Having a box walker on box rest

[madhector]

Just in case the worse case scenario comes true and Blaze needs box resting, I was wondering how to manage his box walking. He always circles on the left rein, and he is lame on his near fore...


Now this cant help any injury present so wondered how to manage his box walking if he needs box resting?


I thought about hanging something from the ceiling to interrupt his circles. Any other suggestions?


Thanks

 

[Wasrandyra]

I was once instructed to box rest an ex racing mare I had. She was terrified of being stabled and would box walk, weave, starve herself of food and water, sweat up and try to jump out. She managed 3 days of this before I couldnt do it anymore.

An extreme case perhaps. She was going to do more harm than good inside so I put her in a very small fenced off area of grass with companionship over the fence and sedated her with sedalin and or acp as needed.

Unfortunately vets dont understand that some horses wont cope with box rest.

 

[Booboos]

I hope it doesn't come to that!

Similar experience with Wasrandyra, I had an elderly pony with laminitis who would just not settle in the box, the only time he would stop box walking would be to weave, so I put him in a small grass area with electric fencing (I cut all the grass down to nothing first because he had laminitis, but with a horse that can eat the grass I would be tempted to make a number of little turn out areas and move him every 3 days).

 

[BeckyD]

My old mare was a terrible box walker, and we managed to stop the box walking mostly by putting haynets all round that made the walkable area much smaller, just generally impeding her from making a circuit. Unfortunately this backfired and she got extremely depressed and shut down on us, not interested in food or anything. I would go with the opinions above re tiny paddock. If the box-walking doesn't stop soon then it can cause way more harm than good.

If it's stress that makes him box-walk, there's a neutraceutical called Zylkene (meant for cats/dogs - not yet licensed for horses) that you can get from the internet (i.e. petmeds) that de-stresses them. I got the highest dose (I think it was 450mg) and Ronnie had three tablets a day. There was a big improvement in his stress levels. Unfortunately it didn't stop him being over-exciteable but I would nevertheless recommend them to try.

Just found them on petmeds and they're £20 more than when i bought them earlier this year - you might find them cheaper elsewhere.

http://www.petmeds.co.uk/p-4546-zylkene-capsules-100-x-450mg.aspx

 

[nicky_jakey]

Stable mirror??

Although I haven't tried this. My old horse was a terrible box walker - I used to dread any injuries, made my blood run cold. However, he got a hoof abcess & had to be box rested. Sadly no amount of ACP was enough (and I went up to 14 tablets per dose!) & he had to go off to the vet hospital. This was the only place he settled - they described it as the 'honey moon period' & remarkably he was OK. This was at about age 24. He passed away at 27 & would still have been a nightmare in the stable!

 

[Flame_]

Tie him up inside the box while there are people on the yard keeping an eye out to make sure he's ok.

Let him down at night and when there's no one about.

 

[AmyMay]

Do you have a barn that he could be kept in instead with a friend?

 

[*hic*]

My box-walking, weaving, fence-running mare was on box rest for seven months last year.

What worked for her was ACP, getting a stall chain across the door, getting two rings put at about chest height and eye height on either side of the door and cross tying her to the chest height rings with haynets on the eye height rings. She was tied short enough so that she could just reach the haynets. She had water on an upturned bin in front of her, and she was fed on a bin as well. It may have been less than ideal but the prognosis if she moved much was very poor (ie we spent six weeks waiting to see if we were going to have to shoot her).

After the first few weeks we moved her into a tiny pen outside - no bigger than a stable. Normally if we'd put her in a pen that size she'd have created merry hell but she seemed to appreciate the freedom after being tied up and behaved very well with no stress-related behaviour shown.

She had a companion with her, and could see other horses. It was a shame that after a couple of months her companion broke and was on box rest as well

 

[Shilasdair]

[ QUOTE ]
Tie him up inside the box while there are people on the yard keeping an eye out to make sure he's ok.

Let him down at night and when there's no one about.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would never recommend this.

The boxwalking is a locomotory stereotypy, a coping mechanism, and tying him up may stop the physical signs, but not the mental need.
Not only is this cruel, but I've known some idiots try this - horse will break the string/rope to boxwalk, the motivation is so strong.

Instead I agree with the posters above who suggest making a small pen in a paddock - I did this with one of mine after colic surgery, made a stable sized pen with grass to graze, then moved it every day, to fresh grass. I used electric fence posts, and connected them to a unit and car battery, and of course I gave her water, and was aware of shade etc.
This method also has the advantage that, as your horse gets better, you can make the paddock larger, leave your horse out longer, and you avoid the dreaded 'turn out after box rest day'.

Hope your horse recovers quickly.
S

 

[*hic*]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
Tie him up inside the box while there are people on the yard keeping an eye out to make sure he's ok.

Let him down at night and when there's no one about.

[/ QUOTE ]

I would never recommend this.

The boxwalking is a locomotory stereotypy, a coping mechanism, and tying him up may stop the physical signs, but not the mental need.
Not only is this cruel, but I've known some idiots try this - horse will break the string/rope to boxwalk, the motivation is so strong.

Instead I agree with the posters above who suggest making a small pen in a paddock - I did this with one of mine after colic surgery, made a stable sized pen with grass to graze, then moved it every day, to fresh grass. I used electric fence posts, and connected them to a unit and car battery, and of course I gave her water, and was aware of shade etc.
This method also has the advantage that, as your horse gets better, you can make the paddock larger, leave your horse out longer, and you avoid the dreaded 'turn out after box rest day'.

Hope your horse recovers quickly.
S

[/ QUOTE ]

I already said my method wasn't ideal - I'd actually used the word "cruel" and decided it was too emotive. We did try a pen very early on: she either bulldozed it despite it being attached to a mains electric fencer or attempted to canter round it on three legs. Cantering on three legs round the stable was what had prompted us to try the pen

She never broke the lead ropes - which were attached to the rings by thinned binder twine. She's a Shire X TB so as you know they are more than capable of breaking their way out.

We tried toys, stable mirrors, radio, tv, companions in a pen outside so she could touch them and she just couldn't stand still. We were desperate and I found a method that stopped her being able to prevent the injury healing. It has stopped her box walking - she just doesn't do it any longer - but I understand that she hates being stabled and now that she is healed and in full work she is the only one of my horses who is never shut in over night, she has hay and water in her stable but the door is left open and she has full access to the turnout area.

 

[Shilasdair]

Jemima_Too,
My post wasn't directed at you, and at least you gave due consideration to water, hay, feed, and had tried alternatives first, and found alternatives after.

Personally, I am not keen on box rest as a solution for leg injuries, as over the years I've found so many horses hate it absolutely, that they prolong their lameness by weaving, boxwalking and generally stressing like idiots.

S

 

[katelarge]

I know at least one vet of an independent turn of mind who says box rest is NEVER a good idea. Personally if I had to try and put a very stressed horse on box rest I'd go for a TINY outdoor pen instead, as said before!