My last horse was very much the same, and the only thing that worked was Fluphenazine. It just took the edge off enough that he didn’t explode, but he didn’t feel drugged.
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I’ll ask my vet about this!
Today when the other horses got their feet done he was borderline psychotic in his stall - enough that even the BTDT farrier was like “holy crap”. Just… pissed off every time there was a horse brought in for the farrier. Rearing, spinning, kicking the walls.
Not spooking but obviously very angry and uncomfortable.
I’m probably going to see if the methocarbamol makes a dent, and go for sedation drugs after. If he’s going to be an ass in the stall too, I’ve got to do SOMETHING.
Lol I would be way more aggressive with sedating him, like, yesterday. What’s the risk? If you don’t sedate, there’s a good chance he could reinjure something. If you do, then he stays quiet. I guess I don’t see a downside. A horse going bonkers in his stall over horses coming and going for the farrier does not sound happy.
Also, while methocarbamol can make them a little quiet at first, it’s known for being NOT sedating. For instance, It’s the only muscle relaxer I can take during the day. So I would not plan on that functioning as a sedative.
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Rehab barn hasn’t felt that sedation was necessary, and still hasn’t jumped on the idea. The stall aggression (if you can call it that) has appeared rapidly. Usually he does some hop and spin for 5 seconds and then is fine.
They have sedated horses before - some “much much worse” than mine.
Wow, I’m shocked that they wouldn’t go for it, as you’d think they of all people would want to keep rehabbing horses quiet!
For what it’s worth, my regular barn wanted to wean my horse off them early also. But the vet insisted the horse needed to be drugged if we wanted her to have daily turnout (since I’d keep hearing stories about how nice she looked cantering in her field). And because I’ve paid this vet a lot of money for her knowledge and expertise, we put the pony back on drugs, and we were all happier for it 
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I would def be trying the big guns sedation.
If you’re still looking for a supplement smartpak smartcalm ultra has magnesium and tryptophan. It works really well for my tb he’s an anxious boy without it. It did take 3 weeks to see the full effect.
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Not to completely hijack this thread but I called the vet and we are going to put my horse on trazadone, and try to slowly expand his turnout a bit if he can manage to behave. I really hope he keeps making progress and we can get him happier, and I’m praying we are making the correct call.
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I think I’ve mentioned it previously but my horse did great on trazadone! We’d give it in the morning with feed (they syringed for a while, but eventually realized she’d just eat it in the grain), and when she was a little dopey they’d turn her out (maybe 45 min to an hour later? Could go faster if you syringe). Luckily she’d go straight out and eat with her buddy, then by the time she got bored and looking for trouble she’d still be sleepy enough to just keep eating. I also kept her a little warmer (blanketing as if she were clipped, even though she’s not [though she doesn’t have much coat]) to prevent any winter sillies from the cooler weather.
For what it’s worth, I’ve been prescribed trazadone in the past for insomnia and boy does it work LOL!
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Just for curiosity purposes - do you remember how much you were giving and your horse’s weight?
Feel free to pm me if you like
I thought about including it but I can’t remember the size of the tablets! I worked it out that her maintenance dose was ~ 2.2 mg/kg per day, which is on the low end, which was 12 tabs per day, and she’s ~ 1100 lbs. From what I’ve read you can dose up to 10 mg/kg. I think we had initially started closer to 16 tablets per day, then worked her down a bit, then 12 seemed to be the sweet spot (since I was also riding her in the evenings I didn’t want her too sleepy).
I think it’s a pretty forgiving drug and you can play around with the dosage to find the right amount of sedation. I think it hits them a little hard at first, then they habituate a bit after a few days, so don’t be afraid to adjust as needed.
Edit: emphasizing that we dosed my mare once a day since she was chill in the stall at night, and I was mostly concerned with shenanigans in turnout during the day. But lots of folks would do this dosing 2x per day.
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Thanks so much!!
I used trazodone with a foster who had a LOT of anxiety when she moved here. She’s a smaller, 900 lb or so QH. IIRC, I was authorized to give her up to 20 tablets, twice per day. I know I never went that high. I’m pretty sure we were at 12 tablets twice a day for a while and gradually weaned her down to about 3 tablets, twice a day, where we stayed for a while. So you can definitely play around with the dosage. It worked really well for her anxiety.
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Having to stall rest my standard donkey for 9 months last year, well I don’t see how you gal’s do this with your full size horses. It’s not for sissies or the faint of heart.
Not sure if it’s been discussed but is your guy getting any grain?
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He is getting grain - TC Senior (think 6-7lbs a day? Not sure. Based on how he looks at any given time). He was on a ration balancer, some gap filling supps, and some TC for flavor but he dropped weight rapidly, even while eating 25-30lb of good T/O hay a day. He gets a lunch or two of plain soaked alfalfa pellets as well, because the old mare babysitting the weanlings gets extra meals and the boys in the barn get jealous.
He’s also getting an omega 3 supp, MSM, E, salt, and Nexium. I just added an herbal anti-inflammatory to hopefully give him some general ache relief, and I’m researching calming supps. He just started on 10 750mg pills of methocarbamol 2x daily, and we are going to work up to 16 pills if he will eat it.
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I’m old school and a horse in a long layup would be getting minimal grain. If ulcers are suspected that’s another reason to restrict/remove grain but I’m absolutely not judging your choices or horsemanship, just sharing my point of view. It’s beyond evident you are doing right by your horse.
I’ve fed shredded molasses free beet pulp (hydrated) for decades to keep weight on my working horses who for various reasons could not have grains. It’s digested more like hay in the horse’s digestive system so very satisfying.
Good luck with your guy, what you are dealing with is beyond hard work.
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Thanks for the sympathy lol it really means a lot! I feel like I’m working so hard for him and he’s actively undermining my efforts 
And yes originally we wanted him on a balancer and hay but he just looked so bad we added Senior gradually until we ended up at a full ration 
. He looks good now, and I may try to cut the grain again come warmer weather. But then again, if it ain’t broke…
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100%, if it ain’t broke!!
One day, 3 weeks into my standard donkeys rehab confinement, she used her big ole nogging to shove me away. I went full blown Pentecostal preacher on her with snakes and water. She never did that again but I swear I thought to myself at the time “how do people deal with 17 hand hunter/jumper types and strict stall confinement?”. 
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Handwalking as soon as possible. Helmet, boots, gloves, dressage whip for tapping and visual to keep them off you-both front and back and moving forward, chain over the nose, elbow at the ready to keep them off you, pretend to be calm and ignore a lot so it won’t escalate. What’s really fun and unpredictable is the riding before turnout starts. A quiet time at the barn and maybe a buddy and a chain over the nose and since their top line may have changed during stall rest, a saddle that fits and doesn’t pinch.
Curious if anyone dealing with suspensory rehab is still seeing occasional swelling. We are 4 months post injury (hind leg outer branch suspensory) and I am now seeing swelling in the pastern/fetlock area on injured leg. I’m also seeing some swelling in the other hind leg (but less so), so suspect part of it is just not enough activity. But I also was feeling what I would characterize as elevated, but not bounding, pulses in both hind legs, and heat in the injured one. Energy level seems normal. No indication of any lameness.
We just had some crazy weather, from below zero to high 40s and everywhere in between.
My vet is not overly concerned and says we should expect to see some inflammation in the leg as we move along with the rehab protocol. She thinks the pulses were most likely to dissipate heat in the warmer days.
I did a low dose of Banamine AM and PM for three days, and 3 shorter walks each day, rather than one longer walk. Temp has been normal the entire time.
We woke up to no noticeable pulse this morning, no heat, and milder swelling, so I think maybe this episode is behind us. I think I just need to add on at least two more short walks in addition to our rehab walk, so I can keep the circulation going. And my vet wants me to go back to icing after each period of exercise.
But I’m just wondering if this is within the range of normal. It doesn’t take much to raise my anxiety as we are dealing with this.
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My horse randomly started stocking up around month 5. The weather has just been absolutely wild and unpredictable, but he wasn’t lame and we just went with bute. Not a ton of heat, and it dissipated with work. We ended up expanding his turnout a bit and putting him on trazadone to keep the shenanigans to a minimum. It seems to have helped.
Granted, my horse did a front suspensory and the stocking up was only the hind legs so idk if it’s relevant to your situation.
