getting back to work after time off?

[Portia]

not sure if this belongs here (and sorry if a bit too long)...

madam has been off for pretty much 3 weeks now, went mildly lame - no heat/pain/swelling etc, just felt short in front, and showed lame only on the lunge (i think she hurt herself whilst being lunged, had a bucking rearing fit). Had vet out, to be honest not much help, just said box rest for a week and see how she goes??!

So - have done time with box rest, then another 2 weeks out on the premise that if its a pulled muscle thats about right for healing. Trotted her up on the hard - fine. rode her on the rubber - fine, felt a little stiff perhaps, lazy def ! short walking hack, fine if a little loss of confidence. Dont want to lunge her, lunge arena surface is deep deep sand, and not going onto the field either as I suspect thats where it all started!

What do I do now? friends have advised to get going and see how she goes. Suppose I have become neurotic that she has navicular or suspensory desmitis etc and by riding her I'm going to exacerbate any problems. Didnt rate the vet so unless i can see evidence of being unsound can see no point in having them back to 'sign her off'.

My plan is to start with lots of steady walking and just see? Thoughts? Advice? Valium?!

[Portia]

sorry to bump this up again, just really worried that am doing the right thing? Keep frighteneing myself reading about navicular :( .

[eventerbabe]

i'm bringing my mare back into gentle work after 5 years off. tbh, 3 weeks is nothing. i'd take it steady, walk for a week or so, slowly building it up to maybe 45mins to an hour. then start gentle trotting. but as your friends have advised, see how it goes.

[Tangle]

Is there any reason for thinking she might have navicular or suspensory problems? (other than the standard horse-owners-paranoia-syndrome ;)). Sounds like she's sound again now, so probably not too much to worry about. If you are still worried then is there another vet you could call out for a 2nd opinion?

Other than that, I'd agree that 3 weeks is really very little time off and shouldn't need too much leeway - take it a little gentley for a week or so, but I wouldn't be too concerned. Fifi's just coming back in after about 4 months off, she got about 5 weeks of mainly walk and a lot of stuff in hand.

Let us know what you decide :)

[Stella2]

Mmmm ... :rolleyes:

My mare currantly has a nasty does of Lymphangitis so I will be in the position of bringing her back into work again after, what I hope will only be a few weeks. Aside from my other worrries related to the condition, I have the one about bringing her back in. She had this last October and she was only off for 9 days before the vet advised just 'walking her out' - No trotting. Yeah right :eek: She was 'a little bright', I tried to stick to the vet's advice so pretty quickly she threw a full on wobbler and bronced me off :eek: She is usually a sensible good girl.

I'm really hoping to get through the first couple of days without problems, but I'm open to the possibility that we may not! I'm going to play it by ear and I will be lunging before I get on!

Good luck :)

[Portia]

Tangle you have it absolutely right, i have a serious case of 'one horse owner -itis!' (sorry!) No there's no real reason to suspect nav or otherwise beyond my own worrying. I just keep watching her and think 'is she ok? Am i doing this right?'

In my mind her legs are now delicate little matchsticks which should be daily wrapped in cotton wool and velvet boots... worse than having children TBH, at least they can tell you where it hurts, and they're easier to take to the doc too!

Thanks everyone for your reassurances, helps to put things into perspective (and learn, which is why i come onto these forums!). Will get going gently, if she's not ok it's back to the vet - and senior partner this time.