box rest fatty

BlizzardBudd

BlizzardBudd

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hi, my TBxID marehas been on box rest for 7 months now. she is very fat and food orientated. we give her some carrots and apples as she has to do some stretches (thats the only wa to get her to do them) she only gets a little bit of hard feed in the morning otherwise she would go mental with the others getting some! she is getting quite a bit of hay otherwise whe gets very bored.

i am looking for some ideas of how to make her loose the weight, and still keeping her entertained.

she has got a likit, but doesnt eat it, a food ball, with no treats in it. what else could we try?
 
I'm not a fan of hay nets, but in your situation I would; mix hay and straw together and soak for at least 12 hours, straw not only is lower nutrition but harder for them to pull out of the net!

I wouldn't give carrots or apples, but perhaps use a herbal treat for stretches instead

How long before she is off box rest?

When she goes back out, either muzzle or make a track system up around a small paddock, you can then strip graze or just feed hay while she wonders around the pirimeter!
 
AngieandBen: the yard owner doesnt have any straw on the yard (she is a control freak, so not going to cross her, otherwise we will get chucked off the yard)
i am going to buy some herbal treats for her tomorrow :)

she is going to be off box rest when she stops injuring herself. the yard owner keeps telling me that she is going to long line her (as i'm not experienced enough to do this, especially with a fresh horse)

she wont be allowed out until she is back in work, the small padock hasnt got alot of grass in it, but the paddock, is right next to her old field, so we are all afraid of her injuring herself again.

it's really bad. yesterday we found that she was coming up short in her hind right leg. the vet checked her out today and said that she is extreamly fat, and needs coming back into work to get it off. just got to stay positive, as thats all we can do :)
 
I lightened off rugs with mine, (if your is in a rug) she was cold to start but then adapted and started giving off more heat energy- also with haynets i double soak and rinse, and soak overnight and half the day before, changing the water for the night to ensure the sugars come out.

Also to keep a horse entertained the trickle balls are great. mine was terrified at first but it is now her most favourite thing! put dont buy bags of treats- much to expensive, i use pony nuts- and a small amounts lasts a good amount of time..

Get some licks, salt/ mineral licks or not so sugary ones-

instead of one haynet tie two or three around the stable,

i put a mirror in and radio on to kill some boredom. hung nettles around the walls to pick at and opened and closed the window at different times in the day to give a sense of change.

Oh and when feeding hay use small holed nets or haylage nets ! a huuuuge boredom killer, or double net the hay for a real time killer- also wet hay takes longer to eat.. but do drain it for serveral hours or it will soak you and the floor ;)
 
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will try not putting her medium weight stable on her, should i just out her summer sheet/fleece on?
cant do anything with the haynets, as it isnt us that does them - she is on livery, and the yard owner is such a control freak - its usually a small holled one, but sometimes they give us a large holled one, so we double it up with a smaller holled one.
we cant put a mirror up, as its yard policy (dont ask me why, but it sounds silly - she woud love it!)
some of the other liveries on the yard complained about the radio being on - it wasnt loud and was strapped into the top corner of her stable (she couldnt reach it).
she has been on box rest for 7months, and as you can see we have basically tried most things. it is very sad that it has got to that and she is very highly strung when in full work. its upsetting to see how distressed she is.
 
clement82 said:
AngieandBen: the yard owner doesnt have any straw on the yard (she is a control freak, so not going to cross her, otherwise we will get chucked off the yard)
i am going to buy some herbal treats for her tomorrow :)

QUOTE]

I can understand that many YO's don't want folk to BED with straw because some farmers won't lift muckheaps with straw in it. HOwever, if you're FEEDING it, chances are that it'll all be eaten and not thrown in to the muck heap?

My yard won't allow straw beds (as above) yet quite happy that I buy and store my own straw for feeding purposes. And trust me when I say that every scrap of it gets eaten. :D
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Personally I would cut out the carrots and apples, see if she will do her stretches for bits of swede or something like that instead. If she won't, cut the carrots into tiny pieces and only give her one for each stretch.

Soak her hay overnight/12 hours to remove as much of the sugars as possible. Rinse it well (I let it drain before feeding as well, otherwise it soaks the stable). You can bulk it out with dry straw as well, to give her something else to munch on. If possible I would tend to give several smaller nets through the day/evening rather than just a couple of large ones so she doesn't bolt it all down and then stand with nothing to eat...i.e., give her a morning net, a lunch time net (or ask someone else to if you can't get to the yard), a late afternoon/early eve net and then a bigger net for overnight.

What hard feed are you giving when the others are fed? I think I'd be tempted to give something like Dengie High Fibre Nuts in a snack ball at feed times - it will keep her occupied for longer and she can't just bolt it down.

You can supplement with MagOx too which is meant to be helpful for weight loss.

I would leave her unrugged too - if she is warm, she won't lose weight.
 
thank you all for commenting :)

i am trying to cut out her apples and carrots, but she seems a little addicted. we are going to have to slowly decrease the amount. i am trying to persude the YO to give her more smaller nets throughout the day, as it will be better. she is a little against the idea and i cant get there anymore than once a day. :/
 
move yards she is only lame, doesnt have a fracture, even then could be moved if had a robert jones bandage on, no need for unhelpful yard owners (they do my head in). basically little and often is what she needs feed wise (which is the use of small hay nets/double haynets), do not starve. cut out sweet foods, get treats. use a calmer/acp when first turned out - simples.
 
clement82 said:
i am trying to persude the YO to give her more smaller nets throughout the day, as it will be better. she is a little against the idea and i cant get there anymore than once a day. :/
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How often is your horse mucked out in a 24 hour period? I would expect to be mucking out twice a day when a horse is on box rest. Does your YO muck out the other end of the day for you? If you are already paying her to do that then ask her if you can pay her to put in an extra net at lunch time. I'm lucky that my YO is fab and if she's around, she will put in nets for a resting horse during the day or another livery would do it. Normally on a livery yard I'd expect to pay my YO to do it along with the extra muck out etc.

RE the carrots and apples, just stop feeding them. I doubt your horse is addicted, more like she has learnt you always have treats for her so she is probably begging all of the time for them.

When you say your YO is unhelpful, is it that she won't do you a favour and put nets in, or does she refuse to do it even for payment? If she won't do it for payment then it must be a service she doesn't offer, in which case you might want to look for another yard. If she won't do it as a favour then offer to pay her!
 
you could try putting a haynet inside a haynet to make the holes even smaller failing that put a treadmill in her stable!! unfortunately the apples and carrots are quite high in sugar which doesn't help how about a squeaky toy on a bit of string??
 
clement82 said:
She gets mucked out twice a day by the yard. As it's a large yard we thought we could ask someone else who always goes at lunchtime but the YO told them off. But she won't do it for payment either :/
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Hmmm, sounds to me that you just need to move to a friendlier yard, full stop! If your YO is so contrary to your trying to care for a box resting horse, it will never get better!
 
oh god i couldnt cope with a yard like that- i am on a very small yard (only three horses!) and basically can do what i like, i couldnt imagine that type of control. i would move if i was in your position if possible of course.

could you try less sugary vegetables like swede? i dont know if it had less sugar.. but it looks like it does ;) the hay was the biggy for my mare- i have reduced her rugs now but wanted to keep her warm while she was in only because she had a tendon injury, and as circulation to the legs is poor anyway, i didnt want her blood vessels constricting or anything. really hope your horse is feeling better soon
 
Soak the hay.
give her many more haynets throughout the day rather than one large one, and reduce the amount, so ideally has something to eat the vast majority of the time but not very much.
 
i know you are on full livery but is there anyway you could make up the haynets in advance maybe you could buy a load of haynets and make them up at the weekend when you have more time, so it is less work for the YO so she is more likely to want to put in the lunch net?

however i dont understand why they won't give her a small holed haynet during the day as it is no harder to make up a small holed net than a large one.

if she is very fat she will be putting strain on her bad leg having the extra weight on it.

i would say no rugs if she is not clipped, at least during the day as the fibre from the hay and her fat is going to be keep her warm.
 
SO1 said:
i know you are on full livery but is there anyway you could make up the haynets in advance maybe you could buy a load of haynets and make them up at the weekend when you have more time, so it is less work for the YO so she is more likely to want to put in the lunch net?

however i dont understand why they won't give her a small holed haynet during the day as it is no harder to make up a small holed net than a large one.

if she is very fat she will be putting strain on her bad leg having the extra weight on it.

i would say no rugs if she is not clipped, at least during the day as the fibre from the hay and her fat is going to be keep her warm.
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i will forward this onto my friend - she stayed at my house over the hols, and she wanted answers :D thank you everyone!
 
clement82 said:
hi, my TBxID marehas been on box rest for 7 months now. she is very fat and food orientated. we give her some carrots and apples as she has to do some stretches (thats the only wa to get her to do them) she only gets a little bit of hard feed in the morning otherwise she would go mental with the others getting some! she is getting quite a bit of hay otherwise whe gets very bored.

i am looking for some ideas of how to make her loose the weight, and still keeping her entertained.

she has got a likit, but doesnt eat it, a food ball, with no treats in it. what else could we try?
Click to expand...

Triple net the hay she's getting, take longer to eat and keep her occupied
 
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