If you have horses, the time will come when you will have to care for a sick or injured horse.
Once the horse has recovered from whatever was the problem, it is important that you have a plan for reintroducing your horse back to his work – we all want a healthy, happy horse.
It is important you find the right balance when bringing your horse back to its previous level of work.
So how do you know when and how fast to begin the comeback process? First of all, you need to know your horse is completely recovered from whatever was ailing it. This may involve getting an opinion from your local veterinarian. Your vet may also provide you with some guidelines as to a comeback program and some signs to watch for indicating you are going too fast or too slow.
Recently there was an excellent article on this very topic – it was titled ‘Safe & Successful Comebacks’ written by Christine Barakat with Heather Smith Thomas (EQUUS 436). The authors identified several categories of injuries or illness and provided guidelines for the return to fitness.
A very common injury is musculoskeletal injuries – bone, tendon or ligament problems. These injuries often take much longer to heal so the return to activity must be slow and gradual. The primary goal is to avoid re-injury. This can be accomplished by going slow and steady. The authors suggested sticking with flat, even footing, avoiding work that requires tight circles, keeping sessions short to avoid fatigue and hosing the leg or applying ice therapy after each session. The warning signs that all is not well include slight lameness, sluggishness, attitude change or any other subtle signs that something is not right.
A second area of concern identified by the authors was respiratory illness, such as influenza. Yes – your horse can get the flu! Again the priority is to prevent a relapse so you don’t want to start the process too early. Once you do start, it was suggested that you work the horse vigorously enough to help “air out” the lungs, but you must keep an eye on the horse’s attitude and appetite – these are good indicators of how the horse is feeling. Also, you should monitor the horse’s rate of breathing to insure you are not pushing too hard. Warning signs are if the horse is repeatedly coughing even when at rest and if the horse has a fever.
Recovery from colic will vary depending on the type and severity of the colic experienced by the horse. The goal is to resume healthy activity levels. In some cases, movement helps get rid of the colic with no lasting effects so normal activity can be resumed right away.
I have personal experience with this one – one of my horses was showing signs of colic and we were very worried about it.
We called the vet (of course it was after hours), loaded the horse in the trailer and headed off to the clinic. By the time we got to the clinic it was dark out, but the vet was ready for us. We unloaded the horse and, surprisingly, it was ‘healthy as a horse!’ The trailer ride was enough to jostle things around and his colic resolved itself.
You know your horse the best – follow the plan that best suits you and your horse for a full return to the activities you love.
