Box rest?????? I am not sure I agree with this in most cases

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JadeWisc

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I am wondering about all of your views on Box resting horses. I see alot of posts on HHO saying Box rest has been advised by vets for anything from lameness to injury (what have you)

I am not a big fan of stalling horses and every vet I have ever known is very against keeping horses confined.

I am sure there are wonderful purposes for stalls, but I think a horse not let out to excercise the majority of the day is being put in jeaporady imo.

I am not a vet, but I see more harm coming from confinement in contrast with movement for horses. Even in the case of lameness and injury.

Again, Im not a vet but I am curious on your thoughts about Box rest and it's benefits?

Also..what do you think is a reasonable amount of time to keep a horse in a stall? Does the time of year change your opinion and why?

I am not a fan and only stable a horse on rare occasion.
 
Ive never been advised to box rest my horse, except for when hubbies ex horse injured his back badly. We were told that if he went out he may get over excited and make his back worse
 
I very rarely agree with box-rest. Keeping horse in a small corral, yes....but stuck in a tiny stable, no.

Thankfully my vets have always agreed with my philosophies regarding this.
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I think box rest is prescribed in many cases not because the horse actually needs to be confined, but to stop them getting excited in the field and doing more damage (assuming lameness, back, etc) I'd rather 'pen' a horse near other horses for a chat than keep them stabled all day.
We don't get much turnout at livery here, but I HATE to see horses stabled all day, not least because unless bed is kept pristine (NOT likely here!) they'll be standing on (slightly) soiled shavings and that can't be good.
At Posh Yard there were horses that for no good reason other than their owners couldn't be *rsed to go and ride, had been standing in their stables for WEEKS. Not only that but when they'd been mucked out they were tied up so they wouldn't churn the bed up further. Horrible
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I agree about "penning" a horse.

at least then they can move around and help circulation. It also helps when they can breathe fresh air.

We have "penned" Tex during his recovery but did not stable him
I agree that a big field where a horse can run rampant is not the best idea, but at least give them a nice outdoor space to move a bit (imo )
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Penning is not always possible, we have no pens here. We can turn the horses out in the field or arena.

When Ozzy hurt his back, i would take him for a walk and then turn him out in the arena. None of my horses are confined to their stable all day.

All horses are in at the mo as YO is redoing fences in the fields. Its taken a week but my horses have been out for at least an hour everyday to run about, and are exercised.

Im lucky as the stables here are huge!!
 
Well if you are giving them work then that is ok I would assume. I just wonder how many of the "box rested" horses get any work. I would think fluid build up and lack of fresh air could hamper any recovery for a horse .
Possibly even cause new problems
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When we thought little man might be on the verge of laminitis I was told to box rest him. This was to stop him eating grass and to provide soft cushioning for his feet.
However, it became apparent that box rest just made him worse. He was stiff, which meant as soon as I took him out to muck him out he started limping again.
I put him back out on very very limited grazing, and he became sound.
 
Hi, I don't think box rest helps with their mental state which can then make things worse. My mare had a tendon injury last year which resulted in 6 months box rest. She was then brought back into work but wasn't allowed out in the field until 11 months after the initial injury. I was really lucky as she was happy enough in the box. She had plenty of attention and could see what was going on so this kept her occupied. I think it depends on each horse and how much you can be around them to keep them entertained
 
Yes I always think there seems to be a gross over use of box rest for all types of ailments too. It really does depend on the injury or illness but if it was a human that had strained or hurt themselves...you just keep going and moving about on the whole. I would rather see a horse in a small pen or sectioned off bit of field than in a box. Circulation is a good thing for healing as is gentle movement. I also think that the more the horse is on box rest or in a stable to begin with, the more likely they are to go mad when finally let out.
 
Box rest is nearly always overdone, I think it is necessary in the first instance though.
I hate it when I see things like 'vet has said 3 months box rest'. Yes the horse may need extended excercise restrictions, but 3 months box rest is excessive for any injury.
 
It does depend on the injury. In some cases, confinement to a box is necessary. We had an in-foal mare who broke her pelvis - there was no way she could have been turned out in a small enclosure, she had to be rested in a box with a deep bed on top of rubber matting. Another case is laminitis. It is important that they are box rested, again on a deep, cushioned bed. This isn't to stop them eating grass, but to prevent them moving round too much and causing damage to already-compromised feet. I agree, in a lot of cases restricted turn out in much more beneficial to a horse's mental state but in some cases box rest is a necessity.
 
One of my horses had 4 months box-rest when she de-gloved her leg. Although she coped well at first, towards the end it was like she lost the will to live, and with this all healing stopped.

I believe, essential to the healing process is the well-being of the mind, and as soon as she was turned out (against my vets advice
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) the wound started to heal again. I also believe horses need to heal for the movement required, if that makes sense - ie. for being stood still in a stable, her wound had sufficiently healed, yet turn her out and the wound would open again until it got used to the movement.

The only time I would advocate box-rest is for laminitis, when restricting movement is essential to prevent rotation of the pedal bone.
 
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One of my horses had 4 months box-rest when she de-gloved her leg.

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What does that mean?

My ex racer was cross tied for several months by his previous owner when he had an operation to remove a bone chip from his knee. Then his owner went to great lengths to stop his windsucking. Mental torture in my opinion!
 
I have never put my boy on box rest,would sooner section him a little paddock off as less stressfull for him!
I have always found with injury swelling it helps to turn out as much as poss to keep the swelling down!
Even with a tendon injury i would have to keep him out,problem would be made 10x worse on box rest,he hates been in!!
 
I didn't find my 3 months box rest and overreaction when my horse suffered a fracture. He spent that long in his box, was as good as gold, very well behaved kept as happy as possible and carried on eventing for many years afterwards with no trouble from that original area.

I'm of the opinion that if it is likely to help and the horse can cope with it then it can be beneficial.
 
I think it really depends entirely on what's wrong!!

There are some injuries where box rest is essential aspecially in the early stages (fractures etc).

I have over the years seen hundreds of horses on box rest for anything from 2 weeks to 7 months and most of them seem to adapt really well.

It can be overdone though and always creates other problems ie when you finally do put the horse back out it's likely to over react and go nutty which can result in it re-injuring itself.

Each individual case needs to be assesed depending on the type of horse and injury, size and type of turnout available etc etc.
 
When Murph shattered the splint bone in his leg, he was box-rested for 5 months, then was allowed in a tiny paddock for 2 months. We felt awful doing it, but there was no other way for it to heal.
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The vet wanted us to cross-tie him, but we couldnt do that - he'd have either gone mad or got very depressed.
With the Cushings lami, he was box rested for another 5 months.
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Not totally - we had a tiny tiny fenced-off paddock for him, but he did spend most of the time in the stable.
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He was put to sleep in the end because he had no life - we could have kept him alive (possibly) if we'd kept him stabled for ever, but that would have been cruel.
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She stripped the flesh off from just below the hock to just above the fetlock, exposing the bone and severing a tendon and this is the term my vet used to describe the injury - (....
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I think the term should be de-socking really as she took the flesh off like you would remove a sock:p)
 
I think box rest is essential in some cases and have only ever been advised to box rest by my vet as a last resort. My horse spent 3 1/2 months on box rest when I first got him due to a fracture and I don't think this was an overreaction at all. I also was advised to box rest when he had lymphangitis - but only while he was unable to walk - as soon as he was walking again he went out.

I think BR for tendon injuries is essential as well if you want to get the horse back into competition. True, it can be over done, but I think usually that is in an effort to keep wounds clean and prevent infection. I would be more inclined to BR in winter than summer due to ground conditions.
 
I have to say I agree with it in some cases, especially for example in the immediate aftermath of an injury. I know when my horse had such an injury he was strict box rest for a couple of days; he was in a special rehab clinic and tbh I dont think he wanted to move let alone walk around. He was slightly sedated at first and then he spent the next few days trying to get comfortable
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He lay down alot but even then he had the hassle of tryuing to get back up again. I know if he was turned out or in a pen he would have just stayed in the one spot
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I must admit that I did worry about his mental state but the staff were great. They spent alot of time with him, grooming and even picking grass for him.

So although not an ideal situation in some cases I do believe it is nescssary.
 
Our pony had to have 3 months box rest, 6 weeks of it cross tied, due to a leg fracture. We hated it but she coped remarkably well. Luckily she was in one of 2 stables with a half height dividing wall and we rotated our horse and pony so she always had company in the other side. Think that kept her sane. A friend of ours is currently having to box rest a month old foal for up to 2 months due to a tendon injury. She has made a little pen in the end of a barn for them but I know she is hating doing it and keeps querying it with the vet but he is emphatic she must be kept confined.
 
when my boy had lammi my vet advised me to let him walk around at his own pace to keep the blood flow going but never force him, he had a paved area (flat surface) which was open for him during the day for him to wander as much as he liked and i believe this benefited his recovery. But i suppose every different illness/injury is different and some may benefot from box rest.
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I think a lot also depends on how your horses copes with box rest. Oscar tore his cruciate ligament before Xmas and after being operated on at Newmarket we were told he needed strict box rest for 3 months. I was dreading it
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However, hes such a laid back chap that after the first week or so it became normal to him. We could even leave his stable door open and he wouldnt walk out. He could see other horses (although towards the end he prefered to keep himself to himself) and had plenty of hay and toys to play with - he was quite happy.
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The weather was pretty rubbish and coz he feels the cold I think he was much happier in the warm than out in the cold. A few days the yard had black ice over it when we first got up there so rather than risk him slipping, I was glad he could stay put.

His box rest was essential for his ligament to heal. At our yard there was no-where we could have made an outside stable/stall and his stable was the biggest on the yard so he had room to move about but not get up any speed!
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I think if we had of turned him out it wouldnt have healed...
 
Horse broke his hock and was 6 months in a stable...and a year on and off of box rest.

Not mine but I know god forbid if it was I would have had it PTS.

I hate box rest - I have seen horses with injurys who vets have reccomended MONTHS of BR too - if my opinion is asked I always say to owner shove it in a field for 6 month/a year and see what happens -

What is more natural to the healing process than a horse living in a natural way?
 
I think most (UK) vets use box-rest less than they used to, but at times you really do need to restrict the horses movement to allow healing.

One other thing occurs - you refer to stalls and I notice that you are from the USA, so it might be different, a box isn't a tie-up stall but a 12x12 'loose box' that the horse has some opportunity to at least turn around in.

Unless it is vital though, I prefer not to stable the horse for any length of time.
 
I would agree with box rest being overused- when my last horse fractured his hock he was given field rest for 8 months. All I was told was to give him as level a field as possible and to let nature take its course. He was deemed sound 12 months after diagnosis and when sold this year passed 5 stage vetting without any problems. I dont think it would have been the same story if he had been box rested because the circulation to the joint imo would have been restricted.
 
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