Boxrest and bored!

[beckieswann]

Hi all,

My horse has come home from colic surgery and has 3 months boxrest ahead.. he's been home for 5 days and already he's extremely bored. He also becomes very unsettled when the other horses go out. He gets 2 walks a day and walks to grass as well. He also gets fresh grass in a bucket. However I am looking for ideas to break the boredom! I appreciate there's the usual boredom breaker balls, and also lickits (I don't want to give him molasses or sugar...) so any ideas are welcome!

Thanks

 

[tasteofchristmaschaos]

Try hanging up a swede!

 

[iconique]

Mirror (our little one loved it), football (if he likes it to play with?), bobbing apples in water - if he isn't the type to eat them whole, swede as mentioned, play radio.

Good luck and hope he has a good recovery. xx

 

[frankie8]

My mare had to have 9 months boxrest due to a ligament injury, so I had to think of ways to keep her entertained. Did the usual giving her a ball, hanging up apples, carrots etc in her stable. I also used to pick different tree leaves/branches and poke them into places round her stable so she could browse, did this with various plants too. I also picked her different berries from around the farm to try, we had hawthorn and rosehip berries in abundance. It was actually quite interesting seeing what we had growing around the farm, researching if it was horse friendly, then letting her sample it. She loved a good old hawthorn branch to pick the berries off of! I hope your boy has a speedy recovery

 

[Foxhunter49]

A large branch of gorse. Keeps them amused for hours picking at it.

 

[beckieswann]

Thanks everyone, keep them coming

 

[Lotty]

My mare was on box rest for just over 5 months. I weighed and soaked her hay and had 3 very small, small mesh haynets hanging in different places in her stable. I also had a snack-a-ball which I put some high fibre nuts in. Someone told me to put some fibre nuts in an empty paper feed bag, tie it shut and put in her stable - well she had so much fun with this, pawing it and trying to open it, it took ages before she got into it. I also did some clicker training, she took to it like a duck to water.

 

[maxapple]

My horse did 7 months box rest last year. We were lucky enough to be able to 'borrow' a pony who we put in my other pony's stable next door during the day and out at night which was a huge help.

Other things we did was have a radio on all day (on classic fm!), put whole sweeds in that he could roll around, 2 hay nets and loads on the floor with sliced carrots hidden in so he could forage.

Nut ball with badmington treats in (approved by lami trust)and lots of grooming and attention.