Keeping an old horse sane while on an incredibly long stall rest?

I have a 15 year old thoroughbred that ran for 10 years and was recently kicked by another horse fracturing his ulna. This is his first serious injury. The vet says he can possibly recover if.....he's on stall rest for 6 months then stall rest and light walking for another 6 months. Translation, keep a super high activity level horse on stall rest for a year without foundering or re-injuring himself. I am looking for ways to keep him busy. Vet says the pain will keep him down for around a month, we are only buting him for around 10 days as we want him to keep himself down and his pain tolerance is insane. (He was kicked then ran around the arena 3 times before being caught he also has twisted his ankle before and even though he limps slightly he won't stop running and bouncing around, he can barely walk but he tried to drag me and my dad around because he saw a small clump of green foxtails to eat.) I need help on keeping him down for the other 11. I am going to try a jolly ball and the uncle jim's hanging stall lick things. I'm looking into calming supplements but don't know where to start because we never use them and I want something that wont hurt him when used for extended periods of time. He has to have significant space between him and other horses as he's horse aggressive (thats how the kicking started our big horse decided he would test him.) I'm going to look into feeding him a different hay but we still have three weeks of college left so no one is home from 8am-10pm and we live in the middle of nowhere. I have seen jolly balls, hanging chews, hanging carrots/apples, mirrors and milk jugs. Any other ideas? I don't think those five things will keep him happy for 12 months(after 3-6 he will be able to go for walks), fortunately summer is near and my dad and I both have the summer off (thankfully he's a teacher.) The horse can walk about 50 feet or so a day on the lead, we live in AZ so zero grass but some green foxtails for now. He has a 12x12 breezeway stall will about a 14x12 outdoor he can go into so he can move around a little.


Thanks|||Grass hay 24/7, get a big hay rack and let him eat it free choice. You could probably stop feeding him a hard feed or switch him to a good equalizer just to make sure he gets his vitamin content. Taking him off feed will help to keep him a little more calm, but he'll get enough not to stress when the other horses are getting fed. Make sure to keep his stall super clean since he will be in it 24/7.





Skip the jolly balls, my horses have never played with them. I usually buy the jolly snacks:


http://www.jeffersequine.com/jolly-stall鈥?/a>





Instead of refilling with their treats I go ahead and buy the Uncle Jimmy's Licky Things:


http://www.smartpakequine.com/ProductCla鈥?/a>





Start him on a calming supplement like Smart Calm Ultra (always had good luck with it). The pellets you can actually feed with no feed. My horses loved the taste of them.





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Since he is being kept in a stall I would possibly add a stomach smoother to prevent ulcers like U-7 or SmartGut as well. Ulcers will keep him from settling. The hay 24/7 will help prevent that as well.





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If toys don't occupy him and the supplement doesn't work, talk with your vet about Reserpine. It's been given for horses on extended stall rest as a sedative. I would try all your other options first, but this could be your solution. The other option is fluphenazine. I would try Reserpine first though.|||Just keep him busy!!! leave little treats around the paddock for him to find. Jolly balls are life savers. You can also find balls with holes in the middle sos you can put a treat in it. That should keep him busy!|||Global herbs do a supplement called Box rest "Formulated to keep your horse chilled out when confined to a stable". 24/7 hay , lickit, salt lick, mineral lick, treat ball.|||One thing that might help is getting him a stall toy, it will keep his mind busy.


I hope he heals up just fine!


Good Luck!|||My mare's been on box rest all winter and the thing I found with her was letting her feel like she had got to go out so she went out into a 20' square pen next to the field everyday with her hay net - she got to go outside and feel like she wasn't being left behind.


Also try a treatball - one of those that you put treats inside and the horse has to work out how to get them out. I found using fibre/hay replacer nuts work well.


Depending on his weight try and ensure that he always has hay in front of him so he doesn't run out and get hungry.


Calming suppliments wise speak to your feed store, most are designed to be fed continuously.





If all else fails then consider lightly sedating him although for such a long period thats an absolute last resort. If you do need to go down that route then a good herbal one is valarian, you'll get it at a human health food store and it does work on horses and is safe to use with them. My sister's tb had to be on box rest/walking in hand due to an abcess and he was going mad within a week and had to be sedated for the time he was in. The valarian left him kinda sleepy but stopped him hurting himself further.