This article first appeared in the June 2020 digital edition of Equestrian Life. To see what’s in the current issue, click here.

Evidence tells us that implementing a rehabilitation program improves the quality of the healing.

The principles of rehabilitation

By Dr Maxine Brain

A properly managed rehabilitation program can restore the health and ability of a horse so that it can perform at a level equal to, if not better, than it was before it was injured.

There is a lot of evidence, both scientific and anecdotal, that implementing a rehabilitation program on a horse that has had an injury improves the quality of the healing and reduces the risk of a recurrence of the injury when the horse returns to performance. Added to these is the benefit that many horses that have undergone a suitable rehab program return to a level of performance equal to that reached prior to their injury/accident compared to those horses which are not rehabilitated (only spelled in a paddock) and perform at a lower level when returned to work.

The aim of rehabilitation is to restore the health and physical ability of the horse to enable it to perform at a level equal to, if not better, than it was before it was injured. Whilst most owners would be happy to have a horse return to the same level of competition, there are times when an injury or accident has occurred before the horse has achieved its maximum potential, and in these horses the aim is to have the horse improve and perform beyond what it had previously achieved….

Read the full article in the June 2020 issue of Equestrian Life magazine here.

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