Tendons

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Lozturner

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My boy has a hind leg tendon injury. Hes having his in hand walks everyday and along with bandaging at night, it’s looking a lot better with not as much swelling now.
The problem is he’s very energetic and spooky. Last week I couldn’t hold onto him and he took off galloping and bucking around the arena. It doesn’t seem to have made it worse but I was in a right panic!

I know recovery takes along time but has anyone just allowed constant turn out rather than box rest?
It’s driving him crazy being stuck in the majority of the time.
 
Can you make him a very small - double stable sized - paddock? Or a track system where he can't go beyond a jog?

One of mine put a hole in the sdft on a hind leg in the bit that goes round the fetlock -the most movable joint! He had 6 months of straight box rest but escaped after 5 and spent 45 mins galloping about jumping between fields. Luckily he did no more damage nor undid and healing! But when he did finally officially come out walkies I put him in a snaffle bridle with a lunge line on going from one side of the but to the other straight under the jaw. He behaved it was slack, he misbehaved the rope and bit would tighten around his jaw. He learnt quickly to walk nicely next to me. But he is a very polite horse any way. For anything with less manners I would use a chifney.
 
I have had 2 that could not be walked in the arena, the minute they touched soft ground they went into orbit but they were relatively ok walking on the yard which is not that big but they never messed about on the hard surface so that is where they walked until they could go out.
If you want to turn away to let nature take its course then that needs to be discussed with the vet and ideally he would be out 24/7 so he was really settled and not rushing about each day when being turned out, it is a risk that the injury will not heal or break down even further so I would rather wait until scans show healing is far enough along, even if it means sedalin to walk him.
 
EKW said:
Can you make him a very small - double stable sized - paddock? Or a track system where he can't go beyond a jog?

One of mine put a hole in the sdft on a hind leg in the bit that goes round the fetlock -the most movable joint! He had 6 months of straight box rest but escaped after 5 and spent 45 mins galloping about jumping between fields. Luckily he did no more damage nor undid and healing! But when he did finally officially come out walkies I put him in a snaffle bridle with a lunge line on going from one side of the but to the other straight under the jaw. He behaved it was slack, he misbehaved the rope and bit would tighten around his jaw. He learnt quickly to walk nicely next to me. But he is a very polite horse any way. For anything with less manners I would use a chifney.
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Unfortunately I won’t be able to make a small paddock.
He can be so calm but the littlest thing and he’ll breaks loose. It’s easier through weekdays when there’s no one around to distract him. I will start walking with his bridle as he has always been calmer this way.

Thank you for your reply :)
 
be positive said:
I have had 2 that could not be walked in the arena, the minute they touched soft ground they went into orbit but they were relatively ok walking on the yard which is not that big but they never messed about on the hard surface so that is where they walked until they could go out.
If you want to turn away to let nature take its course then that needs to be discussed with the vet and ideally he would be out 24/7 so he was really settled and not rushing about each day when being turned out, it is a risk that the injury will not heal or break down even further so I would rather wait until scans show healing is far enough along, even if it means sedalin to walk him.
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Yes I don’t want to turn him out the more I think about it. He can be a bit of a bully so would probably make it worse.
Life will be easier once I can actually sit on him.
 
Can you use sedalin or calming cookies for in-hand walking? I did that with my mare when she was coming off box rest a few months back, and was extremely strong/keen to gallop off to see her friends in the field. Started with a whole tube of sedalin on the first day, half a tube second day, a third of a tube on the third day etc, and after about a week she walked calmly in-hand without any dope at all. I did ask the vet tho, and he agreed the approach.
 
Get some sedalin from your vet start of with a high dose for the first few days, then you should be able to reduce it down the more you do, all horses are different I had one on box rest that was calmer if I gave her a few mls of sedalin twice a day while she was on box rest and being walked, some just need one dose about an hour before you want to walk them just play it by ear and see what works for yours.
 
my vet said, if I turned out, it would take longer to heal so box rest was the better option but I am now 9 months into box rest and from my last scan it will be another 3 months box rest. I use 1ml of sedalin for a daily 30 minute walk and try to walk around the yard to stop him jumping around. if I was to go back to the start of the injury I would have kept him out on daily turnout.
 
Mine was in a chifney and only walked around the yard (no arena/grass) for hand walking and that seemed to work. He knew the yard wasn’t for running around on and the chifney would of quickly stopped any messing around. Thankfully he never needed it.

He is now on “stable sized paddock” box rest but is actually in a barn. Imagine a cattle type barn (but with horse safe boards), he is much more settled in there as can walk about a little and see what is going on but not enough room to really do more than a stride of trot.
 
I really feel for you, I'd rather ride mine off six months box rest than lead her round the yard in hand off one! Like SOS said, maybe a chifney or has anyone a dually that you can borrow or a headcollar with one of those chains that fit over the nose? A firm tug on the end of the rope would stop any hijinks in their tracks.
 
To walk a box rest horse in hand you really need 2 people, one each side, both people with a lunge rein going through the bit to clip on the other side. That way, when the horse rears at one person, the other can straighten them up.

It *can* be done alone with a quiet/disciplined horse, or, as my OH did, with a better strategy then just walking.

OH and I were on shifts when Amber needed walking after an eye operation. She was supposed to be on "box rest" but I don't believe in that, but she could not be pulling us around as she had a tube into her eyelid.

We had 2 of us, so we did one each side to start with and set up so we had two feed stations on the arena. She soon realised that she had what OH christened "A mooch and a munch." She would go onto the arena and plug into haylage (only had hay in the stable). After a couple of minutes, she was walked around the arena to the second haylage station, where she had a further 2 minute munch.

After a session she was entranced with the haylage (as opposed to hay in the stable) and quite manageable by one person. As soon as she went out she was thinking haylage. then she would move to...haylage.

She had a full hour morning and night, and because of the amount of time she was out she did not blow her stack even once (and she was habitually a very hot horse). It made everything so much easier.

OH and I did have to set an alarm, as an hour doing a mooch and a munch, by yourself, in the dark is incredibly boring. Like, "Whaddya mean, it has only been 5 minutes, grrrrr!" boring.
 
When my horse had a tendon injury I turned him out in the Equinetendon.com Rehabilitation device. It’s like a book that is comprised of 3 parts that limits the degree to which the fetlock can extend - thereby (with the use of an artificial tendon) it is able to ensure you horse doesn’t injury itself further by limiting what level of peakload you allow the leg to experience.

Can’t recommend it enough. I think their FB page has success stories where it’s been used to turn out difficult horses that are injured & ridden rehab
 
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