“I didn’t know how he’d cope”
KEEN COMPETITOR Victoria Russell felt at a complete loss when her competition horse, Boy, was put on box rest for six months. He’d torn his digital deep flexor tendon and Victoria put huge effort into his box rest plan to ensure he didn’t lose his mind while out of action. “Boy’s an 18hh Dutch Warmblood who was in full competition work at the time of his injury. I was riding him five to six times a week and competed him fortnightly in dressage,” says Victoria. “I’m on a busy livery yard where, in summer, most of the horses in his stable block are out full time or only come in at night. This meant that once on box rest, Boy would be on his own for the majority of the day.” To help keep him occupied and happy Victoria put a plan of activities into action. “I invested in a radio to give Boy a little company and I made sure I arrived at the yard, every day, just before the others were turned out. This meant I could be there with him when his friends weren’t. Once he was on his own, and so he didn’t stress that he’d been left behind, I’d give him some attention by grooming him and then mucking him out as normal.” It soon became clear that Boy was going to remain on box rest for a while and so Victoria decided to move him to a new stable. “I wanted him to be able look out from his stable and see other horses so I moved him and it turned out to be one of the most beneficial things I did. I also made a number of changes to his routine and daily activities to keep his brain ticking over,” she adds.
Reality bites
For Victoria, being unable to ride Boy was a challenge to say the least, but she found plenty of ways to cope. “I realised that as long as I did something with him, whether that be taking him out for grass, walking him over some poles or just spending some time with him that I could still have the same bond we’d had before despite not being able to ride him,” she says.