Vet visit... not brilliant news

Rubic

Rubic

Equine Karaoke Queen
Apr 15, 2012
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Glasgow
...it's not absolutely horrible news but it's not really what I wanted to hear either!

Rubic is still lame. Vet says that is normal at this stage really, he's very rarely seen a horse sound at this stage after that type of surgery.

Stitches were taken out and he is happy with the wounds - no oozing and everything is dry and healing as it should. Her leg just needs to stay clean and dry.

He said the original infection has been cleared so we are out of the woods in that respect.

However she is a door-banger and it is only made worse by her seeing people. Vet said that really cannot continue as she is making her leg worse and really slowing down the healing process. She is banging her bad leg (and occasionally her good leg) on the door for attention/food. I've been trying to stop her doing it since she first started. If I take the door away and have a chain across the door she paws the ground relentlessly as well (which vet said wouldn't be so bad it if was on shavings/rubber mats but it would be concrete). It's not that she doesn't have food, it's more that she thinks she'll get something better from someone or she'll get taken out if she annoys them enough! Last night, after discussion with the vet, I sectioned off her door with fencing tape and wrapped a full bag of shavings in a fleece rug and stuck that at the door. She was a bit scared of it at first but was gradually working her way closer and eating treats off the bale before I left. I hope I've not upset her too much but she needs to stop and I don't have any other option right now. YM said she could section off a bit in the cow shed but I'm too worried about that being dirty, it's disgustingly grotty just now after having cows in it all winter and I'm sure she'd try kicking the gate instead anyway. I don't think that is the answer. She also suggested fencing off a stable sized paddock. If things don't improve I might phone the vet and get his opinion on that suggestion as really that is my only other option after stopping her getting close enough to the door to kick! Will see how she is over the next few days.

He doesn't want her out while she is still lame and the wounds aren't totally healed. He said she'd just come in hopping lame again. She will need another 2-3 weeks on box rest and then she can be assessed again. If she still isn't sound by that point then they can medicate the joint to see if that helps (but obviously as you are putting a needle into the joint there is a massive risk of infection again). I'm worried she won't come sound to be honest.
 
If the horse is stressing on box rest and doing things that will slow the healing process and actually hinder her recovery then make something up out in the park with electric fence tape. You have to weigh up the pros and cons of a small paddock outside and her going stir crazy inside and damaging herself. Box rest often causes more problems than it cures.
 
a dilema, I hope you find a suitable answer to it, good that things are progressing the right way if only you could make them understand its for their own good:banghead:

We had to go down the stable sized paddock area with Josh as stabling became a no-no due to stress, but we didn't have the wound situation to deal with not sure what we would have done had that been case.

I can't think of anything extra to what you are trying or have had suggested lets hope your latest attempt is sucessful, if it is then if recovery is speeded up it won't be for too much longer:smile:
 
I totally agree Wally. The irritating thing is that bar the door kicking she is fine in her box. She doesn't appear stressed to me and I'm 99% sure it is just attention seeking as if she can't see anyone she settles and just eats or sleeps - no box walking or anything else. She is really calm.

I'm going to give it until Friday and if things haven't improved I'm going to phone the vet and ask about the stable sized paddock option, even just for the day and she can be in overnight which would reduce the door kicking greatly as she'd get a feed straight away in the morning then out then straight in at night to another feed.
 
Lemme, I've just had a text from my friend who is mucking her out in the morning and she said she has managed to move the bale but can't get near the door because of the tape. I do hope this is enough. I trust my vet and know that he is telling me what is best for Rubic in an ideal world so I don't want to deviate from that too much.
 
I agree with Wally, I think sometimes you have to compromise.

Tbh if his foot was that bad he would not be kicking the door with it, horses are not stupid. Would we for instance kick a door with a bad foot? I don't think so.

I would be inclined to turn him out in a small paddock, one that's not big enough for him to gallop round in.
 
Rubic said:
Lemme, I've just had a text from my friend who is mucking her out in the morning and she said she has managed to move the bale but can't get near the door because of the tape. I do hope this is enough. I trust my vet and know that he is telling me what is best for Rubic in an ideal world so I don't want to deviate from that too much.
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That's good news - you must be relieved - I understand what you are saying re the vets advice - after a really bad experience the paddocking for Josh was on their advice as the alternative was a higher risk in their opinion.
 
I opted for turning Poppy out in a small paddock when she was lame rather than box rest. It might have taken a bit longer for her to get sound - although she is now - but she had thrush and I didn't want her standing in a wet stable, and also she box walks if she's on her own in the yard. It just seemed to be counterproductive keeping her in.
 
If she continues to kick and a small paddock isn't really an option, is it possible to line the inside of the stable door with thick carpet or something similar? That might possibly cushion any kicking?
 
Box rest does seem to be "the" thing to prescribe these days. I know in some cases it's completely necessary but TBH I feel in a lot of cases it's neither 100% necessary nor actually the best option for the horse. I have never got my head around vets prescribing box rest for things like a simple abcess or a cut with a few stitches or pulled shoulder muscle etc. I think sometimes it's the "safe" thing for the vet to recommend, and it tends to make owners panic and induce a certain level of paranoia that if their horse is allowed to move around then they're never going to get better. I can fully understand that having the option to bomb around a normal paddock could spell disaster in this case, but you could make her an enclosure twice the size of her stable and she wouldn't be able to do that, yet would still be able to stay mobile and not have anything to damage herself on. Horses tend to recover from lameness much quicker if they can move around, it's better for blood flow and keeps the muscles moving and that is FAR better for curing lameness than imposing immobility - especially if they end up door-kicking or box-walking as so many box-rested horses do.
 
Are you insured-it could actually be your insurance company that is saying box rest and not necessarily your vet, discovered that this week. My friend got told no for any turnout as it could invalidate the insurance.

You could try a piece of rubber mat on the floor in case she then decides to paw if can't bang. Or carpet on the door as someone said.

You could ask if you could lead out to graze for ten minutes twice a day, I guess because its a deep puncture wound that's still healing from the inside the last thing you want is infection getting in.
 
Tina2011 said:
I agree with Wally, I think sometimes you have to compromise.

Tbh if his foot was that bad he would not be kicking the door with it, horses are not stupid. Would we for instance kick a door with a bad foot? I don't think so.

I would be inclined to turn him out in a small paddock, one that's not big enough for him to gallop round in.
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If her leg wasn't that bad she wouldn't be so lame on it...:unsure: We might not be kicking a door with a bad leg but we certainly wouldn't be putting 1/2 our weight on it either. When we get the likes of chickenpox it's our automatic response to want to scratch the itchy bits whether that is good for us or not. I don't think horses have the same levels of self control as humans, especially when they cannot understand the reasoning behind why they are in and why they are not getting what they want.

The vet is not happy with the concussion to the joint caused by her kicking the door but he is also not happy for her to be turned out as she is still lame (and it's not slight it is very, very obvious lameness) and the wounds need to heal. His first suggestion is box rest in a clean, dry stable and stopping her from kicking the door which I have hopefully managed. He obviously feels this is the better option knowing my horse and having experience with these types of injuries, the surgery and the recovery process. Like I said, I respect his opinion and want to try my best to follow is advice. If what he has suggested isn't working then I'll talk to him about the pros and cons of a small paddock instead but right now in his mind the cons of paddock rest outweigh the pros and he is happier with box rest. Rubic doesn't have any other issues being on box rest but the door kicking but if I can stop that and still keep her settled then that is what I think is better. She is more likely to be a bit exuberant out on a small paddock than she is in a stable.

Bitsnpieces - I spoke to the vet about that. I told him I used to have carpet on the stable at my old yard (in fact I had carpet with an old fleece rug behind it to pad it out) but he said you'd be unlikely to get a carpet thick enough to provide enough cushioning. He said the only thing he thinks would work to that effect would be the type of thing they line their post surgery recovery rooms with (expensive!) so he said the cheap alternative would be to put a bale of shavings at the door.

If i can get her more sound over the next week or so and give the wounds time to heal over then paddock rest will start to be the better option
 
I'd do what the vet says too - in Poppy's case, she agreed to her being turned out in a small paddock rather than box rest on the understanding it would probably take longer for Pops to get sound. If box rest it must be, then it sounds like you're doing all you can. Does Rubic have other horses in at the same time that she can 'talk' to? Pops is generally OK so long as she can see another horse.
 
newforest said:
You could ask if you could lead out to graze for ten minutes twice a day, I guess because its a deep puncture wound that's still healing from the inside the last thing you want is infection getting in.
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She is allowed a 5min walk to some grass twice a day while it is dry - I've to avoid mud and wet!

I'm not sure if it is the insurance tbh, he made a pretty good case for the box rest. He wants to build up her exercise very gradually.

Joosie, I understand that but like I said he put up a very good case for box rest. I don't think he is suggesting it unnecessarily. He said a horse Rubic's size may carry 200kg on that leg just in walk so to allow her a lot of movement in it suddenly (which is what she would do in a paddock) may well be too much, building her exercise gradually and in a controlled manner is the much better option for her problem.
 
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squidsin said:
I'd do what the vet says too - in Poppy's case, she agreed to her being turned out in a small paddock rather than box rest on the understanding it would probably take longer for Pops to get sound. If box rest it must be, then it sounds like you're doing all you can. Does Rubic have other horses in at the same time that she can 'talk' to? Pops is generally OK so long as she can see another horse.
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She's not so bothered about other horses. She sees them throughout the day as her stable buddy comes in for a feed and people tie their horses up outside the barn. I have also ordered a stable mirror to help but she isn't getting upset over not seeing her friends which I'm glad about because, along with the door kicking, that was my other major concern.
 
Well, at least we can thank goodness we have not had the same weather as last summer or avoiding mud and wet would have been impossible!

Sounds like the bale of shavings and tape seems to be doing the trick, so fingers crossed it continues to work and Rubic makes a speedy recovery.

How are you doing with all of this going on?
 
I think the sack on the door is a good idea btw, I was just talking about if that doesn't work, there are possible options, especially as the weather is dry atm.

I hope she gets better soon, its so stressful when they are ill.

Sure she will be fine, I once had a pony that trod on a nail, it went right up past the pedal bone. Can't quite remember what we did, the vet got the nail out then we poulticed for a few days plus she had antibiotics. We kept her on box rest for about a week I think. She was fine and fully recovered eventually.
 
May has recently had an injection into her coffin joint and she had to have 24 hours in before she was allowed back out however because we only have field shelter stables and the shavings go all the way up to the door so we were concerned about dust and as they are fairly small also get pretty warm we had a chat with the vet about a pen. We have a fairly large - 14 x 30 ft pen where anything has gone to be restricted etc and we put a fence up across that - basically making a small 14 x 8 pen - she couldn't walk around the pen anymore than she could move around her stable but because the ground was rock hard and no mud my vet suggested putting her on that for the day with hay and bringing her in at night. I know the vet has said box only at the moment but if she doesn't settle and stop banging something stable sized might work ok even if she's put into it when the yard is busiest morning and evening - her 5 minute walks would have to be to it so she wasn't dong too much?
 
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