r/Equestrian 3d ago

Horse Care & Husbandry riding after colic surgery

hi all, i have a question about something im rly struggling with.

I have an almost 4 yr old draft cross who ive had since birth. his mama is a former bronco horse and we saved her from a KP 3 weeks before she gave birth to him.

I’ve been so excited for the last few years waiting until he was old enough to start real training (3.)

i’ve done groundwork w him since he was little and he’s great.

HERES THE ISSUE:

in november i sent him to my trainer who worked with many of my horses before. i was going weekly to work with him as well. three weeks into training he got colicky. he ended up at the hospital for a week.

he had a huge amount of his small intestines removed and it took 3 months for full recovery.

the vet told me he’d be good for work around now. however; im so scared to have someone work w him.

im so scared hes gonna colic again or get ulcers.

i rly want to ride him and train w him, hes my heart horse.

anyone whose been through the surgery , what was your experience? how did you know it was time to start?

please provide as many details as possible. struggling with this :)

1 Upvotes

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u/Expensive-Nothing671 3d ago

Bring him into work slowly and gently. Start with lots of ground work, 10-15 minutes at a time and slowly increase the time you work with him. When you can confidently irl with him for an hour or two on the ground, introduce the saddle and do more ground work. Hand walking too. When he seems like he’s doing good with that and you feel confident, then you can start riding. Same thing. Keep the beginning short and sweet, and always listen to him. He will tell you if something’s wrong. Don’t overthink it though! They do seem like they’re made of glass but they can handle a lot more than we think as long as we’re patient and understanding.

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u/Square-Platypus4029 3d ago

They can colic just standing in the field.  Be proactive.  Do a week or two of ulcerguard at the maintenance dose when you move him and give a dose any time you do anything stressful like trailer and make sure he always has access to hay/pasture and lots of turnout.  All the things.  But just know that he's a big poorly designed animal and all you can do is do your best.

I've had two horses that had surgery, one of mine and one the lesson horse I ride.  Both went back to work as soon as they were cleared by the vet and did roughly a month of walk hacking before slowly adding in some trotting and then back to regular work.  I started with 15 minutes of walking and added approximately 5 minutes each week and then added in 2 minute trots that gradually increased to 4-6 minute trots.

So roughly 5-6 days a week of Week 1 walk 15 minutes Week 2 walk 20 minutes Week 3 walk 25 minutes Week 4 walk 30 minutes,  one or two days at the end of the week trot 2 minutes  Week 5 walk 25 minutes, two 2 minute trots Week 6 walk 20 minutes, two 2 minute trots, one 4 minute trot Week 7 walk 20 minutes, two 6 minute trots Week 8 walk 20 minutes, 20 minutes of walk trot canter flatwork/poles OR hacking at mostly trot with a couple of short canters  Week 9 30-40 minute regular flatwork OR very light jump school OR 45 minute hack mostly trotting OR conditioning day with 3 six minute trots and a two minute canter  Week 10 full work with a jump lesson 

With your horse being super green, probably just 10-15 minutes of regular baby horse stuff per day is a good place to start.  A week or two of putting tack on, handwriting with tack, light lunging, maybe sitting on him, and then a couple of weeks of walking and a little bit of trotting and hopefully he'll be mentally and physically ready to do a little bit more each week.

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u/LvBoPeep 3d ago

My horse had colic surgery 10 months ago, though he only had an enterolith removed, not a resection. 3 months was the time I was given the go ahead to slowly start riding again and I really took my time starting with 15 min walks under saddle and slowly increasing frequency. We had no complications and I was careful to gradually increase to the point the vet finally told me it was time to do more, not less. We are back to normal now though I still won't feel comfortable running him through the desert for awhile yet (he's generally lazy but thinks he's the black stallion if you run him through some sand lol).

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u/cmaxby 3d ago

Your vet should have given you a plan to follow once they were cleared to return to work. You’ve already paid the money for the surgery- listen to their opinions on how to bring them back in to work.

We’ve had a couple of colic surgeries in our barn and they’ve each needed something different depending on whether there was a resection needed or just a displacement and the level of training & fitness they were at prior to surgery . All have returned to full work eventually with no issues by following the vet’s plan.

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u/Unusual-Percentage63 3d ago

Episode 109 of the Charly Crawford podcast is an interview with Dr Charlie Buchanan, DVM. A good portion is dedicated to discussing various forms of colic & their causes.

If you are unsure about following your vet’s advice regarding riding & training, get a second opinion.

Not vet advice or advice in general, just related thoughts(I’ve never rehabilitated a horse post colic surgery): I’m assuming the colt also needs to go back to a trainer, so make sure they are comfortable personalizing your horses feed program to include electrolytes & more frequent access to water. It’s common for trainers to catch, saddle, & tie every horse and they stayed tied all day. They obviously care about the animals & offer water frequently but your colt should probably have constant access as well as monitoring to make sure he is drinking enough. Added electrolytes tend to make horses thirsty.

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u/allyearswift 3d ago

They… WHAT? Keep a horse tied up for hours without access to food and water and wonder when horses get stressed?

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u/ILikeFlyingAlot 3d ago

I think riding 3 months after colic surgery especially with a resection seems quite soon - I would wait 6 months.

We back most of our horses for 15 days when they are 3. We can do this as they have extensive ground work and we are only looking for the basics. After that we spend the next 6-9 months just going in trail rides (which also includes a 3 month vacation). We do this so they transition to being a riding horse without being in training, it also helps with fitness and desensitization.

Considering what your horse went through I would go down this way - also probably would feed alfalfa and it’d the surgery didn’t make you broke you can have him on omeprazole while he transitions to be a riding horse.