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Mods - please move this thread if it should be in a different forum - I wasn't sure where the best place for it was.

My horse injured his suspensory ligament 7 months ago - the vets think it was actually reinjured although it had never been diagnosed previously. After 7 months of stall rest, hand walking followed by walking under saddle mostly without contact we have been cleared to begin working with some collection (I think my vet means this in a h/j sense rather than a dressage sense), some leg yield and a minute bit of trot on the straight sides only. He can't do circles, especially small ones - just he corners of the arena. He can do transitions and a bit of reinback. He is still confined to stall rest - we have rigged an outside area about the size of 2 stalls which he is turned out in for 3 hours a day - but he just stands and munches hay.

He has lost a lot of fitness. So far I have worked on getting a nice medium walk - long and stretched but in self carriage. I do transitions and a bit of reinback.

I would love any ideas you may have for walk exercises with these limitations - especially ways to help him gain fitness and suppleness.

thanks.

Ground work with poles--leading him over. Under saddle, make shallow loops on the long side to bend him a bit. Can you do turn on the forehand/haunches? If so, do walk squares. Down the long side, do a quarter turn on f/h, down the short side, do quarter turn, etc. Essential a turn in each corner.

BTDT! Medium/collected/extended walk with lots of transitions within the gait; little LY zig zags; lots of suppling in the poll, shoulders, neck and ribcage as you're walking your straight lines; halt - give me your neck - walk - give me your neck - halt. Keep everything within approved limits. There's a lot that can be done in the walk - we do a walk-only day at least every other week just to play with suppling!

And good luck with your rehabbing!

Shallow walk serpentines, just to the quarterline and back focusing on equal contact in each rein through all the changes of bend.

And i agree transitions within the walk

Keep them coming please! Odin was diagnosed with minor suspensory damage in both front legs yesterday, confirmed with soft tissue scans. I'm very bleak. We're on 6 weeks of rest before the next scan, followed by rehab.