stall walking after surgery

[mightyhijames]

we have a now three-year old who had arthriscopic knee surgery a week ago. she's supposed to be on stall rest but stall walks. she has a toys, hay, a window to look at the other horses but, unless its only when i'm there, she walks that stall constantly. she gets eight lbs strategy/day (four coffee cans), which she gobbles up, and i know she's eating her hay and drinking. she's in a barn by herself but i'm wondering if bringing in/putting out another horse will do more harm than good. i'm thinking i need to cut her grain back to about nothing. suggestions?

[griff]

talk to your Vet about giving her something that will calm her down, at least for a couple of weeks.

A horse in the next stall might also help.. I put a miniture goat with a rather hot filly I was raising in my back yard once. When the filly went to a trainer the goat went with her. However, the stable help had a fiesta about a week after they arrived. ..

griff

[amanda1]

Put a couple of tires in her stall. Stall walkers tend to follow the came path, and it becomes habit. Having to move around tires is often enough to break their concentration on the walking.

[Mood Swings]

Any possibility that you can remove some top boards to a dividing wall between her and another horse? This has worked for me every time. It can be a pita to have two horses on stall rest but it will keep your filly calm and relaxed if she can see and even touch a companion. I've used tires as well but I find that a serious stall walker will walk through them and that might not be good for her recovering knee. Best of luck to you!

[Sylvie Hebert]

we always cut grain completly on stall rest horses.they will look like shit but safer.We stall rest them so they get back sound if they stallwalk,buck,run around...all this confinement is useless...

[freshman]

I'd cut out the concentrates and leave another horse in the barn with her, then so how it goes. You can rotate the babysitting duty among several horses so that one horse has to stay inside everyday.

If she continues to walk despite , call the surgeon who operated on the horse for instructions. The first thing they are going to suggest is to cut her grain and give her a barn buddy. If this doesn't work, then they can decide if it is best try some sedation like ace or reserpine to continue stall rest or to modify her program to small paddock turnout, etc.

It sucks to have horses like this on stall rest, very tough! Good luck!

[freshman]

I'd cut out the concentrates and leave another horse in the barn with her, then so how it goes. You can rotate the babysitting duty among several horses so that one horse has to stay inside everyday.

If she continues to walk despite , call the surgeon who operated on the horse for instructions. The first thing they are going to suggest is to cut her grain and give her a barn buddy. If this doesn't work, then they can decide if it is best try some sedation like ace or reserpine to continue stall rest or to modify her program to small paddock turnout, etc.

It sucks to have horses like this on stall rest, very tough! Good luck!

[freshman]

I'd cut out the concentrates and leave another horse in the barn with her, then so how it goes. You can rotate the babysitting duty among several horses so that one horse has to stay inside everyday.

If she continues to walk despite , call the surgeon who operated on the horse for instructions. The first thing they are going to suggest is to cut her grain and give her a barn buddy. If this doesn't work, then they can decide if it is best try some sedation like ace or reserpine to continue stall rest or to modify her program to small paddock turnout, etc.

It sucks to have horses like this on stall rest, very tough! Good luck!

[freshman]

I'd cut out the concentrates and leave another horse in the barn with her, then so how it goes. You can rotate the babysitting duty among several horses so that one horse has to stay inside everyday.

If she continues to walk despite , call the surgeon who operated on the horse for instructions. The first thing they are going to suggest is to cut her grain and give her a barn buddy. If this doesn't work, then they can decide if it is best try some sedation like ace or reserpine to continue stall rest or to modify her program to small paddock turnout, etc.

It sucks to have horses like this on stall rest, very tough! Good luck!

[mightyhijames]

thanks to all for the input. so here's the deal as of right now. a friend suggested hanging a toy (clorox bottles to me) in the middle of the stall about eye-leve, the theory being that she'll become diostracted and play with them. i may have hung them a bit too low so that they just brush the top of her butt when she makes her rounds and she doesn't like it. as a result, she's much more cautious about free-wheeling about her stall. she will still go to her water bucket, come to the gate, go to her feed bucket/hay, but the walking seems to have stopped, at least for now, and she seems to be more relaxed. i was going to move one of my very herd-bound mares into the barn w/her but really don't feel like dealing with the ruckus that is sure to follow so i'm crossing my fingers that this sticks and she's content to eat hay w/them from about 20' away.

[clh]

As big a pain as it is, and my mares and yearlings, and babies are spoiled rotten, I can't leave just one in the barn by itself - they will tear the barn down. By all means, bring someone in the barn with the her!