How unfit can a horse get in 3 weeks?

[katieB]

Milly has been out of work for the past 3 weeks, on complete box rest for just over 2 of them. Im wondering how unfit she will have got in this time. I am going to start walking her out at the weekend hopefully but i want to know how slowly to take things.

[skye06]

I'm asuming she was on box rest due to injury, this could mean that her fittness level has dropped considerabbly. My OH says for every week out of work they need at least 2 to re-fitten.

[Equine_student]

it totally depends on the injury, a horse shouldn't loose much fitness that quickly but best thing to do is see how it goes. Owners no there horses best so if she feel ready to do more go for it but just up the work slowly.

[katieB]

She was on box rest due to an abcess in her foot, if that makes a difference. I was hoping to take her out for a short walk this afternoon but it must be near 30 degrees already so maybe we'll leave it till tommorow!

[jenren!!]

When Aramis had an abscess she was on box rest for a few days but out of work for about 3 weeks because she was in the field lame for a week before we found it. She didnt lose too much muscle, as she wasnt in a massive amount of work before she did it however she didnt have any by the time we got back on her.

I think yours will have lost a considerable amount especially since she was on box rest a while as she's hardly moving at all, so once she's back in work it should take about 3 weeks to fitten her up both physically and mentally.

So my question is - how much muscle did she have before she got the abscess?

Jenny xx

[katieB]

Milly is fairly well muscled, i could tell she had lost a little bit of muscle on her neck in the first week alone. I'll just start with some walking only for a couple of weeks.

[alwaysfallingof]

Max was very fit, then had to be off work for 3 weeks and at the end of that had no muscle left at all. Having said that, during those 3 weeks he spent 1 of them at the Royal Vet College, and had to go under general anaesthetic which knocked it out of him.
I would think that as long as you're careful, she shouldn't take *too* long to get back to where you were. Just walking for a couple of weeks is a good idea though, a lot of people underestimate the importance of walk for building muscle and fitness.

[andreaB]

my horse had a period of rest & some physio a little while back with a very good reputable physio , her opinion was that for a fit horse with good muscle you were looking at 6 weeks before it lost it's fitness to a level that would require a gradual rebuild ,

& i'm sure that we've all been in the situation here you go on hol for 2 weeks & feel guilty that horsey is not getting worked , in most cases i gather it is not a bad thing , especially if they are getting turned out as it gives them a break that can be good for mind & body

[katefarmer]

I don't think she would loose much muscle in 3 weeks - it takes ages to build it up - and quite a while for it to go away. It may look "soft" if it's not being used for a while, but it is still there and will probably return to it's usual condition pretty quickly. As far as cardio-vascular fitness goes, I think it depends on how fit the horse was before the injury, and what type of riding you want to do.

If you are talking about a racehorse, race fit - it would take a while to get back to peak fitness - but rather like human athletes, you wouldn't sustain that level of fitness over time anyway - it would be geared towards a particular race or event.

If you're just talking about normal leisure riding, it shouldn't take long at all. If she's now out in the field every day she will be fittening herself as well just by moving around. I'd probably stick to walk and trot for the first couple of rides - but after that you could just carry on as normal - depending what your "normal" is!:D

Kate
www.harmony-project.net