arthiritic horses?

teamsarazara

teamsarazara

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My mums friend along the road from us has horses and we went along after seeing to mine and i helped her bring her new ones in from the field blablabla but anyway we got onto the discussion that her older horse has arthiritis, now i thought she looked quite spritely and apparently it was one of her bad days. But she was talking about getting her put to sleep and the vet agrees??? I know its not my place to say but is that nescesarry (sp)?
 
I had an older mare who following an injury became quite arthitic. She could still have daft hoolies round the field when she felt good but winter was a challenge in cold damp weather and i made the choice to have her put down rather than wait till she was in pain again. The owner will have a good idea of whats right and as they say better a day too early than a day too late.
 
arthritis when manageable is no reason to p.t.s, arthritic horse's can happily enjoy pottering around a field even if they aren't up to being ridden. But unfortunately with the years their joints often get worse and cause them unmanageable discomfort.

Perhaps your friends horse has got to the stage where she is no longer comfy and with winter coming her joints will only hurt more.

If a horse is lame on every leg it is harder to spot if you aren't experienced, and the excitement of a strange face may have made the old girl forget her pain temporarily.

I don't know your friend or her true reasons for having her mare p.t.s but having a horse put down is a very difficult thing to do and if I was in her position I wouldn't appreciate my motives/reasons being questions on a public forum, or questioned at all by a friend!
 
I am in the same situation as her, my 19 year old mare has deteriorated quite badly this year and is still lame on supplements and bute. She whinnys at me when she sees me and is in every other way well however to keep a horse in discomfort is unfair. I just have to make the call.
To an outsider tho it would seem as if I am just offing an unuseful animal I'm sure. Tough decision, but I'm sure she has the animals best interests at heart.
 
My Sov was pts 2 weeks ago because of arthritis and other problems. It was a very hard decision (as always) but you just do what's best for your friend.
Because he looked so well I've received a fair amount of abuse from others but I know what I did was right for him.
RIP Yewtree Sovereign
 
Im not questioning her whatsoever just wondering if a horse has arthiritis if it is manageble or if the kindest thing to do is pts. Seems like it depends on owners/circumstances
 
Slightly off track, and on a similar note, I badly broke my ankle two years ago. Arthritis has set in, and with it being a joint that pressure and weight is going through - believe me it is painful.

I have my good days, and I have my bad. Like someone else said, excitement can sometimes mask any sort of pain... I can over do it not realising initially, and then BAM, I am as lame as a three legged mule! Sometimes I have experienced this problem by having paracetamol for a head ache, which masked pain from my ankle, and over did it that way.

...and the cold... by heck the cold hurts! I know when it is cold, as when I wake up in a morning my ankle aches like you wouldn't believe - even though I wear bed socks and I'm under a quilt!

I guess what I am trying to say, is that I know from personal experience how painful it is for me. If my horse suffered with it, I would be very sympathetic, and act in his best interests. If he became in too much discomfort, then yes, I would consider PTS if all other avenues had been explored. xx
 
teamsarazara said:
Im not questioning her whatsoever just wondering if a horse has arthiritis if it is manageble or if the kindest thing to do is pts.

If a horse has arthritis/if it is manageable... is a similar question to how long is a piece of string. Each horse is different it is the owner's responsibility to do what is best for her horse.

It doesn't seem the kindest thing to do to question the owner's motives on a public forum.
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