QUESTION:
I'm glad we found you on the net. I have a question. Our QH is recovering from a bad injury to her forward extension muscle. She is expected to make a full recovery. What I wanted to know is if you know any good massage books or web sites. I can feel how tense her muscle is becoming. Thanks.
ANSWER:
Glad to hear your Quarter Horse will make a full recovery. Linda Tellington Jones http://www.tteam-ttouch/index.html books and site has some excellent massage techniques that do work. I believe she also has other training philosophy, riding instructions--I can't vouch for them, as I've only used the massage therapy. You may also want to massage Absorbine Veterinary Liniment Gel into the leg (can be worn under wraps or boots) before and after hand-walking exercise. Make sure you ask your vet if hand walking is okay. I have found the Absorbine gel to help warm up the stiffen muscles before re-hab exercise. Absorbine Liniment cut with a bit of water can be applied after work-out to help/eliminate stocking up. Do NOT put under wraps as it can blister.
QUESTION:
Dear Lori: While searching through the Internet for horse conditioning tips I found your web page in Suite 101, Don't ask me how I got there. I hope you can find time to help me out on a project they have asked me to at work. I work for the Arizona Game and Fish Department and basically keep 5 animals, 3 mules and 2 horses at home for work situations.
My job requires horse/mule use at different times of the year, sometimes heavy (mountain lion capture), sometimes pretty easy (trail riding a bear snare line), but sometimes we may go 6 to 9 months without using a horse at all. Then suddenly we need them for 20 days straight in vertical country. I've convinced my bosses that not even mules can continually do that, and we have to do some type of conditioning program. My assignment is to create an exercise program that can keep these animals in shape with the least amount time I can spend doing it.
I know every professional horse trainer or vet will say anywhere from 2 to 8 days a week, but I don't think that will be acceptable time table. I was thinking something along the lines of once every 2 weeks in the mountains close to my house-anywhere from 2 to 4 hours with trading off between
