Did you know that one of the most frequently overlooked aspects of recovery from an injury is assessing the mental and neurological components on which successful rehab may depend? Rehabilitating the Lame Horse: Mind, Body and Spirit is the fourth and final episode in the free Subtle Lameness video series produced by California-based Equitopia and Padma Video to help horse owners and handlers recognize and respond to the early warning signs that a horse is in pain.
Horse trotting freely
A successful rehabilitation program is more than just healing a tendon or ligament - It's about learning how to reset a horse's central nervous system.
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The 20-minute ‘Rehabilitating the Lame Horse’ can be watched and shared free on YouTube at: https://youtu.be/zwlLGNuSTqE
“When horses have had long term problems their muscle memory and neural pathways don’t function normally,” says equine orthopaedics expert, Dr. Sue Dyson, Head of Clinical Orthopaedics at the Centre for Equine Studies at the Animal Health Trust in Newmarket, UK, and one of the cadre of international veterinary and training experts interviewed about rehabilitation. “After an injury, a horse’s body adapts to pain by altering its posture and gait.
The longer a horse is lame, the greater the likelihood that the horse habitually move in a compensatory way.”
“The longer a lameness goes unchecked,” says Joanna Robson, of Inspiritus Equine of Napa, California, “the more it becomes ‘plastic’ in the body. Meaning, the body simulates and believes that’s how it’s supposed to move and behave.”
Muscle memory, the experts stress, needs rehabilitation just like any soft tissue injury. Nicole Rombach, of Equine Energy Ltd., explains: “Once pain is removed, the brain does not automatically reprocess to use the original motor pattern for movement.” A successful rehabilitation program is more than just healing a tendon or ligament. It’s about learning how to reset a horse’s central nervous system to function at its physical and emotional best.
According to diagnostic ultrasound experts like Carol Gillis, DVM, PhD, DACVM, “absolutely essential” to rehabilitation is stall rest, balanced hooves, roughly four months of hand-walking, and the use of ultrasound to establish a baseline reference, track progress during healing, and determine a proper exercise program. According to Dr. Gillis, 70-75% of tendon injuries occur slowly; healing takes time, too.
“Asking a horse in rehab to trot is a big step,” says Gillis. “Trotting puts twice as much load on the forelimbs as walking does, so it’s a big increase in exercise.” She recommends not cantering a horse until after roughly six months of rehab, and to train a horse ‘up’ to the canter during rehab not for riding, but for safe and simple turn out.
The video explains the difference between static and dynamic assessment, and offers ‘activation exercises’ to retrain muscle groups and reprogram movement. Rehabbing the mind, Dr. Berger says, through desensitization and counter-conditioning exercises, is essential because pain can lead to fear and anxiety. The final step to successful rehabilitation is in asking, why did the injury occur in the first place?
Rehab should not be synonymous with repeat. Join Equitopia on its path of compassionate horsemanship. Find all four episodes of Recognizing Subtle Signs of Lameness free on YouTube, and join Equitopia for $4.95/month to access its complete video library, get discounts on live events and online courses, and receive a live consult with one of its internationally renowned experts. Go to www.equitopiacenter.com.