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Sorry to hear about your friends horse. Muscle tears can be very serious
injuries. The difference between pro-athelete's and your friends horse is the
amount of therapy that is available. The pro's have the latest and greatest
available.
Since I am not there and do not know more about the injury other than what you
said. It is very important that anything I suggest be run by the attending Vet
for contraindications.
In general a problem with tears is going to be the scarring, and the way it is
organized or not. Allowed to heal with some stretching the scarring has a
potential for going further than is actually needed. This causes shortness in
the muscle, and what we call "cross links" which restricts motion and is not
as resilient.
I suggest that as soon as the Vet agrees the muscles are stretched. The whole
horse should be stretched.
There are other modalities that help with soft tissue healing, accupuncture,
Magnetics, TENS, Ultrasound... Nutrition is very important, the building
blocks need to be there for the body to do the job.
Was the tear so bad that the Vet had to sew it up?
Certain massage techniques can help with the healing process by increasing the
circulation. One needs to wait until the acute stage is over.
I had a client ( he died of colic) that came over from England last year. He
ran a wood post through his shoulder over there. The prognosis was after
therapy he would be a good hack but not a dressage horse. We treated him here,
and he came in 2nd, in the region at Gran Prix Level. So there is always hope
it just matters how much your friend is willing to put into the therapy. And
of course the above is a sample of one. It is very important that whoever is
brought in to work with the horse work with the Vet, the effort has to be part
of a team.
After the injury has healed it will be important to remove the holding/bracing
patterns that will develop as the horse's body moves away from the pain and
learns to use itself in a less than optimum way. This will tell over the long
haul of an endurance ride.
The bottom line is proper Vet supervision, Farrier work, stretching and
Nutrition.
hope this helps.
good luck keep in touch. How's your horse doing? Mine are fat and sassy, been
too busy for them.
jim pascucci
Certified Advanced Rolfer
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