Fitness/strengthing tendons

[happyhorse]

My horse is 15 and recently strained his suspendry ligament while out in the field.(he has very boxy upright feet)he has been rested and is now fine. He was quite fit before this happened, i rode more or less everyday.

What i would like advice on is what would be the best course of action for bringing him back into work, like a fitness regime? i am thinking along the lines of lots of walk and then trot work (road work) to try and strengthen his leg again and hopefully prevent a reoccurance of the same injury.

i was wondering what the best fitness program would be to follow and if anyone else has been through this sort of thing before and what they did?

any suggestions will be apprieciated! i just want to do the best for my horse !

[alexa]

I did not have exactly this problem but my horse was off work for a time due to shoulder problems. When I re-started wroking him it was 15 minutes at walk, and then graudually building up day by day to longer times and gradually including trot and canter. Any uphill work is good, and usually long slow work only occasionally a short gallop. Best wishes with him.

[ponyvet]

There is nothing specific you can do to strengthen the suspensory ligament as it is a ligament and by definition that means a piece of fibrous tissue which connects bones together. However you can help prevent further injury by following a few rules. Firstly for increasing his fitness to help support the ligament:

Start very gently and slowly. Do lots of short sessions of walking and gradually increase the time. Say start at doing 5 mins (per day) for the first week and increase it by 5 minutes each week until you get to half an hour. Then you can bring into that half hour a few minutes of trotting, and again increase the time spent trotting by a few minutes each week. After that you can think about cantering.

Taking things slowly helps to build up the muscle tone and will strengthen the leg generally. Expect it to take a long time and don't rush it.

Preventing further injuries is best done by remembering that like any athlete, a horse needs to warm up before doing any strenuous activity, so getting on and going straight off for a canter is a stupid idea and is asking for trouble.

[larri]

Isn't trotting on the road now frowned upon as a fittening exercise? I'm sure I read that it was proven to cause a lot of problems due to the heavy concussion.....anyone?

[ponyvet]

that's a bit of a hot potato. Some say it's ok, some say not. I never trot my horses on the road, just because I don't like to. I prefer to move nice and slowly down the road, as there are a lot of speedy drivers nearby. I suppose I feel more in control at walk! (says something bad about my riding I think! :D )

As far as concussive forces go, yes inevitably there are greater concussive forces on the road than on soft ground. However for a tendon or ligament injury I think that's not really an issue, more important is to keep work slow and ustained, rather that chopping and changing pace too much. Also working on a sand or very soft surface will put extra strain on the tendons and ligaments so should be avoided. What you want is a hard sand arena, or a good ddry hard field.

[happyhorse]

thanks for the advice, i have been given the go ahead to ride him again on sat, i will take it slow with lots of walk and gradually building him back up. i have been walking him out in hand for the last few days....... which is keeping me fit too!!!


i am thinking of getting some mango therphy boots for him, has anyone used them before? and how did they get on with them?My friend and i are going to get some between us as her horse has been of work due to a bowed tendon. ( he is a ex racehorse ).

[ponyvet]

have heard lots of good feedback from them, but more to do with bony problems, like arthritis and such. I have no idea if they work on tendons or ligaments. Please let me know as I would be interested to see if you think they help.

[happyhorse]

i have been on the Bioflow site and read alot about them, it says they are good for bowed tendons, ligiments and such. i am hoping to get some soon so i will let you know. As my horse is getting older now too i hope it will help him incase of arthritis. Apparently you use them before and after exercise as it improves the circulation and helps prevent injury and reinjury.

i will let you know how we get on with them with my horse and my friends who has a bowed tendon.

i rode him in walk round the block today for about 10 mins, the first time i have been able to ride him for a while and it was so good to be back in the saddle!!!!!


:)