A few unrelated questions.
So I lurk more than post here, but I have two horses...Sirius (http://community.livejournal.com/equestrian/4585434.html)and Arkadia (http://community.livejournal.com/equestrian/2618544.html). And I work with 13 draft horses at a carriage company (www.carriagetoursofsavannah.com).
My first question. Arkadia has a suspensory injury. It's not torn, it's strained the vet said. We had an ultrasound, and the whole thing resulted in her having to have stall rest for 90 days, with daily hand walking allowed. No turnout, because he doesn't want her even trotting. What can I do to keep her from going absoultely mad in her stall?
I take her out to hand walk her for 15-20 minutes or more at a time, one to two times daily. I've been bathing her, grooming her, letting her graze, but that can only take up so much time. I know they make boredom breakers, but she rips everything down I hang in her stall. I had a mineral block holder (with a mineral block in it) on her stall wall, that was ripped down twice, and of course, the second time, she destroyed it. I put a jolly ball up with hay string, that was ripped down not 3 hours later. She enjoys stomping on it so it goes flat, but that only amuses her for so long. I think the only thing keeping her from going totally nuts right now is her boyfriend in the next stall over. Seriously, this 17.3 draft horse she's madly in love with.
So yeah...any suggestions would rock. Also, when she does go back to work...how careful do I need to be? I mean, I'm totally going to have the vet come back out when her 90 days are up, but I'd like to hear some input from you guys as well. I've never done any super heavy work with her anyway, so I'm not going to be galloping around like a madwoman and jumping anything. This whole suspensory injury thing is new to me, I've been lucky enough to never have had to deal with it before.
Next question. I'm having issues with one of our drafts, Justice. I can't seem to find a bit to make him happy.
.When we drive him, he sticks his tongue over the bit. We tried a plain liverpool, that didn't work. We have a broken liverpool that he's going in now, and we tried him in a mullen mouth liverpool, which did nothing. With the plain liverpool he'd open his mouth and slide the entire thing through it, with the broken liverpool and the mullen mouth he's more resistant to stopping (kind of an issue on the streets of Savannah). I think the mullen mouth is probably the best one so far, but he still won't keep his tongue down. We have (on hand) a butterfly bit with a low port, though he's not really terribly hard mouthed, and I don't like "upping" the bit unless we absolutely have to.
Ok I believe that's in the right format. Although I'm not sure if I did the tags thing right...
My first question. Arkadia has a suspensory injury. It's not torn, it's strained the vet said. We had an ultrasound, and the whole thing resulted in her having to have stall rest for 90 days, with daily hand walking allowed. No turnout, because he doesn't want her even trotting. What can I do to keep her from going absoultely mad in her stall?
I take her out to hand walk her for 15-20 minutes or more at a time, one to two times daily. I've been bathing her, grooming her, letting her graze, but that can only take up so much time. I know they make boredom breakers, but she rips everything down I hang in her stall. I had a mineral block holder (with a mineral block in it) on her stall wall, that was ripped down twice, and of course, the second time, she destroyed it. I put a jolly ball up with hay string, that was ripped down not 3 hours later. She enjoys stomping on it so it goes flat, but that only amuses her for so long. I think the only thing keeping her from going totally nuts right now is her boyfriend in the next stall over. Seriously, this 17.3 draft horse she's madly in love with.
So yeah...any suggestions would rock. Also, when she does go back to work...how careful do I need to be? I mean, I'm totally going to have the vet come back out when her 90 days are up, but I'd like to hear some input from you guys as well. I've never done any super heavy work with her anyway, so I'm not going to be galloping around like a madwoman and jumping anything. This whole suspensory injury thing is new to me, I've been lucky enough to never have had to deal with it before.
Next question. I'm having issues with one of our drafts, Justice. I can't seem to find a bit to make him happy.
.When we drive him, he sticks his tongue over the bit. We tried a plain liverpool, that didn't work. We have a broken liverpool that he's going in now, and we tried him in a mullen mouth liverpool, which did nothing. With the plain liverpool he'd open his mouth and slide the entire thing through it, with the broken liverpool and the mullen mouth he's more resistant to stopping (kind of an issue on the streets of Savannah). I think the mullen mouth is probably the best one so far, but he still won't keep his tongue down. We have (on hand) a butterfly bit with a low port, though he's not really terribly hard mouthed, and I don't like "upping" the bit unless we absolutely have to.
Ok I believe that's in the right format. Although I'm not sure if I did the tags thing right...