anyone else jinxed with horses :(

Horses24-7

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Sorry for moaning post! Does anyone else just feel they seem to just attract horses who have medical issues? And spend the while time chasing their tail and not getting anywhere as a rider?

Will try to keep short but basically spent 6 years trying to keep my planned horse of a lifetime pieced together - had to change my ambitions of Be to Bd to work with what I had and still only got to novice before he had to hang up his dancing shoes at 7 ?

Now I feel I'm about to go through the whole thing again with my new horse. I love horses but I really want to progress as a rider and it's just so frustrating - I dont want to sound selfish but horses are my absolute life; caring for others horses and training other riders to achieve their goals and I dont seem to have ever in the 40 years of owning horses been able to have a season of competing myself.

It just seems everytime I get going something always happens and back to the beginning we go!

I really dont have huge competition goals I'd just love to do some grassroots be/ elementary dressage and general fun clinics and competitions.

Reading back I sound like a right spoilt brat ? I promise I'm not I'm just not sure how much more of the emotional rollercoaster of horse ownership I can take!
 

Jules111

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You really don't sound like a spoilt brat. I could literally have written your post. I've lost two horses in less than 4 years, both under 10 yrs old, both hugely talented but broke very easily and sustained injuries so severe they couldn't even be comfortable in a field. I have to admit it's been heart-breaking to loose my beautiful horses and indeed my dreams of competing at any real level. I've recently bought a fun project cob to have a potter about and play with, even he is showing signs that there may be some problems to resolve before we embark on competing. I often feel cursed. My friend who is a trainer and competes at PSG suggested that many riders close their eyes to the problems their horses are having, she believes it's those of us who care to listen to the horse and see when they need help who will find the problems. I suppose the only way I can deal with it is to believe my horses would rather have me as their owner, listening to them tell me there is something wrong than have somebody who pushes them to compete regardless. I bet your horses would all be glad to have you. x
 

Horses24-7

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You really don't sound like a spoilt brat. I could literally have written your post. I've lost two horses in less than 4 years, both under 10 yrs old, both hugely talented but broke very easily and sustained injuries so severe they couldn't even be comfortable in a field. I have to admit it's been heart-breaking to loose my beautiful horses and indeed my dreams of competing at any real level. I've recently bought a fun project cob to have a potter about and play with, even he is showing signs that there may be some problems to resolve before we embark on competing. I often feel cursed. My friend who is a trainer and competes at PSG suggested that many riders close their eyes to the problems their horses are having, she believes it's those of us who care to listen to the horse and see when they need help who will find the problems. I suppose the only way I can deal with it is to believe my horses would rather have me as their owner, listening to them tell me there is something wrong than have somebody who pushes them to compete regardless. I bet your horses would all be glad to have you. x


Sorry to hear you too have been having a difficult horse time :(

I do agree about almost caring too much! With my new horse I have really tried to not panic at every slight thing and practice a bit more tough love but it's clearly not worked out ??

I do wonder if others just turn away and move on to another horse - or maybe others sell on more often before problems surface?
 

Jules111

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I suspect many (too many) ride on regardless of the health and comfort of their horse. So many are pushed to be ridden and compete when lame and clearly uncomfortable. I recently took my daughter out competing on her pony and witnessed at least 5 lame ponies being forced to jump when owners and at times instructors carefully ignored the damn obvious and kicked on regardless. Honestly i'd rather never ride again than knowingly make any of my horses suffer in that way.
 

dixie

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Going by the number of horses that vailed their vettings when I bought my last one many people don’t realise they have a lame horse!
but I feel your pain. I’ve had a run of bad luck with the last 4 horses and am now completely paranoid about my current one.
 

BBP

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I don’t think it’s bad luck or a jinx, it’s just life, it’s what happens when you stick muscles and tendons and bones together. Doesn’t make it less frustrating if you have goals to progress, and certainly doesn’t make it less upsetting if you lose your horse. But I would rather be aware of injuries and issues and work around them than ignore them as I’ve seen some do. Certainly as a human I’m prone to injuries and issues, my horse is no different. My horse has a history of ulcers, hayfever, SI injury, fractured splint, I have a history of prolapse disc, Lyme disease and heart issues. I just imagine if someone pushed me to progress even though it could cause me a heart attack, or for disc to collapse or a neurological melt down, but they kept pushing because it was important to them. So I’m glad I recognise and manage his issues, even though I have given up all competition hopes and dreams. As I read recently, horse riding and horse owning are two different hobbies! My horse and his happiness is more important to me as a living person than as something for me to progress my own goals. And weirdly once I accepted these things as just life, and not my fault, I became so much happier with the life I have with my horse.
 

SEL

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My friend is an equine vet and we joke that with a few more years of owning my two I'll be able to qualify as one too!

I do think there are a lot of unsound / not quite right horses out there with owners and riders oblivious to their problems and cracking on regardless.
 

milliepops

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I don’t think it’s bad luck or a jinx, it’s just life, it’s what happens when you stick muscles and tendons and bones together.
agreed, and then we also try and make those muscles and tendons do things they were never designed for.

I think when you have one horse at a time and they have physical issues, it can feel like never ending problems. If you have more than one, the chances of one being fit and well at any time is higher... but if they all go wrong then it is pretty bleak o_O

Having had a fair few injuries to deal with it does make you hyper aware of how fragile they can be, but also really appreciate what they do for us and how incredibly lucky we are to have them around :)
 

windand rain

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It is also a lot to do with the type of horses being bred too. Horses are not designed to function well at over 16hh long bones are too long tendons and ligaments are too long for function, body weight exceeds leg bearing capacity, neck set is too high and paces exaggerated so the joint flexion is greater. It is a bug bear of mine that fancy 17hh and over horses are not mechanically sound from the day they are born so are bound to have more issues than small more compact ones. That is not to say other horses dont have problems but is is mainly down to breeding for traits
 

milliepops

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I think you can have a fair old bit of bad luck with any sized horse tbh. My ex racer is the biggest I have owned and he's only 16hh (though he did both front legs in training :rolleyes:). The one that was a write off last year has lovely short cannons so should be predisposed to good soundness but it's her neck that is the issue :confused: Any horse can have an accident.
 

Snowfilly

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It is also a lot to do with the type of horses being bred too. Horses are not designed to function well at over 16hh long bones are too long tendons and ligaments are too long for function, body weight exceeds leg bearing capacity, neck set is too high and paces exaggerated so the joint flexion is greater. It is a bug bear of mine that fancy 17hh and over horses are not mechanically sound from the day they are born so are bound to have more issues than small more compact ones. That is not to say other horses dont have problems but is is mainly down to breeding for traits

My instructor is in his 70s and an old school horseman. He rants about big horses and remembers days when 16.2 was considered a man's hunter - he had a 16.3 in last year for sale as it was 'outgrown' by the teenage girl who was jumping it!

He swears bigger horses break quicker and are under more stress. There's a local chap who jumps an 18.2, taller than my old clydedale, and honestly I wince everytime I see it landing. The strain on it's legs must be awful.

OP I'm sorry for your bad luck, that must feel awful.
 

fredflop

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I feel your pain. I’ve been trying to get out competing properly for nearly 15 years, and it’s never happened. I sometimes wonder why I bother any more. So far my list of “issues” includes:

Broken horses
Lack of time
Lack of funds
Lack of knowledge
Unsuitable horses
Lack of suitable yard in the area I’m (forced) to work in
Lack of transport

I’m now in the situation where I have a horse that should be suitable for what I want. However the lack of suitable yards, lack of transport, and my own ill health just means it’s impossible
 

HayleyUK

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Yes, I absolutely get it.

I bought a smart little hack type 4yo to dressage, she ended up doing all sorts of things to herself - DDFT in front, which turned out to secondary to the later diagnosed PSD in both hinds. We rehabbed the front, then 12 months later did the PSD op, rehabbed her and less than a year later we were back at the vets with active KS remodelling right where her saddle sat. I called it a day with her, popped her in the field for two years to see what happened - shes now stabled back with me, she’s not ridden but is sound and happy enough to do racehorse impressions in the field!

5 months after she went out, I bought a similar type - unbacked from the breeder. She turned out to be even more of a sick note. I backed her in the winter and cracked on the following spring. By Christmas we were at the vets with some stifle issues and ended up giving her 3 months off and 6 months in the field hacking to mature a bit. She came back into work, but we never quite cracked cantering reliably and went back to the vets after she started rearing - OCD in both stifles, inflamed ligaments and muscles in all 4 legs and her back. Vet suggested that there was a small chance she’d hack if we did PSD op and cleaned up the stifles - but unlikely to do much more given she was 5, low mileage and scans weren’t great. I decided to PTS as she wasn’t field sound.

Somewhere in the middle of all that; my semi retired pony had a carcinoma removed, a round of chemotherapy and then 2 years later had a mammary gland tumour that was inoperable - she was 25 and it absolutely broke me.

With the support of some amazing friends, my OH and mum, I decided to try again - and went to Ireland in Dec last year and found my unicorn. She’s everything I wanted and more, and has helped me find the love for it all again. I rode my last dressage test in 2016, this could be my year to get back down that centre line!!

You don’t sound like a brat at all, it’s soul destroying when you pour everything you have into it and it doesn’t work out - I’ve been there and it’s really crappy, but you find a way through it!
 

AnShanDan

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Many years ago someone said to me "horses are made of china" and at the time I thought it was a bit dramatic but I'd mainly had ponies and pony crosses growing up.
Now I can totally see where they were coming from :(
Horses are very vulnerable to so many different types of injury, not least because they are flight animals and are so quick moving.
 

Michen

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Childhood pony (michen)- never a lame day
Loan horse 1- lame, sent back to owner within weeks. Had torn tendon in hoof
Own horse 1- ex racer. Navicular, kissing spines, arthritis everywhere, ulcers. PTS after 8 months
Own horse 2- had to take seller to court. Knowingly misold rearer. They took it back and bred from it. Thankfully it died as god knows what it’s bred.
loan horse 2- horse of a life time. Adored him. Was about to buy him when he coliced and broke his leg in recovery. Pts.
Own horse 3- second horse of a lifetime. Have had 2/3 fantastic years of fun. Waiting for a scan on weds but suspected psd.
 

SEL

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I had a great few years sharing horses when work got in the way of having my own, but mainly hacking because they both had leg issues.

Finally the planets aligned that both work and time meant I could have my own again.

The retired gelding came to me as companion material so although I know there is a tough, tough call at somepoint his issues were known.

My mare though came to me at 5 and has been a walking vet bill ever since. Some quite unusual 'I've never come across that before' stuff too. Right now though she is due a horspital trip to have pretty much her whole back end scanned / ultrasound / x-rayed. Dreading the results.

When I was kid ponies never seemed to go wrong. I have no idea whether I was just oblivious to issues or they were tough little b*ggers who really never did go wrong!
 

doodle

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I’ve not had the most luck either and I think it is the way things are with horses.
horse 1, sole mate. Did both superficial flexor tendons at same time. 8months box rest and 18mknths rehab. But got him back. Hock arthritis. Got him back. fetlock arthritis. Semi retired. miss diagnosed laminitis. Got him back Then he damaged tendon again which led to him pts when it ruptured.

Meantime horse 2. Pts after neurological issues.

Horse 3. Pts after ripping half his foot off and succumbing to a pedal bone infection.

Horse 4. Nothing wrong with him but didn’t gel and sold on.

Horse 5. Robin ?
 

Horses24-7

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So sorry to hear everyones sad pony posts :( I'm thinking I just invest too much emotionally in them and then this leads to more disappointment

Think theres some truth in ponies being a bit tougher! Were off for scans with mine in a couple of weeks but if it's bad news I think I'm going to have to either have a break from owning for a while and then look down the pony route (as I'm only 5.3) or look at loaning a schoolmaster type and wait for something to pop up- wish you all well with your horse journeys x
 

LEC

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This is normal. Its a numbers game with horses. If I looked over 37 years of having horses I have the following:
11hh pony - sold
12hh pony - sold lived to old age locally
13hh pony - PTS field accident
14hh pony - sold lived to old age
15.2hh horse - sold - PTS 3 years later through accident
16.3hh horse - PTS broke down on both tendons
16.3hh horse - died with us aged 28 having been bought as a 5yo. Lived on Danilon since 18.
16.3hh horse - sold as needed an easier life doing 80cm as arthritic hocks - still going strong at 21
17.2hh horse - PTS as broke his pelvis in the yard slipping over on concrete
16.2hh horse - went back to his owner as not good enough for eventing
16.2hh horse - Was booked in to be PTS with terrible bone scan results at 5/6yo having done nothing. Vet persuaded me not to PTS and hafter 6 months in the field looked good and x rayed clean. Got her fit, then had serious foot issues but sorted those. Went to RC 100 champs eventing in first season and Novice in just 4 months. Currently has a repetitive strain injury but at some point should be fine again for 3rd season eventing at Novice/2*.
17.2hh horse - homebred by her owner. Broken by me age 4. Did one event at 5yo. Had time off to have a break and got kicked. Bought back into work. Evented last year as 6yo ground got too hard so had a break. Then had teeth issues, then fell in a ditch out hacking and needed stitches. Should go eventing this year at 100/Novice.
16.3hh horse - homebred by owner. Broken as a 3yo by me. Left till April last year did a bit of work got bum high so left. Came back when a bit more even, did some work and went bum high so left again! Currently not doing much.

I have had a few in my life and its certainly not been plain sailing.
Buy the absolute best conformation you can. Most broken horses I see have a detrimental conformation fault. All the case studies I have read also say the same thing. Also, the case studies all highlight that they need to work at 4yo. Not detrimentally but they still should work not just pootle. This isnt hammering them galloping on hard ground but its developing muscle and bone strength. Plus if they cannot stand up to it then they are not going to stand up to it further on and you are just wasting money. If you can get them to 9 years old with very few issues then its usually going to be ok!
 

skint1

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I think I might be another jinxed one!

I grew up as a horse crazy kid with no access to them, never dreamed i'd have a life that included them, moved to England and had a child who was also horse crazy. I found that over here I could giver what I never had, lessons and then loan ponies all went well.

It all started to get challenging when she moved up to horses, each of the 2 I bought her was heartbreaking and expensive in its own unique way, but we learned a lot and hopefully did right by them (still have one of them, unridden companion). I never rode in this time but later I learned to ride for myself at the age of 42.... I am not that great at it but I try :)

I lost my own first horse to EAM after only 3.5 wonderful years together. It was pure good luck that she happened to be where I was and in need of a new owner at exactly the right time. She was a true saint, had wear and tear and seen some life, but I wouldn't have traded her for a stable full of the finest horses on this planet. With her, it seems by the time I'd got her in the best nick she could be in, that's when the EAM got her :(

My second horse, also a word of mouth sale, was probably a bit too much for me at first. I discovered not only was I a novice, but also nervous too! However, despite his schoolboy antics, he was safe enough that I could take a step up without getting killed. It took me nearly 3 years to get to grips with him, he did spend a lot of time being lame and me trying to find out why and fix it, but in the times when it was all good we were just starting to have real fun together when his many little health niggles converged and after a lot of hair pulling and trying this and that I had to retire him. Keeping him sound as been so stressful, last year I thought at least twice I'd have to have him pts, but he's rallied round over the last 6 month or so and is back to his cheeky self but I know at some point it's on the cards :( .

Bought my third horse late last year, a very tall ID mare with a background in hunting. Has a bit of wear and tear and needed a bit of tlc, which was fine, she was still sounder than a lot of others I saw for sale. I love her to bits and she is great to handle on the ground and our early rides showed promise but honestly, now she's feeling better, she is just too much for me, she's very sensitive to the hand and leg (not great for a novicey person!) and forward going but can be nappy and opinionated. With a confident rider, she's absolutely fine, but she's smart and she knows I am soft, I keep falling off and it's too much of a step up for me to take without getting hurt, so I have to sell her, which I keep putting off because I dont' think it's going to be easy, but I know i have to, and it's breaking my heart.

I also know I am going to lose money on her, and might not have enough to buy another horse suitable for me, even if I could find one, and climate change, and availability of decent livery yards.... I think I have to accept that the universe is trying to tell me that it's time to leave horses behind, at least as far as owning is concerned.

For the OP, I am sure your time will come, I am sorry to add such a negative post to your thread.
 
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