Rehabbing the Comp. Horse after Surgery?

[RachelFerd]

Tomorrow I will be bringing Tia home from Liphook after her surgery and recovery period there... now I have gone from having a horse who was super-fit and very active, to having a horse who has lost a lot of weight from surgery, has no muscle coverage from being totally inactive for 5 weeks (with another 6 to go...) and has sores over the injured leg due to enforced pressure bandaging. 2009 was meant to be the year to get out eventing - but we certainly aren't on track for the start of the season!

How best to keep improve her condition, tone and state of mind through this recovery period?

Would feeding a convalescent mix be more appropriate than the conditioning mix she is currently on? She seems to be struggling with the boredom of being in, and is explosive when brought out of the box... yet she is quite underweight, so I can't drop her feed to nothing (she is on very good quality haylage, which isn't too hi-energy as haylage goes...)

Would strapping help retain or build some muscle tone, and if so, how do I go about doing it?

When bringing back into work, am I best to follow a traditional 12-week fitness program right from the start, and what sort of work should I be doing to get her on track for eventing in april/may time (presuming no complications with infection...)

Thoughts and your own experiences gratefully received!

 

[stephkoczy]

Hi there my 5yr old W/B mare has been back in work for a couple of months after OCD surgery and box rest. I found it hard as she also was very fit/muscled and had to swap a busy lifestyle to full stop.

Best thing I did was have her on a convalescence mix with non-heating properties...this will make life more easy in the long run and reduce further injury. I used a conditioning fibre for her (spillers) as she dropped weight after surgery and that worked brill, she looked great in coat and weight condition without being fattened or bloaty. You dont feel too guilty feeding 2x a day either being a chop.

I also found ad lib hay brilliant for a relaxed state of mind and best option feeding off the floor kept a good back and neck muscle shape. If its weight you worry about soak hay to reduce nutrients and feed ad lib.

You will be surprised how your horse will keep condition being off work as long as they feel happy in themselves.

I would personally say no to strapping because as bad as time off is in terms of comp, but its a good way for the horse to regain full fitness (health) and give the horse a bit of a get well soon holiday.

My girl was in hand walked for 2X 1hour a day for 2 months, ridden in walk 1 month and begin trot work gradually 2 weeks and then normal work. She didnt take long to get back into shape either.

Good luck and all the best to your horse!!

 

[MillbrookSong]

When song was on full box rest last year we fed him a convelecant mix and i think it worked very well - this year hes aloud out for an hour a day hes on a normal cool mix. Both times he was on adlib hay.

I wouldnt rush with the fitness, roughly stick to the 12 week plan but if in doubt ask your vet on what they think you should do with her

 

[RachelFerd]

sounds like the convalescent mix could be a good thing to feed then. I will try and go and get some tomorrow morning before I collect her, and then can start changing over the feeds straight away.

I wonder if there is anything else I can feed to help maintain the sanity levels? She is not ordinarily reactive to sugar/protein, but then she is ordinarily in decent work, and uses up the energy. The trouble is that she is so thin

Fortunately this is not a soft tissue injury, and from what I understand from the vets, the deciding factor on the prognosis is whether any infection re-occurs, rather than needing to strengthen any soft tissue slowly... so I imagine I will be able to do 4 weeks walking, then build up the schooling after that.

Hand walking has proved to be impossible, unless she has Sedalin... I know I would be in more control if I was on board... would there be a point where I could switch the hand walking to ridden walking exercise - injury is on the hock, and an infected bone chip, so not directly related to weight-bearing. Is that something worth asking the vets about?

 

[stephkoczy]

Ask the vet on anythong you are unsure of definately, reduces risks and keeps your mind at rest. Often theyll say handwalk for horses recouperation, but ask about gentle sympathetic riding as like you said its often safer to be on board.

If she does react to the conv. mix use the spillers conditioning fibre, its low energy, has soya oil for condition and keeps weight steady. It could be worth looking into a few feed companies over the net, they often do a free of charge analysis on what your horse eats etc. Give them a ring and have a chat is the best option. Again keep excess sugars, proteins in feed at a ow to reduce excitablility. Allow free access to hay (if she needs bit of weight reduce soaking time).

Get a weigh tape and keep a record of condition score, weight, appetite etc, as this will give a brill indication of what you horses needs/ has too mush of or is just right. Sounds like a pain, but if you see her every day its harder to analyse.

Also, Im sure you will be a super owner,

but ill just say that taking it steady will do wonders for her. Dont worry about ringing vets for advice, better to be an overly cautious
mum than miss something. The vet that did my horses operation was really wonderful.

x x

 

[Jane_Lou]

A friends horse did a tendon last year and lost an incredible amount of weight on box rest due to fretting when the others were out. We got incredible results with feeding Spillers Hi-Fibre cubes and speedibeet combined with adlib hay. This way, the diet was pure fibre and very low sugar. He is a very food centred horse so his feeds were broken down into a number of meals which various people would put in throughout the day, meaning he was never more than 2 hours from the next meal, be that a haynet or a feed of nuts, speedibeet and hi-fi. We also put him on Baileys Digest plus which I have used in the past with great effect after illness, anti-b's etc. She also got some Global Herbs box rest which she found brilliant as it really seemed to chill him out.

 

[Red_Arrow]

Rachel, I think I've already told you this, but Buster was cross tied for 6 weeks at the vets after his second operation and when they took his rugs off I could have cried because he looked so thin - he then had another couple of weeks cross tied back at the yard and I was so worried he would go stir crazy, but he seemed happy with the radio on and plenty of visitors - the only problem was that we had to keep Kosmo in as well for company - I am so surprised that a usually nutty thoroughbred coped so well - I think all the visitors with their bags of carrots and apples helped.

Whatever you do don't rush the getting back into work - we started a 8 week "programme" with Buster but I think rushed it a bit too much and he went lame again - so we took it really slowly, only walking for weeks!

The main thing is to be positive. There were times when we thought the only option would be to have him put to sleep - there was no way we would give him away as a companion because we would always have worried about him and I don't think he would have coped away from Kosmo!

Anyway nearly three years later - Buster has gone to riding club xc championships, taken part in a team chase and has just gone out hunting on Boxing Day!! We laugh because we call him the "faulty horse" because he will never do dressage again due to wonky back leg - but hey what the hell! - he's 17 years old and still seems to be enjoying life!

Long post I know, but just wanted to get the point across to remain positive!