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| Hey y'all! I'm looking for some advice on how slowly you bring your horses back into shape after some minor soft tissue injury? I've been hand walking and she's on turnout and is sound now and runs and bucks and plays at her own will. But I still want to be on the safe side and not cause further injury. TIA! |
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Expert
Posts: 4766
 
Location: Bandera, TX | Walk at least 5 min before jogging. Then jog for a minute walk a few minutes then jog a few minutes, walk 10 minutes. The ground is a huge factor in your rehab. I would go with a firm pack to start out. Try that for a month then go into a sand pen and test the joint. Ice is your friend. I preach ice all the time for rehab but, I need to caution you...I ended up with a horse that had white line from me keeping his feet soft from him being in his ice tub or his turbulator boots so often. I'm going to have to just get back in the routine of using my game ready. He was out a long time due to his wall seperation and the pain it caused, all due to my ice diligence.
People often ask me how do you know how long to walk-trot-gallop a rehab horse. You ride with feel, when the horse can no longer keep a cadence nor his frame he's telling you he's done. Honor that and walk your horse out long enough to remove any trash from the muscles and then give a brisk water scrub and put him up. Remember to feed his efforts about 45 min post his work out to properly replenish his muscles for the next days efforts. |
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 You get what you give
Posts: 13030
Location: Texas | Uno Dos Tres had great information. When you're rehabbing you definitely want to change footing and change surroundings. You can work on proprioception by taking them over posts on the ground (to make them step and place their foot) and go around different obstacles so they work on placing their foot in more than just a straight path.
Many vets have their own protocol with how much you are supposed to walk then trot then lope depending on the injury. Whatever you do, make slow changes at 5 minute increments.
I'm also cautious in regards to how much free exercise horses in rehab get. They can feel great, do something silly in the pasture, and re-injure themselves. So I usually do not put them back into full turn out until their rehab is done. I will let them have small turnout first in a 24x24 pen, then a 50-60ft round pen, then after several months an arena sized turnout before I let them back in the pasture unsupervised. |
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| We started with her being turned out in round pen for 2 months. Then to a small paddock about double the size of the round pen for a month. And now she is in my 100x200 arena. I have been hand walking then graduated up to riding her at walk and we are at the 30 min mark and it's on hard pack. She plays a bit in the arena at her own will and seems completely sound I just didn't know when I should add the trotting... thank you all for the advice! |
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Rehab after soft tissue injury