Managing a young/super fit horse on stall rest??

[SAS]

So, I had an amazing year with my boy. He is a 5 year old that we are bringing along as an adult equitation horse/adult hunter. By the end of August I had successfully shown him in both the hunters and a local adult eq. final. We had planned on really letting him down starting in September - light hacks a few days a week but not all the hard work and pressure. Then about 2 weeks ago, we noticed him leaving the ground a bit funny over an oxer - not off on the flat at all but just funny behind leaving the ground.

Turns out my kid has some inflammation in a hind suspensory - no real damage, just inflammation. Vet suggests 4-6 weeks completely off of work, no turnout, can hand walk as much as possible. We will re-ultra sound early to mid-October. Vet doesn't sound terribly worried about the inflammation - kind of classified it as growing pains. Have to work them hard to get them fit, conditioned and strong but at the same time risk minor injuries. So, I am completely optimistic about the leg and it couldn't be a better time to give him some down time.

Now we get to the problem - super fit 5 year old going from hard work 6 days a week to stall rest!!!!! He is usually a super mellow horse but has turned into a bit of a beast. He will randomly squeal, leap, spin and kick the walls. We are of course worried about him injuring himself further - not to mention destroying the barn in the process. We tried him on the Ace tabs but that doesn't seem to be taking enough edge off. Looking for suggestions on how to best manage this period of stall rest.

Thanks for the input.

[luvs2ridewbs]

try ace and reseurpine (sp?) I would tell your vet the ace isn't enough. Also, cut his grain (which you've probabaly already done) and maybe try a calming suppliment.

[SAS]

I don't have any experience with the reserpine but have heard mixed things about it. His grain has been cut to almost nothing but he has hay in front of him almost all the time to try to keep him busy.

[Fharoah]

My gelding was much like yours. Cut the grain, find a low sugar low protien hay if possible that he likes. Reserpine didn't have any effect on my gelding, it works well for many though. You can also try fluphenazine. When my gelding was at the hospital tripple kicking the walls after surgery they gave 4ml acepromazine IM, I do find ace is more effective given that way. Have you tried using the injectable ace orally. My stall rest gelding is currently getting 1.5 large scoops of ace granules in a tiny bit of beet pulp three times a day, it seems to take him down a notch. Also if he is happier outside and your weather is ok build him a 14x14 outside a stall doesn't have to be inside.

Good luck stall rest sucks!

[Lori B]

My mare has been on a low dose of oral reserpine since February, with absolutely no ill effects. Gut fine, coat fine, etc. It just seems to take the wound up edge off of her. She was fully stall rested from Feb. to July, then has had a few hours a day of small paddock turnout since then.

When you hand graze, use a chain shank and a longe line and wear gloves, so that you can, if necessary, give your horse a few more feet to recover from their moment without standing underneath their waving front feet. If necessary, we aced for grazing too (1 cc) and it kept her 4 feet on the ground where they belonged.

[merrygoround]

Absolutely, if you haven't already done it, cut the grain. Lots of timothy, orchard type grass, will keep him busy, and you hope, somewhat logy.

Use sedation if you must. My observation is that the first 3-5 days are usually the worst, and that they then settle into a routine. I used to rotate another horse in and out of the adjoining stall for company. sometimes they have a favorite.

A sturdy halter and a long brass chain need to be standard equipment. Learn how to apply the chain through the bottom ring, up through the side ring, across the nose behind then over the nose band, back through the lower side ring and up to the higher outside ring. It takes a long chain to accomplish this. When you hold the shank, hold it as you would a rein,with the part closest to the halter between the ring finger and pinkie, then across the palm exiting between thumb and forefinger. the bight goes in the other hand. this grip is much stronger, and will help avoid losing him.

[NorCalDressage]

How much Ace in the granules?

My experience was that Ace given on top of other feed didn't do squat, but worked wonders when I used the injectable and put in directly in their mouth, with nothing else.

I've heard it is absorbed by the mucous membranes in this fashion, rather than going to their stomach. Takes about 30 mins to take effect.

My personal thoughts are to only use reserprine/flup as a last resort.

[NorCalDressage]

Also, hand grazing seems to chill them out when on stall rest. Also check into boredom toys - there are some threads on here already about surviving stall rest - check those out.

Is he behaved on his hand walks?

[yellowbritches]

Repeat after me: DRUGS ARE YOUR FRIENDS.

I have had to deal with a few three day fit horses (as in, long format, roads and tracks and steeplechase galloping maniac kind of horses) on stall rest, and the ONLY way to keep them from climbing out of their skin and killing themselves, you, and everyone around them is drugs. Ace and reserpine are my favorites. If you can get them compounded into paste, you and your horse will be happier.

[Lori B]

amen what yellowbritches said.

Do not succumb to brainless guilt about how using drugs makes you feel less like you are doing the right thing. Living through stall rest without further injury to horse (when they go boinging across the yard and yank the rope out of your hands) and without trips to the emergency room (when horsie leaps out of its skin and kicks you accidentally) is the measure of success in this process. I have only done one long (and not yet complete) rehab, for a very quiet kind mare, and I found parts of handling her scared the bejesus out of me. Drugs are your friend. Don't hesitate, talk to your vet and medicate.

[Fancy That]

Finding low-sugar grass hay that you can almost 'free feed' from, say a small-mesh hay net, will also help keep him busy and more settled.

You can get one at Smith Brothers for less than $10. It has to be 'small mesh' in order to slow them down.

You could feed him as normal, but just leave a haynet like this hanging in his stall if you'd like.

It depends on your horse, but my neighbor said this was a LIFESAVER when her gelding had to be laid-up on stall rest for several weeks. (he was also used to being worked and normally lived on a 10 acre pasture!)

[Fharoah]

How much Ace in the granules?

My experience was that Ace given on top of other feed didn't do squat, but worked wonders when I used the injectable and put in directly in their mouth, with nothing else.

I've heard it is absorbed by the mucous membranes in this fashion, rather than going to their stomach. Takes about 30 mins to take effect.

My personal thoughts are to only use reserprine/flup as a last resort.

The ace granules suck. But that is what my vet keeps giving me so he just gets a big dose seems to help.

I had heard you can put about 8cc of acepromazine liquid squirted into some beat pulp.

I have used the injectable reserpine orally can can work really well and is safer than injecting. Didn't work on my gelding but he is just special (resperpine has no effect).

[Blue Bunny]

The ace granules suck. But that is what my vet keeps giving me so he just gets a big dose seems to help.

I had heard you can put about 8cc of acepromazine liquid squirted into some beat pulp.



8cc, what are you tranquilizing an elephant?:D
Ace works well when it's squirted into the mouth, I usually use 1cc to take the edge off.

[Lori B]

We inject our Ace IM, most I've ever given (on top of reserpine) is 1.5cc, when it was spring and she was very ..... alert. :-)

[Fharoah]

8cc, what are you tranquilizing an elephant?:D
Ace works well when it's squirted into the mouth, I usually use 1cc to take the edge off.

I don't know all I can tell you is ace is virually useless for my gelding. The only reason I am using it is because reserpine had no effect on my boy, my GP and surgeon don't use fluphenazine, and nothing else I have tried has any effect on my who tripple kicks the walls, even bangs his surgery leg. The very large doses of granules seem to help if (costing me allot) for minimal effect. It is only a matter of time before he becomes ammune and I start to beg for fluphenazine LOL

3ml squirted into the mouth of liquid did nothing for my boy for handwalking nor did ace and reserpine together.

Best luck origional poster

[Peggy]

Yup. Better living thru better chemistry as DuPont used to say.

I was dealing with an older horse and didn't need drugs for the hand walking, but did plug his ears (big help with one that reacts to sound). Also tried to pick a quiet, hot time of the day. Chain slightly different than one of the above posters: near side ring, over nose thru off-side ring, under jaw, clipped back to near-side ring where throatlatch connects. I found this gave me better control with less tendency to torque the halter around. YMMV. But it requires and even-longer chain.

We have a fairly green 4 y.o. that's on saddle walking on hard ground at my barn. Not fun.

[ex-racer owner]

Had my TB on strict stall rest for January and February after arthroscopic surgery. I was very worried about the stall rest as my horse is all about being outside and gets very upset when kept in. After much discussion about "options" for a quiet recovery, I was fully prepared to inject whatever would ensure quietness for a two month period. Got my boy home from clinic and thought I would wait a couple days to call vet out for the injection (it was Dec. 31 that he came home). I did cut his feed in half, as per my vet's recommendation and surgeon's, as well. He gets 3/4 of a dose of Quiessance normally in his daily supplements, and I didn't change that. Well, a couple of days go by and he is still quiet and well mannered so I kept putting off that phone call until it was time to start turning out again. I never did have to tranq him like I thought I would have to. The worst I saw was one time he had a fit that consisted of a crowhop and an indignant head toss! We did make sure to keep hay in front of him at all times...

Now, I did Ace him the first couple times I started bringing him back to turnout, since he wouldn't be under my control and I didn't want him running crazed around the field.

[SAS]

Thanks for all of the input. We are kind of sticking with the Ace right now. He gets Ace tabs with his minimal grain twice a day. We have also now done a couple of days of IV Ace and actually turned him out in a very small paddock with his hay/water. Happy as a clam!!!! I am hoping if we can keep up with a small amount of turnout - even just a few times a week, he will be much happier when stuck in his stall. So far so good on the hand walking. He just seems to appreciate any time he is out of his stall and has been well behaved so far - as good as he usually is - normal rude 5 year old behavior. And of course he is happy if he can hand graze.

So, looks like we will keep up the Ace tabs, IV Ace for some restricted turnout and as much other time out of his stall as we can do. As I said, he just has some inflammation so I am hoping for only another 3-4 weeks tops of this before he can start back to some level of work. Fingers crossed!!!

[Gayla]

Maybe someone can help me understand. So, is stall rest just so a horse can't run? Buck? What? Since horses can't get the weight off the leg. as long as the horse is not running the fence, what good is stall rest? OP. I am not attacking you. I know you are doing what your vet has told you to do. I would do the same. :yes: I am just trying to understand. I can understand controlled and even drugged turnout (good for you OP) but stall rest just does't add up to me for anything other than stitches/surgery...very sick horses.

[Vitriolic]

Stall rest means don't move. Don't walk on it. It is pretty much impossible to get the weight off it, but walking, turning, etc are stressful to some injuries. I have heard some people have had luck putting up an outdoor stall with sun or shade (depending on temp etc) and grass. They keep moving it every day and the horse stays sane. I have had good luck with fit racehorses with fractures using 1 cc of ace per day orally, no grain, all the hay they want and a sleepy old pony nearby for company. Do whatever you must to keep him from flying around the stall. Most calm down after 5 to 7 days.

[Fharoah]

Stall rest means don't move. Don't walk on it. It is pretty much impossible to get the weight off it, but walking, turning, etc are stressful to some injuries. I have heard some people have had luck putting up an outdoor stall with sun or shade (depending on temp etc) and grass. They keep moving it every day and the horse stays sane. I have had good luck with fit racehorses with fractures using 1 cc of ace per day orally, no grain, all the hay they want and a sleepy old pony nearby for company. Do whatever you must to keep him from flying around the stall. Most calm down after 5 to 7 days.

Well didn't work out very well for my gelding. I had tried everything other than fluphenazine, he even had a large dose of reserpine both oral and injectable, after a smaller dose had did nothing. The larger dose did nothing. How many horses rears, tripple kick the walls and trot tiny circles. In a 12x20 he will canter in and out. Horrifying when you just did surgery and surgeon says he has to stay quiet. Surgeon had seggested a stall buddy, he has two rotating stall buddies that are dead quiet they just stand there he while he wears he has eight feet outside where he can stand in the sun, he is good more than bad but his bad is not what we want. I am using a ton of oral ace which is minimal to no help, am going to ask my GP for fluphenazine but due to the possible side effects I don't think he will perscribe nor will my surgeon.

Bes luck OP!

[Friday1]

My mare has been on stall rest for about 8 weeks now due to torn SDFT. She was crazy at first and I can relate to the ACE does not work. I have never given 8 cc, but 5 cc IM had no effect. I've given up on ACE with her all together.

She has been getting reserpine POWDER in her food once a day the entire time. I think it has helped a lot, but it does take time to build up to the full effect. I was conviced it wasn't working after she was bucking and spinning the first week, but after about a week I could see the difference. It doesn't make her dopey, just takes the edge off. I also noticed (and my vet has seen it with other clients) that she "purrs" Something about the reserpine makes then sound like they are softly snorting all the time.

She can now hand graze for up to an hour and is sane. I am trying to figure out what i will try when its time to start hand walking and sitting on her. We'll see what the vet suggests since Ace doesn't work.

On a side note, i've also found that for an overall keep their feet on the ground/knock them out tranq my vet uses something called Stedi-Vet with her. Works like a charm. Better than dorm, which this mare is also resistant to.

[yellowbritches]

Also, another thing to remember, is try to get them tranqed BEFORE they get wound up. When I've had guys on stall rest, the very first thing I do when I show up in the morning, before any kind of feeding or anything is done, is gets some drugs in their system. Ususally, if they've been allowed to get wound, drugs won't do much of anything. If you can get them while they are still quiet (before am feeding, before their barn mates go out, before horses are coming and going for work), they usually STAY quiet.

[Fharoah]

My mare has been on stall rest for about 8 weeks now due to torn SDFT. She was crazy at first and I can relate to the ACE does not work. I have never given 8 cc, but 5 cc IM had no effect. I've given up on ACE with her all together.

She has been getting reserpine POWDER in her food once a day the entire time. I think it has helped a lot, but it does take time to build up to the full effect. I was conviced it wasn't working after she was bucking and spinning the first week, but after about a week I could see the difference. It doesn't make her dopey, just takes the edge off. I also noticed (and my vet has seen it with other clients) that she "purrs" Something about the reserpine makes then sound like they are softly snorting all the time.

She can now hand graze for up to an hour and is sane. I am trying to figure out what i will try when its time to start hand walking and sitting on her. We'll see what the vet suggests since Ace doesn't work.

On a side note, i've also found that for an overall keep their feet on the ground/knock them out tranq my vet uses something called Stedi-Vet with her. Works like a charm. Better than dorm, which this mare is also resistant to.

For my gelding I was desperate for the reserpine to work as ace was not helping and his future seemed to ride on it. I thought maybe it helped as he would be sedate for a few hours then become explosive, ended up using two full bottles orally (last year) before concludding it if anything made him worse. We even tried outside stall he was just a handful the whole time. Now after this surgery I really wish he would just be quiet. He is good more than not but I guess every time I see him buck rear spin, trot tiny circles seems everyday. He actually had managed to chew half his cast off at the hospital and developed moderate casting sores partly because he was so active at the hospital they only sedated him when he was standing up on his hind legs and tripple kicking the brick walls and troting circles in his stall.

[Fharoah]

On a side note, i've also found that for an overall keep their feet on the ground/knock them out tranq my vet uses something called Stedi-Vet with her. Works like a charm. Better than dorm, which this mare is also resistant to.[/QUOTE]


I don't know I have never heard of it? I live in BC and my vets are only really alloud to prescribe acepromazine. They are not licenced to prescribe dormosedan ext. They can give reserpine and fluphenazine but few vets I know will.

[Whitfield Farm Hanoverians]

Just be sure you're doing something to help his gut such as pre & probiotics, good quality free choice timothy hay. I use a ration balancer at all times so when I've had a horse on stall rest I've not had to change their feed.

[touchstone-]

I have found that a stall-sized outdoor "paddock" makes a huge difference. I think it preserves the routine of turnout and gives them a change of scenery.

I don't mean to be negative, but I disagree with the post that suggests they get "better" after a week or so. My experience is that they horses that don't like stall rest tend to get worse over time, not better. Though I obviously hope this won't be the case with yours.

I agree with other posters that you should use drugs if you need them, especially for hand-walking. And wear gloves, a lunge line and possibly a helmet. It does your horse no good if he gets loose or you get hurt.

In general, I am not a fan of stall rest. It's a necessary evil for some situations, but I find that it can really make even the kindest, quietest horses become explosive and dangerous--not to mention miserable. I am certainly not a vet, but I'd think that for the type of injury you've described, you might be able to negotiate with your vet for a little bit of small-paddock turnout.

Good luck!

[hunter-eventer-hunter]

Two years ago my hunter (really fit...lots of work and T/O) blew her DDFT. Stall rest with walking...we all know the drill.

I used a feed through calmer. I used Quietex at the start and them moved to the Smart Calm by Smart Pak. Made a big difference. I did not have to use any drugs to hand walk or ride the horse during the entire 6 month re-hab. And this mare is quite reactive.

I think those B Vitamin feed-thrus are great.


H-E-H

[Lori B]

When I hand graze my mare, and she is silly (like, up in the air 3x in 5 minutes), I march her right back into her stall and leave her there for a couple minutes and ignore her. Then I try again to take her out, and she is OFTEN much calmer. I'm not sure why it works, but I think she gets that if she's an idiot, there will be no yummy grass.

But the biggest factor for getting her sensibly quiet is 2-5 hours of turnout in a small paddock. That has made a huge difference, and she doesn't run around in it, she just grazes and gets a little muddy. Her only acting out in the last 2 months was Saturday, when because of the rain here she wasn't in her paddock for 2 days. Then we were back to airs above the ground, repeatedly.

[SAS]

Knock on wood.... The boy hasn't kicked through any wood for about 5 days now. We are at about 2.5 weeks of stall rest and seem to have found a plan that is working. The Ace tabs given with his meals and injectable if he is going to get turned out in a tiny paddock seem to be working. He all of a sudden has a softer/quieter eye and is supposedly much better behaved in his stall. We are trying to get him turned out in the small paddock - under supervision - a few times a week. On top of that, I make sure he gets out for grooming/walking/grazing for at least an hour a day just so he still feels like he is in some sort of routine. We ended up deciding to give the very limited turnout a try as he was leaping, spinning and kicking like a fool in his stall. Felt like medicated turnout might be a better option for his brain - seems to be working.

[Dirty Little Secret]

ace- lots of it! 6 ccs every 8 hours was what kept mine under control.

[DMK]

somehow this has become so complicated. i used to run a post op facility for racehorses, and we routinely had racing fit 2-5 year olds come in, literally off a race, to go cold turkey on stall rest following surgery. All things considered, a 5 yr old show horse is a comatose couch potato compared to a 3 year old colt who ran the week before he was on stall rest. But it was a very simple process. We removed all grain. Zippo, de nada, nothing. They got as much alfalfa as they wanted, but since these were growing youngsters, they needed the nutrition. A more mature horse i would probably give a good mixed hay, free choice all he wanted and cut down to a grass hay if it was an easy keeper.

Somehow the horses all survived even when the grain went by them, they could care less, and stuffed themselves with hay. They lost some weight, they lost a whole lot more fitness and tone, but i can't recall any of them bouncing off the walls, and i am talking 1000's of horses over the years.

Now 6 weeks to 5 months later when it was time to handwalk them? <gulp> let's just say REAL horseman can handwalk anything without the aid of Rx, but if I had it to do all over, i'd be screaming for mother's little helper!

[RougeEmpire]

*palmface....

Do not use ACE on stallions or gelding or any other equine with a penis...one of the potential side effects of ACE is Paraphimosis, as well total loss of control of the penis (he will drop and never be able to retract). I NEVER use ACE on stallions or gelding and I would fire any vet who tried to give it to a gelding or stallion I owned. I have seen first had a few stallions and one gelding suffer the full of effects of this side effect, side effects are not umcommon in geldings and stallions. There are many OTHER drugs out there that are safer for geldings and stallions. I hope your horse recovers without further hurting himself :winkgrin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acepromazine

[Fharoah]

*palmface....

Do not use ACE on stallions or gelding or any other equine with a penis...one of the potential side effects of ACE is Paraphimosis, as well total loss of control of the penis (he will drop and never be able to retract). I NEVER use ACE on stallions or gelding and I would fire any vet who tried to give it to a gelding or stallion I owned. I have seen first had a few stallions and one gelding suffer the full of effects of this side effect, side effects are not umcommon in geldings and stallions. There are many OTHER drugs out there that are safer for geldings and stallions. I hope your horse recovers without further hurting himself :winkgrin:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acepromazine

My rest gelding who is getting about 9ml of acepromazine orally every eight hours and I think it helps. We started low dose but it just looses all effectiveness. I don't take the risks for granted, as I have tried a ton of feed through calmers and reserpine with no effects I have little choice. My horse had a collateral ligament injury back in 2007 (diagnosed by MRI) we tried IRAP, steroid HA two years rest and rehabilitation, balanced shoeing, legend, adequan with no luck. Now we have done pastern arthrodesis surgery and he has to stay quiet for at least and most critically the beginning of November. The ace helps he still explodes more than desired he is quite resorceful with his space. I would love to hear what alternatives there are for my gelding. Recommendations greatly appreciated!

[RAyers]

...

On a side note, i've also found that for an overall keep their feet on the ground/knock them out tranq my vet uses something called Stedi-Vet with her. Works like a charm. Better than dorm, which this mare is also resistant to.

I suspect you are most likely seeing is Torbugesic (butorphenol tartrarte). It is a dissociative anesthetic and no, it is not for us to use. Yo use in conjunction wiht xylazine or dotomodine.

[staceyk]

He's been stallbound, with limited handwalking, since July. I managed to "upgrade" his stall to one with bars between the stall dividers, so he can socialize with his neighbors. That has helped him a great deal psychologically. There was some post-surgical hoof bandaging -- pretty involved -- that we did with Xylazine 3X a week. As the wound has healed we've been able to do the bandage change in his stall while he eats hay, no drugs. As to handwalking, we're just using the barn aisle -- partly to protect the bandage and partly b/c anything else is just too stimulating and results in "antics." If he gets loose it could be career-ending, and IMHO it's just not worth it.

When it all started, I poured over COTH postings and compiled and the Web and compiled a list of stall rest strategies from members. It's at http://www.behindthebitblog.com/2009/07/stall-rest-and-handwalking-lord-help-me.html

Best of luck to you.

[tarynls]

I suspect you are most likely seeing is Torbugesic (butorphenol tartrarte). It is a dissociative anesthetic and no, it is not for us to use. Yo use in conjunction wiht xylazine or dotomodine.

Actually I believe Friday1 was talking about Sedivet (romifidine hydrochloride). Also not for owner administration. http://www.bi-vetmedica.com/product_sites/sedivet/documents/Sedivet_label.pdf

[RiverBendPol]

Along with the drugs and teeny paddock (hopefully set up within a well fenced paddock a bit larger), be sure to do lots of grooming and general fussing with your horse. Also, I have found clicker training to be a huge stress-reliever for the stall bound horse. It challenges the mind and entertains. Plus, it is fun for horse and owner.