Depending on where your horse is, will depend on the type of recovery. The Universities will have the fancier recovery systems like the water pools etc. Where I worked if we were in the field doing a simple castration, I would cover their eyes with a towel and keep the horse down as long as I could by applying pressure on their neck. When they were ready to stand I would help guide them with the use of their halter and lead. Mostly just trying to keep them standing still, until they got there legs figured out. At the clinic we would have two choices depending on the reason for surgery. Most horses were rope recovered. They are brought into a padded room a halter with a rope attatched to the nose band is place on the horse and then the rope is ran to a ring anchored in the wall and then out a door. A second rope is tied to the tail of the horse and ran through a ring on the opposite wall. When the horse begins to stand tension is put on the ropes helping the horse stand and giving the horse extra balance so they do not fall down. The second recovery style is for horses who have broke a leg. We take them to a special stall the has a sling, while the horse is still asleep we put the sling on and as the horse begins to wake up we begin to raise the sling and horse so no pressure is put on the injured leg. Any time a horse goes under anethesia the horse runs a risk of hurting itself as it wakes up. Some horses like people do not wake up well. Some horse's their flight response kicks in high gear and they just fight recovery. Recovery is always a risk that you take when your horse goes under. In my eleven years as a tech. I have only seen personally 3 horses that hurt themselves in recovery. I know when my horse went through surgery I was not calm until he was standing back in his stall happily eating dinner.