box rest

[lucky]

hi
my mare is 8 years old, sec D, lame on hind leg, been scanned, result= desmitis of check ligament of flexor tendon, vet says at least 3 months box rest, suggestions needed to help prevent boredem

[RiP Its A Matter Of Principle]

We have had 2 horses and a shetland pony in on box rest for what the last 3 months.

Lickits and stable toys have been our answer to be honest, but we had been checking them every 3 hours (as one of them had chronic grass sickness) but when you are there if you can walk them out walk them out if not spend time playing in the stable cuddles, kisses etc!! Sorry theres no real way of preventing from stress from being stabled 24/7

[Casper]

TTeam massages are great to relax horses on box rest - use "percussion" on your horse's neck and body. Tail rotations, stretches etc. Massage their ears and gums. Use a long rope to tie up a swede or turnip to give your horse something to do. (Bobby demolishes Lickits in minutes, so isn't allowed to have them anymore, other than as a treat from my hand). You could also do some clicker training for things which don't involve your horse moving around too much because of the leg. Touching a target, picking up a horseball, putting her head down on command (which is great for reducing stress as it reduces the heart rate) etc. Lots of gentle grooming. Ad lib hay to avoid her being stressed at having no food. (If she is a good doer then soak it first to remove most of the sugars etc - then she'll be getting the fibre she needs without piling on the pounds).

Will she have company all the time? If not, see if others at your yard will organise a rota, so that your girl is not on her own - some horses are fine, but most find it really stressful to be isolated. If she is on her own perhaps leave a radio playing quietly during the day time?

Can't think of anything else at the moment Lucky. Hope that the recovery goes well.

[Jo Milnes]

Hi - sorry to hear that your horse is having to have box rest.

We have a yard specialising in injury recovery and therefore have horses on box rest for periods of time.

My suggestions are if possible allow your horse to have company at all times - touch as well as sight. Some of our boxes allow horses to scratch each other and interact. Obviously we do have some that prefer not to so it is a matter of trial & error to find the best situation for each individual horse.

If possible allow ab lib hay/halylage so that they always have something to eat.

We dont usually need to have likkits etc but for some these can relieve a little boredom.

Spending time grooming etc and we use massage for horses spending a lot of time of box rest.

Hope that this helps. We have found that as long as we spend a little bit of time getting each horse into the right surrounding they do seem to settle down. One we have in at the moment the owner can't believe that she isn't weaving 24/7 as she would have been at home but because she has company and a relaxed atmosphere and plenty of hay she has really settled down to her period of box rest.

The other thing you could do is to investigate spa hydrotherapy to try and reduce the recovery time and therefore box rest time.

PM me if you want any more advice.

[mickeymoo]

Sorry to hear your horse will have to box rest.

Some suggestions I recently heard - I think someone was saying the Army do this -

Apple bobbing - put some apples in buckets of water and they will have fun trying to get them - not sure if my horse would do that..

tie apples and carrots on strings in stable or hide them in bedding around the stable.

Hope it all goes well.

[Lisa B]

We did the hide the apples/carrots in the bed thing and it was very entertaining watching my friends mare go off like a sniffer dog looking for them! lol
Offering different types of forage is supposed to be good for them too, stops them getting bored with the same thing.

[lucky]

hi thanks for all your ideas, she has a lick it and a hanging ball, i leave the radio on for her during the day, unfortunatly i'm not aloud to walk her around yet, she's coping well at the moment, worse time is when her mate goes out in the morning, she has acp tabs to settle her in the mornings, has alredy sust this out as she eats breakfast and leaves tablets, so i now stuff them in an apple or carrot

[Pam Hartley]

Hello Lucky, my 22 yr old unfortunately has the same injury as your horse.His 'treatment' has been- injection to reduce pain/swelling. The bute alternative-my brain has gone dead-Dem something.A controlled walking programme-15 mins twice daily for one month.Then 30 mins twice daily for the next month, now on 45 mins twice daily for the third month. Hydrotherapy /Cartophen injections was suggested by my vet but Petplan are being very slow to authorise.Even a veteran horse should be able to have quality of life, and he was still being ridden 4 times weekly till he injured himself-I am so cross with them!. Also he has had his heels elevated by wedges in his shoes-4% for one month then 2% and now 1%.Had to put onto a calmer-Equine America So Kalm took the edge off-I am saving the ACP for when he is turned out. Why are you not allowed to wallk your horse??? Good Luck Pam

[lioness]

hmmmmm
Sorry to hijack the thread, but my Mums cob 30+ years old has ripped his superficial flexor tndon, he's been on 4 weeks box rest, and vet advise todays a further 4 weeks, that's complete box rest btw, he a complete loon to try to walk anywhere, so not even aloowed out from stable !! he's had his shoes taken off so far, and no ideas as to when to out back on.... what are the treatmetns you are using ?
Mum is with him 8 hours+ per day and polycoddles him most of that time, so he doesn't need much amusing after that !!
L

[becsfugs]

Lucky have you tried crushing the acp tablets so they are in a powder form, my friends horse is on box rest after being diagnosised with lamintis (sorry spelling!) and her vet said to crush the tablets with a spoon if she was worried about them not being eaten.

Hope this helps and good luck with everything

Just an idea we have snack balls which are good for my friends horse as he can roll it around to get the treats out and get a bit of gentle movement going while in the stable.

[beckie]

stable boredom
licks
hanging balls
treat dispensing toys
radio
walking out?
massage
lots of hugs
interesting food-nothing to energetic,but tasty
swedes/turnips/carrots hanging from the ceiling