Stall Rest Chronicles 13 Feb, Phase III

Explanation. We have a horse on stall rest following colic surgery. This has taken over the blog. [Begin]

Seven weeks post surgery
Two weeks at clinic DONE
Four weeks of at-home stall rest DONE
Starting week 1 of four weeks of paddock rest
Still to go, four weeks of pasture rest

Starting today, Milton has veterinary permission for turnout in a small paddock or round-pen. Hand-grazing has been raised from 20 minutes daily to unlimited.

Unfortunately we don’t have a viable option for small turnout. Our spaces are a large stall, the adjacent run-in shed, and the pasture. We could temporarily divide the pasture, but I’ve watched a horse trot through a hot wire.

The plan is to provide continued stall rest with as much escorted time out of the stall as we can stand. We will start with 20 minutes twice a day and build up as Milton gets stronger. He still gets tired after 20 minutes, which is up from getting tired after 5 minutes when we started. We figure the amount of time he wants to be out will go up as we go along.

Rodney is on the schedule to get back to work. Now that Milton has unlimited time out of the stall, he can stand next to the ring and supervise. There was no physical reason for Rodney’s extended winter vacation. It’s just that all of our time & attention was on Milton. And on keeping Milton from having his standard screaming hissy fit when Rodney leaves the barn to go to the ring.

Onwards!
Katherine