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Elite Veteran
Posts: 672
  
| Back story, this mare broke her sesamoid bone & injured suspensory ligament in her L back leg. She was on stall rest, for 6 weeks, then stall & turnout + hand walking. I now have her on full day turn out, stall with run at night. By next week she will be on full turn out.
I want to start slowly legging her back up, but trying to figure out the best way possible. She has a slight case of kissing spine, so I would like to start lunging her in a Pessosa to strengthen her back, but with her previous leg injury I don’t know if circles are a good idea – I’d rather work her in straight lines. When I pony her off another horse, it’s a race and she throws her head up and hollows out her back and constantly jigs, which has made the KS worse in the past.
It doesn’t help that my pony horse is a very slow walker and she has a big stride.
I might try a chain over her nose to see if that makes a difference – when I was hand walking her I tried it and it didn’t work, but now that she’s had more turnout time she might handle it a little better.
Any suggestions?
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 899
Location: Idaho | 6 weeks for a broken bone and soft tissue injury? That does not sound like adequate enough time to heal properly. I had a gelding once that injured his suspensory ligament on his back right leg and he was on stall rest for about 8 months before he could be turned out. Got the okay to start riding again, took about 3-4 more months to get him really running anything. He made a full recovery though and made a smoking barrel/pole/gymkhana horse.
I would consider asking your vet, doing some xrays to see how that leg is healing and get some ultrasounds done on that ligament to verify your mare is sound enough to work, let alone ride. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 672
| DashNDustem - 2017-01-26 12:13 PM
6 weeks for a broken bone and soft tissue injury? That does not sound like adequate enough time to heal properly. I had a gelding once that injured his suspensory ligament on his back right leg and he was on stall rest for about 8 months before he could be turned out. Got the okay to start riding again, took about 3-4 more months to get him really running anything. He made a full recovery though and made a smoking barrel/pole/gymkhana horse.
I would consider asking your vet, doing some xrays to see how that leg is healing and get some ultrasounds done on that ligament to verify your mare is sound enough to work, let alone ride.
I should have clarified- the broken bone/suspensory happened in July/ was diagnosed in August of last year so she's actually been in a stall or stall/run for 6 months, plus the hand walking per vet. She's now graduated to a full day turnout, but I bring her in at night. I'm not looking to throw her back in full time, just trying to figure out what the best way to start bringing her back.
We also did 5 shockwave treatments, and a lot of sessions on the Theraplate. Vet Xray'd & ultrasounded the leg in Nov. and gave the OK to start hand walking her. Started at 5min/day and worked up to 25min. Due to the weather & ice I wasn't able to walk her much in early part of this month, but vet said ok to start turning her out. Started and hour a day and slowly worked up to full time/8-9 hrs now.
Edited by veintiocho 2017-01-26 12:29 PM
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 899
Location: Idaho | veintiocho - 2017-01-27 10:20 AM
DashNDustem - 2017-01-26 12:13 PM
6 weeks for a broken bone and soft tissue injury? That does not sound like adequate enough time to heal properly. I had a gelding once that injured his suspensory ligament on his back right leg and he was on stall rest for about 8 months before he could be turned out. Got the okay to start riding again, took about 3-4 more months to get him really running anything. He made a full recovery though and made a smoking barrel/pole/gymkhana horse.
I would consider asking your vet, doing some xrays to see how that leg is healing and get some ultrasounds done on that ligament to verify your mare is sound enough to work, let alone ride.
I should have clarified- the broken bone/suspensory happened in July/ was diagnosed in August of last year so she's actually been in a stall or stall/run for 6 months, plus the hand walking per vet. She's now graduated to a full day turnout, but I bring her in at night. I'm not looking to throw her back in full time, just trying to figure out what the best way to start bringing her back.
We also did 5 shockwave treatments, and a lot of sessions on the Theraplate. Vet Xray'd & ultrasounded the leg in Nov. and gave the OK to start hand walking her. Started at 5min/day and worked up to 25min. Due to the weather & ice I wasn't able to walk her much in early part of this month, but vet said ok to start turning her out. Started and hour a day and slowly worked up to full time/8-9 hrs now.
Ahh I see. My apologies.
Do you have a hotwalker? I'd put her on that for a while. If you don't, I would suggest finding a good support boot and maybe wrapping her legs and put her on a lunge line. All of my horses are used to voice commands (walk, trot, canter, whoa) so they know what I want when I put them on a lunge line. But I would just let her walk, and if the vet gives the okay to do more than that then start trotting for five minutes (2 1/2 minutes each way) then stop, pull her back out. After a while, then start extending that time. You might want to look into some supplements to help with that and inflammation. Hosing her legs down afterwards to increase circulation, maybe some magnicu boots or Back on Track. The whole thing I would be working on is PREVENTION. You want to do what it takes to prevent her from reinjuring herself. Take it slow, reduce inflammation and possible swelling. Make sure you don't give it a reason to reinjure.
Sorry, don't mean to lecture! Good luck!!  | |
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Veteran
Posts: 227
Location: Heart of Texas | Sounds complicated and detailed. I would ask your vet. He'll know exactly when to start what and for how long. I would think if you could turn out all day and night you could ride for 5-10. But I would really get advise from your Vet. You've had a long recovery, no sense prolonging it because you were hasty. | |
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  JMHO
Posts: 1869
Location: Oklahoma | I prefer to pony one that's recovering. A horse lunging can more easily do stupid stuff and re-injure themselves. I prefer a hot walker if you have one over lunging too. | |
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 Expert
Posts: 2097
Location: Deep South | My vets have always told me that straight lines and firm ground are best for exercising horses with soft tissue injuries.
With that info, I would not lunge.
Maybe a calming supplement and try ponying again? Do you have an ATV of any kind? I prefer to pony mine from there than from a horse any way. | |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 672
| BamaCanChaser - 2017-01-26 3:37 PM
My vets have always told me that straight lines and firm ground are best for exercising horses with soft tissue injuries.
With that info, I would not lunge.
Maybe a calming supplement and try ponying again? Do you have an ATV of any kind? I prefer to pony mine from there than from a horse any way.
That's what I've been told as well. Going to try her this weekend and hope she acts decent.
Thank you everyone for your suggestions. She's usually pretty easy going but is used to a full time job and loves working. Being cooped up has wrecked her mental state to where all she thinks about is go go go! This morning when I turned her out she would take a bite of hay, run off bucking, circle back, take another bite and take off again. I just have to look away....  | |
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