Freedom at last

Forrest has progressed very well. For the last month, Forrest has been on stall rest. For a horse that is use to 24/7 turnout this was quite the lifestyle change. Not only that, but Forrest was kept in his stall alone with his friends in the fields behind him. He would stand in his stall watching out the back window as his friends would constantly stand vigil at the gate. Forrest has been a trooper. We have been aggressively working on his leg cold hosing it for 10 minutes and then icing it for 30 minutes. Twice a day we would slather some Furicin or homemade liniment on the area and every week we would see improvement.

After about 2 weeks on stall rest, Forrest was sound again. You could see the light come back into his eyes and happy to be out hand grazing. We occasionally got bold enough to let him spend some time in the injury paddock where he could get some grass, stretch his legs, and see his friends. Through the entire time Forrest was a saint. I was lucky to find people generously donate their time to help him in the mornings and he soon had a crowd cheering for his recovery.

With Forrest’s leg improving weekly, it was decided both physically and mentally that Forrest needed to be back with his friends. Now before everyone panics about “You’ll only hurt him again” or “You’ll permanently ruin your horse” we knew what we were doing and everything we have done was in the best interest of the horse. Forrest likes to play but at the same time I have learned he has great self-preservation. He is very smart about himself and limits himself to what he can and can’t do. We knew that when we finally were able to turn him out he would be fine.

So today his leg looked so good we knew it was time! We brought his buddies into the smaller paddock sized field and threw out some bales of hay. We gave Forrest a small amount of Ace and turned him out. Here is a horse that has been stalled for 30 some days and what did he do? He walked to the closest hay pile and started eating. While the other horses were trying to check him out, he didn't care. So while Forrest was hanging with friends I checked the fence line and fixed fence boards. After an hour, Forrest was still not active and happy to be out so I opened the gates to the other pastures. While the other horses rushed out, Forrest just looked up from his hay pile, assessed the situation and quietly walked through the gate into the field where he continued to eat grass and be near the herd.

                

I was so excited; it was the next step in his healing process. I understand that stall rest is good but its only necessary to insure that the horse doesn't do something dumb, but many doctors say the best thing to heal a ligament is to use it and build the strength back up. So it’s a catch 22…stall rest in hopes to not re-injure the area but needs turnout to strengthen and encourage regrowth. Knowing my horse as I do, we choose option 2 and have no regrets about it.