Coping with Box Rest

[maxapple]

Anyone who has had their horse / pony on box rest and can give some advice on how they coped (the horse rather than you! )

My horse is currently cross tied at the vet with a fracture to his radius. We have made it to week 4 1/2 (really never thought we would) - and my sharer and I are now daring to think about planning for when we can bring him home, which will probably be another month at least.

Assuming all goes well, he will be on box rest for a long time (I'm guessing 4 months minimum) and we are a bit worried about how he will cope being in alone. We will be at a small private yard where someone is around all day but its very quiet. He will be able to see the other horses grazing in the field from his stable door - and they will all come in at night so he will have company then.

We are wondering whether to get another pony that can stay in the stable next door during the day and be turned out at night to keep him company? I do have another pony of my own, but he wouldn't be happy being in during the day. I also wondered how effective stable mirrors are?

 

[Holly Hocks]

I feel your pain. I currently have a mare on box rest due to a fetlock operation. She has a feed ball, a treacle lick, adlib haylage and a stable mirror. But as soon as my gelding goes out for a couple of hours, she goes ballistic - rearing and bucking, but I refuse to not turn my gelding out due to her behaviour.
I have got sedalin in case I really need it, but I am trying to hold off while gelding is only going out on this hard ground for a couple of hours at a time. Mine takes no comfort whatsoever from the stable mirror. It is hard work, good luck!

 

[PennyJ]

We found Sedalin to help her cope when her pal went out in the morning and a nut ball helped immensely. Also allowing in hand grazing whilst the stable was being mucked out seemed to help too, it was something she used to look forward to every day and got built up to "free range" grazing whilst the stable was mucked out and then a bit longer every day. It was still very difficult though for all of us. Being able to see her pal from her stable was very important to her. We moved yards a month into her box rest and it was busier there than where we were before which also helped to keep her entertained during the day. I dread to think what its like for a horse that's used to 24/7 turnout, it was hard enough for our mare just losing her daily turnout in the field time.

Good luck!

 

[squirrelc17]

I've got 1 whose been on box rest since July, and another who's been on box rest for 6 weeks so far for fractured cannon bone.

I buy the Uncle Jimmy's hanging balls which keeps then entertained for days. I was feeding readi-grass in big tubs. Lots of carrots, double net the hay so takes longer to eat. plenty of grooming, TLC.

Thats what i've been doing but nothing can completely make it a pleasant experience but it can be bearable.
good luck with it!!!

 

[rubyrumba]

I had a rising 2 year old on box rest for nearly the whole winter last year, she had two ocd ops. I left her inon her ownas I think they should get used to the idea and she did after the 3rd day.The first threw days she threw tantrums but she got over it once she realised it didn't matter if she threw a tantrum as it didn't get her anywhere! Plus it is also an attention seeking thing as when i hid and spied on her she was completely fine!! I had sedalin in case i needed it but only used it a few times, mainly when i started her in hand walking!!!
Also if you have a companion in its double the work and it gets a bit of a chore after a while. My filly had plenty of lickits, swedes on ropes and apples in her water!
Good luck!

 

[Ginger Bear]

My boy went away for a month for ring bone surgery & was then on box rest for about 7 months..obviously it depends on your horse but Pablo was an absolute night mare!! He was fine when others were in but I was on a small yard with just 14 people & when the horses were turned out he went mental..I really thought Newmarket had swopped my chilled out horse for a nut case!! The first day back he was trying to jump over the stable door, then i got a call from the stable girls telling me he was kicking the wall so hard that their office was shaking!! First of all I found that because he was stabled in an outside stable & people were coming & going to the yard it was stressing him so I changed him into the barn where I could shut the doors on him which seemed to calm him down, next he had a constant supply of haylage & hay mixed as he loves it just to keep him quiet. When the others were being turned out I would take him for a walk to the other side of the yard so he couldn't see then leaving him & then once all the horses were out & the yard was quiet I'd put him back & don't forget a big supply of SEDALIN!!! just incase you get desperate.. & you'll definately need some medication to keep you calm too..lol ..at least you have a pony that can keep him company if needed..Hope all goes well..

 

[maxapple]

My boy went away for a month for ring bone surgery & was then on box rest for about 7 months..obviously it depends on your horse but Pablo was an absolute night mare!! He was fine when others were in but I was on a small yard with just 14 people & when the horses were turned out he went mental..I really thought Newmarket had swopped my chilled out horse for a nut case!! The first day back he was trying to jump over the stable door, then i got a call from the stable girls telling me he was kicking the wall so hard that their office was shaking!! First of all I found that because he was stabled in an outside stable & people were coming & going to the yard it was stressing him so I changed him into the barn where I could shut the doors on him which seemed to calm him down, next he had a constant supply of haylage & hay mixed as he loves it just to keep him quiet. When the others were being turned out I would take him for a walk to the other side of the yard so he couldn't see then leaving him & then once all the horses were out & the yard was quiet I'd put him back & don't forget a big supply of SEDALIN!!! just incase you get desperate.. & you'll definately need some medication to keep you calm too..lol ..at least you have a pony that can keep him company if needed..Hope all goes well..

Well my horse is a 17yr old TB that has never been famous for his sensible behaviour!!

I'm starting to think we should start hunting for the little companion to stay in with him. My other pony will be in at night - but he just weaves if kept in during the day, so won't be calm company!!

Think we better stock up on the sedaline for him and valium for us too!!

 

[clairefeekerry1]

my horse has recently come off 8 weeks box rest and it was a total nightmare. i have another one that came in at night to keep company and luckily mine is fine about being left alone in the day. my issue was with his behaviour and keeping him occupied. when it got to the tme when i was allowed to walk him out in hand he began rearing and just being very difficult to the point i didnt want to walk him out anymore so luckily we were able to opt for the tiny paddock outside stable for the last few weeks of box rest. i found sedalin helped but they cant live on it forever and as soon as he had a day without it he was a nightmare again. lots of lickets, snack balls, turnips etc worked well as did if anyone had their horse on the yard for farrier or something i asked they just got mine out and tied him up next to their horse for a chat and whatever. i actually almost cried with relief the day he was able to go into his rest paddock on turnout!

 

[Ginger Bear]

Hopefully his age will help?? lol..probably not kknowing tb's. My boy is 9 & when he came back feeling well & in no pain because of the bute he felt well enough for play time..so he thought..I would have loved Newmarket to keep him for the whole 7 months!! lol..I spent the first few weeks in tears, panicking that he was going to break the joint that the plate was holding..my vet as wonderful as he is, just didn't get what I was dealing with, my boy lost so much weight stressing& was so skinny..he's not even a really lightweight tb, more of a steeplechaser build..when he'd had 3-4 months box rest & his x-rays had shown that the bones were fusing I asked if I could give him sedalin & turn him out in a sick paddock the size of his stable they told me I couldn't but I chose to do it anyway & just gave him a constant supply of haylage to make him stand still & eat..he was happy with the horses next to him in the field & then started to put his weight back on..I just came to the conclusion that I know my horse best & he was doing far more damage kicking the stable wall & running in cirles in his stable than he would standing eating in a paddock..