Coming back into work post ulcers

[InigoJollifant]

Mare has spent the last 2 months off work having treatment for ulcers (probably brought on by stress of moving). Before the ulcers were identified we had a saddle fitter out, who thought she needed muscle building up before refitting a new saddle - but possible now that this loss of topline was due to the ulcers…? So for about 6 weeks before the ulcers she wasn’t in ridden work either as we didn’t have a saddle…

so now she can come back into work I am at a bit of a loss of what order to do things in! A few weeks of inhand work before getting the saddle fitter out? Physio out for an Exercise plan? Mare hated this last time but perhaps this was the ulcers! Just not sure how to proceed and interested in thoughts!

Has she scoped clear?
Have you got the management of them under control?
I would get physio out as first call followed by saddle fitter to ensure current saddle fits now and then you will need to get them back out as she builds muscle.
Ulcers need careful management eg feed should be fibre based + under 10% NSC.
Always feed scoop of chaff 15 mins before riding and make sure they always have access to hay + plenty of turnout.

Best work for topline is hills, walking up and down hills in walk. Don't dawdle though, encourage her to really push through from behind and up.
Then mix it up with polework again in walk, encourage her to stretch put over the poles.
A few weeks in walk doing the above then slowly introduce trot and build up to canter.
If starting from a rest period then it takes approx 10 weeks to go from first sit on so I would do something roughly like this:

Week 1 + 2 hacking in walk inc hills twice a week
Week 3+4 As above + 1 x polework session
Week 5 + 6 2 x hacking with hills + 1 x polework session
Weeks 7 + 8 3 x sessions as above + Introduce slow trot work on hacks + over poles
Weeks 9 - 11 2 x hacking + 2 x polework with trotting
Week 12+ Introduce slow canter work to hacks + polework

You will need approx monthly physio to support your horse during the fittening work and at least 1 more saddle check.

Thanks for that plan, that looks useful. Only tricky bit is that her current saddle definitely will never fit (which is annoying as it was sold to us with her!) as it’s too long in the back - our saddle fitter reckons she needs a 17 and her current is a 17.5. So feeling like I have to fit a saddle to an unfit horse to even begin, hmm!

Yes unfortunately otherwise you will create another issue

Get her measured for a saddle and then but a saddle with an adjustable gullet. We've bought really good saddles second hand on the SaddleBank website. They deliver the next day. Get your saddler to adjust the saddle to her and then again in a few months' time when she changes shape.

I'd agree to start with the physio and def do not ride in a saddle that you know doesn't fit - if possible you could get her a cheap but well fitting second-hand saddle as a starter and reassess once she's built back up, you may then want to splash out on something nicer once you and your saddler have a better idea of her eventual shape.

You can do a lot to bring her into work from the ground, personally I don't like to do lots of lunging but I've spent hours in the past on long-lines, you can 'hack' out up and down hills on the long lines too and do polework, it's a good work out for you as well as the horse but great for their fitness and confidence. I have also occasionally ridden a horse being brought back into work and hence lacking a proper saddle on a bareback pad but I probably wouldn't these days as I value my nether region comfort too much! And obviously don't if she's going to be a bit spicy and fresh - but can be a reasonable interim solution...

We did bareback work too when bringing an older horse out of retirement. It was due to 2 school horses fuckarseing about in the field and getting injured so one of the older horses came back to work for a year while dumb and dumber recuperated.

Was a good few weeks wait for a fitter to come out and his old saddle didn't fit anymore so we started him bareback. He's angelic so was fine to just jump on, no spiciness. He just seemed quite intrigued then really excited a few months later when he realised the jumps being put up were for him.

It took us about 6 weeks to get him back into working shape and the fitter came out twice as his weight seesawed. First he dropped the grass belly, then he started putting on condition and his topline came back. Good job his owner didn't get a new saddle straight away as his shape really changed.

We do have a bareback saddle we have used with her before (during the physio period but before the ulcers period!) so I was wondering about going back to that. She didn’t seem to mind it, just used it for hacking her.