Coping with Box Rest

arwenplusone

arwenplusone

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So, my mare has just come back from vets and is on 6 weeks box rest.

Box rest for her is, to be honest, a total nightmare.

She is a chronic weaver anyway and gets quite wound up when others are turned out first, so I just know she's going to turn herself inside out if she doesn't get turnout.

I have a bit of sedalin but does anyone have any clever ideas to keep her (and me) from going insane?

Thank you.
smile.gif
 
mine was on rest for 5 months and wasn't really allowed to do anything as she'd sskinned her knee and was a nightmare to bandage etc

treat balls, lickits, apple bobbing hiding carrotts in hay nets double haynetting, using a webbing door thingy so door could be open, stable mirror, radio on - ipod of horsey sounds (i know i'm sad i got desperate) lots of grooming and spending time with them, mine had chickens that she befriended!!! etc etc etc xxx good luck xxx
 
Have you thought about one of the nut balls - not the silly decahedron ones but the ones where you put nuts in one side and they have to roll it about to get the nuts to fall through to the other side of the plate and then out through the hole? I have used successfully in the past for keeping horses occupied for long periods and recommended to a friend who's horse is currently on box rest and she has found it a godsend. She is given it in the morning filled with Spillers hi-fibre cubes which will do her no harm and she spends most of the day as happy as anything getting the nuts out. She is maintianing her weight and not going off her head. Before she got this she was regularly cantering around her stable - not good when recovering from leg problems.
 
Thanks all. Calmer is a good idea.
Deterpat - 5 months!
shocked.gif
I would have lost the plot I think.

She will barge through a webbing thing I think and I don't use haynets. I like the apple bobbing though.

Jane_lou - never seen these balls before - where can I get one? I have a decahedron thing but she doesn't really bother with it.
 
[ QUOTE ]
This is the thing - you can't use it with treats as they won't go through the holes but I have found that the spillers high fibre cubes are chocolate to horses and have yet to find one who can resist them! You can safely fill the ball as there is little or nothing in these nuts.

http://www.tds-saddlers.com/ProductDetails.asp?PCLinkID=7891&gclid=CImx4Iyc6ZcCFUog3godBlntCw

[/ QUOTE ]

Another vote here for the ball and spillers nuts.....my lad did 5 months with that combination....
 
Hi J knowing your mare i can understand why your a bit worried by how she will react.
When me and fiona moved to M we had just picked jacob up from the vets on the way after his last treatment for PSD and he had been on box rest for weeks and was nuts.
I was giving him acp and temprelax [sp] max doses of each everyday and it took the edge off enough for me to handle him safely.I also had to ride him out in walk everyday and it kept the edge off enough for me not to get killed.
If it came to having troy or any of the others on box rest i would use the same again if needed.

How come she needs box rest whats wrong with her?must have missed a post.

Amy x
 
Putting treats or pony nuts in a snack ball for her to roll around the stable.

Hiding carrots in her hay or around the stable for her to find.

Use an apple corer to bore a hole through a swede and hang it up.

Hang up a likit.

Apple bobbing in her water buckets.

Playing a radio so she doesn't feel so alone.

You could spend time teaching her a daft trick, like 'smiling'.
 
Oh i see well i hope she deals with it ok,good luck to you as i know you will prob have your hands full.

BTW i went to ride jay yesterday and a couple of people asked after you,i said you were fine.
 
You could also do some clicker training with her. Teach her little things like lowering her head or stepping backwards. It will help to keep her mentally stimulated. You can use Spillers nuts as rewards.
 
A stable with a view if possible? My lad had to have 6 mnths box rest due to a tendon injury, and we changed his stable to a one with a good view over the fields so he could see the other horses and watch the world go by. Also ad lib hay and lots of little feeds to keep him occupied.
Good luck!
 
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