Preventative Care/Maintaining a Horse's Fitness and Health

[amrodriguez]

Hi everyone!
One of my university classes had us complete a research project, which must involve some sort of community conversation/interaction. I’m hoping to use this post as a medium of sorts, to learn and read about other people’s experience with show horses (really horses in general) and how to properly prevent injury to their joints, tendons and overall health in general.

I have read a few articles and medical journals that discuss joint degradation in equine athletes, as well as various blogs on the importance of having a well balanced show/working program that is catered to the horse and the rider’s goals and individual needs. Having the 10 years of experience I’ve got working with horses, I’ve definitely seen the importance of knowing your horse’s limits and learning to properly balance your program. I think it is safe to say that it is a well known fact that in order for an athlete to perform well and maintain good health, they must have a balanced and well rounded diet, as well as take precautionary measures to ensure that they aren’t putting unnecessary strain on their bodies. As well as the importance of keeping up to date with medications, joint injections, chiropractor adjustments, etc. In the time I’ve been around horses, I’ve seen some show horses have freak accidents, riders/trainers/owners overwork their horses, which leads to injury and so on.

Really, I am hoping to hear the stories of anyone who’s willing to share any experiences they’ve had, perhaps with rehabbing a horse, or what they’ve found has worked best for them and their horses. While this topic can be narrowed into specific injuries and scenarios, I’d love to broaden the scope a bit and just hear out everyones different perspectives and approaches to maintaining a horse’s health and fitness, especially with show horses that might have a more demanding schedule.

Please, if you are willing to share, I’d love to hear from everyone! I hope to go into equine rehabilitation, so I am really excited to read everyones responses and learn from this post.

[Obsidian_Fire]

Okay, I’ll bite.

First, start at the hoof. Every horse you have or care for, teaches you something. My current one is teaching me all about the importance of hoof balance. She has negative plantar angles in her hind feet, and keeping on top of this is frustrating, expensive, and a a world class experiment of “try this, nope didn’t work try that, nope didn’t work try something else”. Sometimes there is more to it than just “the trim”.
Well balanced nutrition helps, but does not cure all the way some would have you believe. I do think if done right from the start it can certainly ward off or delay potential issues.
Maintaining fitness. First off I’m a big believer in building a solid base first. Tendons and ligaments don’t have great blood supply, which is why they take a lot longer to build up than muscles do. I think there are a number of issues that could have been avoided if the training had been a bit slower. To that end I do a lot of walking with my horse, in between sets of harder work. Then, if the work is that hard, ice (or cold hosing) is your friend.
This is also true of joint issues. I think many of them can be delayed (not prevented, as we all get older and wear out) with correct shoeing/hoof care, slow work building up fitness, varied terrain.
I’m also a big believer in getting the horse OUT. Quit bubble wrapping them and let them go be a horse. That does wonders for their mental health.
All of the above is what I’ve done for all horses I’ve had. The rest I think is up to mother nature and the fates.
As for rehab… the last horse I had was bound and determined to kill himself. One injury we never did get a diagnosis on, but he pulled/strained something in the hind. Stall rest and daily hand walking. For months. He finally got back to full work, things were good for a couple more years then he had a pasture accident where he tore a hamstring muscle. By this time he was over 20, so any rehab goal was really just to get him pasture sound. It was literally 30 seconds of hand walking a day, at his pace, which was painfully slow. Lots of cold hosing on the area. 6 mos into it I was able to do walk rides on flat surfaces. He never did return to full soundness let alone his previous level of work (3rd level + dressage).

So. This is my approach and perspective on maintaining health and fitness. Let them be horses. Have a great farrier. Have a great vet. Listen to your gut. Take it slow.

[JB]

the age-old question - how to keep a horse sound and fit for life

In no particular order, all these things are important:

• hoof balance
• diet
• saddle fit
• riding quality
• conformation as it relates to the job
• building a proper base of fitness before getting into discipline-specific work
• the environment in which they spend their first 5 years of life, where the foot is growing and developing in ways that it cannot be helped later, and in which movement is developing stronger ligaments and tendons in ways you can’t develop later
• cross-training
• ample turnout all through adulthood

Rehab - have done it 4 times on 1 horse, all the same RH leg:

• torn flexor tendon sheath as a 3yo. Rehab was simple at that point - small pasture turnout for the Winter. Good as new.
• severed extensor tendon as a 4yo. Rehab was stall rest for a few weeks, followed by increasing turnout, all while snuggly wrapped from hock to hoof. My vet, and I, consulted with several top lameness vets, and the general concensus was that as soon as the acute phase of the injury was past, start allowing more and more free choice movement, to help scar tissue form stronger links. Tissue that doesn’t move doesn’t have a job, so develops in whatever lazy way it wants. Hand walking work was started around Month 4, ridden work a couple weeks later. He healed without issues
• ruptured peroneus tertius tendon. No bony involvement, which can be a major complication of this injury. Rehab was very similar to the above, without the wrapping. Hand walking started around Month 3, ridden work Month 4. He healed without issues.

After all 3 of those, he returned to his previous level of work, and progressed from there, including jumping.

• undiagnosed injury to the RH, presumed high and deep in his pelvis somewhere. The consensus was that a 2 hour trip to the hospital for MRIs/etc might show the problem, but highly unlikely to change the course of action, which was pasture rest. It’s possible the best action could have been stall rest, but would likely have been needed for 6-12 months. There were times where he would get better enough I could ride him, and regular riding - DAILY - did improve him even to the point of being able to canter again. But any time off more than a few days would set us back weeks if not months. After a particularly long time off due to a very, very wet Winter, I never could bring him back, so he spent a few years happily hanging out in the pasture, until last year when things progressed quickly to the point of no return.

Even though his injuries were ALL in turnout, I am still very pro-turnout, and as much as the situation allows. Science PROVES they are healthier in all ways, from feet to lungs to muscle to ligaments to tendons to bones. You can’t take an animal that evolved to walk 10-20 miles a day, stuff him in a stall for 20 hours a day ,and expect his body to perform its best

My thought on rehab time is also this - whatever a vet says, double it. Nobody ever regretted taking more time to really increase the odds of a full and complete recovery, but there sure are a lot of horses who go back to the beginning because of going too fast.

[quietann]

@JB

My thought on rehab time is also this - whatever a vet says, double it. Nobody ever regretted taking more time to really increase the odds of a full and complete recovery, but there sure are a lot of horses who go back to the beginning because of going too fast.

My vet gave me a very conservative rehab schedule, which I followed to the letter, and he said it was double what was really needed, because most people would do things twice as fast as he advised.

OP: rehabbed her from LH suspensory desmitis, which she had surgery for. She was hand walked from the start, only a few minutes a day, and increasing up to 45 minutes. She was otherwise in her stall for the first 6 weeks, and one thing I should have done but didn’t during this period is have her on some sort of gut support. Luckily she was in a busy barn and they left her stall door open with just a stall guard, so she could poke her head out and watch everything. After 6 weeks, she got turned out in a tiny (size of 2 stalls) space for 2 hours per day, and the size of the turnout and the length of time she was out increased gradually.

I got on her for the first time 8 months post-surgery and she was exhausted after carrying me for 10 minutes! Went from there into the above-mentioned vet’s long, slow, rehab. Started trotting her within 2 months, and cantering 3 months after that. Her rehab progress maxed out about a year after her surgery, and while she was not ever perfectly sound again, she carried me happily doing low level dressage, tiny jumps, and a lot of trail riding for the next 9 years. This year… she has become less conditioned and less sound over the course of the trail riding season, so she’s retired other than 2 to 3 very gentle short, 95% walk rides a week.

Throughout the whole rehab process, she got acepromazine powder mixed in applesauce regularly to keep her calmer. After the first 6 weeks in her stall, it wasn’t used all the time, but she got it when anything new or exciting was added to her program, or if she was just acting goofy in general. (e.g. the period of time where on every handwalk, several times, she’d start bouncing around and cantering circles around me, and occasionally rearing! Like I said, her goofy times.)

[JB]

@quietann

My vet gave me a very conservative rehab schedule, which I followed to the letter, and he said it was double what was really needed, because most people would do things twice as fast as he advised.

That’s awesome! I see soooo many horses with suspensory tears who are told to be put in their stall for a month, then hand walk for 2 weeks, then get on and start a conditioning program. And so many of them end up almost back to the beginning, at least at the hand walking stage

[quietann]

@JB

That’s awesome! I see soooo many horses with suspensory tears who are told to be put in their stall for a month, then hand walk for 2 weeks, then get on and start a conditioning program. And so many of them end up almost back to the beginning, at least at the hand walking stage

A different vet told me, 2 or 3 months into the rehab, to just start riding her because she’d never come sound and would be “broken down” within a year. I did get on her - once - right after that, and it just felt wrong.

[RedHorses]

I have rehabbed a number of injuries (hind suspensory, several extensor tendons, torn meniscus) and as I had some technology to help with the return to ridden work last time I’m going to tell you about that.I don’t have any ownership in or relationship with the company beyond being a happy customer.

In 2019 my 21 year old horse tore the meniscus in his left stifle. I kept him turned out because he’s a pretty chill horse, hand walked and later long lined. The initial injury was diagnosed as muscle strain approximately ten days after injury, and the meniscus tear was found about ten days after that on ultrasound (because there was no improvement in lameness).

The 60 day follow up ultrasound showed a very small degree of healing. As it was healing we gave it another 60 days of the same limited space full turnout with hand walking/long lining. The following ultrasound showed solid healing of the meniscus and some more solid than liquid, lacey stuff in the stifle joint space. After a joint injection into that stifle (I’d have to look up what it was as I don’t remember) he was cleared to begin ridden rehab. As an aside; that stifle was ultrasounded a year later and the lacey stuff in the joint space was gone.

The technology I used was the Equestic Clip which clips onto the left side of your saddle (flap above the stirrup leather keeper on an English saddle, back edge of the seat jockey on a western saddle) and it tracks all kinds of data about the horse’s movement. Easy stuff like time spent in each gait, the horse’s bend left/right, and number of transitions between gaits (specifically, like W-T and T-C and T-H, etc). The one that was most useful during rehab was the symmetry analysis of the trot.

At the trot the clip tracks the air time each diagonal stride takes, the landing force of each diagonal stride, and the push off force of each stride. This shows very quickly if the horse is favouring one diagonal and how that favouring appears. Is the landing softer on one diagonal, or the push off weaker, or one diagonal stride shorter. At an individual ride level it will show the forces graphed for each diagonal which shows how consistent the difference is. At the horse level it will show the difference over the last twenty rides allowing any trends away from or toward symmetry.

That last one was key when I started cantering. There was a distinct shift to loading the uninjured diagonal after some very good symmetrical days of just WT. That symmetry returned quickly with a couple of WT days. This early warning let me see that my horse was not ready for canter yet. I continued with WT rides for a couple more weeks before reintroducing canter, this time successfully. I did check the symmetry analysis carefully and backed off whenever it started moving away from symmetrical.

The Equestic Clip can be used any time there’s a solid place to put it like a surcingle. It’s controlled via an app on a cell phone. Each horse can be tracked separately. Rides can be rated and has the option of making some
notes about the ride. Some detailed analysis is only available by subscription (like the symmetry graphs for individual rides), and some subscription levels allow up to ten horses on one clip (base is two).

This horse is 23 and still sound. We completed a 100 mile virtual challenge in 33 days this fall. I keep my horses on MSM, and this horse started oral glucosamine at 16 when a trial period showed significant, measurable improvement. He did have his lower hocks injected once to provide relief during fusion (3 years ago), but otherwise doesn’t get joint injections as maintenance. He has had regular chiropractic care since he was 8. I. keep him in regular work as much as possible as management for PSSM and summer allergy induced heaves.

[PaddockWood]

A healthy horse is one moving - no different than us. How much turnout does that mean? At least 12hrs, right? Ideally 24/7. And not left in mud to slip. Turned out on decent grass so they DO move…will be healthier in every way.

Stronger, healthier airway, better muscle conditioning, stronger tendons and ligaments and of course,
a better mental state of health. And in the company of other horses - either together or just separated by a fence.

Not to say every horse can do this, right? No absolutes. But ideally a horse starts it’s life turned out a lot and stays that way through their life.

We know a horse left to stand in a stall starts breaking down. Then, they go out in turnout and rip around and aren’t ready for it physically because they’ve been standing for 20 hrs often and that’s when things go wrong. Tears, slips etc.

And then like JB said it’s all those things too. Exercised, well ridden, a healthy diet and nutrition.

[J-Lu]

I’ll bite!

I have ridden and showed jumpers, eventers and dressage horses.

Joint degradation: I think this can happen easily if a talented young horse is pushed too hard too fast. I unfortunately think the young horse programs facilitate this. So many of the horses who go through it are retired by 12. I also think this can happen prematurely if a horse is drilled in specific movements and always ridden “hard”. Cosequin supplements help but they can’t fix inappropriate riding. Injections won’t fix inappropriate riding, they stave off retirement.

I’m big into nutrition. I like to send grass clippings from a pasture to Equi Analytica to get a baseline nutrition. I analyzed the results myself to estimate nutritional intake, and weighed grain intake to determine the daily intake versus daily horse nutrition. I balanced the diet to account for a) calories and b) nutrition status. I think nutrition status is so important because a horse is limited to what one feeds it and what the geology is on the pasture the grass grows on. Putting a horse on pasture isn’t necessarily great if the pasture isn’t great. Green isn’t nutritionally great.

Yes, I agree that a horse should move. My current horse is out 24/7 except for inclement weather in his own pasture and shares a solid run-in with fans in the summer with a neighbor. This works perfectly for him although he was raised in private turnout (with neighbors) and stall. He loves to move and runs alot, but hates any precipitation and RUNS to the run-in if it sprinkles. Or if it is hot. Nature isn’t his thing but he dislikes stalls. My previous mare HATED being turned out 24/7 even though she was raised outdoors. She was always turned out in a herd situation except for feeding but LOVED her stall and slept best in her stall. I tried turnout for 3 months and she HATED it and was lowest on the pecking order. She was so much happier when I got her a stall. So noticeably happier. She slept. I think one has to really listen to that particular horse for what their turnout needs are.

Regarding rehabilitation, I’ve rehabilitated a couple. I’d say “go slow to go fast”. Get the proper diagnostics. Be conservative even if it is a PITA to carry out. A month of two of PITA work is a blip in time to the horse’s life. My horse’s neighbor is a horse who was not diagnosed when he should have been, diagnosis took 2 years, the damage was likely done, and now he has an under 10 year old with a lifetime very limited workload with very expensive shoeing due to DDFT issues.

I’d love it if you can provide a link to your final paper when you’re done with it! We’d all love to see how you summarized things and can learn from what you’ve learned!