Struggling with forward leg stretches

[seoirse]

My horse is very tight through his shoulders, following a fall in the field earlier in the year where he somehow managed for faceplant on the ground and mangle his neck. The neck is now much better and overall he's not a huge bundle of muscle spasms anymore, however he is left with some residual stiffness through the left shoulder. Physio has given me stretches to do and she's back mid june for another session. Main stretches I need to concentrate on are legs out to the front (with knee bent to start till he's finding it easier) and hind legs stretched out behind, again a little to start with. He's great at both on the off side but terrible on the near side, which is the side thats not right. Front leg wise he just snatches it and slams it down, so I've been doing it in the school or field so the slamming isn't doing as much damage as it would on concrete. I can now pick it up and hold with knee bent out the front for a couple of seconds but not enough to stretch the shoulder, and hindleg wise he will only stretch it out for a split second then snatches it back and if I persist he kicks out though its fairly half hearted and I'd really have to push the issue to actually get kicked. Really don't feel like I'm making any progress with doing them at all as he's as bad now as he was when she showed me 3 weeks ago. Am I being a bit impatient and expecting results too quickly? The horse is sound and schooling and hacking out fine but I want to keep going with this rehab to get him as comfortable as possible.

 

[be positive]

Try going the opposite way first, so front leg back before stretching forward, just a little way, back leg forward then back, just aim for a little improvement.
Do neck stretches first to loosen him up.

After work may be easier than before as he will be more relaxed then.

 

[AmyMay]

Never attempt to stretch a cold muscle - human or animal.

So make sure the muscles are warm before you start any stretching - but walking the horse for several minutes. Then do a very gentle stretch only on the one leg. By slamming it down he's telling you a very definate 'no', and you mustn't push it.