How to Hand Walk an Injured Horse
Understand how horses should be rehabilitated after an injury., Avoid letting the horse reinjure itself., Treat each horse, and each injury, individually.
Step-by-Step Guide
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Step 1: Understand how horses should be rehabilitated after an injury.
A horse is a heavy animal and that is coupled with the physical forces associated with galloping and jumping.
The legs on a horse, especially tendons and ligaments, are particularly vulnerable to injury.
Because of a horses' powerful legs, and thus the risk of re-injury, horses need a gentle reintroduction to activity after an injury.
Veterinarians are now taking a look at how people are rehabilitated from injuries.
This involves a gentle return to exercise as soon as feasible, in order to keep the joints supple and joints toned.
If you own a performance horse that is stabled in a state of the art facility, then hydrotherapy may be an option, but in a regular stable environment, then hand walking is the next best option. -
Step 2: Avoid letting the horse reinjure itself.
In previous decades turning an animal out was considered an option.
Turning out simply entails letting the horse into a space on its own.
This is not ideal because the horse is free to exercise at will and an energetic horse may gallop around a field, or kick out at other horses, and therefore do itself further harm.In past decades horses with injuries were assigned box rest.
The principle of this is for the horse to use the legs as little as possible, so as not to aggravate the injury.
However, this lead to other problems such as muscles wastage, stiff joints, and boredom.
These types of problems could in turn lead to behavioural changes such a crib-biting, weaving, or even aggression., All horses are different, and their injuries are individual.
There is no one size fits all schedule for rehabilitation.
Success depends on working with your veterinarian to assess the injury and monitor progress.
This allows adjustments to be made along the way should progress be slower or faster than anticipated.
However, purely as a guide, the following is typical of a protocol for recovery that involves hand walking.
For example, after a ligament or tendon injury a horse will need box rest for around three weeks.
This allows the original swelling to subside, and decreases the risk of further weight bearing causing a catastrophic failure (rupture) of an already stressed ligament or tendon.
Hand walking starts after three weeks of rest and this is done for three weeks.
The idea is to keep muscles toned, and increase the blood supply to the injured area.
After 8 weeks the limb should be scanned with ultrasound to check the state of healing and your veterinarian advise whether gentle return to ridden exercise is possible or further walking is preferable. -
Step 3: Treat each horse
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Step 4: and each injury
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Step 5: individually.
Detailed Guide
A horse is a heavy animal and that is coupled with the physical forces associated with galloping and jumping.
The legs on a horse, especially tendons and ligaments, are particularly vulnerable to injury.
Because of a horses' powerful legs, and thus the risk of re-injury, horses need a gentle reintroduction to activity after an injury.
Veterinarians are now taking a look at how people are rehabilitated from injuries.
This involves a gentle return to exercise as soon as feasible, in order to keep the joints supple and joints toned.
If you own a performance horse that is stabled in a state of the art facility, then hydrotherapy may be an option, but in a regular stable environment, then hand walking is the next best option.
In previous decades turning an animal out was considered an option.
Turning out simply entails letting the horse into a space on its own.
This is not ideal because the horse is free to exercise at will and an energetic horse may gallop around a field, or kick out at other horses, and therefore do itself further harm.In past decades horses with injuries were assigned box rest.
The principle of this is for the horse to use the legs as little as possible, so as not to aggravate the injury.
However, this lead to other problems such as muscles wastage, stiff joints, and boredom.
These types of problems could in turn lead to behavioural changes such a crib-biting, weaving, or even aggression., All horses are different, and their injuries are individual.
There is no one size fits all schedule for rehabilitation.
Success depends on working with your veterinarian to assess the injury and monitor progress.
This allows adjustments to be made along the way should progress be slower or faster than anticipated.
However, purely as a guide, the following is typical of a protocol for recovery that involves hand walking.
For example, after a ligament or tendon injury a horse will need box rest for around three weeks.
This allows the original swelling to subside, and decreases the risk of further weight bearing causing a catastrophic failure (rupture) of an already stressed ligament or tendon.
Hand walking starts after three weeks of rest and this is done for three weeks.
The idea is to keep muscles toned, and increase the blood supply to the injured area.
After 8 weeks the limb should be scanned with ultrasound to check the state of healing and your veterinarian advise whether gentle return to ridden exercise is possible or further walking is preferable.
About the Author
Melissa Ortiz
Enthusiastic about teaching cooking techniques through clear, step-by-step guides.
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