Rehabilitation

Today I spent the morning with a veterinarian I have worked with on many rehabilitation cases.  We looked at and evaluated three horses, all with different issues.  Often new clients will ask me how to rehabilitate a horse, and the answer varies widely from case to case, depending on what the injury is, whether we are focusing on emotional, mechanical, mental, neurological, or some other kind of issue, or combination of issues.  Here is a brief article that opens the conversation for rehabilitating a horse.

Rehabilitation Guidelines

These are basic guidelines for how to “bring a horse back,” to rehabilitate them physically, neurologically, emotionally.  It is a huge undertaking to rehab a horse.  It is a multifaceted and varied undertaking, and very specific to the individual horse.  One would never rehabilitate an off the track Thoroughbred in the same way one would rehabilitate a fat pasture pony re-entering work, or a horse with neurological balance issues.  At Bit of Honey Training we enjoy working with all types of horses, but the ones Kim likes best are the ones to stew over, thinking all the time about a new or different way to reach them.  These are some general guidelines, keeping in mind they must be modified to the individual horse.

• While it may be the same animal, you have a different horse each day.  Work with the horse you have THAT DAY.  Your goal is change, so this different horse is GOOD. 

• Never compromise your own safety or the safety of others, including the horse, his emotional and physical safety.

•  Listen to the horse and he will tell you what he is ready to try and what must remain a crutch a while longer

• Work incrementally, some horses need only one new stimulus per week, some need one new stimulus per day, some need several new stimuli in each session.                                                                                                                                                                                                  
• Sometimes a horse needs such careful timing of treatments that the practitioner must pay attention to whether the horse was able to walk for 2 minutes, or 2 min. 30 sec.  Details matter in rehab.

•  Cater to the horse’s strengths to build his confidence

• Never punish him or criticize him, even in thought.  Ignore all bad behavior (unless it is a safety issue) and praise/reward any miniscule steps toward the behavior you want to encourage.  Use caution in these discernments and read your horse.  He knows if the praise is genuine or not and some horses are more sensitive to criticism than others.

• Never over-face him.  If he feels incompetent or unequal to the task that has been set he will not attempt to work for you, and some horses will shut down completely in fear/apprehension/frustration.

• Remember you are the leader.  There is a time and place for healing yourself, but don’t ask a horse to heal in you what he must be healed of.  (ex. You are both afraid of dogs)

• Spend time with him NOT working on rehab.  Allow him to “be” with you as he would “be” with another horse.  You can still be the leader and also have him like you.  The best herd managers (equine or human) have the respect of their herd, AND their herd likes to be with them.

• Quit before he gets frustrated in a session – end on a positive note.

•  Repetition can be very effective or very detrimental – read your horse THAT DAY.

• Be present mentally as well as physically when with your horse.  If you are frustrated with work at the office he will only know that you are frustrated.  Horses react negatively to negative emotions – you are working in a mirror.  If you are too upset to focus on rehab that day, skip it.

A horse with neurological problems receiving an e-stim treatment from the veterinarian

Obstacle work is often recommended for a horse needing rehab.  I have developed a combination of pole work techniques that nicely sequence through the simplest of exercises to quite complex tasks.  These are the guidelines I give out with these exercises. 

Guidelines for Rehabilitation Pole work

Take detailed notes of each training session (a calendar works well) note:

·         Which set of patterns you used

·         How the horse reacted

·         Any aids used (physiotape, proprioceptive dangles, therabands, etc.)

·         Time horse took to figure out pattern, if the horse figured it out

·         Length of session (5 min, 10 min, 45 min, etc.)

Be careful to avoid tight turns to go back through the poles.  Even when done slowly and in hand, tight turns can be hard on horses in physical rehab., and tight turns can be precarious for horses with neurological balance problems, depending on severity.  A horse can fall or re-injure if the turns are too tight or fast, and it is important to realize the balance shift, muscular involvement, and strain on joints that takes place in a quadraped doing a tight turn.  Excessive lunging or running in the round pen should be avoided for the same reasons.  Always quit before horse gets frustrated. 

If an exercise is too difficult- i.e. he hits his feet a lot, he stops in the middle of the exercise, he turns and stares at you a lot, go to a simpler exercise.

For neurological cases, if these exercises will help, your horse will improve with a noticeable difference in the next 30-40 days. 

Exercises must be done consistently, 3-5 times per week to be effective.  Multiple short sessions are better than one long session.

Most difficult

Circular patterns  

Angles, circles, faster gaits

Grouped Poles

Raised poles

Flat ground poles in series

Flat Ground pole alone

 Straight and slow

Easiest

 


You'll notice that rehab work is quite detailed, precise, and requires a ridiculous amount of attention to timing and note-taking.  Often the exercises are not complicated for a human to do with a horse, but the discipline required on the part of the human is beyond what many people will do consistently, accurately, and while documenting it all.  There is nothing wrong with putting a horse into rehabilitation with a professional, and it may give your horse a much better chance at recovery.  In fact, many of the horses at Bit of Honey Training initially arrived for training, but when we learned of the horses' deficits they are put into a program for rehabilitation at Bit of Honey instead.  

If you have other questions or would like to schedule an evaluation, feel free to contact Kim through www.bitofhoneytraining.com