Box rest

[carthorse]

Anyone got any good ideas to keep a horse happy during box rest.
My poor youngster has sliced through the inside of his fetlock and the vet has bandaged and he is on box rest,it is very deep and will be in by himself, he had only been out for 4 days after staying in due to mud fever,he either bangs his door or stands weaving .I feel so sorry for him , it was bad enough when he stayed in for a week with MD but at least he was ridden twice a day.This time it is just graze in hand

 

[madhector]

make sure he was some one next door for company, i find this always helps a bit with mine, think he feels better think he isnt the only one

 

[121272MDV]

carrots in a haynet?? that currently keeps my very smart mare distracted for about and hour

baling twine with carrots, swede and apples??

hope this helps ill be watching this post for more ideas on keeping my mare happy during the rest of her box rest

shawny

 

[claireross]

Swede on a string, carrots inside his haynet, apples in his water, radio on. When mine was on box rest I split his feeds so he had 3 feeds a day. Try and take him out of the box as much as possible, just to change the sceinery

 

[carthorse]

Imposible I'm afraid would like to but the others all go out or are being exercised [only small yard]

 

[carthorse]

Thanks great ideas .I wish I lived there then I could do more but can take him on grass 2x1hour and I'll sort out radio [need batteries] and swede

 

[_daisy_]

turnips/swedes hung up work wonders. Carrots in haynets also quite good. Snackaballs keep them occupied unless you have a horse like Chantin who gives up cos its too much like hard work! She likes the likits but demolishes them too quicklly so ive just bought one of those multi ones with a big likit and 2 mini ones. Of course lots of haylage

 

[madhector]

oh well, was just an idea

try and split feeds into lots of little ones, when Hector was on box rest he had 5 feeds a day (only consisting of hifi but dont tell him that

) kept him busy, also made sure he had a thorough groom everyday as really cheered him up

 

[piebaldsparkle]

Apples in his water bucket, for a bit of apple bobbing.

 

[carthorse]

Good idea I could leave some small feeds made up so when my friend goes up she could pop one in and grooming often gets cut short as exercise seems more important when you are short of time ,so he will get alot of that.
I'm sure someone up there hates to see horse riders enjoying themself because just when you think you have got everything sorted something else happens.
ENJOY GOOD TIMES THE BAD ARE ROUND THE CORNER

 

[Fahrenheit]

A mirror, so he can admire himself

and one of those snack ball that he has to role round to get the food out of the middle!!

 

[piebaldsparkle]

Stable mirror, so he thinks he has company.

 

[madhector]

i know what you mean, everytime i think H is getting sorted, something goes wrong, now i have the mentality with him that he is totally broken and semi retired so when he is feeling well it is a bonus! hopefully the new chap wont be so accident prone

 

[sundance]

Mine has been on box rest for 7 months!! He is lucky as he has a little lamanitic pony next to him to keep him company. Mine can go on the horse walker and be lunged so its not so bad. I spilt his feeds up as much as possible, 5 a day. Cant give him too much haylage so he has a big rubber skip of readi grass with carrots etc buried in it, a ball with pony nuts in (he thinks that is the best thing in the word), radio on as much as poss, apple bobbing and swedes etc. His favourite thing is a daily massage, mutual grooming over a stable door with a pal, acutally anybody will do!

 

[buzzles]

Can't think of anything else that hasn't already been said but maybe a haynet with really small holes and if you can, hang it from the middle of his stable at eye level so he can bash it around and also takes longer to eat as it moves around more, this worked for one of my horses and kept him occupied for ages but the other one used to get annoyed as it kept swinging when she tried to take a bite!!!

 

[catembi]

When Cat was on box rest after an accident with barbed wire, I got a rubber groomer thing & gave his withers / back a good scratch to make up for not being able to roll or groom his friend, & he really loved it. Tried to groom the wall & my o/h while I was doing it & made really ecstatic faces.