Bringing A Horse Back Into Work

[Cobstar]

Hi Guys

Currently bringing my mare back into work after a 4 month lay off after major surgery.  She's turned out for 6 to 12 hours a day so is getting some field exercise.  

Work wise, I started off with some gentle lunging without a rider - walk and a bit of trot for 10 minutes a day.  She didn't appear stressed in anyway by this amount of work.  Used the lunging - just off the bridle with no side reins or roller - initially to get her a bit fitter before she was subjected to a heavy weight on her back - me  :lol: Then because I didn't have time to ride every day.  

Got her going in trot on lunge and then commenced ridden work - mainly at walk - for 15 to 20 minutes at a time two or three times a week.  Worked up to lunging for up to 20 minutes - mainly trot, with a small amount of canter to get her thinking forward, and some walk for relaxation.  She's being ridden for up to 20 minutes - two or three times a week - mainly walk with perhaps a couple of short trots up the long side of a 60 m  arena - but has had enough after 20 mins and is looking to turn in and finish for the day.  And also lunged a couple of times a week.

She seemed happy to trot round on the lunge at a very steady pace for a cob but wasn't that enthusiastic about it - it used to be quite hard work to persuade her not to trot at warp factor cob. I wondered whether she was getting bored, tired/unfit, or still not quite right after surgery.  As there were no external signs of any physical problems and she seemed well in herself, I continued to do a mixture of lunging and riding.  She's had a few days off in the very hot weather as I didn't want to stress her unnecessarily.

When I lunged her on Wednesday she would only trot a few strides on the left rein and then go back to walk.  Although I wouldn't have said she was lame, she didn't appear to be moving with her normal stride pattern.  On the right rein she was happy to trot and even canter.  I stopped lunging her as she seemed so unhappy on the left rein.  Once we stopped work she seemed quite happy - and again I could find no obvious physical reason for the problem.   The only possible contributory factor was that in this dry weather the sand surface is very dry and it's difficult to walk on on foot.  She may also have tweaked herself getting up from laying down as there were some silvery rub marks on the hair inside her thigh.

My initial reaction is to continue with the ridden work unless there are any signs of physical discomfort, perhaps do some long reining, but avoid lunging for the time being.  The vet is due out in a couple of weeks time to do the annual jabs and I can seek advice then.

Any advice, views, greatly received.
 

[lizrv]

Hi Cobstar

It may be something muscular and as the work has increased it's showing up now. When the colic surgery was done - don't forget how pulled around they can get. Don't know if you have ever spoken to someone who's had major surgery themselves but you can feel quite battered. It's possible that working on the dry sand is showing up the problem

It may be worth getting someone to do some bodywork on your mare - which may help. I'm training to do Bowen - so I'm a bit of an advocate of that but besides Bowen there are other things like Equine Touch or EMRT. Bowen is an holistic treatment and is therefore useful in treating the whole horse - emotionally and physically.

If you go to the Equine Bowen site you should be able to find a local practitioner and get lots more info about it.

www.equinebowentherapy.com

I'm sure the others have websites too

[HarryO]

Hi Cobstar,

I had a Bowen Practitioner out earlier this year to see my horse - and can highly recommend him. PM me if you want details. He lives in Surrey (I think) but works all over the Medway area.

Wendy.


 

[Sarah]

hello

I'm sorry to hear about your concerns with Carrie.

It sounds like whatever the probelm is or may be that it is exarcebated by working on the lunge.  It may be that she is just feeling a bit stiff and awkward after the surgery and her return to work, though you do seem to have been taking things at teh right pace to avoid problems with her (as I would have suspected anyway!).

Would it be possible to dampen the sand school at all (as the possibility of rain in the next week is still looking very slim) and see if she finds things a bit easier then?  Tango can move very oddly when she is on a surface she doesn't like on a circle.

Would it be possible to ride her out and see how she is in a straight line, mind you i guess given the dry weather finding a surface you'd want to trot on for even a short while may be very difficult.

Did you lunge her on teh right rein first then move onto the left rein which she didn't like?  i was just wondering if it was something as  simple as the fact she was hot or tired after working on one rein and cantering so then wasn't too keen to move forwards afterwards (though from what you have said it sounds like that isn't the way Carrie's brain works!).

How long has she been back in work?  Was it just during this recent hot weather that you have been working her and she hasn't been going forwards?  has she ever had time off before of a long enough duration to lose fitness?  it may be that the 4 months off has just chilled her out a bit.

Whatever it is, i hope you can find the answer soon.  Do give Carrie a big hug.

Sarah

[Cobstar]

Thank you for all your helpful advice.  I'll certain look into the Bowen suggestions.  She's always been a healthy mare and the longest she's been off work before is a week.  I'm probably expecting too much - she did have major surgery, 2 months box rest and 2 months field rest, so she was well out of condition.

We're lucky that the livery yard has 2 outdoor schools (a large sand school and a 60 x 20 m rubber one) and a jump field.  We're only allowed to lunge in the sand school and the jump field and with all this dry weather the sand is very dry and difficult to work on.  Unfortunately there is no way of damping it down effectively.

I usually start lunge work on the left rein.  She has always found work on the left rein more difficult and she is less likely to tank off on the left rein so it seems more sensible to get her mind on work safely on the left rein.  I started work on the left rein on Tuesday and shortly after the first transition up to trot she brought herself back to work.  Work on the right rein was much better.  Apart from the first two sessions since she's come back into work, she's not been that enthusiastic about trotting - ie having to encourage her forward rather than ask her to slow the speed and work forward more actively.  

Spoke to the AI who used to lunge Carrie for me regularly and she said had been getting Carrie into a nice steady trot rhythm prior to colic surgery and that Carrie  might actually be trying to be a good girl.  She suggested using a small amount of canter to refresh the trot and get Carrie going forward as she didn't think it would do Carrie any harm.  (Carrie was already galloping down the field to join her buddies in the morning so she was fit enough to do a small amount of canter).

I'll try riding her in the rubber school over the weekend and see how she goes on lots of straight lines and gentle curves.  And I can always ride her round the jump field - although that might give her ideas about doing mad Cob things.
 

[HeatherJane]

Hi Cobstar

Can I say I agree with Sarah re riding you mare out to start with, just at walk so she can build up muscle and strength.

I am currently bringing my mare into work after a 6/7 week layoff due to my sciatica.  Am only hacking out at walk for next 3 weeks or so till she's more fit.  I shall then introduce trot for short distances and sha'n't take her in the school for some weeks yet.  Basically I treat her as I would get a hunter fit from grass before we go on any circles.

Hope this may help and that your mare makes steady progress.

[Sarah]

hello again

Would it be possible to try lunging Carrie starting ont eh left rein as usial for a very short time, then work her ont eh right so she gets the going forwards idea inot her head a bit then try the left again?  It may be that seeing as her left rein is the harder work one for her, with her lack of fitness she just doesn't want to work it.  If you get her thinking forwards then she may be a bit keener.  i suppose i am suggesting what your AI is, but without the canter!

bye!

PS you could always buy a big watering can to damp the school    

[judyl]

Did you used to hack your mare before the surgery?  I think it's very hard work for an unfit horse to be in an arena all the time.  Even though I'm sure you're not working on a circle all the time, it is still hard on their joints and muscles, especially when unfit.  Could you try and just ride out in walk for 20 mins or so and then slowly build up to 40mins before thinking of a short trot?  By then, we might have had some rain and the ground might be more forgiving.  I think lunging or long reining 6 times a week is too much, even for a fit horse.  What does your instructor say about this?
 

[Cobstar]

Hi JudyL

Thanks to you and everyone else for your advice.  

First let me reassure you that I'm not lunging my girl 6 or 7 days a week - honest!  I've listened very carefully to what Carrie is saying to me whilst lunging and taken care not to pressurise and just use a gentle jog trot for fittening.  Yes, I know that lunging puts pressure on joints and muscles, but having taken advice and weighed up the pros and cons it seemed the best way to start rather than have a largish person on her back.  She had had 6 weeks turnout on single turnout and 2 to 3 weeks in the group.  She walks about a lot within in the herd and has the odd belt around with the girls so she was beginning to gain some fitness.

Hacking isn't really an option from the yard.  It is no pleasure from the current livery yard - too many drivers who don't understand horses using the local lanes as a cut through to avoid local traffic problems on the major roads.  Also Carrie is a wimp about hacking out alone and it's difficult to find anyone who wants to hack out at the same time as me.  One possibility might be to pay one of the yard staff to hack her out for me during the day when there is more likely to be someone for her to go out with - but that will cost me more money and I prefer to ride my own neddie if at all possible.  Sarah will know what I mean about the roads round the yard!

The yard is one of the best yards in the area and Carrie's very happy there.  I have looked at other yards with access to off road hacking but haven't found one where I think Carrie would be happy.

 

[Sarah]

I'd definitely second what Cobstar is saying about the local roads, i wouldn't take a really bombproof horse out on them, maybe if they were to build a bypass though...  :P

When Tango was coming back into work after her 6 months off John Walmsley told me that doing a bit of work under saddle and a bit of lunging would be fine - and this was when she was on box rest still so I'd think that Cobstar's routine should be fine, especially as Carrie is turned out.  The length of time you are lunging for should be fine too I'd imagine.

Maybe you could go for a 'hack' round the SJ field so that you can work in straight lines a bit more but not run the risk of being flattened by a speeding lorry.

bye!

 

[Woody]

How about walking her over poles on the ground then maybe walking her over wibbly wobbley poles with alternate ends off the ground slightly and then building this up a little at a time?

Great for strengthening the back and stomach muscles in a very gentle way.  Maybe practicing some back up from the ground and back up over poles etc as the muscles will then be working on the diagonal and may help the trot??

Just thoughts...

[judyl]

Sorry Constar, I didn't understand the restrictions you're having to work with.  When my horse was off work for about 6 months a few years ago, I started her back in work by leading her out in hand for 10mins building up to 30mins before I started riding her for 10mins in the field doing straight line work.  It took months and months to bring her back but I think I was very lucky in that at the time, the road I led her on was very much quieter than it is now, and my girl is VERY not bothered by cars or lorries or buses.  She IS, however, bothered by moving leaves in bushes! And then can just jump out in front of an oncoming car or lorry!
 

I think traffic has got much worse over the past 3 or so years.  As long as you take it gently (which it sounds like you are) then she will come back into full fitness and you'll have your lovely girl back again.

Good luck

   

[judyl]

Sorry, sorry, sorry

COBSTAR  !!!

I blame it on my typing, honest!

 :unsure:  

[Cobstar]

Hi All

Thank you so much for your support and helpful advice.  And of course I discovered on Friday that Carrie was very much in season - and she always moves in a slightly strange way on the lunge when she's in season.  Fortunately that and her propensity to flirt are the only differences when she's in season.

Rode her for a short time on Saturday - stopped when she started looking to do the riding school horse thing and turn across the school to finish the lesson.  But we did manage a few short trots and she seemed OK in herself.  Hopefully by the time she's due her jabs in a couple of weeks time, I'll have a clearer idea if it's fitness that's the issue, or whether there's something else not quite right.