Feeding advice for pony on box rest?

violethillx

violethillx

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Hello. My 14.1hh pony (good-doer) has been on box rest since mid october due to a check ligament injury. She was on competition mix over the summer as was in full work but I have taken her off this when she came in, and originally put her on:
breakfast - 1/2 standard scoop of chaff, salt, carrots
tea - 3/4 scoop of chaff, 1/4 scoop of cool mix, supplements, salt, oil, carrots
She was also given a large haynet overnight and medium one during the day and is on hay not haylage.
She lost a little weight but was a bit podgy from the summer and wasn't too sudden so wasn't very worried, however now that its got colder I have changed her diet to:
breakfast - 1 full scoop of chaff, 1/2 scoop of cool mix, salt, carrots
tea - 1 scoop of chaff, 1 scoop of cool mix, 3/4 scoop of sugar beet, salt, oil, supplements, carrots
And two medium haynets at night, one during the day.

She gets turned out into an arena every day and have been riding her most days for up to 30min in walk only under vets recommendation. Wouldnt' say she had excessive energy but clearly isn't feeling sluggish either and is enjoying her work.

Does this diet sound ok? She is staying at the same weight (374kg) which I am happy with. In the new year after next scan she should be able to be turned out again and start light trot work so thinking to decrease breakfast til she doesn't get any as this was only to get her to drink and break up the day, then start adding a bit of comp mix again when she returns to more work as this is her normal diet.

Thanks for any advice, just worried I'm not doing the right thing as never had a horse on box rest for this long before. She is drinking and pooing normally. x
 
Sounds like a large amount of mix for a horse only doing 30 mins walk, I would be inclined to cut the mix completely, I am not a fan of mixes anyway but if she is not working she really doesnt need it, you can always feed more hay if your worried about weight.
 
Having one on box rest at the moment, I think he would explode on all that mix:eek: I give adlib hay and haylage so he is constantly occupied, 3 feeds a day of Fast Fibre, a handful of chaff and his supplements. If he is lucky he gets a few carrots.
 
Hi, all I would say is that I'd be slightly concerned over the starch level is the Cool Mix as she's not doing much at all.

I'd be feeding something like a balancer - Top Spec Lite or Antilam - to keep the cereal, grain, sugar and starch levels as low as possible whilst providing all the necessary nutrients, with plenty of chaff for bulk and say Fast Fibre or Speedibeet as a top dressing. This should keep her in good health, no worries about being on box rest or in very light work, maintain her weight and when the work increases it will help with her muscle building etc and she'll have the required energy without silliness. I'd give her access to one of those Himalayan salt licks rather than adding salt, and if you want to up her oil then micronised linseed will do the job all round. Again carrots are high in sugar so I'd drop those apart from the odd treat.

I may have this all wrong as I don't know why she is on box rest but it is a good diet providing all she needs in a very small amount of pellets leaving plenty of room for fibre via hay / chaff to fill her up and keep her digestion working well.

Good luck with her continued recovery :)
 
My mare who is 15hh good doer has been on box rest since August. She gets a trug of hay while others in barn have breakfast and also snack ball with mug of h/f cubes. She gets two nets spread out during day so she always has something to munch. She then gets two mugs of baileys lo Cal, 2 scoops of h/f lite, 1tbsp of salt, tsp of garlic , snack ball with h/f cubes and then two nets of hay over night. I cut out mix etc straight away as didn't want her having any extra energy. I also soaked hay at first to reduce calories but have stopped now weather is colder. My priority is keeping her gut moving with fibre and also keeping her from getting bored.
 
Thanks for your replies. She has a salt lick too but doesn't use it that much and in the first few weeks of box rest she became dehydrated to the point where I was really worried about impaction colic, hence the emergency salt! She hasn't had any noticeabe extra fizz since I changed her feed to include more mix and sugar beet and that was 2 weeks ago following the advice of previous owners. Might cut down the mix a little and add more chaff as that will decrease starch but keep fibre and hopefully help her keep her topline and condition as much as she can while she's still in. x
 
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