A friend of mine is currently in this stressful predicament. On vet's orders, she is supposed to walk her horse and have him do a few two-minute sessions of trot each day. The walking part goes smoothly, but the horse starts bucking and rearing whenever she asks for trot. Here are some tips I shared with her.
Hedge your bets beforehand by keeping your horse's mind and body as active as possible the entire time he's on stall rest. Spend lots of time grooming him. Move him to a stall that allows him to see the activity going on in the barn. Spend time teaching him something, like various stretches or an easy trick. Perhaps get him a toy and teach him how to play with it.
Provide as much company for your horse as possible. Rotate other horses into an adjoining stall. Clean your tack next to his stall, or pull up a chair and read a book.
Don't give up asking for mannerly behavior from your horse during this time. I can't stress that enough because it happens a lot when folks start feeling sorry for horses. Bear in mind that your horse needs your attention, care and guidance, not your pity. By all means, correct his behavior if he starts crowding your space, nipping at you, etc.
Make a conscious effort to chill out about the idea of your horse re-injuring himself if he blows up. Sure, there's a chance of it happening, but there's also a chance of it not happening. There is a chance he can blow up like crazy and be just fine. Think about that and give up worrying. It creates nervous energy in you, which is completely unhelpful. Besides, if worse comes to worse and your horse does wind up hurting himself, you are perfectly capable of handling the situation at that time...at that moment in the future. The best you can offer your horse in this moment is as much calm, confident energy as you can muster.
Choose ahead of time to face any blow-ups with an "oh well" attitude. You can do your very best to keep your horse calm, but understand that's ALL you can do. Come to terms with that, and make an agreement with yourself that if your horse happens to lose his sh**, you won't lose yours.
Insist on mannerly behavior exiting the stall. If your horse starts to fire up just because you put his halter on, take it off and put it on again a few times, and then just stand there until he relaxes. When you begin leading your horse out of the stall, correct him if he tries to push past you. If he does manage to push past you, take him back into the stall and start over.
Once you get going, insist that your horse walk 3 or 4 feet behind you. I've found this to be one of the easiest ways to settle an excited horse. Use your body language and flicks of the lead rope to keep him back, and be as assertive as necessary. Ask nothing else of your horse until he relaxes into this, has lowered his head, and is consistently maintaining a respectful distance behind you. Only then should you move on to the next step.
Do as much as your vet allows to engage your horse's mind and body at the walk. Shoulder-fore, shoulder-in, leg yield, counter-flexion through the corners, whoa to walk transitions, and stepping over ground poles are just a few examples of the things you can ask for at the walk. All of them require the horse to focus and use more energy than simply walking around...thus, they help dissipate excess, excited energy.
We put this theory to test with my friends horse and it proved helpful, although he still presented a couple of little bucks and a rear when asked to trot. While not perfect, it was a huge improvement over the bucking and rearing she'd been dealing with...and that's a good start.
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