Safely leading horse on box rest

[Bananyman]

I'm currently walking a horse on box rest in hand, in a headcollar with lunge line or in a bridle with hit and lunge line. She is generally good but has tense moments, and if spooked can rear and pull away. I don't want to use a chifney on her as they seem very harsh and I'm not convinced she wouldn't rear reflexively when spooked even with one one, potentially causing more harm than good.

So I'm exploring other options to improve my control from the ground.

The dually and be nice halters seem to be mentioned a lot. I'm not keen on the be nice halter because of the pressure points at the poll, but I'm not clear on what the dually offers more than clipping the lunge line to one side, threading it over the nose and through the loop on the other side of a standard headcollar.

Any advice on ways to increase control when walking an excitable horse in hand without potentially hurting them/adding a fear/pain element?

 

[ejdmacf]

I used the dually on my 4yo for hand grazing (it was like flying a kite!) when he was on box rest for a short while. It made a big difference and I used it for leading out to restricted paddock turnout at first too as he became very bargy with the excitement of going out. Only needed it for a short time but very effective.

 

[Lady Jane]

Stick with the bridel/bit and lunge line - with a hard hat, gloves and good foot wear. Good luck!

 

[mustardsmum]

Sedalin worked for us with one walking in hand on box rest. Give it half an hour before and they will just be calmer and it’s safer for everyone.

 

[PinkvSantaboots]

Use a bit and lunge line but I would use sedalin it's much easier and safer and you may find you need it initially but after a while once they are doing more you probably won't need it.

 

[asmp]

Although I’d probably follow the advice above, an alternative is the Le Mieux control head collar

https://www.lemieuxproducts.com/hor...safe-head-collar/lemieux-pro-safe-head-collar

We use it with good results. I like it because it can be a normal head collar or be used as a control one.

 

[Red-1]

With a feisty box rest horse, I use the bit/headstall with 2 people, each with a lunge rein. The rein goes through the bit and clips to the other side, same both sides.

You can keep the horse straight, have spare rope if they rear, and can prevent the horse from striking/biting at your partner.

Still wear hat/gloves.

With those precautions, handlers can feel confident and relaxed and the horses seem to settle to the routine.

 

[Gloi]

The be-nice is not very nice but it works very well. It does have a habit of tying itself in a knot when in the cupboard though ?

 

[OrangeAndLemon]

My very sensible horse on box rest is being walked in a dually with a lead rope and chain attached to the opposite control ring and threaded through the other two rings back to the handler.

The important thing is to make the walks work so we keep his mind occupied. Lots of transitions, back steps and general handy pony stuff, all while walking in straight lines.

I tried to hand graze with a bridle but he found the idea of open space too exciting so we'll sedate for that when we need it.

 

[charlotte0916]

I had my 5 year old on boxrest for 10 weeks recently and reccomend the dually. I tried walking her out in the bridle but found she got a bit wound up being held like that and it created more tension. The dually can be used to make small corrections to stop the situation escalating and even when she did rear/attempt to disappear into the distance a few times the dually gave me plenty of control to being her back down to earth - which I wouldn’t have liked to try even with a bridle and lunge line. You need to clip it on to one ring ideally - it can pull the headcollar over to one side using the one ring but it’s most effective that way and you can get around it by putting some sheepskin fluffy on the sides.

 

[meleeka]

Although I’d probably follow the advice above, an alternative is the Le Mieux control head collar

https://www.lemieuxproducts.com/hor...safe-head-collar/lemieux-pro-safe-head-collar

We use it with good results. I like it because it can be a normal head collar or be used as a control one.

I fashioned my own one like this. The control part only came into play once and it was such a shock he was good as gold from thereon. I tried bridles, headcollars, lunge lines and this was the only thing that kept us safe (Sedalin helped too). I think you have to just get through it the best you can. My horse has always had very good manners and was fine when in, but the hand walking just blew his mind.

 

[Bananyman]

Sedalin worked for us with one walking in hand on box rest. Give it half an hour before and they will just be calmer and it’s safer for everyone.

The sedalin is great but at 15 euro per use it is very expensive to use regularly ?

 

[Birker2020]

I'm currently walking a horse on box rest in hand, in a headcollar with lunge line or in a bridle with hit and lunge line. She is generally good but has tense moments, and if spooked can rear and pull away. I don't want to use a chifney on her as they seem very harsh and I'm not convinced she wouldn't rear reflexively when spooked even with one one, potentially causing more harm than good.

So I'm exploring other options to improve my control from the ground.

The dually and be nice halters seem to be mentioned a lot. I'm not keen on the be nice halter because of the pressure points at the poll, but I'm not clear on what the dually offers more than clipping the lunge line to one side, threading it over the nose and through the loop on the other side of a standard headcollar.

Any advice on ways to increase control when walking an excitable horse in hand without potentially hurting them/adding a fear/pain element?

We have someone on the yard experiencing issues walking their box rested horse so they were sedating it with sedalin. However now they walk round the yard either in the morning when its really quiet or they wait until later in the evening. Its a busy yard so its not easy. I hate in hand walking box rested horses. I hated walking Bailey after a few weeks box rest yet happily got on her and walked her around after three months box rest straight out of the stable.

Dually's work well if the owner knows how to use them in principle and the horse is familiar with them.

 

[gregory123]

Bridle and roller and side reins, or saddle so they feel like it’s work. Completely changed the attitude of mine and he settled into it brilliantly

 

[Bananyman]

Bridle and roller and side reins, or saddle so they feel like it’s work. Completely changed the attitude of mine and he settled into it brilliantly

Ooh interesting idea, thanks