Injury after injury and calming..please help!!

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llohcins

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My horse has been recovering from a tendon injury for a few months. Theoretically he can return to his normal turnout in 2 weeks. During the last two weeks I have been trying to hack him but he has been rather lively...have tried to calm him with sedalin, global herbs supercalm and valarian- all make him much worse! Now the twit has cut a different leg during his tiny paddock turnout and that has now swollen up n is hot which I am obviously now dealing with...
Assuming this cut leg improves swiftly I dont know what to do next. He has been really good during all this rest but is getting increasingly difficult/ hot headed during last two weeks (prob cos his leg is feeling much better!) hence the calmer. Is there anything else people have had good success with that I can try calming wise to see him through the next couple weeks of rest? Or shall I just be done with it and turn him out with plenty of food?
Only had the horse since October and its been one thing after another! It really has been a very bad day :-(
 
Try feeding him camomile. You can buy it on E Bay and its not expensive, a lot of people have found this helps.
Good luck and I hope he recovers soon.
 
Sorry to hear u have had all this injuries to deal with .. Could u find a friend to walk on foot up the road with u for the next two weeks ? Or maybe long rein round the stables again may need a second person ;) circles I guess r not ideal ..but does the yard have a drive way or anything similar ? You could long rein / hack up and down ..just till he is out a bit more ?
 
Lambkins said:
Sorry to hear u have had all this injuries to deal with .. Could u find a friend to walk on foot up the road with u for the next two weeks ? Or maybe long rein round the stables again may need a second person ;) circles I guess r not ideal ..but does the yard have a drive way or anything similar ? You could long rein / hack up and down ..just till he is out a bit more ?
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I don't think he is going to be going anywhere at mo. the cut front leg is absolutely huge. I will treat but expect vet will come out Thursday unless big improvement.

I feel so disappointed and upset. I know these things happen but it's just one thing after another and I feel at a loss to try and keep him calm through another recovery period :-(
 
A tip I got from a seriously old, wise vet for the cut leg.
Spray it and the swollen surrounding area with antibiotic spray, our vets sell it to us over the counter. It works it's way into the skin and travels down the hair shaft to fight the infection.
Apologies if you already know this. No tips regarding calming him down though, sorry.
 
TBH if he is not lame or sore on the cut leg I would be tempted to keep walking him out, exercise should help shift the swelling (as long as its not infected). Mine has had a swollen sheath for 3 months now on box rest, and I think the only think that will shift it is being turned out (vet has seen it, given anitbiotics, but its not not right).

I didn't give mine any calmer last time he was on box rest, and despite thinking it worked the first few days, this time round I don't think valerian is helping either. Only thing I can suggest is either doing straight line work in an arena, or hacking out on safer routes and sticking some draw reins on to help with explosions, they saved me last time. :)
 
If its really swollen wash with either hibiscrub or savlon antiseptic wash, give it quite a good scrub leave on for a few minutes then rinse and hose leg for quite a while, smother in some kind of antiseptic cream or spray, I also find if you can cover the cut with a dressing and then bandage the leg while he is out during the day, use gamgee or a leg pad under the bandage, it will help the swelling go down and stop flies sitting on it until its ready to dry up.

If you do this daily you may save yourself a vets bill, my mare is always cutting herself and with this routine it will stop or get rid of any infection.
 
Our mare has a tendency to have -elephant' legs for the tiniest cut or nick. We cold hose for at least 20 mins and give anti inflammatory dose just in case. So far (touch wood) this has worked. We have a supply of the drugs from the vet just in case.
 
Thanks. I have been cold hosing 20mins a day poulticing the would and bandaging the leg. Swelling seems to be going down slightly so will continue for next couple days and hope it improves before I get vet (again!).

Is it normal for a horse at 6 to be this accident prone? Before this year he has never had a day ill or lame in his life!! Had such bad year I feel like giving up right now :-(
 
Nope, not at all. But if it makes you feel better the last three years mine has had 6, 3 and 4 months box rest, three different injuries all on different legs, driving me up the wall, no proper competing since 2010!
 
Going back to the calmers, I used Sedalin to start with on my boy who had three consecutive injuries caused by his bad behaviour while recovering from the last one, then swapped to Top Spec Calmer and have found this the most effective. I had previously tried Magic, Nupa feed, Global herbs and Magnitude. Don't forget with Sedalin that there is a dose range so you may be able to increase the dose to get the desired effect - check out the leaflet in the pack.
 
What about stable toys to amuse him? Might keep away tension so he doesn't need calmer... I'm no horse expert, but it is the best advice I can give really. :)
 
He is just fed lots of soaked hay ATM due to rest. When in work he just had handful of fast fibre so doesn't feel left out at breakfast and dinner time! I introduced stable toys/ salt lick etc as soon as I could (couldn't have them to start with due to nature of injury) but thanks for the suggestion. I haven't tried the top spec one so will look into that thanks.
 
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