Feelings about box rest

[Wagtail]

I am amazed at the number of horses that are on box rest nowadays. I have had more than my share myself. But how do you decide how long is too long? If you were told your horse may have to have 6 months box rest or more, would you do it? Would it depend on the horse and how well it coped? Would it make a difference how old it was or how much you felt for the horse? Would you make a decision based on how easy/difficult the horse was to muck out/cost of bedding etc?

When I have had horses on box rest in the past, I have been lucky. The longest was 3 months *touches wood*. Also, the horses have coped exceptionally well. If it's the sumer, I will make a tiny pen for them inside their main paddock, which I have found works really well. But where do you draw the line in terms of time? How long is too long without any real improvement in condition? Or would you never draw that line and where there is the tiniest glint of hope, would you keep on persevering?

 

[annaellie]

I've only had one that needed long term box rest, that was 4 months after major surgery I felt cruel but I went with the advice of my vet. She was tb and I was worried how she would cope but she was great never a problem bless her

 

[JVB]

Think it depends on everything you have listed, my main horse I would do anything for if she had an injury, but I also know she would cope very well with box rest.

My older lad though wouldn't cope at all, so unless it was for a very short time and it was likely he would come out of it ok then I probably wouldn't put him through it, I would look at all other alternatives though, so if a tiny paddock outdoors would suffice I'd try that route.

Saying that though, you never know till your in that position, you can only do what you think is right at the time

 

[maggiesmum]

Depends what the injury / illness is, I have and would again go against the advice of the vet and not box rest - rest the injury not the horse!
But there are some problems that really do need box rest, I suppose its something that has to be decided at the time given the information available.

 

[be positive]

I am amazed that the vets are expecting people to box rest for long periods then walk in hand, often in difficult conditions, the horse is likely to undo all the good work when it explodes, not to mention the risk to the owner, sedation can be useful but not totally reliable.
I think a pen is probably the best way if appropriate so that it can be kept restricted without being completely shut in, obviously it is not always possible.

 

[Wagtail]

Yes, it is easy to say what you would do until you are hit with the situation yourself. It must get harder and harder to pull the plug once you are committed to the box rest. I don't know what I would do in that situation. It seems cruel to keep them in for so long, but if it means they would be completely cured and have some good years afterwards, then it is most likely justified. I have decided I need to make a decision regarding all the likey scenarios before being faced with the problem. The reason I have been thinking about it is my horse of a lifetime mare who I love more than any other animal had a mild bout of cushings induced laminitis a couple of months ago. We caught it early, and she was only in for three weeks, but it did get me thinking.

 

[Paddy Irish]

TBH the thought of giving PI box rest , if it comes to it with these back injuries , really gives me major stress. He lives out 24/7 and bangs continuously on the stable door if shut in for any length of time . I'd even say that a vet visit or dental visit is usually done outside cos he's so much more laid back than inside.

 

[Bikerchickone]

I can't quite remember where I read it but I read an article that said one week of box rest would take 3 weeks to recover from. It was likened to a person being bedridden for a few days and then feeling weak for a week or so afterwards.

Personally I don't like box rest and for both my two horses a week is about the maximum I would do, which became a bit of an issue at the end of January when my boy was diagnosed with collateral ligament damage and the vet said normal treatment was 6 months box rest. Luckily my vet agreed it wasn't right in his case as he knows my horse well and horse is now at Rockley so it's a moot point. In all honesty though I don't know how I'd feel in a life or death situation. I guess I'd le trying to look for other options like the pens others have mentioned.

 

[Daffodil]

My rather edgy veteran Anglo Arab fractured a hind pedal bone at the end of August last year. My vet said 6 weeks box rest and on that basis we went ahead. I must say, the first week or so was pretty hairy and we only managed with the aid of sedatives and the turning point being the installation of a stable mirror, which made a huge difference to him. I can't recommend them highly enough.

However, the six weeks turned into a couple of months, largely due to discussions between my vet and the remedial farrier who said 10 weeks absolute minimum for his type of injury, and the longer the better. By this time he had settled into a routine that I was reluctant to disrupt, the x-rays taken at I think 6 weekly intervals, indicated the break was healing extremely well and I was again advised to give it as long as possible. I was given the go-ahead for hand grazing towards the end of December. The fun then really started ! We got through industrial quantities of Dormosedan gel! He was then allowed into a small turnout paddock in the middle of January, and is now commencing ridden work again.

Whilst no-one ever said anything to me about imprisoning an elderly horse, I did wonder if anyone might question the wisdom of it, and on a couple of occasions I did myself. In December he seemed particularly stiff behind but once the cast and remedial boot was off he loosened up quite quickly. He had lots of joint supplements and was probably fed far too much but it kept weight on him and kept him amused!

The other thing I realised fairly speedily was to make sure I kept my contact with other horses to a minimum in front of him, as he became very jealous!

So although I did question my motives (and my ultimate aim was for him to be field sound) he has come through with flying colours, is fit and enthusiastic about life and it was totally well worth the effort.

 

[AmyMay]

The longest I've had a horse on box rest is just over three months (twice in 18 months).

I'd have to think long and hard about a period of time of say 5 months or more - and certainly if I were looking at a period of time of over 5 months then my inclination would be to say no. There comes a point where I think if you are looking at that sort of time frame then the outcome for the horse is questionable, and certainly the quality of life is going to be pretty

 

[stencilface]

Mine is on the recovery from PSD - and I coudl have box rested him for the 6 months recovery period. However my vet from the start talked about day pens, so he got to go out every day for 6 months - through rain and snow through the winter. I did position his pen on an area where our old field shelter used to be so he had a concrete base to stand on, with mud surround, and placed next to a west hedge for shelter. He was explosive at the start, and the ridden walks were pretty exciting - but he did get used to it.

He had a pal in a larger paddock next to him so he could see another horse all day as our field is large, and its possible for the others to move out of sight. Incidentally this worked well for the veteran penned next to him as he got adlib hay all day all winter and has wintered fantastically this year - we will be reviewing his management for next year.

 

[Flame_]

My horse has just had six weeks of box rest and its looking like he'll be able to start going out in another couple of weeks, which is good because since he's feeling better, the weather's picked up and his friends are spending more time out, he's getting narked off and bucking etc in his box.

When he went for his keratoma op the vets warned me if it was at the top of the hoof (which luckily it wasn't) he would be looking at six months in the box. I would have gone for it because he's a six year old with no other health issues, the problem has a good prognosis for 100% recovery and he was insured. Its not ideal but they deal with it usually.

 

[wattamus]

Well mine has been in a box since september having had three bouts of surgery. Before that she was in a small stable sized paddock for six months. I agree you have to draw the line somewhere but on our yard there is no winter turnout so the majority of horses have been stabled 24/7 since november but they will be going out next month whereas it looks like mine is looking at a further 3 months ish. She's still happy in herself at the moment so I'm keeping going with it as the only other option would be pts which is something I'm not willing to do atm. xx

 

[xxMozlarxx]

I would not box rest again other than for something like a broken bone. Having gone through the hell of it for suspensory ligament damage only for further damage to be caused by a nutty horse afterwards I cannot see how a horse standing stationery for weeks on end can help. limited turnout is how I would manage in future apart from post operative box rest where there is little choice

 

[Bertolie]

When my daughters horse was involved in a RTA resulting in multiple injuries, the thought of box rest filled us with dread. He doesn't 'do' stables at all and would get stressed, box walk, bang doors and try to barge out if possible.

However, he was like a lamb for the 2 months he was in. I had to keep my horse in with him to start with and then we managed to 'borrow' a little welsh pony who is kept at the same yard. The welsh was in with daughters horse during the day and my horse would be in at night.

After the first couple of weeks we were able to turn him out in a stable size pen which was directly outside the barn as he was not allowed to walk about. He would go in the pen for 15-20 mins whilst his stable was mucked out twice a day. He actually coped remarkably well with box rest. When we were finally able to turn him out, he had one little buck and then settled down to eat!

 

[Alphamare]

It would definitely depend on if the horse could cope. I have one who is terrible and she needs to stay in for a week right now. No choice unlike say a tendon injury where you can choose to turn away. Some conditions can choose turn away and I would every time! I am having to micro manage her to keep her in for this week. Any longer and it would become impossible, she box walks and doesn't eat or drink enough.

Any extensive period of box rest is likely to be fire something serious with maybe a smallish survival/quality of life rate. I would base my decisions on the whys of the situation.

I would consider a couple months if there was a good chance of a positive outcome. Any longer without a good chance of a positive outcome... My personal feelings is that it is cruel and I wouldn't do it.

 

[Littlelegs]

I've done 12 months box rest with my mare. Severe ligament damage & hairline fractures meant anything above a walk would cause damage. She was on huge quantities of valerian & acp too at times. Allowed to walk as much as possible too. After 6 months she was allowed to go in a 20 by 20 pen with a 10 fence. After 12months she could return slowly to normal. The reason I did it was cos at 15, the other option was turn away, with no hope of her ever being more than field sound on bute, then pts when her legs got worse a few years down the line. As she'd always been v keen on her stable & I knew the outcome from the start, I decided to give her the chance. She had frequent X-rays & scans & if at any point she hadn't improved as expected I would have pts. It took her a further 2 months to settle in a field without jumping out to come in. She now stresses in a stable except on winter nights. I'm glad I did it, at 23 most people think she's 10. Only damage is that she can't hunt, jump large courses or school to a high level without risking further damage. Given her hatred for a stable, I wouldn't do more than 6 weeks max box rest with her again. In the same circumstances as her, I'd do the same with another horse, but not for something with a less positive prognosis. I did have my gelding pts in my teens faced with 6 months box rest, purely because he hated being in.

 

[Fransurrey]

Henry was presribed box rest when he had laminitis 4 years ago. I pointed out that the reason the stable door was open was due to it being too tall for him to see over, but she was insistent.

I nodded politely, then built him a small pen outside the stable (still did the deep shavings bit). He was absolutely fine with that and I extended the pen over time (stable is in the field), so that he wasn't suddenly turned out.

 

[StormyMoments]

we had taz on box rest for 7 1/2 months and we chucked him out early. he had tried to cut his heel off and had cut through 6 arteries and de-nerved his foot. he would have probably had a month or so box rest had it been summer but it was november when he done it and it was probably one of the worst winters we had. he was on 23 ACP tablets twice a day as he constantly tried to climb out of the stable he was stressy and lost a huge amount of weight, he turned nasty, rearing, lashing out cornering you in the stable and he has never been happy stabled since.

if this happened again, during the winter yes i would go with box rest again. the risk of infection out in the bog we called a field at the time wasnt worth it, although im not sure if i would want to put him through all of that again, i would possibly do it with another horse, most horses arent on box rest for nearly 8 months luckily so im hoping there wont be a repeat.

and yes sometimes box rest is necessary although some times it can lead to unwanted stress they are probably better off. even if i dont like it and i dont take the decition lightly

 

[Sophstar]

My vet told me my pony had to have 2 weeks box rest after coming in very sore footed and got treated as laminitic. He lasted 3 days. The 3rd night he lost the plot and we had to board him in as he managed to throw himself halfway over his stable door and i had to sit with him for 5 hours waiting for an emergency vet to come out first thing the next morning to assess him and give him the all clear. After frantically getting a couple of horses to eat down the majority of a small paddock he was out in the 'bare' paddock for a further 3 weeks with always having a friend babysit him. A lot happier however I now have a pony that panics if he gets left in his stable for too long. I've told the vet my pony will never do 'box rest' again. Physically it may help but for my boy, more damage was done emotionally.

 

[Wagtail]

My rather edgy veteran Anglo Arab fractured a hind pedal bone at the end of August last year. My vet said 6 weeks box rest and on that basis we went ahead. I must say, the first week or so was pretty hairy and we only managed with the aid of sedatives and the turning point being the installation of a stable mirror, which made a huge difference to him. I can't recommend them highly enough.

However, the six weeks turned into a couple of months, largely due to discussions between my vet and the remedial farrier who said 10 weeks absolute minimum for his type of injury, and the longer the better. By this time he had settled into a routine that I was reluctant to disrupt, the x-rays taken at I think 6 weekly intervals, indicated the break was healing extremely well and I was again advised to give it as long as possible. I was given the go-ahead for hand grazing towards the end of December. The fun then really started ! We got through industrial quantities of Dormosedan gel! He was then allowed into a small turnout paddock in the middle of January, and is now commencing ridden work again.

Whilst no-one ever said anything to me about imprisoning an elderly horse, I did wonder if anyone might question the wisdom of it, and on a couple of occasions I did myself. In December he seemed particularly stiff behind but once the cast and remedial boot was off he loosened up quite quickly. He had lots of joint supplements and was probably fed far too much but it kept weight on him and kept him amused!

The other thing I realised fairly speedily was to make sure I kept my contact with other horses to a minimum in front of him, as he became very jealous!

So although I did question my motives (and my ultimate aim was for him to be field sound) he has come through with flying colours, is fit and enthusiastic about life and it was totally well worth the effort.

Well it was certainly the right thing to do for your boy. So pleased he came out of it okay.

 

[PolarSkye]

Surely this is a "how long is a piece of string" discussion? So much depends on the horse's temperament/general fitness/age/"job", the injury/illness, the facilities/yard set up, the long-term prognosis, the owners' financial means, etc. . . .

P

 

[Wagtail]

The longest I've had a horse on box rest is just over three months (twice in 18 months).

I'd have to think long and hard about a period of time of say 5 months or more - and certainly if I were looking at a period of time of over 5 months then my inclination would be to say no. There comes a point where I think if you are looking at that sort of time frame then the outcome for the horse is questionable, and certainly the quality of life is going to be pretty

My thoughts exactly. I think it is very difficult when faced with the situation of a massively long period of box rest for a horse that is really special to you. Sometimes I think that those we love the most end up suffering the most because we are unable to let go. I have already decided that God forbid, if my mare ever needed colic surgery, I would not put her through it. But only because she already has to compromise herself due to her devastating shoulder injury (she is now completely paddock sound but it has taken more than two years to lose her limp), and now she has Cushings too, and is eighteen. Also I lost a lovely horse to colic a few years ago. He did not survive the recovery after the op as he was paralysed. And now, due to my mare's risk of laminitis, I have decided I must make a decision BEFORE she has another attack of lami, so that hopefully I can be more objective if the time comes. I don't want her last months on this earth to be confined to a stable and in pain. But whether I would be strong enough to make the decision when actually faced with it, is another matter entirely.

 

[forestfantasy]

I would not box rest again other than for something like a broken bone. Having gone through the hell of it for suspensory ligament damage only for further damage to be caused by a nutty horse afterwards I cannot see how a horse standing stationery for weeks on end can help. limited turnout is how I would manage in future apart from post operative box rest where there is little choice

This ^^
I avoid box rest at all costs apart from something serious or surgical.
I find a small enclosed area keeps the horse happy, the circulation up and aids healing.
I can never understand people who keep their horses in for superficial injuries (cuts etc).
Movement is the best thing for keeping swelling down.

 

[Kelly1982]

I dont think you can say really as each situation (and horse) is different.

I personally wouldnt want mine on long term box rest unless it was absolutely necessary and I could see positive results from it!! If I couldn't see any change after a few months I think I would start to question whether it was working or not.

Also I my horse wasn't coping then I would be thinking of alternatives too like small pens etc.

I know certainly with my horse sometimes she is better off out than in and she does more damage rearing and bucking in her stable than she would grazing in a field.

 

[amandap]

Feelings about box rest! First, I will say that I'm sure there are instances where it is truly essential such as a broken bone, however...

I think it is an archaic method and used/prescribed far too often and is often counter productive. Humans haven't been advised bed rest for years because of the side effects and horses naturally need to move much more than we do to remain healthy physically and mentally.
Many horses suffer extreme stress and are then pumped full of various types of sedation adding to the stress on their systems.
To say nothing of the stress the human carer has to go through managing a stressed horse.

I believe it's done out of fear of injury in many cases but it really is time we/vets learned to manage more holistically for the horses welfare and weigh up the true risks...

I'll get off my soap box now.

 

[Wagtail]

I've done 12 months box rest with my mare. Severe ligament damage & hairline fractures meant anything above a walk would cause damage. She was on huge quantities of valerian & acp too at times. Allowed to walk as much as possible too. After 6 months she was allowed to go in a 20 by 20 pen with a 10 fence. After 12months she could return slowly to normal. The reason I did it was cos at 15, the other option was turn away, with no hope of her ever being more than field sound on bute, then pts when her legs got worse a few years down the line. As she'd always been v keen on her stable & I knew the outcome from the start, I decided to give her the chance. She had frequent X-rays & scans & if at any point she hadn't improved as expected I would have pts. It took her a further 2 months to settle in a field without jumping out to come in. She now stresses in a stable except on winter nights. I'm glad I did it, at 23 most people think she's 10. Only damage is that she can't hunt, jump large courses or school to a high level without risking further damage. Given her hatred for a stable, I wouldn't do more than 6 weeks max box rest with her again. In the same circumstances as her, I'd do the same with another horse, but not for something with a less positive prognosis. I did have my gelding pts in my teens faced with 6 months box rest, purely because he hated being in.

Wow, that was a long time for her and I'm so pleased it worked out. I guess I would do it but only if there was a reasonable prognosis (80% or more) of a full recovery. It would be gutting to go through all that and then they injure themselves again the minute they get out.

 

[Littlelegs]

Amandap- see your point but the main difference is a human can be told to rest & take it easy, a horse in a field can't.

 

[amandap]

Amandap- see your point but the main difference is a human can be told to rest & take it easy, a horse in a field can't.

A horse in a field is resting though...
They may gallop around when mates are taken in etc. but that is down to managing the field rest as opposed to box rest.

Yards imo do have to be communities and all work together to get through periods like this. If YO's and other liveries refuse to bend/work together to help then that's how horses get shut away in boxes for months so as not to disrupt anyone's lives. Liveries should imo be supportive communities...

 

[Wagtail]

Feelings about box rest! First, I will say that I'm sure there are instances where it is truly essential such as a broken bone, however...

I think it is an archaic method and used/prescribed far too often and is often counter productive. Humans haven't been advised bed rest for years because of the side effects and horses naturally need to move much more than we do to remain healthy physically and mentally.
Many horses suffer extreme stress and are then pumped full of various types of sedation adding to the stress on their systems.
To say nothing of the stress the human carer has to go through managing a stressed horse.

I believe it's done out of fear of injury in many cases but it really is time we/vets learned to manage more holistically for the horses welfare and weigh up the true risks...

I'll get off my soap box now.

I think in most cases you are right. Unfortunately vets have little sympathy for any alternatives I find! If you take laminitis, there is a school of thought that is right against box rest because remaining stationary is very bad for the circulation that you actually need to stimulate. But if you let them out, there is a greater risk of rotation, especially in larger animals.