Surviving stall rest/rehab

[SadieRidingHorses]

Thank you all again for your suggestions, many/most of which I have adopted. FedEx is taking much too long to deliver our Port-A-Grazer, but we are working on. We are 2.5 weeks in and my girl seems to understand (like she always does) her new job - we’ve survived our handwalks with only a few hiccups (knock on wood!) and while she’s still her normal curious, communicative self, she is behaving in her stall. She is extra-expressive when I groom her, but that is allowed at the moment. We are listening to audio books during our handwalks - currently “Confidence Man”, by Maggie Habermam, and I chat to her the whole time, which she seems to really enjoy. One of the girls at the barn who walks her when I am out of town (I travel regularly for work) told me that she behaves best during her walks when you gossip with her - so I think our next audio book will be “Spare”.

Question on hoofcare. At the vet’s suggestion/insistence, we pulled her shoes. As the vet says, she has excellent feet, and I actually competed her barefoot this summer/fall - we only put on front shoes when she was first off (we thought she had a stone bruise at first - long story). But now we are back to barefoot.

Any suggestions on hoofcare during stall rest? Her feet are looking fine. Left hind smelled a touch thrushy on Sunday so I put on some thrush buster. But I am wondering if I should start treating with durasole, etc, so her feet don’t get too soft? Any thoughts on this?

[starsandsun]

I think her feet will be fine, but what I’ve started doing on farrier recommendation is a weekly rinse with a tiny bit of bleach to water ratio, from a syringe to clean out/get into frog. That’s really helped in our wet weather.

[Arelle]

Drugs and a routine.

My guy just came off seven months of stem cell treatment for a partially torn DDFT. He still isn’t being turned out because he acts an absolute fool when left to his own devices but he is being ridden six days a week.

The entire time he was on stall rest, he stayed in his “program.” He was groomed in the morning, saddled, then tied in his stall. Left for about an hour, then unsaddled, groomed, and put back away. He was clipped regularly and had everything remain the same - he just wasn’t ridden or turned out.

He is in a full program, and we do the all-around. I know some H/J barns don’t tie horses in stalls as the western barns do. However, my point is that he was still expected to participate in his everyday life. We didn’t just abandon all routines, which I think helps lessen the stressors to horses who thrive on predictability.

[Pico_Banana]

For calming supplements, I’ve been using SmartPak’s SmartTranquility daily. It’s a valerian-based supplement, but obviously if you’re on stall rest that’s not a concern. I feel like it’s a bit more “direct” than the usual magnesium supplements, meaning it seems most effective right after it’s given (so I give it with breakfast).

If I feel like I need a little extra during our rehab exercises (usually in the afternoon), I top her off with SynChill pellets an hour before our work. (I don’t have an indoor so the winter weather makes things a bit more exciting on some days.) This cocktail has allowed us to avoid pharmaceuticals so far.

The combo is vet-approved.

[NC001]

I had one on stall rest for a few months. At first it was strict stall rest and even though he is an older lazy guy he got difficult to handle after being locked up for so long. After a month I was able to make an outdoor stall for him and I only put him out when I was there to supervise- even 1-2 hours 5 days a week made a big improvement in his behavior and then when he was ready for hand walking I could handle him fine.

The hay ball was the best thing I got him- kept him busier than the hay nets.

[outerbanks77]

@starsandsun

I think her feet will be fine, but what I’ve started doing on farrier recommendation is a weekly rinse with a tiny bit of bleach to water ratio, from a syringe to clean out/get into frog. That’s really helped in our wet weather.

Another trick I learned recently, if the sulcus is thrushy and has a crevice, is to put some diaper rash cream (whatever generic kind has a lot of zinc oxide) on part of a cotton ball and stuff it in the crevice. I’ve been doing this on my mare’s more upright foot that tends to be contracted and gets thrushy in winter, and the sulcus is finally open and healthy.

Sedatives - like others said, depends upon the horse. My mare was on extended stall rest (almost 18 months all told) and she was blowing through Ace stacked on oral Reserpine when I was hand walking her. A bodyworker who also runs a rehab facility recommended DePaolo Tranquility and it worked amazingly for her. I tapered her off the Reserpine while she was on the loading dose of Tranquility and was able to complete the under saddle portion of her rehab without ending up in rehab myself (from either injury or chemical dependency, it was a tossup towards the end there). A couple fellow boarders tried Tranquility without success, but a) I don’t think they did the full loading dose, and b) both were geldings, which may or may not be significant.

[Mersidoats]

@outerbanks77

Another trick I learned recently, if the sulcus is thrushy and has a crevice, is to put some diaper rash cream (whatever generic kind has a lot of zinc oxide) on part of a cotton ball and stuff it in the crevice. I’ve been doing this on my mare’s more upright foot that tends to be contracted and gets thrushy in winter, and the sulcus is finally open and healthy.

I would be interested in learning more about this. Do you leave it in overnight? How long? I’ve got a gelding that has thrush prone feet and my Today/Tomorrow and Grooms hand protocol isn’t working.

Also, I’ve tried to keep my stall rest horses on the same farrier schedule during the stall-rest rehab. My mare had a tear in her fetlock/pastern and we ended up missing a cycle because it was too painful for her to flex the joint. Then my farrier disappeared (long story) and I missed another cycle. I paid for it dearly down the road with runaway angles and hind end complications from her NPA getting more severe. YMMV, but I’m never missing a shoeing cycle ever again.

[outerbanks77]

@Mersidoats

I would be interested in learning more about this. Do you leave it in overnight? How long? I’ve got a gelding that has thrush prone feet and my Today/Tomorrow and Grooms hand protocol isn’t working.

I’ve just left it in until it falls out, but if the sulcus is really deep, I would probably change it out every couple days.

[outerbanks77]

@Mersidoats

My mare had a tear in her fetlock/pastern and we ended up missing a cycle because it was too painful for her to flex the joint. Then my farrier disappeared (long story) and I missed another cycle. I paid for it dearly down the road with runaway angles and hind end complications from her NPA getting more severe. YMMV, but I’m never missing a shoeing cycle ever again.

Are you me? My mare had to have a special bar shoe for her fractured coffin bone. Farrier was amazing, until he ghosted me. Had to find another guy, toes ran out and she pulled her DDFT before I could get the shoe off and back up her toe (I usually trim my own, so I hated having her in a shoe).

[Fiesta01]

@Libby2563

My naughty dressage horse was waiting until he thought no one was watching, then jumping 4’ from a standstill with a torn suspensory!

Would love to have seen that on video! So happy you had such a great outcome.

[SadieRidingHorses]

After reading several older threads on COTH, I ordered “Back to Work” by Lucinda Dyer. What a fabulous resource! Thank you to the COTH community for this resource!

Finally picked up Port-A-Grazer yesterday and will install in her stall later today. The working students at the barn helped with the “desensitization” process, hah!