Endurance.Net Ridecamp Archives

My horse has been lame since early August in the stifle and/or related
structures region of her right hind and only within the past couple
days has she shown that she is no longer lame at the walk.  I do
not have the $$$ to have a bone scan or other pricey diagnostics done
(sorry).  I did have her walk in a circle and although a bit stiff
on the right hind she seemed OK.
She was initially on 4-6 weeks pasture rest with plenty of hills and
did not improve much.  She then went into her stall at nights with
a small electric pen during the days to graze and self exercise until
she decided to start spooking lots (a dirt biker across the road didn't
help) and jump the e-pen.  Even on a long lead rope she would
spook hard with bucking/kicking so it was stall rest only for a short
while.  Once she relaxed I was then able to start to handgraze her
again and handwalked her a short distance, and that was her
exercise.  For the past 2 weeks or so she has been turned out in a
large dirt paddock with secure fencing (no chance of escaping...no
e-pen) and she has gradually improved to where she is now no longer
lame at the walk.  
While being off of work over Christmas and daylight to work by we have
extended our handwalking distance by double what we were doing.  I
believe we are doing 1/4 to 1/2 mile of handwalking right now (need to
check it with the car today!)  She has trotted some while I
handwalk her but I limit that to only a few steps as I observe her
gait...initially she was lifting her right hind leg a little higher
than the other hind leg but even that is improving.  
Unfortunately I must admit that every lameness issue she has had has
been to her right hind leg.  Our vet/chiro is rather reluctant and
quite
understandably to say whether or not I'll be able to continue distance
riding on her.  We have completed 2 LD rides this past year and
she did well and completed both soundly...look up her name Sania to see
our completion times.  Her injury happened on a conditioning ride
and she just flat got too competitive riding with horses she is boarded
with.  At rides she doesn't get quite so competitive with strange
horses.  So, being my only horse until we find our own property, I
would like to try to condition her back to where we can do some slow
Fun Rides and/or slow LD rides.  Thus I want to be sure my
conditioning program toward eventually riding her again is slow enough
and that I don't push her too quickly.  
So here's my questions/comments:
How long should I continue to handwalk her at the walk and when should I increase distance?
    I'm thinking 2 more weeks at current
distance...increase distance for another 2 weeks of handwalking (one
month total here)
Should I even consider allowing her to trot in hand at all?  
    I'm thinking of continuing a few trot steps but don't know when to allow more??
Distance--When I do add more distance for handwalking and/or
handtrotting....I often measure by the next telephone/power pole along
the
              
back road.  This gives me a measureable distance I can easily
use.  
As to pasture turnout that is still yet to come.  The vet/chiro
has said no hilly pastures for her at our last visit and nearly all the
pasture is quite hilly.  Am looking at scheduling another
vet/chiro visit in January for re-evaluation and her opinion on my
horse's readiness to return to hilly pastures...again to be sure I
don't push my horse too quickly.  
SO if anyone is willing to help me through this process of slowly
getting my horse back under saddle it would be greatly
appreciated.  I have a tendency to want to hurry and realize if I
want to distance ride her again that I must go very slowly.
I am also hoping this will help other Newbies in conditioning and/or reconditioning their horses as well.
Thanks,
Val + Sania
Note:  Future training around loud/fast/noisy dirt bikers is in order as she goes berserk