by Heather Wallace

Stall rest is not something equestrians ever want for their horse. Horses do best, physically and emotionally, when constantly moving. So the prospect of weeks or even months in a 12x12 stall is enough to cause us stress as well. The trick is keeping our horse calm during stall rest.

Complications of Stall Rest

While stall rest due to injury is sometimes a necessity, it is usually because the positives outweigh the negatives. What are some complications that can occur due to stall rest?

1.Inflammatory Airway Disease (IAD)

Inflammatory Airway Disease (IAD) can occur from prolonged exposure to environmental particulates dispersed from feed, bedding, or footing. This can cause inflammation and increased mucus production. The last thing we want is for our horses to get a secondary problem. Wetting the footing and soaking hay and feed is a good way to reduce dust and air particles.

Read more: Keeping Your Horse Calm Naturally During Stall Rest

by Paula Josa-Jones

One of my teachers, the horseman Mark Rashid, is a black belt Aikido master and guides his students from the perspective that riding, like Aikido, is hard because you have to change yourself, and that it works well if you get yourself right. Through my life as a dancer and a choreographer—and a horsewoman—I’ve discovered how body-mind practices can help you get yourself right, so that when you are with your horse, you can listen to him and approach him from a place of generous and good intention, as well as an active awareness of what and how we are communicating from moment to moment.

Learning to connect with horses in this way teaches us how to develop our inner selves, become more comfortable in our own skin, be more trustworthy to ourselves and others, and gain greater skill, sensitivity, and resilience in social communication. This benefits our personal and work lives, sometimes in profound ways. Horses can help soften physical resistance and open wells of enthusiasm and creativity. Horses can help us learn that losing and finding balance is an integral part of life’s dance. That we can, like surfers, find, lose, and re-find balance on the crests and troughs of even the biggest waves, the most turbulent emotional and physical waters. They can help us to release our fears, our hesitancy, and become comfortable “on the edge,” where answers and inspiration arise spontaneously from an open, curious, and attentive mind and body.

Read more: How “Let’s Do It!” Can Change Your Horse Business…and Your Horse