Has anyone gone from total boxrest straight to turnout, without in hand walking?

[PaulnasherryRocky]

Nightmare! A little more sedative needed? Tip to anyone having to do this - put a lead rope onto each side of headcollar/bridle and have one person on each side of the horse. You can then keep the horse straight and away from each other. We do it a lot with recalcitrant youngsters that have to be moved from time to time and it is much safer for the handler!

That sounds like it would work great, I will have to work on finding a volunteer for the other side though lol!

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

From my previous posts, you can probably work out how well things are going with my yearling lol!

Back story - he has been on box rest since January due to surgery in both stifles for OCD.
Started in hand walking from the 6th week of box rest - even with oral sedation there were multiple explosions, he became quite a stress head in his stable and the vet said rearing wont help his stifles heal, so stop the in hand walking. We stopped and he is back to the loving little dream pony.

We are now so close to his final vet check where we decide about turning out and this is where my query is!

My assumption is the vet will say turn out in a small paddock. We have one sick paddock at my yard, but it's about half an acre, so not exactly small. It also has multiple badger holes that scream broken leg at me.
Due to yard rules, we cant use electric fencing to cordon off a smaller area, so at this yard my only choice is to turn out in to his usual 3 acre paddock.

Going from total box rest, to 3 acre paddock scares me! All I can think of is dope him up as much as poss, and maybe have the physio massage him before he goes out so hes at least a little bit "warmed up"

Either that, or find another local yard that can provide a small paddock - but he does seem to get a sore gut when stressed out so I'm not sure if this would be the right thing to do either!

Had anyone gone from total box rest straight to turnout before, and did it go OK or badly wrong? I'm just worried he will injure something else by hooning around.

Obviously I will discuss this with my vet too, as he is aware of our yard rules around electric fencing and sick paddocks - just wondering if anyone had experience of this they could share, good or bad!

Thanks in advance!

My mare has been on box rest since October 10th 2020 * check ligament and navicular * She is now on 1/2 day turnout for another few days in a 20 meter round pen and not allowed in the field with the others for another 2 weeks. We had to use relaquine 3 days now on none, my mare is a 16.1hh ID and very spooky and explosive.



Must say she must be an angel as she has not been explosive like that even though 6 months box rest but with Very very very gradually in hand walking after 3 weeks initially strict box rest. Can't wait to see her in the field others again. Our grass round pen is in the grazing field so close to others.

 

[PaulnasherryRocky]

My mare has been on box rest since October 10th 2020 * check ligament and navicular * She is now on 1/2 day turnout for another few days in a 20 meter round pen and not allowed in the field with the others for another 2 weeks. We had to use relaquine 3 days now on none, my mare is a 16.1hh ID and very spooky and explosive.



Must say she must be an angel as she has not been explosive like that even though 6 months box rest but with Very very very gradually in hand walking after 3 weeks initially strict box rest. Can't wait to see her in the field others again. Our grass round pen is in the grazing field so close to others.

Hope your horse recovers well! It sounds like you have a good sick paddock set up where you are.

I only used relaquin for the first day of turnout, since then he hasnt needed anything - though I am still weaning him off the valerian that he was on while on nlbox rest - so we will see what hes like once that has run out!

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

mines been on relequin ever day while in as she is a major stress head and as check ligament and in hand walking we had to be careful

 

[PaulnasherryRocky]

I like to give updates on my posts just for anyone who might have the same questions-

Falco did well being turned out, i think it has to do with his herd being a quiet lot. However after such a long time boxrest for a baby I decided to turn him away to mature at a lovely yard with a mixed herd of 16 horses on 60 acres across the year. The land is in a sort-of valley, so being on a hill should keep him nice and fit!

I can go and visit him whenever I like, though I'm just going to leave him be for a while, maybe the odd fuss now and then - he will come back to my yard when he is about 4 or 5 to start some groundwork - I don't really want to back him until he's 7, but he can do plenty of inhand stuff before then.

Here's a pic of him with his new girlfriend Kia - he looks pretty happy to me

 

[splashgirl45]

im worn out after watching that, a big well done, sedative did well didnt it he looks very happy now and he is very handsome...

 

[Lucky Snowball]

Pretty impressive hanging on to Falco! well done. I had a tb mare who was bad to lead in hand. She did extra time on box rest (total 3 months and 2 extra weeks) then turned out onto tiny paddock when she was really hungry. Worked a treat, she was more interested in the grass than running around.