Rehab: Body vs Brain

I have worked with many horses, both owned my me and others, that have gone through some sort of rehabilitation for injuries. The heartbreak of realizing the time your horse will be out is always a punch to the gut. Competitions you may have to skip, trail rides you were planning on doing, and just straight up time out of the saddle can be hard realities to deal with for us humans. Through my years of working with rehabilitation horses, I have learned a couple of things that I find helpful and oh so important.

Right off the bat: listen to your vet. If you disagree with your vet, get a second opinion. If the vet is suggesting hand walking, ice and wrapping... do it. End of story. The more you skip the initial care the longer it will take to get your horse better. Another great person to listen to is your trainer. They have great experiences and might have knowledge or expertise that could help you in your situation and save you time and money in the end.

Decipher between what is an emergency and what could wait for regular business hours. If it is not a life threatening issue where the horse will be in severe discomfort through the night, then yes, of course call your vet. If it is something that could be cold hosed and wrapped for the night and further discussed the next day, do as much as you can to make your horse comfortable then call during regular business hours to further diagnose the issue. Any time you are taking with the vet  during emergency hours for a non life-threatening issue means someone else's horse who is in critical condition is waiting for them. Keep this in mind when you go to dial the vet.

Ok. Let's say now your horse is transitioning from being healing to rehabbing. Lots of things to think about here. Many times, we have to put horses on stall rest to help them recover from injuries. Although good for their body, this is very hard for their brain. Horses are grazing animals whose nature is to be outside and roaming most of the day. When we lock them in a stall and their only time away from their box is with a lead rope or under tack, this can lead to agitated horses who are  pent up and frustrated at their situation even if it is the best thing for them at the time. I'm a big believer in turn out. Yes, it's not always the best thing but I try to not take my horses off turn out unless I absolutely need to and my vet agrees with me it is fully necessary. I really do prefer that horses are on turn out before they get back to riding work as I feel it is more safe for the rider and the horse. Being completely honest with my views: If a horse cannot stay sound being in a paddock and being a horse, you probably shouldn't be riding it.

Once your horse is starting under tack, be sure to get them nice and fit before pushing them into bigger activities. I usually consult my vet for a rehab regime of how much time each week we should be walking, trotting and cantering. I do a lot of walk with my horses before going into any work even out of rehab, but in rehab I try to get them to 20 minutes of walk each way before introducing trotting in a straight line.

Some rehabilitation's are easier than others. I've learned a lot from both easy rehab and more difficult ones. The biggest take aways I have learned is slow and steady wins the race, and allow your horse to be a horse.