9months to a year box rest - what would you do?

My 20 year old mare has just come off boxrest today. She fractured a splint bone on the 22nd April and then had surgery to remove a tumour on her ovary whist on boxrest. She has been fine.

She's looking glorious, didn't go mad being turned out and is happily tucking into her tea. :)
 
I did it and spent £10k in the process! but the horse was out in time for summer and is really progressing. she's not rideable and they said she probably wouldn't be rideable but i loved her and wanted to give her a chance. Shes now so good at walking that i may be able to ride her in the future :)
 
My mare did 9 months complete box rest after fracturing her pedal bone, only came out for trips to the vets. After that she went to Rehab for 2 months, swimming, walker, spa etc.

It then took me 12 months to bring her slowly back into work, she was only sound for hacking and on the 26th September this year she was Pts 4 years after the fracture. Arthritis had set in and came on very quick (she had hock injury as well that had needed an Arthroscopy and arthritis had set in there too).

Would i do it again? No :-(
 
Not sure if any of our horses could cope with it! The oldest is in his 20's and retired as it is. They all live out 24/7 and detest being in the stable now, it usually gets kicked to bits if anyone is in.

We have two who will be turning 18 this next year, one will be 17 and the pony will be 9.

I'd have to seriously consider it for all of them....
 
Depends on the horse. My lad wouldn't cope with full on box rest but is more than happy pottering round the small hardstanding outside his stable so I would probably let him do that in the day and it would be enough to keep him sane. It is only twice the size of his stable but he likes to chat to his mates over their doors and have a nosey.
 
My mare is currently on box rest! She did 5 weeks complete box rest before having surgery and then has been allowed in hand grazing from day after surgery. She started controlled walking after week 3 which has definitely made a difference to her state of mind! I'm not sure that I could do complete box rest without in hand grazing at minimum! She loves having some fresh air and it makes me feel better too! She has now done 13 weeks of box rest and luckily it has gone by reasonably quickly!
Is there no option of letting your horse have some in hand grazing?
 
Depends on the personality of the horse in question. If it were my TB mare then no, I would not do it in any circumstances. I would either allow her to retire fully if possible or if not possible then I would PTS (and I would NEVER say PTS normally).
 
Appy had 9 months box rest with ems injuced lami. He was able to cope 95% of the time and came back okay.

My other mare, no way. The last time she was on box rest for 6 months due to a pastern bone injury she coliced once a month. So no with her I wouldn't do it.
 
Ali - this is all hyperthetical - we lost the big lad the day i found out he would need 9 to 12 months box rest, as he went into toxic shock.

But seeing the rolf thing today did open a few wounds - and i will be honest if he was still here how would i be feeling ?

I sometimes think we get swept up with the wanting to save them, but often we forget what were getting into - and once your on this route - how do you then call a halt ?
 
Agree with FreddiesGal, I would pts. A few years ago I went with vet advice of long term box rest. Mare was very stressed at first but vet insisted she would settle and become accustomed to it. Against my better judgement I agreed. After a month of very stressed horse she did stop complaining and then turned into a very depressed animal. The beautiful spirited girl with fun in her heart and eyes would stand at back of stable for hours on end, showing no interest in yard life whatsoever. At 3 months I had her pts and told my vet he knew what was best for her injury, but I knew what was best for her. Never again would I put a horse through that.
 
FreddiesGal said:
I would put to sleep, no question about it. Keeping a horse cadged up for that amount if time is beyond cruel IMO.
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Really ? Here is a horse that has just done ELEVEN months in a small barn. He is my horse of a lifetime, multi championship winning, Hoys M/W hunter.

Putting a bullet in his head would have been the cowards way out. It took skill, dedication, the care of one of the best vets in the country, many many hours of nursing him and ensuring his brain was in the right place. Many tears of frustration. This is what he looked like after all those months inside. His muscle mass has gone, but his skin is good, his mind is good, his feet were in trouble but are improving now.
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and this is what he looked like before his injury;
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For those of you facing long box rest I give you this guidance - listen to your vet, they have many drugs, both herbal and non herbal that will help your horse. Horses DO adapt to being inside, horses do not reason like we do. they do not think - god I have been in here for x days x months. Stick to a routine, don't cut corners. Give the horse a chance to recover. There was never going to be a bullet heading for my horse unless he was beyond hope, perhaps he was lucky to be in my care, or maybe not, everyone has an opinion.
 
Doormouse said:
All horses are different and so it would depend entirely on them and the circumstances.
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Exactly! I have a 2 year old ID filly who injured her stifle badly in January. Diagnosis and prognosis were both VERY vague - nothing showed on x-rays but she was SO lame that for the first week I had to go down every few hours through the night to help her get to her feet!

Because I knew her, and her sire and dam VERY well, I decided to TRY extended box rest. She didn't step outside the stable for 3 months, and for the next 3 months she only came out for long enough to walk up and down the passage-way once to check the lameness! It improved slowly - to about 2/10ths! A month after, we took her down to 3 Counties to have both stifles x-rayed for 'changes' - she trotted up sound and the x-rays were clear! The muscle wastage behind was considerable - but she passed the vetting for her grading in September and she's now looking terrific (although she only graded Class 2 in September because of the muscle wastage that spoiled her overall conformation marks and movement.)

I think she WOULD have tolerated another 6 months box rest if it had been necessary - even though the only excitement in her day was the delivery of the next haylage net!:D And it was well worth doing!

On the other hand, I put my husband's HW hunter down when the only remaining treatment available to him (for quittor) would have been extensive resection of the foot which would have left him very lame and strugging to move for several months. His arthritis would not have stood the box rest! And I WELCOMED a good excuse to PTS a 4 year old coloured (who had an EVIL temperament) when he suffered a hip injury that would have involved at least 3 months' box rest with an uncertain outcome. (The only certain thing was that he would have killed someone - probably me - while he WAS on box rest!)

You have to always remember that having a horse PTS doesn't hurt it - it only hurts you. And if you judge that outcome and quality of life aren't great, you need to suffer that hurt. But if you think that the horse WILL cope with the box rest (as my little Clementine certainly did) then extended box rest is NOT a crime if you do it well and the horse DOES cope! :rolleyes:
 
Alice - he looks to have come out the other side very well - would you mind saying what was wrong with your horse - i understand if you dont want to go into detail though

well done you and your team
 
Would put to sleep. One of mine had to do 6 weeks last year and in the end the Vet and myself had to make the ultimate decision of turn her out and hope for the best or leave her to lose her mind. We turned her out and thankfully she healed beautifully with no complications. After seeing a friend's horse after 6 months box rest, I almost didn't recognise the mare, she was stressed, depressed and had the most haunted look in her eyes, I will never forget it. None of mine would cope mentally with it and I just couldn't force them into it.

However, I wouldn't be critical of anyone who has done it or would do it. If some horses can cope on that amount of box rest than who am I to judge?
 
BH- I would consider it. He loves his stable and I genuinely don't think he'd be fazed by even a year in his box. If the prognosis was good I would at least think about it.

Nitty- no. She would get a bullet. She had surgery last year and the month she had sent her loopy. Dangerous to handle, weaving constantly, trotting round her stable. I just couldn't do that to her. After a month I was already saying to the vet if she needs more box rest we're going to have to shoot her, she isn't coping. Fortunately she could go back out!
 
I had a chronically lame 7 yr old TB put to sleep a couple of years back. My vet suggested 9 months box rest as a last resort but I knew he wouldn't have coped. I don't regret it at all.
 
I have some who love being stabled and would cope fine being stabled long term. And then I have ones who would be out of their minds if they were in a stable for longer than a few hours. I wouldn't do box rest with any of them however. I'd put them in one of our big barns if they needed to be inside or in one of the small outdoor holding paddocks.
 
To have your horse pts for their sake is most certainly NOT the cowards way out.
To put it through a living hell for your own reasons IS.
I do know some horses would cope perfectly well with long term box rest, and for those that's great, but for many many others FreddiesGal is spot on, it's beyond cruel.
 
As lots of people have said, it really does depend on the horse. Also agree with AA that it is times like this when it really helps to have a vet you trust utterly.

I faced the prospect of fairly long term (though not 9 months) box rest last year - for a horse in his 20s. With complete vet support we did it, I spent every waking/non working hour at the yard, grooming, equissaging, cold hosing, massaging etc., and everyone else at the yard used to pop into his stable and give him a pat and a carrot :) He was bright, eating well, looking well and when he started walking out he was as quiet as a lamb, his usual non-spooky self. This was him after about 3/4 months IIRC - as you can tell he was utterly stressed out :D

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Yes he's loose. Yes our estate is over 25000 acres :D

He then began turnout for a couple of hours a day in the school, building up the time before he went out in the field this spring. It's different for all horses, all owners and all situations. I don't for a second regret it, and all for a horse I knew would be highly unlikely to be ridden again :)
 
Our stressy warmblood had an operation and eventually 9 months box rest. I didn't know it would be that long at the start. She was young so I thought I should give her a chance. I honestly thought she would go mad and probably kill me as I didn't really like handling her much anyway (she is my daughters)

She completely surprised me, perfectly happy in her box and didn't even go nuts when she was eventually allowed to walk out in hand. This horse was 5 at the time and had run wild and completely unhandled as a 3 year old. Only thing she didn't like was being in on her own.

The ones who suffered were my other two as they had to spend half of each day keeping her company. The other had to go in the field on their own. They did get a bit of time out together each day when all the others came in for the night.

I wouldn't put my 23 or 36 year old through it for any reason though. In fact when my oldie was dragging a hind the other day I told the vet he was not allowed to go to horsepital or have any drastic treatment. Was lucky and a dose of painkillers followed by a run round the field sorted it (no idea what it was)
 
With my boy no way he would go mental and would probably injure himself more, but if the horse can cope and they will come to full use then maybe, thinks its lot to put a horse through as it is totally unnatural. difficult one
 
As others have said it depends totally on the horse. My old mare (was 19 at the time) had 8 months box rest in total for lami. In the early days I was seriously debating PTS as she just lay down all day and was in a lot of pain. My mum wisely said to me you will know when she has had enough but we never quite got to that stage. We never really knew how long she would be on box rest as took it on a week by week basis. She was totally not bothered by being in though she had a large stable and company and I spent a lot of time with her. That said she has always been the sort who was not worried about being out and is the first to hang by the gate as soon as it is raining etc. Three years on she is totally sound back out SJ and Xc although only on perfect ground and we have had no more lami. It was definately worth it. I would have to think very seriously if it ever came to it with my TB though as she goes a bit stir crazy even in for a couple of days:(
 
Gingerwitch said:
I sometimes think we get swept up with the wanting to save them, but often we forget what were getting into - and once your on this route - how do you then call a halt ?
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it's a difficult one GW and try not to tear yourself apart going over and over all the hypothetical possibilities.x
i think with any issue that is going to require long term box rest you can only judge things day by day ,week by week, some horses will get so depressed they will compromise their own recovery, if that happens, as heartbreaking as it is to have got so far along i think most would take the decision to halt. then you'll have some horses who will cope fine and come out at the end looking as fantastic as AA's pic up there:) there is no definitive right or wrong answer, each case and each horse has to be treated individually and the right course of action followed for them.

My big girl had a long period of box rest when she was younger, (with her old owner) she now hates being stabled and weaves and gets filled legs, she is now 17, if she did something or contracted something which meant she was on long term box rest i would have no qualms about calling a halt even if she had been under treatment (without box rest) for 6 months.
 
My friends horse had a year on box rest - ligament damage - yes has come back completly sound - and is now competing at elementary affiliated dressage BUT is a complete and utter stress head in the stable. We have spoken about box rest, and no way could this horse be on box rest unless he was sedated - he has to go out first and come in last - and weaves and box walks as it is. It is such a shame.
 
You just don't know till you have to face it. I would be very wary of putting an older horse in box rest, yet my old mare would probably cope as she only likes to go out for 1/2 a day.
 
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