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Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
 
Location: Oklahoma | My gelding will be on stall rest for atleast the next 3-4 months. I have some questions about being stalled for so long..
He is not in an actual stall, but some panels put together under a shed. He's fully blocked from the elements, but can see about 80% of his surroundings. It's on dirt and I've put some bags of pellets down to help clump his urine together so I can move it out efficiently. They're not as deep as I would have them if I was hauling and stalling at an overnight show, but deep enough to help with urine. Should I put more pellets/top off with regular shavings to make it more padded?
How many times a day should he be urinating? He was out on 24/7 turnout and I never saw him urinate more than once a day, but he wasn't confined and I'm sure I didn't always see it. It seems like he's urinating 3-4 maybe even 5 times a day... is this okay? I know he did once last night and twice so far today. He has a 100 gallon stocktank that I keep filled with 30-40 gallons so it's easy to change out every other day. Could he just be bored and drinking more to pass the time?? I have a fan up in the rafters of the shed to keep a constant airflow to keep him cool and to keep an amonia smell from lingering... which brings to me my last question...
What kind of hay would be best? He prefers alfalfa over anything, but I feel like he'd burn thru a 40# as fast as he could if I would let him. He will eat timothy/grass, but he will waste a lot. He leaves no strand of alfala behind! I give him a flake in the morning, two in the afternoon and I soak Alfala/Timothy cubes in the evening to help mix his supplements and 2g of bute into. I don't normally leave him with another flake at night (he gets probably 5-6 pounds of hay in the cubes), but I did last night to help soothe him (storm was coming) and of course it was all gone this morning. Should I let him have as much as he wants? I'm going to get a slow feeder net, but is the alfalfa okay? I'm assuming the high protein is what's causing the amonia stench. Should I alternate between Alfalfa and Timothy flakes? He was on about a pound of Renew Gold a day, but I've started to cut that back to 1/2 pound a day.
He seems to be taking it okay so far, but we're only on day number 2. His 'stall' is butted up against a wall of the chicken coop, so he has some hens to keep him company and my lab likes to stay down and lay around with him for a good portion of the day. If he starts to act frustrated I can bring a little Shetland over to stay with him, but he's been an only horse for the past 4.5 months that I've had him.
He has never offered to lick salt and mineral blocks, but I've put them in there just in case he decides to have a change of heart. Any suggestions at all are greatly appreciated!
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 929
 
| The slow feeder will be your best friend. It fights boredom and makes the horses pick through the netting to get the hay. Just fill it up as much as you can and let him eat all day or until it's gone.
I don't imagine that he needs all that protein from the alfalfa while laid up...and yes, the strong amonia smell is from the work the kidneys have to do to process it. It is totally normal for horses to urinate several times per day- if they do NOT urinate multiple times daily you have a problem.
Put a teaspoon full of regular table salt in his soaked pellets/grain/supplements as the weather changes to make sure that he is drinking enough. Changing weather from hot to cold is when they stop drinking and colic. Can you hand walk at all? Or he's just strictly on stall rest? |
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Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
Location: Oklahoma | RodeoCowgirl4u - 2014-09-18 3:05 PM The slow feeder will be your best friend. It fights boredom and makes the horses pick through the netting to get the hay. Just fill it up as much as you can and let him eat all day or until it's gone. I don't imagine that he needs all that protein from the alfalfa while laid up...and yes, the strong amonia smell is from the work the kidneys have to do to process it. It is totally normal for horses to urinate several times per day- if they do NOT urinate multiple times daily you have a problem. Put a teaspoon full of regular table salt in his soaked pellets/grain/supplements as the weather changes to make sure that he is drinking enough. Changing weather from hot to cold is when they stop drinking and colic. Can you hand walk at all? Or he's just strictly on stall rest?
Thanks for the suggestion! He's allowed 10 minutes a day of controlled exercise. The vet told me I could ride him (but I'm too nervous!), pony him or hand walk him. We're going for hand walking/grazing for now. |
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 Don't Wanna Make This Awkward
Posts: 3106
 
Location: Texas | Hand walk him if you can. Even just 10-15 min a day im sure he would greatly appreciate.
I would mix 1 flake alfalfa and 1 coastal/grass hay. If you do feed the grass hay, mine likes to waste it too and I use to just put more and more in there, but now he know ALL the hay has to be gone to get more. If there is half a flake loosly thrown around on the ground he will eat it so he gets more. Didn't take him long to figure it out |
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Don't Wanna Make This Awkward
Posts: 3106
Location: Texas | Longneck - 2014-09-18 3:24 PM RodeoCowgirl4u - 2014-09-18 3:05 PM The slow feeder will be your best friend. It fights boredom and makes the horses pick through the netting to get the hay. Just fill it up as much as you can and let him eat all day or until it's gone. I don't imagine that he needs all that protein from the alfalfa while laid up...and yes, the strong amonia smell is from the work the kidneys have to do to process it. It is totally normal for horses to urinate several times per day- if they do NOT urinate multiple times daily you have a problem. Put a teaspoon full of regular table salt in his soaked pellets/grain/supplements as the weather changes to make sure that he is drinking enough. Changing weather from hot to cold is when they stop drinking and colic. Can you hand walk at all? Or he's just strictly on stall rest? Thanks for the suggestion! He's allowed 10 minutes a day of controlled exercise. The vet told me I could ride him (but I'm too nervous!), pony him or hand walk him. We're going for hand walking/grazing for now.
Why is he on stall rest? if you don't mind.. |
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Rad Dork
Posts: 5218
Location: Oklahoma | outrundaizy - 2014-09-18 3:28 PM Longneck - 2014-09-18 3:24 PM RodeoCowgirl4u - 2014-09-18 3:05 PM The slow feeder will be your best friend. It fights boredom and makes the horses pick through the netting to get the hay. Just fill it up as much as you can and let him eat all day or until it's gone. I don't imagine that he needs all that protein from the alfalfa while laid up...and yes, the strong amonia smell is from the work the kidneys have to do to process it. It is totally normal for horses to urinate several times per day- if they do NOT urinate multiple times daily you have a problem. Put a teaspoon full of regular table salt in his soaked pellets/grain/supplements as the weather changes to make sure that he is drinking enough. Changing weather from hot to cold is when they stop drinking and colic. Can you hand walk at all? Or he's just strictly on stall rest? Thanks for the suggestion! He's allowed 10 minutes a day of controlled exercise. The vet told me I could ride him (but I'm too nervous!), pony him or hand walk him. We're going for hand walking/grazing for now.
His right hind proximal suspensory is swollen/inflammed! Not three legged lame by anymeans... but I just knew that something felt 'off' and sure enough... where there's smoke there's fire! Just glad we caught it before anything worse happened! |
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Meanest Teacher!!!
Posts: 8555
Location: sunny california | A tip for the handwalking. If your horse starts to get fractious I make a bunch of hay piles along the journey. The horse gets focused on the next bite instead of being a butthead. you sill have to break the habit of him trying to graze while leading later but it sure has worked to keep mine quiet after surgery. agree on a hay net with grass hay. |
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 Accident Prone
Posts: 22277
Location: 100 miles from Nowhere, AR | I've more stall rest experience than I wish I had...and mostly with ONE stinkin young horse who is 4 now. LOL Slow feeder with grass hay. They don't waste much if it's hard to get out and scatter. Yes, they will drink more out of boredom, but it's partly because of eating dry hay and no grass. Pellet bedding under large flake shavings is the way to go. Pellets alone get too dusty when they're tromping on them 24/7. The stall I use is a 12x24 with a 12x20 run attached. I only bed one end of the stall and leave the rest bare mats or dirt. They will pee where it won't splash, and mine will poop on the bare mats at the other end. It's way easier to clean that way. |
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