Update on PSD boy and help needed re introducing trot work!

[floradora09]

Perhaps this should be in vets but have posted in here as want more support with the work regime so think it's justified to be here!

PSD boy has now been on box rest for 2 months and is walking out for 40 mins under saddle. Vet out today to re-assess; he trotted up well, think there was a mention of low grade response to flexions but not hugely significant. We then attempted to lunge which consisted of a few dramatic airs above the ground and wall-of-death style lungeing, but when he did settle back to a trot he looked pretty good too (I made it out in once piece too which was a miracle!). Re-scanned and improvement seen from original scan, no infammation and some new fibres aligning too which is all very positive. There was one area on the right ligament which wasn't as 'tight' but vet happy that this could well be normal for him. So on the whole pretty positive

I've been trying to keep him barefoot for as long as possible to give his feet a really good break from shoes, and his heels are now looking much better. I had hoped to keep him this way but vet pointed out that he was just beginning to hold and brace a little in front, which would eventually have an impact behind, so he's getting some shoes on this week. Also wants some bar shoes on behind, must admit I'm not a huge fan but will probably put some on for the first month. Really trying to look at his whole body not just the suspensories.

Now for the scary part! Have been given the go-ahead to introduce trot work. He's lost a lot of muscle and is quite weak. What's the best way of doing this? Vet wants him to be worked over a variety of surfaces and introduce gradually up to 10 mins trot work during the next 2 weeks, building it up to 20 by the 4th week. Should I be getting together an interval training plan? He's lost a lot of muscle so am trying equitop myoplast to help build him back up, and maybe lunge a little in the pessoa.

Sorry a bit long and garbled, for us this is probably the most scary part so far as he needs to be strengthened up but I'm terrified of breaking him! Thanks

 

[Finns Mum]

Sorry no advise, but just wanted to say its great to hear he is back on the road to recovery

 

[floradora09]

Sorry no advise, but just wanted to say its great to hear he is back on the road to recovery

Thank you very much I'm so pleased but terrified at the same time!

 

[vikster]

Hi there! My boy was diagnosed with this last march! I would be a bit worried with how quickly the work is being built up! I didn't trot until 6 months that was only short bursts on a hard surface. That was after months of walking on the road! He is only just cantering now in an arena after 12 months! But if your vet is happy with you! Just take things slowly. Good luck

 

[cellie]

I went to vets last week my youngster/virtually unbacked has just been given go ahead to start work.I will be walking inhand and there will be no trot work for 2 months on vets recommendation,then short bursts .I wont lunge maybe light long reining but avoiding circles.Hes already had 6 mths off plus prp and scans were good.My problem is backing fresh horse My vet said 6/8 mths before canter from date of surgery we are 10 weeks post surgery.Hope that helps

 

[Ilovefoals]

My mare had surgery for her PSD so not sure if it's different but the vets told me to start her back in work as tho she were unfit rather than had been lame. We built up slowly and were cantering in month 3 after starting work.

 

[floradora09]

Hi there! My boy was diagnosed with this last march! I would be a bit worried with how quickly the work is being built up! I didn't trot until 6 months that was only short bursts on a hard surface. That was after months of walking on the road! He is only just cantering now in an arena after 12 months! But if your vet is happy with you! Just take things slowly. Good luck

Thanks for the reply; did your horse have surgery? I think my vet is keen to get him out and doing a bit more as he's lost so much muscle already, and most of the improvement would have been seen over the first couple of months I'd have thought.

(Sorry can't quote more than one person!)

Cellie- I agree this was what I thought re circles, I think the main reason he suggested lungeing was to help build up muscle but I'm quite reluctant as I feel it was the endless circles that contributed to it in the first place. Will get on with hacking and going in the school 1/2 times a week I think. Good luck backing yours! It gets quite exciting when they've had time off doesn't it.

ILF- That's interesting, suggests they wanted you to strengthen whole body rather than just focus on the leg which is what I think my vet is doing. The timescales sound about similar to what I'm working to.

Included some trot work on our hack today, just short bursts along flat road- can't decide if it's me being paranoid or if he feels ever so slightly unlevel when I'm rising on the left diagonal. He has lost a bit more muscle on his RHQ than left so perhaps is a weakness rather than pain. Will see how he feels tomorrow and chat to vet as I'm off to one of their talks. At this stage I don't know if he's as good as he's going to get, or if more time spent walking would have any benefit.

 

[Holidays_are_coming]

Can u not use boots instead of shoes?

Has he been seen by a Physio it may be he was uncomfortable and has been holding himself, my mare had 8 weeks walking then seen by the Physio and then started trotting! Fingers crossed for your boy!

 

[cellie]

Oh just had anther thought of something that might help.My farrier and vet discussed his feet and support and agreed his shoes on hinds should be little longer than normal apparently this gives a little more support for ligament.
Good luck with your lad.
Think Im more scared than excited with backing a 15.2 that has grown to 16.2 ,im only 5 2 and his last episode put me in hospital,hoping this was all pain related and he can move on now.

 

[floradora09]

Can u not use boots instead of shoes?

Has he been seen by a Physio it may be he was uncomfortable and has been holding himself, my mare had 8 weeks walking then seen by the Physio and then started trotting! Fingers crossed for your boy!

He has been ridden out in boots for the last few weeks, which has helped in that he doesn't get footy. However he lands with the outside of his foot first, which has become much more pronounced without shoes and his outside wall has become slightly shorter and more upright whilst his inside wall flares a bit. This is making him slightly toe-in which I think is where the tightness is coming from as he would land straighter in shoes. I'd hoped that with being brought back in slowly I might be able to strengthen his feet at the same time as his body but it's a case of priorities and we really don't want to risk overloading the back end!

He saw the physio about a month ago before he started ridden work, I'll see what the difference is in shoes and perhaps give her another call if he's still feeling a bit tight

cellie- Thanks for that, I'll do a bit of reading around as with regards to his hinds I'm not sure whether it would be best for him to be without shoes/bar shoes/shod further behind. Will discuss with farrier and see what he thinks. That sounds rather exciting! I must admit I don't envy you, I'm very lucky with Winnie as he's *usually* (touches everything wood) a complete gentleman to ride. He has his moments, but watching him turn himself inside out on the lunge yesterday made me appreciate how restrained he his!!

 

[Ilovefoals]

The only thing I'd say about shoes "making him straighter" is that this could be totally wrong for him. Sometimes, tho it doesn't look correct, the way the horse goes naturally is what's best for their legs and my worry would be that in trying to straighten him, you might be putting strain on his ligaments. My mare had no shoes throughout as had always been a broodmare before starting work aged 7. My vet wanted shoes put on to support her ligaments in her hinds but my farrier didn't see the logic. Maybe pm Oberon on here. She's very knowlegeable about the whole barefoot thing. x

ETA Re the feeling of unlevelness, we hit several walls where she felt unlevel, wonky, weird etc but each time the vet said just to drop back a stage for a week then work back up again. My mare came totally sound in the end tho I did sell her due to the fact that she was way to hot for me!!

 

[floradora09]

The only thing I'd say about shoes "making him straighter" is that this could be totally wrong for him. Sometimes, tho it doesn't look correct, the way the horse goes naturally is what's best for their legs and my worry would be that in trying to straighten him, you might be putting strain on his ligaments. My mare had no shoes throughout as had always been a broodmare before starting work aged 7. My vet wanted shoes put on to support her ligaments in her hinds but my farrier didn't see the logic. Maybe pm Oberon on here. She's very knowlegeable about the whole barefoot thing. x

ETA Re the feeling of unlevelness, we hit several walls where she felt unlevel, wonky, weird etc but each time the vet said just to drop back a stage for a week then work back up again. My mare came totally sound in the end tho I did sell her due to the fact that she was way to hot for me!!

Thanks, and I do see where you are coming from with regards to shoes perhaps not making him straighter etc. If we're looking at his whole body it wouldn't surprise me if there is something going on in front that could be contributing, and longterm my goal is to improve his feet as much as I can- but he's not the easiest horse to keep barefoot and at this current time I'm going to go with my vet's opinion as I trust him when he says he wants shoes on to get Win working without the worry of his feet. I understand they're not an ideal long term solution, and it may be that I have to manage his feet by giving him some time out of shoes every year. We'll see!

Thanks for the note about the unlevelness, he started off feeling fab yesterday but def felt a bit off in trot over the slightly stony ground and when going up a slight incline. I saw my vet last night and he assured me he is likely to feel a little off as he's lost so much topline, and has been in a box for 2 months doing no trot work. He also thinks the shoes will help too, so being shod today and then continuing as per his instructions. It's such a scary time because whilst I need to follow vets instructions I'm terrified that I'll break him, or that he never 'fixed' in the first place! If I'm still worried by the end of the week I'll give him another call.

 

[Ilovefoals]

I totally understand your concerns as I went thru exactly the same. I was ill with the worry of it all Just listen to your instincts as far as how he feels goes. You'll know if you are going a bit too fast and just back off a bit. Hacking will help immensely and like you say, a lot of the feeling odd comes from the fact they have lost muscle and some fitness. Keep me up to date with how he progresses. Good luck x

 

[BeckyD]

That's great news that you're up to the trot stage.

When I had to do the rehab from PSD, I set up an interval timer on my phone - starting with 10-20 mins walk, then 1 minute trot, then 5 mins walk, 1 min trot, 5 mins walk, 1 min trot, etc and then 10 mins walk at the end. Gradually increased the trot time in 30 second increments, reducing the walking time but ensuring I still had 10 mins of walk at either end to do proper warm up and cool down. I had to do an hour's work. I varied it - either going large around the arena (we had two arenas so I varied the surface) or out hacking - just using whatever surface I was on at the time the buzzer went off. Sometimes that was track, sometimes road, sometimes grass or mud etc.

The only thing I made sure not to do was trot up or down steepish hills as I thought that might put too much strain on healing legs, but that was just my thought and could have been wrong.

Admittedly all the broncing he did was probably more detrimental

 

[floradora09]

I totally understand your concerns as I went thru exactly the same. I was ill with the worry of it all Just listen to your instincts as far as how he feels goes. You'll know if you are going a bit too fast and just back off a bit. Hacking will help immensely and like you say, a lot of the feeling odd comes from the fact they have lost muscle and some fitness. Keep me up to date with how he progresses. Good luck x

Thank you very much it is so nice to get a bit of support from others who've been through the same as it is quite daunting. I will keep updating, probably with more worries, as we go along. Was shod today and took him in the school after, he feels so much more comfortable and forward than when he was lame with it so fingers crossed as he strengthens up he'll continue to improve!

That's a really good idea becky, was it like an app you downloaded? My trotting is all a bit random at the moment! that's for the tips, I am trying to avoid hills and will pass the message onto the girl who rides him in the week for me to avoid trotting hills as he's coming back in. Agree re the broncing behing worse, but at least you can't really blame yourself for that as there's not a lot you can do to stop it!!

 

[chestnut cob]

The only thing I'd say about shoes "making him straighter" is that this could be totally wrong for him. Sometimes, tho it doesn't look correct, the way the horse goes naturally is what's best for their legs and my worry would be that in trying to straighten him, you might be putting strain on his ligaments.

RE. this point, I would also be wary about shoes to make him straighter. There will be a reason why he's walking in that manner and you might cause more problems by trying to straighten his movement. My previous horse had hock spavins and my vet wanted him shod with lateral extensions to "straighten his movement" and stop him from walking on the outside of his hind feet. They did make him walk straighter but he was also always short behind, just about tracked up in walk. After about 18 months I took his hind shoes off then when I put them back on, I used a different farrier. This farrier doesn't like LEs so he shod him in normal shoes and there was a huge difference. Although he wasn't moving "straight", he was more comfortable and over tracking in walk. He walked the way he did because it allowed him to avoid the part of his hock that hurt (he was also having Adequan and steroid injections into his hocks). Straightening the movement with shoeing meant he was forced to use the sore parts so he was short.

Just something to think about