Box Rest - ideas PLEASE?!

Emshad

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Pony has a fractured Pedal bone injury and should be coming home next week. Obviously he is going to be box rested for a good few months so am looking for any weird and wonderful ideas to keep him entertained. The yard is pretty busy so I am lucky in the aspect that people will be around, radio will be on etc - haynets around the stable, he already has a million licks which is doesnt really like lol but they are in there, nut ball, carrots etc hidden in haynet any other ideas would be much appriciated......xx
 

cjdjivanovic

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Gorse - hang a branch on the wall, or on the outside of his door; ie don't let him get prickles in his legs from it. They love it.

Most horses adjust to box rest much better than you expect, and soon accept the situation - the difficulty arises when you first lead them out and then it's a question of firm anchoring (bridle or chifney, 2 people with lead ropes, sedalin if necessary).

Good luck.
 

salee

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my welsh B liked to play with a busted football in his stable, he also used to chuck it at people when he wanted a fuss, good luck
 

Eaglestone

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This may not be possible for you, however my Stable has a door and a Window, so I used to hang Motor's haynet outside the window ...... he thought he was 'stealing' the hay and he was as happy as larry
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.... he was on 5 months box rest
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NELSON11

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Some like stable mirrors and the odd one likes space hoppers as they can pick them up by the ears and chuckt them around. Good luck, I agree it is when you start to lead them out, it becomes more difficult
 

PucciNPoni

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I'm reading this thread with interest. I've got about another month of box rest to go...but wondering what on earth do they do with the gorse? Do they eat it ? scratch on it? please tell!
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Happy Horse

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My boy was on four months box rest when he fractured his leg. I was pretty lucky in that food was his greatest motivation so I just put his hay in a haylage net with the small holes so it was more challenging to get at and lasted longer and I could be sure he had it all the time. He was on a busy yard so there was plenty going on for him to watch.
 

bailey14

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Lots of small nets are better than one big one. Apples floating in the water give the horse something to think about. Carrots mixed in with hay nets, sprinkled on the floor or suspended from the ceiling are also good ideas. If you leave a radio on its been proven by researchers that horses prefer classical music rather than general rock or pop or chat shows type stations.
 

cjdjivanovic

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Gorse: They nibble at the tips and play with it. Sounds extraordinary I know but my neice's pony was transformed from grumpy (almost savage) on box rest, to his old self by this source of entertainment (unless it has sedative properties??) It's a real old fashioned horseman's solution - but not very practical if you don't have gorse growing close by.
 

PucciNPoni

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I'm going to try the gorse thing - I think my mare would probably love to use it as a bottom scratcher! Hmmm, wonder what the sugar/starch content in gorse is.....
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Peacelily

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pick him some grass and dandelions - gets some green into him, love the goarse idea - will keep that one up my sleeve if needed.
lots of stretching exercises (if he can) whilst your there, at least it keeps you and him interested in your interaction and keeps him supple
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dependent on what bedding you've got you can (if he has any low call nuts or anything), and if he's food motivated, try scattering them att the front of your stable and into the bedding - it encourages them to forage for their food and sort inbetween the bedding to get to their nuts - they're quite good and not much eating of bedding! (but helps putting it near the front where there's less). Other chunky veg to eat (turnips etc...) and just give them whole so they have to knaw at them...
and most of all stay chilled out and don't fuss - if you're stressed he'll get stressed. We used to have loads on box rest (therapy yard) and because their owners weren't there to worry about them and pander to their needs - they were all quiet as mice (and they were generally competition horses that had been injured mid comp so were fighting fit). they're quite adaptive when they want to be!
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good luck and hope he's ok!
 

PucciNPoni

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AT risk of hi-jacking this thread (I don't mean to) I'm going to carry on with a twist - what if you have a Lami horse that you're trying to keep weight down? I would love to keep her munching on hay, but at the moment she's getting 4kg in the morning and 4kg at night - split in to two nets and double-netted so it's harder to get the hay out. She is also getting 1 kg happy hoof am and another kg in the evening, with speedy beet. She's fed at 7 am and about 7 pm, and within three hours of feed time, she's done eating. I worry about her not keeping the gut moving, gastric ulcers and all that. Any thoughts on this? We have tried steaming and soaking our hay to take down the calories, but our hay is treated with something to inhibit mould/dust - so it becomes bitter and the horses won't eat it.
 
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