Horse on box rest

[santas_spotty_pony]

Currently got the big lad (Friesian) on box rest. He has swelling to the outside of his off fore fetlock - I think he has slipped in the field and pulled it. He isn’t lame and there was heat in it but the heat has gone now but it is still a bit puffy.

Anyway, he is a horse that had suffered from locking stifles in the past and I’ve noticed it catching today when he is turning in the box (he’s been in about 48 hours now)… he has been coming out to have it cold hosed and I am thinking I am going to have to walk him a little in hand just to keep it settled - not ideal I know but we have tried small turnout pen to start with as box rest in basically the last option but he was still pacing up and down and now we have had all this rain I can’t risk him slipping.

Anybody else had to deal with this? It’s stressful enough as it is as I’ve got all three in at night at the moment so he’s not on his own and it feels like winter already!

The mare would rather be out and has been out all day today by herself but my old boy was running around yesterday calling for the Friesian (he could see him from where he was turned out) so I haven’t risked putting him out today so I had to ride to stop him from getting stiff - we got drenched!

positive vibes please I was hoping for a drier autumn/winter this year!

 

[humblepie]

Oh dear. Positive vibes sent.

 

[AShetlandBitMeOnce]

I wouldn't personally box rest for something like this, I may wrap for support but would turnout as normal. I think if not actually lame and just a bit of swelling/heat they're better of moving around and not winding themselves up. I don't actually seem to see box rest recommended for much any more, other than quite major tears for example, perhaps it's something we've moved on a bit (musing, I may be wrong here!)

If it were me, I'd wrap up and chuck out - positive vibes thoroughly sent!

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

I wouldn't box rest for that especially as his not lame I might just bring in at night or in during the day depending on what works best at the time.

 

[santas_spotty_pony]

Field is on a hill and very slippery - he has done it before and wasn’t lame and had torn the tendon sheath so not worth the risk!! He is very stoic as most friesians are and don’t tend to show pain unless it’s catastrophic.

 

[MidChristmasCrisis]

Really sorry to hear this..my Friesian mare has done something to a hind leg but heat and swelling passed quickly and she’s about 2/10 lame in trot. Vet can’t point to anything concrete so she’s on anti inflammation meds and off games for a month. She s much freer in her action when kept moving outside…definitely stiffer after standing in for a few hours. Our field is on clay and a bit slippery in the muddy gateway but she picks her way across it to the grass then either trots or canters to her favourite grazing spot. I hope your boy recovers quickly and well.

 

[santas_spotty_pony]

Field is on a hill and very slippery - he has done it before and wasn’t lame and had torn the tendon sheath so not worth the risk!! He is very stoic as most friesians are and don’t tend to show pain unless it’s catastrophic

Really sorry to hear this..my Friesian mare has done something to a hind leg but heat and swelling passed quickly and she’s about 2/10 lame in trot. Vet can’t point to anything concrete so she’s on anti inflammation meds and off games for a month. She s much freer in her action when kept moving outside…definitely stiffer after standing in for a few hours. Our field is on clay and a bit slippery in the muddy gateway but she picks her way across it to the grass then either trots or canters to her favourite grazing spot. I hope your boy recovers quickly and well.

thank you, the problem I have with ours is the flattest field we have is at the bottom of our land so I have to lead him down the hill, not a problem but he doesn’t like being furthest away - as soon as he sees me he will start trotting up and down! Believe me I HATE box rest and he won’t be on it long term… it’s more how it’s fallen with the weather being rubbish too, if it was dry still outside it might be a different story. Leg is now cool so once the swelling is down he will go back out. I haven’t spoken to Vet this time but last time they were adamant box rest was needed. We tried all other options first but then admitted defeat and did as Vet suggested and he was fine within a week, so hoping this is the case this time.

 

[santas_spotty_pony]

Just a quick update on this - I have him plenty of time, we did move onto field rest. His whole back of fetlock remained filled. I did have Vet out a few weeks ago and they said as he wasn’t lame I could continue riding him and it would help with the swelling..! Myself and his owner decided we would just give him more field rest in the hope it would go down - fast forward to today when we booked with the Vet I trust the most who is very experienced to get to to the bottom of it. X-rays were all clear, scan has showed damage to medial suspensory ligament branch and so he now has got to have the winter off and be reassessed in February. He has not been lame at all throughout this. Had we carried on working him through this it could have been catastrophic. Moral of the story is always trust your gut…!

 

[ILuvCowparsely]

Currently got the big lad (Friesian) on box rest. He has swelling to the outside of his off fore fetlock - I think he has slipped in the field and pulled it. He isn’t lame and there was heat in it but the heat has gone now but it is still a bit puffy.

Anyway, he is a horse that had suffered from locking stifles in the past and I’ve noticed it catching today when he is turning in the box (he’s been in about 48 hours now)… he has been coming out to have it cold hosed and I am thinking I am going to have to walk him a little in hand just to keep it settled - not ideal I know but we have tried small turnout pen to start with as box rest in basically the last option but he was still pacing up and down and now we have had all this rain I can’t risk him slipping.

Anybody else had to deal with this? It’s stressful enough as it is as I’ve got all three in at night at the moment so he’s not on his own and it feels like winter already!

The mare would rather be out and has been out all day today by herself but my old boy was running around yesterday calling for the Friesian (he could see him from where he was turned out) so I haven’t risked putting him out today so I had to ride to stop him from getting stiff - we got drenched!

positive vibes please I was hoping for a drier autumn/winter this year!

know how you feel, i have two of my own on box rest and my new mare they want on box rest but she is too stressy