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Box Walking

Alison wrote to us with the following query:

I own a beautiful straight egyptian arab gelding who is 3 1/2 years old from day he has always box walked, he is fed unlimited haylage, scoop of conditioning mix & chaff with herbs to calm him down, he is out from 9.00 am till 6-7.00 pm every day.

If I bring him in he will start box walking, if another horse goes out without him he will start or if you enter his stable then you have to try and catch him. But now he runs at the door on the way around, and crashs into the door .

I work him every night with different things to keep his mind occupied could you please advise anything I have not tried, the herbs dont seem to be working my next plan is to put bars on his stable but I really do not want to do that. Is there anything you can suggest?

Hermione Ball MSc Nutritionist at Natural Animal Feeds gives her reply.

Hi Alison

I think it is really going to be time and training on your part to get him being used to being on his own, can you reassure him while he is in the stable on his own, and just leave him in for short times with a feed at first. What if you bring him in on his own, feed him and turn him back out, so that he begins to learn that the stable is a nice place to be?

Thrive is a feed supplement, it works by slowing down the rate of passage through the gut - keeping the gut environment settled does effect the temperament so it is worth a go for a month.

Tempralax is a fast working calmer. It only takes about 2 hours to get into the system. If you gave him a high dose in the morning (at least 50ml) and then brought him in early afternoon this could also help, though it is not a long term solution.

As he is happy overnight, I am sure that with time he will get used to being in. A lot of horses are never entirely happy on his own, but as he gets older I am sure he will get better. Is there a particular friend in the field that has palled up with him, that neighs while they are apart and therefore aggrevates the problem?

good luck! (both Tempralax and Thrive should be available from any NAF stockist)

Hermione Ball MSc
Nutritionist, Natural Animal Feeds

Freephone advice line: 0800 373106

www.naf-uk.com

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