FREE HORSE, Lame-acts like a brat

[TLC97]

Well Sir Cane is really done it this time. I spent the first part of last night in tears, on the phone with my vet and the one that did surgery and was so nervous before I changed his bandage I thought I was going to be sick.

I got home about an hour later than usual yesterday. Changed clothes and went to the barn. Cane had trashed his stall and redecorated it his way. I grabbed the leadline and took him for a walk. Well he wanted to rear, bite my jacket and play. Needless to I gave him a lesson on behaving. I noticed his wrap was pulled up and didn't look right. I can change it every 2-3 days and have been trying to go 3 not 2. I looked closer and saw the outside of his hoof had a small scratch and some blood. My heart went into my throat. I took him back inside and put him in his stall and called the vets. They said I needed to take the bandage off and see. If there was any blood at all I needed to wrap it up securely and take him back in to be ultrasounded. Thankfully the only blood was where he newly banged. I did see two tiny, like pencil lead size dots where his incision and stiches are, but was told that is fine.

So we re-wrapped his leg last night, he decided to bite hubby last night, well his coat in a playful way. The reserpine is NOT working and at $180 for two weeks I am done with that. He was better later and this a.m. was sucking up to me.

The vet comes Wednesday so we will see.

[lisakaye]

I hope he starts to behave better soon. Does he need to be on stall rest or can you maybe put up a small temporary round pen for him to move around a little more? I am praying for both of you.

[mandisue]

You poor thing!! At least you know HE'S :innocent: feeling better! lol.

[TLC97]

Lisa- he is on stall rest for 4 weeks with hand walking 1-2 times a day for 10-15 minutes and I can increase it to 20 over time. After that he can go in a small turn out for 2 weeks.

I am ordering tryptophan today for him as I can give him a good amount of that.

I have been opening the big barn door so he can look out and see more during the day. This a.m. I put 2 milk jugs in his stall for him to play with along with his other toys.

[JackieB]

Glad he's feeling better! Poor guy doesn't know what to do with all of the excess energy, though.

[WashingtonBay]

FREE HORSE, Lame-acts like a brat

LOL! - I think you're going to have to work on that marketing strategy :D

[Equine_Woman]

Oh man!! Forced Stall rest on an exuberant horse is never fun!!! Sterling had to be stalled for 2 months once and towards the end she was hoping out of her skin. (and she is a nice calm horse).

[lovesfortune]

Hope the new stuff you ordered works to keep him calmed down a bit more. Poor guy. Looking forward to a great update on Wednesday with the Vet.

[TLC97]

WB- You are right, I haven't had any takers yet. Maybe I should try this method.

FREE HORSE-tons of personality-keeps life interesting???????

Heck even pampered pleasure or halter horses get out more than my baby does.

[Remali]

How long has he been on stall rest? Does he ever get out to romp at all?.......lots of horses get really nuts if they are cooped-up in a stall....so maybe that is why he is acting that way....poor guy!

[All4Grace]

{{{hug}}}
Grace was stall bound for 6months when she fractured her tibia, the first two months the only walking she was allowed to do was from one stall to the next when I cleaned. She was a just turn 4yr old...needless to say she went a little nuts! She entertained herself by kicking the walls with her good leg.

I feel your pain Tanya! The vet had me put her on calmers but they did nothing.

You better start being good for your Momma Cane!!!

[lisakaye]

What about a hanging toy he can chase with his head? I think the Likit company makes something like that? I feel bad for him but he must be feeling better. I hope the weekend goes better. Good luck!

[Vegashorselady]

Poor guy must be bored out of his mind. He's probably sitting in his stall all day thinking, what can I do to mess with mom when she shows up tonight?:crazy:

[AUEquine]

hahahaha... I'm sorry to laugh, but this is what I deal with all day everyday! And most owners never know! They just think there animal has been the sweetest thing in the hospital, just like they are at home!
All of the horses in our clinic are in stalls for 23.5 hours a day, except when they're students hand walk them twice a day. They get very very very upset after a day or two! I'll be honest, I wouldn't wast my money on the over the counter sedatives. I've never had the work worth a durn! If he is being bad about his bandage changes you could get some real sedatives from your vet so that he doesn't injure himself durring those invasive times.

One thing I've found that helps our patients is if they have another horse in the barn that they can see. If they're in a stall and can't see another stalled horse, and only know that there are other horses out there that arn't with them... they get very riled up wanting to get to other horses. However if there is a horse stalled across from them that they can see, it usually calms them down a little. Do you have anymore horses, and an extra stall... might be worth a shot to give him a buddy a few hours a day. Or if you have a few extra horses, just rotate them in one 12 or 8 hour shifts!
Just a few things I've picked up at work! Hope the little butt head gets better soon!

[Gypsy Rose]

Poor Cane! He's as bad as a kid that's been sick and is now starting to feel better! Hope he mellows down soon and concentrates on healiing. I know- LOL!

[Cat]

Oh my, I can feel your pain. I had a load of fun when Bandit sliced the back of his leg and we had to keep him stalled and bandage his back leg. I don't know who went more insane from it - me or my horse!

[42many]

I feel your pain, too!

Last year my old TB ended up on stall-rest for some 3-4 months or so and he was a royal turd by the end - even though he's over 20 and I've had him for over half his life! He'd actually do bucking spinning circles inside his stall when the other horses would run out to pasture.

Good luck! I hope the Tryptophan works some - I've only used it once (on a trailering-issue) and it didn't work worth the tube it came from, but the vet told me my horses was "sedation superman" and nothing less than a power-pill would work to chill him out when he didn't WANT to be sedated.

[TLC97]

Cane's issue is he was on stall rest since the end of May. We were able to work up to light turn outs, for 1-2 hours. Then when I was told he needed to tear the major adhesion (when they thought that was the only problem left) I said frig it and turned him out. Those pics. are in my album dated Oct. 2nd. So he was out not long ago and that is what is pissing him off. He whinnies soooooo bad to Jake every morning when Jake gets to go out. Jake is an outside horse and one turkey in the barn all day is enough, two would send me over the edge. I am brining Jake in sooner now at night and I have to have Jake in his stall when I do anything with Cane as it helps keep Cane calmer.

It has been nice today so our 10-15 hand walk sessions have happened 2 times today (which is allowed) and we did a third just walk to the lawn and eat grass session. It scared hubby to death as I was laying on the grass relaxing and he thought Cane had hurt me, NOOOOO silly we were just bonding.

He has a Jolly ball tied in his stall, the lik-it's he destroys in about a day or two. I gave him some milk jugs with treats inside them and that seemed to do the trick. He destoyed the milk jugs, but I can tell he had fun doing it. I was puttering in the barn today and I opened his stall door and let him wander around the barn just to give his mind a break.

I guess this is what I get for liking horses with tons of personality.

[Tiz]

Cut his feed. No grain, maintenance only ration of good grass hay.

[grandmadeb]

When Al was on stall rest after colic surgery, I would hide several treats in his hay. He absolutely refused to have anything to so with the licket we got for him. We had another horse that was a bit diffucult and spooky and we used a product called Ex Stress and it calmed him down so he could think before reacting. It has magnesium and B complex vitamins- no banned substances.

[shynbvs]

You poor thing!! At least you know HE'S :innocent: feeling better! lol.

agreed, so sorry though

[missdixie]

Hopefully the tryptophan will help! I know what it's like to have a hyper horse on stall rest! Good luck and keep us posted!

[Miracle Whip]

Those LIKITS are made of sugar and will make your horse MORE hyper. Tie a laundry soap jug in there, it will last longer than a milk jug. I hope you are not feeding any grain...

[TLC97]

Thanks Miracle for the idea on the laudry soap jug. That will be installed today.
The only grain he gets is a handful to so he can get his meds. I mix it with his liquid vitamins instead of molases. I talked with the vet about not using any grain at all and all 3 assured me that a small handful just for his meds is not an issue. I took his Dengie (an alfalfa product we have around here) out of his diet and increased his hay as soon as he came home. I know last time that made a difference.

He is not a hyper horse, just used to being outside. I bought him out of a 100 acre field as a 3 yr old. and my horses are usually turned out 10-12 hours a day. He is doing better as he seems to be getting the idea of he needs to be in and behave.

[AUEquine]

Please don't put the laundry jug in there! If he's capable of tearing up the milk jug there's a good chance he can tear that thing up to. And a horse licking the soap off the inside is a recipie for colic or colitis! That is just not a chance I'd be willing to take! You'd like to think the horse wouldn't tear it up, or that he wouldn't lick the leftover soap residue... but how often do horses do the stupid thing we think they won't?

[TLC97]

AUE- I put it up Sunday (after rinsing it out) well in about 4 minutes he had it down and destroying it. So I took that out. I went to the feed store to by more shavings and picked up a second Jolly ball. Now he has one tied up to beat around and one down in his stall to play with.

At this point he is going to have to figure out to just hang out. I have moved Jake's outside hay right beside the big door I open during the day so they see each other more and that helps.