Supplement to keep box rested horse happy!

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southdowns

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Has anyone got any recommendations for a supplement to make my horse slightly more chilled during box rest? His usually good temperament is all over the place now because he is so frustrated with being in.

He's currently on 2mls of Sedaline per day but i'd like to know if anyone has any suggestions for perhaps something more herbal based that would 'lift his spirits' and make him less grumpy

Thanks
 
don't know about supplements - but when mine was on box rest I double netted her haylage so she would take longer to eat it and invested in one of those decahedron toys with Hi-Fi nuggets in it as it kept my very grumpy (and tempremental) mare occupied for ages
 
My boy was on convalesence mix when he had to have box rest (all 6 months of it!)

http://www.dodsonandhorrell.com/products/horse/tailor-made/convalescent-mix/

As for calmers, the trouble is most calmers are magnesium based, which only works really for horses in work - the nervousness causes magensium in the muscles to be used up, which in turns leads to inbalance and more stressyness.

We had a lady come out and give Ben a massage every week, which seemed to cheer him up - he is a horse that hates not doing anything.
 
Sorry, no suggestions with herby stuff/supplements but you could possibly turn his stable into a bit of a playground to keep him amused?

Perhaps tie a jolly ball up outside for him to play with, or get him one of those likit play balls (kind of like a childs activity centre!). Another (slightly cheaper!) trick is threading a large swede and some carrots on a piece of rope and hanging it somewhere in his stable, can keep them amused for ages!

Also, the hexagonal floor balls are quite good which dispense nuts or mix as they nudge them around the stable. Basically anything you can think of to keep him occupied and use his brain a bit should help to settle him a bit! Poor boy, hope he gets better soon :-)
 
Oooooh good luck with the box rest! My boy was on box rest last winter (well most of the year really - 9 months). I found that no amount of calmers worked just lots of small haynets in various places around his stable, and toys - footballs can be fun. Be very aware though of mollases based treats for obvious reasons and lots of hugs, grooming & time when you are there will make life more bearable.
 
I haven't tried it, but Global Herbs do a calmer for box rest, think it probably has valarian in it or something. As I say, I haven't tried it, but I do use their Supercalm Instants on my horse and they work really well. Good luck!
 
Hilton Herbs Rest & Recover liquid helped my mare, it's got chill-out herbs as well as some to help circulation which should help recovery. I'd also vote for a feed ball of nuts for him to throw at the walls & keep him busy.
 
Thanks for all the replies everyone - might give the suggested supplements a go. He does have a ball but choses to bash it around with his hoof containing the fractured pedal bone so sadly he has to have the ball removed! Might try a swede also. Its so horrible seeing them so frustrated!!
 
I'd try Comfrey too then, not for calming but its common name is "Knitbone", for a reason. Fresh herb leaves are better if you can get it or dried from lots of places eg Equimins, it's cheap and experience says to me it helps. Just read the dosage, toxic if you over do it but I think you need to feed a truck load to manage that. Old mare recovered surprisingly quickly according to vet from a cracked splint bone years ago, also fed it to now recovered (fingers xd) youngster for soft tissue injury...
 
My mare is on box rest as well having fractured/shattered her splint bone. She has been in for 4 weeks now with more xrays due in 2 weeks so could well be in for another 8 weeks.
I put her on Global Herbs calmer, she is pretty calm but as miserable as sin and actually bit me yesterday for the first time ever!! I try and give her lots of small meals and scatter chopped up apples and carrots around her stable so she has to search them out, which she does!! The downside is that she turns her bed upside down but I figure its a small price for me to pay if it keeps her even slightly amused for a while.
She also loves her food balls, however I appreciate you can't use those but definately try the apples and carrots trick.
Plus morning and evening i go out to the field and pick her a bucketful of grass and she loves this more than anything else, even leaving hard feed to eat the grass. I also got her a radio which i leave on during the day - apparently classical music is s'posed to be the most calming for horses!!! I try to give her a groom in the mornings and wash her eyes and nose just to make her feel better - she doesn't always appreciate it, but at least the attention from me breaks up her day even though she might be pulling every face under the sun. The other thing she loves is to be scratched in all her itchy places - mane, shoulders, top of bandaged leg etc!
Good luck and if you find any products that cheer your horse up, PLEASE let me know!!!
 
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