Lucy_Spring
New User
I am an old HHO forum user and haven't been on for years, but I bought my horse Spring through a forum member 12 years ago, so wondered if I could turn to the forum for advice, in what is a hugely difficult decision for me. This may get long, so apologies!
Spring is 20, she has always been very difficult and opinionated, but with hard work, consistency and correct training she turned into a really brilliant horse for me, she always had it in her to be a difficult bag, but I learned the best way to manage her and these strops became few and far between. In 2011, Spring started to buck me off and become difficult again, a few A&E visits for me and a few vet visits for her resulted in a diagnosis of hock spavin. This was successfully treated and we got on with life, albeit the jumping was curtailed. In 2013/2014 she went lame in front, with a diagnosis of collateral ligament damage to the front feet, remedial shoeing made it worse, so she went barefoot and came sound. We have had 4 lovely years of gentle hacking and we said goodbye to all schooling and jumping, she was very happy and well behaved!
Fastforward to August 2017, we realised our dream of buying our own place with land, Spring and a companion pony moved here and my plan was to semi retire her, maybe the odd pootling hack, but generally a field ornament. And this is where my problems have started. We now have 4 here, including another retired mare who she has buddied up with, but she has basically reverted back to the difficult, stroppy and opinionated horse I bought 12 years ago. She is difficult to lead (will just sod off at speed), refuses to come in away from the others, won't be wormed, difficult to handle in pretty much every way. She's basically gone feral. At the moment she has a hoof abscess, so I'm poulticing, this morning she knocked me over and was galloping around the field on 3 legs vet wrap flying!
I am at such a low ebb with it, I adore her (I must do to have put up with her for so long), but I really don't like her at the moment, and I'm finding it more and more difficult to justify keeping her here (I have a 3 year old daughter and 3 other horses to look after), there is absolutely no way I can pass her on to anyone else, she is 20 and unlikely to change her ways now. I think the routine of ridden work and being brought in daily is what she needs but physically she is not up to it any more (and she will buck me off if in pain) and I currently don't have the facilities to bring her in to a stable every day. It's all getting a bit much for me and I am seriously considering putting her to sleep. To all intents and purposes she is healthy (she looks amazing), she has stiff days with her various issues but is not on bute and is generally moving pretty well. She was better in the winter when the hormones don't play a role, but she is definitely the alpha mare, and both the other retried horse and the companion pony have had a battering from her, as she is such a thug. I have a new riding horse on loan who is currently separated from her, and I don't think I'll be able to turn them out together, without serious injuries as he is quite food protective. This is fine for the summer, but not easy for the winter as I don't want small paddocks that will be trashed and become mud pits (as they live out 24 hours). Having the horses at home is a dream, and I love it, but without any help with Spring I am just not sure I can manage, and if I get hurt it will have a major impact on my family/work/home - my husband can do bits with the horses but I cannot expect him (or anyone else) to handle her when she is behaving like this.
Any advice is gratefully received, but try not to be too harsh, this is not a decision I am taking lightly. xx
Spring is 20, she has always been very difficult and opinionated, but with hard work, consistency and correct training she turned into a really brilliant horse for me, she always had it in her to be a difficult bag, but I learned the best way to manage her and these strops became few and far between. In 2011, Spring started to buck me off and become difficult again, a few A&E visits for me and a few vet visits for her resulted in a diagnosis of hock spavin. This was successfully treated and we got on with life, albeit the jumping was curtailed. In 2013/2014 she went lame in front, with a diagnosis of collateral ligament damage to the front feet, remedial shoeing made it worse, so she went barefoot and came sound. We have had 4 lovely years of gentle hacking and we said goodbye to all schooling and jumping, she was very happy and well behaved!
Fastforward to August 2017, we realised our dream of buying our own place with land, Spring and a companion pony moved here and my plan was to semi retire her, maybe the odd pootling hack, but generally a field ornament. And this is where my problems have started. We now have 4 here, including another retired mare who she has buddied up with, but she has basically reverted back to the difficult, stroppy and opinionated horse I bought 12 years ago. She is difficult to lead (will just sod off at speed), refuses to come in away from the others, won't be wormed, difficult to handle in pretty much every way. She's basically gone feral. At the moment she has a hoof abscess, so I'm poulticing, this morning she knocked me over and was galloping around the field on 3 legs vet wrap flying!
I am at such a low ebb with it, I adore her (I must do to have put up with her for so long), but I really don't like her at the moment, and I'm finding it more and more difficult to justify keeping her here (I have a 3 year old daughter and 3 other horses to look after), there is absolutely no way I can pass her on to anyone else, she is 20 and unlikely to change her ways now. I think the routine of ridden work and being brought in daily is what she needs but physically she is not up to it any more (and she will buck me off if in pain) and I currently don't have the facilities to bring her in to a stable every day. It's all getting a bit much for me and I am seriously considering putting her to sleep. To all intents and purposes she is healthy (she looks amazing), she has stiff days with her various issues but is not on bute and is generally moving pretty well. She was better in the winter when the hormones don't play a role, but she is definitely the alpha mare, and both the other retried horse and the companion pony have had a battering from her, as she is such a thug. I have a new riding horse on loan who is currently separated from her, and I don't think I'll be able to turn them out together, without serious injuries as he is quite food protective. This is fine for the summer, but not easy for the winter as I don't want small paddocks that will be trashed and become mud pits (as they live out 24 hours). Having the horses at home is a dream, and I love it, but without any help with Spring I am just not sure I can manage, and if I get hurt it will have a major impact on my family/work/home - my husband can do bits with the horses but I cannot expect him (or anyone else) to handle her when she is behaving like this.
Any advice is gratefully received, but try not to be too harsh, this is not a decision I am taking lightly. xx