Thanks for this, I appreciate the advice and detailed plan. It’s very inspiring to know that type of conditioning plan has been effective to bring an older horse back into FEI shape.
One thing I haven’t seen mentioned here is working on his proprioception. This will be very important for his future soundness. So when you are doing all that boring walk work, have him doing something. Walk over randomly scattered poles, switch surfaces (hard to soft and back), up and down small steps, anything that challenges him to know exactly where his feet are. It is very important to work on this after an injury as that injury and altered biomechanics of being lame can cause loss of function in neural pathways. This can be done in hand or under saddle and doesn’t take much time.
And of course before doing any of that work, make sure that he is pain free and has good range of motion. Only when all three of those things are addressed should you start adding strength exercises.
As he gets fit, pay attention to his muscle development. Make sure he isn’t compensating in any area. Make sure everything you do is done with proper biomechanics. There are zillions of good core exercises to do on the ground and under saddle and you will find them in some of the above references.
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Thanks for sharing that!
Something to keep in mind when we think of horses moving in the field in all gaits so why not under saddle? When they are in the field they aren’t carrying 100+lbs, and they are also moving in self carriage. They are balanced and free from a rider influencing their body and foot falls and trying to maintain a riders balance also.
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This is a great thread! I’m rehabbing a horse that has been out of regular work and I’m starting with his feet (you probably don’t have that problem). He was in too small shoes and his heels are very contracted. My vet, farrier and I all agreed to pull the shoes and allow the foot to become more normal with gradual trimming. I’m also battling some thrush.
He’s new to us so we are giving him a chance to get to know us and will gradually bring him back to work with lots of walk work and cavelleti once his feet are good.
Get a stop watch and a log book. Increase time or intensity each week, but not both. If you start with 20 minutes of marching walk for week 1, then go to 25 for week , 30 for week 3, 35 for week 4. If you want to add trot in week 5 - you’d do 33 minutes of walk, and 2 minutes of trot (broken up).
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IME, the rushing rehab is most likely to happen after you get complacent about trotting “only a little bit”. If you are really strict with yourself about watching the clock you may be ok, but it is so easy to plan to trot “only” 5 minutes and then suddenly realize you have gone 10. If you make yourself do progressively more difficult walk work over a 4 week period, then working at the walk will really become your foundation for adding trot and canter elements of rehab. It’s not about going slowly enough at the beginning, it is about staying slow in that middle part…
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Yes I very quickly realized that this could be a problem, which is one of the reasons I wanted to search for a more specific schedule. In the past, most of the rehab I have done has been from soft tissue injuries, and my vet - the same vet as this time - generally prescribes a very strict and specific plan after we are ready to move on from walking only. Usually it is something like 1 minute of trot for 3 days, then 2 minutes of trot for 3 days, then 3 minutes of trot for 3 days, etc etc, within the 40-45 minute walk work, 5-6 days/week, working up to 20 minutes of sustained trot over the course of two to three months, with an exam after we’re up to 10 minutes to make sure the injured area is holding up to the increasing workload. I always follow this precisely and to the second, and have a kitchen timer at the barn that I wear around my neck (I swear the horses learn to anticipate the beep that means they can stop trotting lol!)
But without a plan, and a scheduled specific time of trotting for each day, it is very easy to lose track of what you’re doing, which is what I immediately realized when I got on this horse for the first time after our vet visit last week! He is in a little different situation than soft tissue rehab, and I did not discuss a rehab or reconditioning plan with the vet for some reason. That’s actually what prompted this post, but I do now have a call into him as well.
But whatever plan I end up with - and I plan to just walk for some weeks - I definitely have experience with sticking strictly to prescribed times!
I think the most important thing is to always be listening to the horse. Plans and schedules are nice to have, but you always need to be vigilant as to what the horse is ready (or not ready) to do. Erring on the side of caution is rarely wrong.
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The vet essentially cleared him for work, so treat it like reconditioning with asterisks. IIWM, i would start with the 4 week plan in the Clayton pamphlet, but 1.5x or double the timeline and add technical walk work in after 3 weeks of just working walk, gradually increasing that throughout.
After the first month, I might increase the time walking to 45 min over 1-2 weeks, esp. if you can do a variety of work, e.g. one day outside on hills, one day walking over groundpoles, one day working on collected walk. I also honestly would not feel bad about reducing #days worked per week to 4 as the duration and difficulty of walk work increases in the second month…others may feel differently…but it gets really time intensive.
Given his level of training, you can use the collected walk as a barometer for strength. Make a plan for yourself - like you will ask for 70% of max collected walk towards the end of month 1 and if it is easy, use it in the walk work, but if it is hard, use 50% until when you ask for 70% it is easy for short periods, then increase duration, then repeat with 80 or 90%. Do similar with trot and canter when you get there (month 2.5-3). If circles are where soundness is questionable, adding more collection on straight lines will be a good strength-building strategy. Use his level of training as an advantage here to choose the work that is easiest on his injury but still gets the physiological outcomes you want.
Disclaimer: not a vet or a pro, just a mid-level dressage rider and low-level eventer who has had to do some weird “listen to your horse” rehabs.
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