) - take a light contact, and then 'follow' any move he makes. Don't tell him off for anything, just ignore him and concentrate on following any head tossing/backward movement etc. When he stops moving his head give him lots of verbal praise (ok if he is still mouthing the bit but . Repeat for 10-20 minutes a number of times a day until you can just take up a light contact and not have him worry about it.
Once you can do this, then hold your hands higher so that the bit would lie at exactly the same angle as when you are riding so that there is no difference once you get on (you CAN do this from the very beginning too, but your arms will get very tired unless you are tall!).
The association with pain may well be mainly while you are riding, so this can be a useful way to bridge the gap back to having contact in ridden work. Of course, taking and maintaining a contact when ridden will also depend on still hands, correct use of seat and legs etc. so if for any reason you feel these need a bit of work then practice on another horse if possible or use a neckstrap. After not riding much for some years and then schooling a horse that had had a mouth injury i hooked a couple of fingers of my outside hand into a neckstrap just to make sure that it stayed still enough.
Take your time and it will come :)
 
Thank you for your thoughts- I got someone to video us the other day so I can self critiqued what I'm doing etc- and he does work into the contact nicely for some steps then ducks away at others- mainly when I half halt to steady the front end and rebalance- I've booked to take him for a lesson with an instructor who's rehabbed similar problems so hoping she can assess us too
 
horsehappy said:
- mainly when I half halt to steady the front end and rebalance-
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Double-check that he is not feeling any pain from his neck at that moment, as that would be when he has to round his neck a little bit more (to balance). Watch in field and see if he naturally rounds himself and shortens his neck when rebalancing (e.g. at play; doesn't count if really excited though as adrenaline will overcome the pain response).
Good luck
 
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