Post colic surgery return to work timeline?

[HappyHorselover]

My horse had a right dorsal displacement of the large colon March 25 that led to emergency surgery at Hagyard that evening. All went well - they just put it back, no twists or removals or anything. An “easy” colic surgery as far as they go! He’s recovered great, was back on free choice hay only a few days after and his full grain ration within 10 days. He’s stayed in great condition as I have been hand walking him a ton!

For those of you who have brought a horse back from colic surgery - what was your timeline? Hagyard vets and my local vet said no riding for 90-120 days but once you started riding again, what did you do? How long before you were “back where you started?”

I’d love to hear success stories!!

Here he is, 5 weeks post surgery
http://s59.photobucket.com/user/horse_fan_410/library/Mobile%20Uploads

[HappyHorselover]

Anyone?

[horsepoor]

I’d love to give you a timeline for mine, but it has been SO many years ago, I just don’t remember. My mare had surgery in early May of that year, and her recovery was complicated by an incisional infection. So I think we had something like 6 months off – something along that line anyway. As soon as I could do some walking with her, vet had me doing that as it really helped to maintain some fitness and kept her sane. Once we could actually start doing more under saddle, it was just a matter of slowly working up to a regular work program – I can’t remember exactly what we did or how long, but I’m pretty cautious so I would guess it was another 6 months before I’d say she was in full work (jumping) like before the surgery. I think it was about a little over a year post surgery that we showed again. It is all so blurry – that had to be 17 or more years ago!

Hope things go well with your horse – can’t see the picture (says album is private) so you might check the link.

[HappyHorselover]

I’m apparently too stupid to figure out how to make the photo public! Arg, such a dummy. He looks fantastic and he’s super cute too, you’re missing out lol.

Thanks for the reply! We have been hand walking a long lineing a ton so he’s staying in good fitness and spirits. No complications so far thank goodness! Hoping it stays that way as we missed almost all of last season bc he managed to get a 3" nail in his LH. Went in at an angle so no sensitive tissues involved but it got infected and was just a huge undertaking.

[ChasPonyCat]

Like the above poster, mine was over a decade ago so I don’t exactly remember. Surgery was in April and we were pretty much “back where we started” late summer/early fall, IIRC. However, he was only 3 so where we started wasn’t that intense

Good luck with your boy! Glad all went well.

[HappyHorselover]

Thanks for the reply! I’m wondering if there’s any chance of doing an event this year. We go Novice and he was more than fit for the level (I hold us back, not him). There’s a show 6 months and a week after his surgery date - I don’t know if I should even dream or just wrote off yet another season. Horses! Heartbreaking

[atlatl]

I had to do this many moons ago. Once he could go under saddle, we started with 3-5 min of trot, then gradually worked up to full work after 45 or so days. YMMV

[Small_Change]

If he was fit before the surgery and seems to be recovering well, I would think that you might be fine to aim for something the end of the summer? I didn’t get the opportunity to rehab my pony completely post colic surgery (he coliced again due to adhesions at the three month post-op mark and we chose to euthanize rather than attempt another surgery), and he had a much bigger surgery than your guy initially, but his surgeon felt that with careful rehab, he would be ready for a return to the hunter ring towards the end of the season (his surgery was in January). I just wouldn’t ask for collection work or anything that is hard on his abdominals until you’re well along with his rehab. I personally was planning on very gentle “work” in the form of walk/trot sets on very good footing and easy hacking at the walk until we had a check up with our surgeon to get the go-ahead for increasing his work load.

[cleozowner]

Dom Schramm just had a horse win his prelim event after only 3 weeks back in work post colic surgery…

[Ticker]

I’ve done 8 so I have a few thoughts on the subject.
Because there was no cutting or removal, your odds of complications is greatly reduced.

The big thing is the belly incision. This is the weakest point and you should allow time for that to heal and re-gain muscle thickness. Since rounding the back under a rider needs belly muscles to be strong, be mindful of this.

I started a walk program under saddle at 90 days on one horse and went 6 months on a horse that had repeat surgeries. The best advice I can give you, is to take it slow and get an ultrasound of the belly to check muscle wall recovery BEFORE you ask for anything strenuous. That way, you will know if he’s ready for more.
That’s what I did anyway.
Mine did return to full work with time and patience.

[HappyHorselover]

[QUOTE=Ticker;8649016]
I’ve done 8 so I have a few thoughts on the subject.
Because there was no cutting or removal, your odds of complications is greatly reduced.

The big thing is the belly incision. This is the weakest point and you should allow time for that to heal and re-gain muscle thickness. Since rounding the back under a rider needs belly muscles to be strong, be mindful of this.

I started a walk program under saddle at 90 days on one horse and went 6 months on a horse that had repeat surgeries. The best advice I can give you, is to take it slow and get an ultrasound of the belly to check muscle wall recovery BEFORE you ask for anything strenuous. That way, you will know if he’s ready for more.
That’s what I did anyway.
Mine did return to full work with time and patience.[/QUOTE]

Didn’t know we could ultrasound! I will totally do that!! I am all about taking all the extra precautions. Thanks for the tip!

[keysfins]

I did this just a few years ago. Horse had an impaction, which was found quickly in surgery and manually reduced, no resection was necessary. Recovery at home was slow and gentle. Slight complication when he developed a minor hernia as the external incision healed.

Hand walks for 3-4 months, then mounted walks for 2, then adding in brief trot sets. Less than a year later we were back to doing everything, including the fun upper level movements. The rehab process seemed slow and verrry conservative, but was quite worth it for the results.

Interestingly, the gradual work back was very good for him as far as regaining muscle structure and strength. Our saddle fitter came out several times as he came along, and he became quite symmetrical in his back when he was back to full work.

I hope you have an easy and positive outcome! The suggestion to ultrasound the abdominal muscles is great, I would have done that if it had occurred to me, or if my vets had offered.

[Boo]

My horse was similar to yours… no internal stitches etc. He was back in work at 10 weeks post i think from memory under vet permission. Started with lunging ad in hand stuff then under saddle walk and long/low/round trot. Built his fitness back up over 3mths i think. He naturally had a good topline and worked himself naturally well so was fairly easy.

Having said that i never got him back to where he was level wise. We think the surgery itself aggravated his back and his spine developed issues not long after. He had several minor soundness issues which combined made him too uncomfortable to stay in work.

[HappyHorselover]

[QUOTE=Boo;8656254]
My horse was similar to yours… no internal stitches etc. He was back in work at 10 weeks post i think from memory under vet permission. Started with lunging ad in hand stuff then under saddle walk and long/low/round trot. Built his fitness back up over 3mths i think. He naturally had a good topline and worked himself naturally well so was fairly easy.

Having said that i never got him back to where he was level wise. We think the surgery itself aggravated his back and his spine developed issues not long after. He had several minor soundness issues which combined made him too uncomfortable to stay in work.[/QUOTE]

Aw sorry to hear! Both my internal medicine vet at Hagyard and my vet at home say absolutely no riding until day 1 of month 4 at the earliest - loving the idea of ultra sounding to see how things look on the inside first. So we have about 5 more weeks of hand walking but he gets to resume regular turnout with his buddies in a little over a week so that will help!
My vet here suggested:
Month 4, mounted hacking, building up time u/s each day.
Month 5, trot sets
Month 6, add canter
Seems a little conservative to me and I’ve asked my Hagyard vet for her opinion as well. And wanted to hear what worked for others!

[2tempe]

My mare has had two displacements. One right, one left. Both surgical.
She was on stall rest/hand grazing and walk for a month. Then pasture turnout for a month (normally out 5-6 hours).
She was allowed to begin back to work after 2 months. We started w/out rider, lunging in tack/side reins for a few days then moving her to long lining. This program - starting w/ mostly walk and some trot, moving up to mostly trot over several weeks. These sessions were relatively short - 15 minutes early on moving ultimately to closer to 30 minutes. The long lining was good because it allowed easier and frequent direction changes which helped supple her. Every other day work schedule per vet.
At pushing 90 days, ridden every other day for another four weeks, roughly thirty minutes, much walk with trot worked in gradually. By end of the 90 days we were throwing in some canter - a circle here, a lap there. Note that at the walk we did transitions w/in gait, shorten stride, lengthen. Also leg yields, shoulder in, half pass.

This worked well both times. I will mention that post the second surgery, and a subsequent bout of enteritis (my problem child) she has had some difficulty getting her canter back to prior levels. Some has been inconsistent fitness levels, but I also believe some scar tissue may be part of the problem.

Good luck.

[JenEM]

I feel like I was on a faster timeline when my mare colicked 5.5 years ago. She colicked, had an illeal divertiula closed off, in mid-September at Morven. I was handwalking her as soon as she was home, and then got on her around Thanksgiving, so maybe 60 days? She was still on restricted/small paddock turnout and the vet wanted her trotting undersaddle before she went back into the big field, mainly to burn off some energy safely so she wasn’t a total nut (even with some chemical help). I put her back into work slowly, but basically the way you’d do with any horse that had been laid up, and we went to our first schooling show in late March, IIRC.

Best wishes to you and yours for a speedy recovery!

[Dressagelvr]

I think your vet has the right time table to hope for. The last thing you want to do is rush. The most important thing is to listen to your horse. Don’t let the horse speed up the timeline, but do slow it down if he shows any sign of struggle.

There’s no such thing as easy colic surgery, only degrees of difficulty.

[HappyHorselover]

Thanks for all the stories! We have been hand walking all over the farm so he’s been doing hills and stuff and I’ve also long lines a few times to break up the hand walking monotony. He’s in great shape - just don’t want to stress that incision. We aren’t going to need to get his fitness back per se, rather we need to build up his stomach muscles again. Very new to me!