When I handwalk for a rehab, I switch sides every lap so I spend an even amount of time on each side just to ward off handler-induced crookedness.
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You could always try walking him in a surcingle with loose side reins. One of the TB stud farms in Europe does this with their stallions to keep them conditioned.
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Oh of course! But as I said above (buried in a long paragraph), I’m worried about him tripping and hitting the side reins and being unable to catch himself. We have no ring, and there’s not a flat spot out there anywhere! Great for stifles, not great for tripping 
And this is why rehab vets are starting to rethink turnout. If the horse is a mess mentally and burning through tranqs on stall confinement, they will injure that leg in 3 inches of space. If turnout is what the horse was used to pre-injury, then barring unsafe footing or fencing, that should be the goal.
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Hand walk him in a bridle, Keep him straight with the outside rein.
Bonus is that if you “tack him up” he’s in more of a work mindset and less likely to be spooky or stupid, and if he is, you have better control of him.
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Oh maybe I’ll put a second lead on the outside ring of his halter and see how that goes. At least at first - I have no clue where any of my bridles are right now Problems of having moved 3 times while your horse was not in work!
Good news is he is being a very good boy - he may have found his calling as a trail horse. I could be happy with that if he is at least rideable. I want to jump and show, but he’s having such a blast snorting his way down the trails that I am just grinning all day. Deer stands? Fine. Creek and culvert? No problem! Squirrels running and chittering all around? A-okay. Now if a deer bursts out at us I’m sure I’ll be singing a different tune, but generally he’s just snorting at everything but marching forward to see what’s next.
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This also wards off hand-walking induced shoulder problems such as biceps tendinitis. Ask me how I know.
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Popping in again with a mini update: we’ve handwalked for two weeks, working up to 40 minutes. No EquiCore, but the hills are good. He’s marching right along, generally pretty straight and happy to be out. We have seen every inch of the property though.
On that note, I tossed him in the round pen for a couple minutes today. I’m fighting the Doom Spiral/Burnout Brain with every fiber of my being, so I really needed to do SOMETHING besides handwalk. Keep in mind this horse has a daily Idiot Parade where he rips around the pasture with his buddies, so I don’t think 2 minutes in the round pen is going to break him.
He tracks up well at the walk mostly, the trot not so much. Honestly he looked “sound” but just a little… idk weak/wonky/stare-at-him-and-make-him-lame-ish. That is until I got after him a bit to go out to the rail vs doing his favorite teensy-tiny circle around me, which resulted in a buck-squeal and canter, after which he looked pretty good. Not sure what to make of that other than his weirdness might just be straight up laziness + weakness.
I have video of what this horse looked like on the lunge right before we gave up on the stall rest. Today was miles better, so at least he’s feeling okay. We will keep handwalking, I’ll track down my EquiCore at some point, and probably start riding him a couple times a week. I want to get him hoof boots but at the moment his feet are one or two sizes wider than they are long (working on it!) so nothing seems to be an option at this time.
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@fivestrideline: I recommend getting at Equestic (no, I don’t work there 
). It’s like a Fitbit or horses. I too was nervous about bringing my horse back into work and was constantly thinking I felt unevenness. The device will measure any differences in rhythm at the trot and takes other measurements. You can use it on your saddle while lunging or riding. It really helped me get past all that doubting. I think these are $375 (sometimes there is a discount). Really worth it - I think this has been one of the best purchases I’ve made.
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At this point I’m hemorrhaging money at him, so why not?
Can you tell me a little more about how this works, I’m assuming there’s an app? I’m off to google it but I’m curious how easy or finicky it might be.
@fivestrideline: how it works: You have to buy the device (https://www.equestic.com/) and then, yes, there is an app for your phone. You clip the device to the saddle, activate the app, ride, turn it off, and see the results.
It compares rhythm and symmetry between the diagonal pairs at the trot, and measures a few other things (not a ton) like impulsion, … It is super simple to use and to interpret.
Not finicky at all - I’ve never had it mess up. You do need your phone to turn it on, when you start, and off, when you end the ride. I don’t ride with my phone - I take it to the arena, switch on the app, get on, and then put my phone on the fence. I get off at the end of the ride, walk over, get the phone and turn it off.
The device will also show you a “norm”, at different gaits, based on what kind of training you do. For example, my “pace” at the canter is slightly slower, on average, than a “dressage” norm.
It’s cool to use, but most of all, it relieved me of constantly worrying (“was that off balance? that didn’t feel even. that was __”). It has also shown me how my horse reacts to different footing/arena prep.
Hi Fivestrides. I’m in a similar sitch. Horse is almost a year out for a hind branch tear. Did all the rehab including stall rest, rehab, shockwave and stem cell but after he kicked me and was being a danger to the rest of the barn even with massive drugs, I turned him out 24/7 at end of august.
I would say my guy was 3/5 at trot before full time turnout and now he might be 2+ now? A smidge better? I moved him yesterday and my trainer said he looks slightly better since she remembered him in July. Like you noticed with your horse, he looks great for a few steps, then takes a few wonky steps. I guess too early and I’m thinking this might be a 1.5-2 year journey, perhaps with no resolution. I’m finally coming to grips with this but hoping a winter of Dr. Green might help. Good luck!
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Ugh that isn’t fun. I’m sorry to hear about your horse. Here’s hoping turnout and time can make a huge difference!
I can make anything lame if I look at it hard enough, so that really doesn’t help . And I’m guilty of wanting absolute perfection before pushing for a little more effort from my horse. I know I’m not perfectly even or “sound” so idk why I think my horse will be 
Can you get a second set of eyes? I’m like you–I look at something long enough, and I see unsoundness when really it’s horse just found a weird dip in the dirt or maybe is just a little under fitness and feels weak. Or he may be expecting pain.
Having someone else look at the horse every couple of weeks who wasn’t me was the best sanity check. Because there are a number of times where “keep going” is the right answer, even if it’s “keep going” at very low intensity and knowing they’re gonna look a little weird. Even human athletes who look unsound have to power through in PT to get back to full, consistent force. That was the best piece of advice I heard a vet give years ago.
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I do actually - if I can get video the problem being finding a place to set my phone. But certainly not impossible. The person who did his rehab for me would most likely be willing to look at clips and give an honest opinion. And they know him, which could be good or bad.
I’ll second the suggestion someone made up thread about picking up a couple of Jec Ballou’s books. Lots of exercises you can do in hand to build strength. Especially if you have access to hills and poles.
Well, horse is definitely footy post-trim. I saw it a bit just after the trim but I think it may be getting worse. Pre-trim he would walk over all but the biggest gravel; today he was tiptoeing over the drylot and any harder ground. He’s also dragging the hind toes every step - which he wasn’t doing when he first arrived. He was LONG though, and chippy.
I don’t think the farrier carved out a ton of sole or anything, but he did take out some laid over bar and we are dealing with flares on the hinds (on the outside, inside wall is taller and pretty straight. Horse is sickle hocked). I’m worried about footiness vs handwalking related soreness. The ground IS super hard right now and he insists upon standing on the hardest spots near the gate (despite having acres of nice grassy areas to stand IN THE SHADE). At the same time, I did just start handwalking him.
In the past I’d just slap shoes on him and go. My issue is I do not think I can have this farrier shoe this horse. I’d rather learn to better rasp and keep up with things and put the horse in boots. However, he’s measuring 1/2 an inch + wider than he is long and I cannot find a boot that supposedly comes even close to working!
Is there something I can paint on his feet? Do I have to start hunting for someone to shoe this horse? Do I just give up and buy a motorcycle?
EDIT: turns out that a rough couple days of work + little sleep = a worse outlook on life. I still have these questions, but if the above post seems a little freaked out, much of that is sleep deprivation
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I mean this in the nicest way possible, but if you were bored to death with hand walking after 2 weeks, this is going to feel like an ultra marathon. (Trust me, I’ve spent way too much of the last 8 years rehabbing my own horses and for a while as a side business for others). I encourage you to do some self reflection on changing your perspectives and expectations. I find it is easy to start with trying to catch myself judging others. Like even in Walmart…lol. Stop projecting…anything…onto another being. Work on being present with your horse as you’d want him to be present to you. Do not come to each day with an expectancy for that day or any given timeline. And it is helpful to relieve stress apart from surviving a rehab journey.
My current rehab horse as an example…I gave him yesterday off, and so today we should have been working on building canter endurance. As I have been working on upping intensity of the work, but I can’t do that too many days in a row yet. I often hack out a little bit as the warmup as it helps him to walk out and thus start the “work” less creaky. And he spent well over a year in the barn and indoor so we are catching up on outside time before winter. But he was so enjoying his hack, we kept going for most of the time I had today. And then he offered to go a slightly different way and go up a hill that had been too challenging for him just last week. And he did that twice. We hacked for about 35 minutes then did arena work on a loose rein for 10 minutes versus the opposite time allotment. And it was a nice fall day and he was happy and willing. I didn’t make him stick to an agenda, and I don’t feel like I failed today either. There will be another day to do more canter. At the end of the day, I’m also just happy he is alive and can be ridden at all. Working on changing your perspective and managing your expectations makes it sooo much more bearable and is also more attuned to the horse.
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I get it. I do. And you’re probably right - but I’ve been stuck at the “handwalking and hacking” stage of rehab with this horse for… probably 4 years? Forgive me a little if the yawning stretch of potentially toodling around and overthinking every. single. step. forever. is exhausting .
Especially when he’s happy to gallop around the pasture (which he is, still, despite the tip toe on the dry lot), and looks completely sound until I start staring at him at the walk. I also stand here with conflicting opinions - a vet saying just to get on him, wtc NOW (uhhhh yikes, for anything this out of shape!), and also very knowledgeable people saying handwalk until spring.
I don’t think I’m projecting anything except my own desire for mechanical perfection in a poorly designed tank on sticks. Which comes with its own set of problems .
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That’s just the thing…he is who he is now. And none of them are perfect. Toodling might be the majority of the future in a reasonable outcome. Let that be ok…and if he starts exceeding expectations, great!
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