week of box rest- right thing to do?

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welshied

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Had vet out yesterday as my horse had been lame for a couple of days and had been on box rest its his front leg and he doesnt have any heat or swelling anywhere, vet checked for an abcess but was pretty sure there wasnt anything there wanted to nerve block him but said horse hates vet and needles so he said for him to go on a weeks box rest, he had bute yesterday both am and pm and one this morning but he had no improvement at all if not a little bit worse. So would you expect a slight improvement after the bute or am i just worrying for the sake of it as i would just sooner know what we are treating?
 
Not sure lameness started after he had escaped from his field and vet thought it was possibly shoulder related but i am now leaning towards an abcess might give the vet another ring
 
What was the lameness pattern on hard/soft - straight & circle? Positive to flexion?
Was the vet able to narrow down where the lameness likely originates from?

Personally I wouldn't bute, especially if abcess is a suspect.
A weeks box rest won't hurt - worth getting the shoe off and poulticing in that time just in case.
 
my boy went lame on saturday, on left front, think he had jarred it slipping around the field, as they have been zooming a bit recently. kept him in for 48 hours and then out for the day and in over night for a few more days, he gradually improved and is now sound again (similar as no heat or swelling) but i agree that if it is getting worse i would be suspicious of an abscess and would get the farrier out to test of pain in the hoof. when my mare had an abscess she was very slightly lame on back leg one day and hopping and hardly weight baring the next.
only other thing is actually turning him out, as personally i think box rest for a week will just make him stiffer, if he has strained something from field escaping he might need to move around to stretch it gently.
 
No farrier hasnt been uet waiting for him to get back to me.
Hes equally lame on both hard and soft ground vet commented that he wasnt bringing his leg forwards like he should so was leaning towards it being his shoulder but now with him getting worse after box rest i am not so sure
 
I can't comment on what is actually wrong with your horse but I have views on box rest. I believe that on may occasions vox rest is prescribed when it clearly isn't the best thing. When a horse is in the stable few stand still & just do nothing. many move about a lot & they twist & turn & this aggravates any leg, knee, fetlock injury they may have. Sometimes they are better off out in the paddock.
 
welshied said:
No farrier hasnt been uet waiting for him to get back to me.
Hes equally lame on both hard and soft ground vet commented that he wasnt bringing his leg forwards like he should so was leaning towards it being his shoulder but now with him getting worse after box rest i am not so sure
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He won't bring his leg forwards if he has an abscess in the heel. He will want to land short onto his toe. I'd stop the Bute, it can be bad news to suppress a foot abscess.
 
Thanks for all the replies there was still no improvement tonight but my farrier is coming out first thing in the morning so will go from there
 
Toby_Zaphod said:
I can't comment on what is actually wrong with your horse but I have views on box rest. I believe that on may occasions vox rest is prescribed when it clearly isn't the best thing. When a horse is in the stable few stand still & just do nothing. many move about a lot & they twist & turn & this aggravates any leg, knee, fetlock injury they may have. Sometimes they are better off out in the paddock.
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Totally agree with that, but I think in this case just a weeks box rest shouldn't do any harm. Long term box rest, I often think is prescribed automatically when it shouldn't be. My horse did his tendon in a big way last year, he moved about a lot in the stable and was explosive when I did take him out to the point he re-damaged it after 4 months box rest! On agreement with the vet, he went back out into a small paddock and his behaviour went back to normal and he then began to improve as he wasn't messing about on the leg.
 
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