Horse Rehab/Re-education

Trainer and rehabber Stacey Kollman works to prepare equine athletes physically and mentally to return to their jobs - show ring, work or pleasure - and reschool "second-career horses" to meet new challenges and expectations.

Rehab is a holistic process, often involving a variety of professional equine-care specialists working to return a horse to physical and emotional health. The process includes a custom-tailored balance of work, combining various kinds of bodywork, a type of groundwork specifically geared to physical therapy, longe work on a line and at liberty, and mounted work.

Attention is also given to a variety of other health areas, including nutrition, feet and teeth. Rehab horses might be recovering from physical injuries or be returning to a more constructive life after some kind of abuse or neglect.

Reschooling involves a blend of the same techniques to help address physical and mental challenges that may be preventing horses from performing as well as they might. Horses who are candidates include individuals who have proven unsuitable for a particular "job" and those who have become overstressed, physically and mentally, in a specific discipline.

This work is also helpful for rescue horses and school horses who are basically sound and for older horses or broodmares who are green or are returning to work after a layoff and need some remedial balance and posture practice.