Box rest, rain, abscesses and frustration…

2014 so far has been anything but a good year!

January began with lots of training and progress with Maisie, so much so, I took the plunge and fully affiliated her with British Dressage, hoping to make our debut in February, however the weather gods decided to put the proverbial spanner in the works and after a deluge of rain, Maisie succumbed to a foot abscess.

Although Maisie is in at night, I prefer my horses to be horses and be out as often as possible, keeping them mobile and letting them relax, unfortunately this does risk abscesses forming when the rain comes.

The abscess was found and immediate action taken farrier called, shoe off, poulticing, bandaging, box rest.

As mentioned, I prefer my horses out as often as possible, but this is clearly not an option for Maisie, so to ensure Maisie is kept occupied, comfortable  and stress free while Rocky and Dinky were out, I made sure the following was adhered to:

• Ad lib hay
• Treat ball filled with high fibre nuts
• Himalayan salt licks hung in the box
• Swedes with holes drilled through the middle to hang up as toys (the healthy option!)
• Plenty of succulents added to her feed i.e. carrots, apples, sugarbeet
• Ensured her hard feed was reduced to help prevent colic
• Rugs applied suitable for the weather
• Grooming her to keep the circulation going
• Her opposite leg bandaged to aid circulation
• Hay that was put out for Rocky and Dinky was close to the stables so Maisie had company

As Maisie is used to being out, all these things are helping keep her happy during, what must be a very boring time for her!

As a natural trickle feeder, the ad lib hay is important to allow her guts to stay healthy and active, but to add to this I also added Gut Balancer from  my

super sponsors Nettex ,  which along with many other benefits, enhances digestibility and helps prevent acid levels rising during her time of stress.

Read all about Nettex Gut Balancer here, and see for yourself what a great addition to your horse’s diet this is.

Another addition to her diet is Maintenance Calmer, again from Nettex, which has helped reduce any box rest induced stress.

Two products which work together perfectly in these circumstances!!

So while Maisie is recovering, it should be an ideal time to get Rocky going, but considering that our arena resembles a lake and the fields are river like, he has been left to be a horse, he has a long time ahead of him, so there is no rush for him yet.

So far 2014 has been incredibly frustrating, but at least the season is not yet in full swing and an abscess is curable, all we need is for it to stop raining and then we can at least get going!

If we all do a sun dance together, do you think we could make the rain stop so we can all get out and do what we love to do – ride?!