Turning out horse to retire after injury?

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Amy_Charlie

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Hello everyone, I really appreciate any advice

I rehabbed my pony for an SDFT injury for the last 6 months (box rest for most of it), now I've done a couple of months of small paddock rest too. We were going to build up his walking and riding but he does have some other issues going on too (stifle and hock problems). Vet thinks he will be more of a happy hacker than a competition/show pony. This is absolutely fine, I love him and he has home for life with us. I'm happy that I can still hack him out as he means the world to me - though I haven't been back on yet since his box rest and small paddock rest.

My question is could I turn him back out as normal? We have a large 12 acre field with mixed herd. He's not going to come back to competition but my worry is if I turn him out will the tendon reinjure itself? I don't want him to be in pain, but I do want him to be a horse and live a happy hacking retirement. Don't want to stable and tiny paddock with him forever.

What do people think? would you turn out? Or would you do a vet fitness plan first? The vet sounded like the fitness plan was originally to get him back to competition, but he's not going to do that now

Any thoughts appreciated. I just want to see him enhoying himself and not stood in a stable whilst his buddies are out. Plus I haven' tbeen able to ride him while he has been in the small paddock as he has been too full of himself!!
 
Gingerwitch said:
Whatever you do you will wish you had done the opposite.
For me if it was a steady herd I would turn out and let Dr Green do his magic
If I could I would re assess at the end the summer
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Thank you, it's so tricky isn't it. I just worry that he will end up in more pain - as I know for a fact he will gallop around!!! I don't want him to suffer, just want him to be happy :)
 
Turn him out and let him enjoy life, whether it's for a day or for 10 years. He has no concept of tomorrow, he only knows if he's happy today. And I'm sure he'd be happier out in a field with friends rather than being restricted. IME horses don't tend to charge around much once herd dynamics are established so I don't see why he'd go and re-injure himself anyway. But if he's going to do it , he will do it ,.so you might as well give him a good quality of life and turn him out.
 
Would it be possible to compromise temporarily by turning out in a larger area with one sensible horse? If this goes well, it would probably ease his reintroduction to the herd. But as others have said I would definitely be aiming to get him out properly with others rather than long term paddock turnout.
 
Thanks everyone.

I’ve wanted to do the ridden rehab but he’s so difficult when not turned out and can be quite dangerous (even with small paddock turnout). He doesn’t hack which makes it even more tricky 🤦🏻‍♀️
When turned out regularly he’s absolutely fine.

Tried sedative from the vet, but it doesn’t work on him. We’ve only ever been able to sedate him with vet IV sedation.

Open to any suggestions to get that leg stronger before he goes out 😊
 
mine did her SDFT in both hinds, very minor on the scans and should’ve been a reasonably quick recovery compared to what it could’ve been, but she was a monumental plonker to box rest & rehab.

I turned her out long before i “should have”, but it got to the point i just had to give her some sedalin and close my eyes🤣 anyway she did come sound! almost a year before she was cleared 100%, but it would’ve taken longer anyway owing to her behaviour.
 
I would turn out and accept that he will rush about for a bit.

The things I would be mindful of are:
1. If there is lots of grass and the sudden change would be too much.
2. The grass is long and very wet. Slipping and colic risk.
 
It depends what the herd will do. Will they run about with the excitement of seeing him again or are they pretty sensible? Depending on your set up and the temperaments of the other horses, I'd hand graze him with them or the other side of the fence and when his head is consistently down I'd let him off.
 
I had a yearling injure itself in the field and she had to have major surgery to repair the tendon. After 10 months box rest the vet scanned and suggested another two months in the stable. Just one week later we had a massive barn fire and had to rapidly evacuate the stabled horses. Did I let the box rest, now two year old, fry and die in her stable or take the chance? I had 0 seconds to make the decision! Out she went along with 15 other fit comeptition horses. galloping madly. It was the lest of my problems that night! I then took the decision that any damage that was going to be done was probably done, so the next day she was moved to the youngster herd on 17 acres of hillside and left to get on with it.

She is now 5 and just starting her BS affiliated career, showing great talent. Will she stand up to it? Only time will tell.

Let your pony go and take the chance.
 
Could you fence off a small area in the field and keep a friend in there with him, then gradually make it bigger over a couple of weeks before quietly taking one side down? This is what I did with my boy when he was coming off 5 months box rest (he had a small pen in the field on dry days during box rest so it wasn't completely new to him) and it worked brilliantly.
 
I think state of the ground is more relevant than him running around. Turn out when the ground is hard, you really don't want muddy boggy poached areas which is where damage can be done. On hard non rutted ground there's less risk of anything going wrong.
 
Mine was fine to start with. Turned out with 23 others with a quick introduction over the fence then a few minutes later they were all put together although y.o did try to minimise the rushing around by giving the herd some new grass 🤣

I think if u was reintroducing horse to irs existing herd I start with a small fenced off postage stamp paddock gradually increasing in size whilst decreasing sedalin and then turnout.

I hope it goes well for you.
 
I made two small fields, one inside the other and put the recovering horse in the little inner field and his friends (I only have a tiny herd!) around him, so they couldbnt be too far away or wander out of sight. At the same time we started ridden walking on the roads- he had already done lots of walk on the initial box rest but in hand. We knew ours wouldn't compete or hunt again but wanted to still be able to hack and as you say for him not to be in any pain so decided against the chucking him out and hoping for the best, which is actually what i may do if the horse was facing total retirement but accepting the fact if it went wrong it would be pts.
It all worked out really well and if i was in the same position is how I'd go about it again.
 
Amy_Charlie said:
Open to any suggestions to get that leg stronger before he goes out 😊
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I would look into using Horsewear IceVibe boots, without the ice. They can be picked up on Ebay for not silly money. Build up the vibration time/intensity / number of times per day. Can't do any harm :)

And FWIW, I'm in the chuck him out and let him have quality of life camp, rather than a possibly longer less happy life.
 
Thank you all for the advice. Would love to have had a good set up to do some of the ideas you guys came up with, but we only have the one field and one herd


He went back out. Had to accept that he would gallop around a bit. Seems more settled now, but definitely more than lame in trot again. I guess all I can do is continue to have him turned him out and hope he comes sound eventually
 
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