Box rest to pen for lively gelding

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Twiglet

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Posting in comp riders because he is a comp horse, and you lot always seem to have good answers :)
Harley was kicked on his right hind suspensory branch about 2 months ago, so we're in the depths of box rest and in hand walking at the moment. He is 99% fine, doesn't have any issues in the stable or on yard but is prone to exploding when doing the in hand stuff - mainly when in open spaces (even when sedated). This is obviously doing the injury, and my safety, no good!
So am about to order a £1600 (!!!) grazing pen from Claydon, to give him some time outside of the box whilst still restricting grazing.
So my question being - are there any alternatives to a proper grazing pen before I spend a large chunk of vet bill money? I'm not a fan of attempting to mock one up with Heras fencing or the like - I don't want to tempt any more injuries.
Has anyone penned from box rest using just electric fencing? He is a bit of a thuggy ISH with a big jump....my worry is that he will get excited and go through or over anything non-solid. How high can I go with electric? Any other tips - stallion style?? (Incidentally he was cut late and apparently managed to make some babies by going over/through inadequate fencing in his younger days....another reason for my paranoia!)
Thanks for any help.
 
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My Harley had 4 months box rest 3 years ago and I was in a similar predicament with turnout, it was earlier in the year and there was no grass anywhere that could sensibly be penned off by electric and giving him haylage would not have kept him quiet, I could not afford to spend on a pen so he was heavily sedated and turned out onto good grass with a quiet companion and left there as it was the only safe sensible option for him.
I would not risk using electric unless you know they will respect it, if you can put it on a really powerful fencer and make numerous lines to the top of the 5 ft posts and make two rows about 5ft apart, parallel fencing, it may be enough to contain him but for a scopey fresh horse it may still be popped over or through if they are feeling really brave usually just when you think they have settled, it may be worth trying before you invest the money.
Mine had no ligament or tendon damage so it was less of a risk to just turn away although it did mean there was only one day where he really exploded rather than daily running about which tends to happen with restricted turnout, once he was out he relaxed and very quickly settled down to normal behaviour.
 
We have turnout pens (permanent) made of really wide flexible plastic strips (about 2.5in) which can be electrified - three strips with the top one about 6ft high. Access is via a normal gate hung level with the top strip. As the pens have all-weather surfaces, there is a base board at the bottom to contain it. Each pen is about 6x6m and they have kept some very sharp competition horses - plus my re-habbing suspensory ligament Mr Sicknote! - happy and safe all winter. No idea of cost because it's a livery yard, but by far the best pen system I've seen.
 
be positive said:
My Harley had 4 months box rest 3 years ago and I was in a similar predicament with turnout, it was earlier in the year and there was no grass anywhere that could sensibly be penned off by electric and giving him haylage would not have kept him quiet, I could not afford to spend on a pen so he was heavily sedated and turned out onto good grass with a quiet companion and left there as it was the only safe sensible option for him.
I would not risk using electric unless you know they will respect it, if you can put it on a really powerful fencer and make numerous lines to the top of the 5 ft posts and make two rows about 5ft apart, parallel fencing, it may be enough to contain him but for a scopey fresh horse it may still be popped over or through if they are feeling really brave usually just when you think they have settled, it may be worth trying before you invest the money.
Mine had no ligament or tendon damage so it was less of a risk to just turn away although it did mean there was only one day where he really exploded rather than daily running about which tends to happen with restricted turnout, once he was out he relaxed and very quickly settled down to normal behaviour.
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Thank you. I'm tempted to try this first, if I can get it to 6ft, with solid electric 'rail' type fencing.
 
ironhorse said:
We have turnout pens (permanent) made of really wide flexible plastic strips (about 2.5in) which can be electrified - three strips with the top one about 6ft high. Access is via a normal gate hung level with the top strip. As the pens have all-weather surfaces, there is a base board at the bottom to contain it. Each pen is about 6x6m and they have kept some very sharp competition horses - plus my re-habbing suspensory ligament Mr Sicknote! - happy and safe all winter. No idea of cost because it's a livery yard, but by far the best pen system I've seen.
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Going to look into this now..... Thank you. Any suspensory rehab tips?!
 
If you can get access to a digger cheaply and easily a 6m square as described above might be a better use of money than the round pen .
 
I've used Heras fencing with no problems at all. It does stand very well in a square/rectangle, and I use lots of bungie ropes to fully stabilise the panels as well. Not had a single issue with it. This is on actual grass tho. Very, very lively horse spent a summer in a pen like this a couple of years ago, the worst part was leading him back and forth.
Using electric fencing I think the pen would have to be too big or the horse is stuck in the middle terrified.
 
Twiglet said:
Going to look into this now..... Thank you. Any suspensory rehab tips?!
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my horse had 4 months box rest after a suspensory injury I managed to make him a pen as big as a large stable, I just used tall posts and ran 3 Strands of tape and I used 2 posts on the corners so they didn't bend and put a very high voltage through it, I did give him sedalin he had a hay net at all times and was only left out there for a few hours a day when I was on the yard, but mine is not a jumper and his terrified of the fence so it worked well. but I appreciate this may not work for you!

what did help was before he went in the field I made a coral on the hard standing for him to walk about on for a few weeks, I really think this made him much quieter when he went in the field, as for tips once I was able to ride I took it really slow I think I walked for nearly 2 months building up slowly just doing short bits of trot at first, I am very careful of the ground his ridden on if in doubt I just walk.
 
no used pens on ebay / preloved / gumtree? Maybe try local FB groups?

If you buy for £1,600. Maybe you can sell on for £900 in a few months time.

I'd also consider a specialist rehab yard, that has all the facilities, and an absolute routine in place, which is very quiet?

Priory Spa meant to be good?
 
Have this week turned out my mare after 6 months box rest. We used the wide electric tape and six foot wooden posts rather than the plastic ones. I had a very small pen build (so she couldn't build up speed/or enough room to attemp to jump) and then a slightly larger one which I can extend using the very tall electric fence posts as she becomes use to freedom again! I also made sure there was plenty of grass and that she was very hungry when I turned her out!
 
Slightly different, but my last horse was box rested for several months with a very bad recurrent abscess and aftermath thereof. He went from box rest to short spells of individual turnout in a small electric fenced area about the size of a stable, which was gradually made a bit bigger as he ate the grass and turned it into a mud pit. YO used sturdy wooden posts and the wide electric tape. Not high like a stallion paddock, just normal fence height. I used a bit of Domosedan gel the first few times he went out, but that was for the journey to the field really, as I had to walk him through 3 fields to get to his little paddock, and those fields sometimes had horses in. I was surprised how well he behaved and how little drama there was about the whole thing really. He could be a bit tricky in lots of ways, although to be fair to him he was never really a horse who challenged fencing. He was so delighted to be out of his stable and recoveriing, it was almost as though he knew he needed to be on best behaviour! Best of luck, this part of recovery is always so nerve wracking!
 
My 18 year id x tore his check ligament and tendon last October and was on put on box rest. Was meant tobe 6 weeks then it went to 12 weeks, ended up being 4.5 months, We tried doing inhand walking but was to dangerous for both of us. Vet said he needed to be sedated and put in a small paddock with not much grazing due to be a colic risk having not eaten grass in so long. He started barging out the door when you'd go in with something he has never done so I let him have a wonder around our concrete yard area which is a mixture of grass areas and hard standing, and he'd walk like he knew he had to. Then moved to the backgarden/starvation paddock, its fair to say he went crazy full pelt gallop bucking leaping around. I thought great he's going to have damaged it all again, still as sound he's ever going to be, I think they know when they feel ok and to much time is spent taking every word a vet says as gospel
 
Horserail is the big thick brown plastic fencing that you can electrify. It is just put on normal wooden posts as high as you like with as many strands as you like.
 
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