Arthritis - advice needed

[sc22]

My horse has been out on loan for the past 3 years whilst I was at University and I'm still not in a position to be able to take him back due to finances and limited spare time. He is a 15hh cob and 16 years old (turning 17 this December), currently in a really good home with a lady who just uses him for hacking only. Last year I asked if she wanted to buy him as I knew I couldn't afford to take him back any time soon and he seemed to be doing so well there, but she said she couldn't afford to buy him at that time but would be happy to speak about it again in future. He is has an amazing temperament, extremely safe and bombproof but not a complete plod along either. Recently I had a couple of calls from the lady to say that he has been tripping a lot and seemed lame, then the vet came and diagnosed early stages of arthritis. Obviously this is not ideal but now the vet advised he can still be ridden as long as the condition is managed properly and said he can have danilon every day if he needs it. The lady has been really good about it so far and she is an experienced horse owner, but she also has two other horses (1 is completely retired due to another health condition) and was worried about the expense of the condition and the possibility that he might have to be retired early.

Now I don't know what to do because I was hoping she would buy him, but by the sounds of it this is looking more unlikely now. I really can't afford to have him back and I want him to be in the best home where I know he will be well looked after. Do I ask again if she wants to buy him (I am aware that time is ticking because of his age), and if she says no, what do I do? I only want the best for him as he is such a lovely horse. I already have my first pony who is retired and laminitic (who I would never consider selling) and I just couldn't afford to have another in future.

 

[be positive]

Unless you expect to get market price, not sure what that would be for a cob with arthritic changes, then I would want him to stay there and hope that she will agree to pay a token amount to buy him, you would have to trust she will do right by him and not pass him on, otherwise you have 3 further options, the first being take him back and try to find another loan home that you could gift him/ token price later on, I would wait at least 12 months, second, which does not sit well with me, take him back and sell him for whatever you can get, thirdly, sounds harsh but needs considering and will happen at some point, leave him on loan and tell the loaner you will have him pts if he can no longer be ridden.
It is one of the problems with loaning, it always seems appealing but in the long term it brings about issues that would never happen if they were sold on, you keep control but if finances/ life etc get in the way you have tough choices to make.

 

[sc22]

Unless you expect to get market price, not sure what that would be for a cob with arthritic changes, then I would want him to stay there and hope that she will agree to pay a token amount to buy him, you would have to trust she will do right by him and not pass him on, otherwise you have 3 further options, the first being take him back and try to find another loan home that you could gift him/ token price later on, I would wait at least 12 months, second, which does not sit well with me, take him back and sell him for whatever you can get, thirdly, sounds harsh but needs considering and will happen at some point, leave him on loan and tell the loaner you will have him pts if he can no longer be ridden.
It is one of the problems with loaning, it always seems appealing but in the long term it brings about issues that would never happen if they were sold on, you keep control but if finances/ life etc get in the way you have tough choices to make.

Thanks for your response. I kind of guessed that those are the options I had, but just not sure how to approach the situation. Ideally I would love for him to stay where he is and I am still hoping she will agree to buy him but at the same time I don't want to hang on forever without making an agreement. Taking him back to sell would be an absolute last resort. I certainly don't expect market price for him and just want him to be in a good home. I'm just wondering how long I should wait before discussing this with her, considering the diagnosis was only a couple of weeks ago.

But yes I completely agree. I would never loan out again, the only reason why I did it is because he is such a lovely horse and I wanted to be able to keep track of how he was doing etc.

 

[be positive]

I would sort it out in your head and go for it, if you just ask for a token to make it formal and try to get over to her that you do not expect her to retire him if he cannot be ridden, obviously you hope she is genuine and will not sell him on but equally she probably cannot keep him retired for years so in a nice way tell her you would support him being pts rather than be negative about that option, he may go on for years, her other retired one may be pts so yours could see out his life with her and have a retirement.
I have a pony here that is retired, well I have several but this one is not technically mine, I have agreed to keep him as a companion to mine, I need 3 in case something goes wrong with one, but the agreement is he will not have expensive treatment/ investigations if he is badly injured/ lame/ gets a serious colic then he will be pts, he has had a great life but I am not prepared to spend thousands on him and equally do not expect his owners to, they are happy he has a secure home for however long that may be, he is now the oldest of the group but could well outlive the lot.

 

[doodle]

I think after 3 years in a good home and now with arthritis I would be offering to gift him to her. Perhaps a token amount to make it official.

 

[meleeka]

I think after 3 years in a good home and now with arthritis I would be offering to gift him to her. Perhaps a token amount to make it official.

Me too. If she doesn’t want to buy him I’d offer to pay for a good joint supplement if you are able. Selling him to her would obviously be the better option, otherwise be prepared to have him back when he deteriorates and make the decision for him.

 

[sc22]

Me too. If she doesn’t want to buy him I’d offer to pay for a good joint supplement if you are able. Selling him to her would obviously be the better option, otherwise be prepared to have him back when he deteriorates and make the decision for him.

I have already paid for and sent her a joint supplement which may help (being as she paid for a few vet visits) so will have to wait and see. I think I need to discuss it with her soon and then just take it from there really hoping we can come to an agreement though.

 

[HashRouge]

I think after 3 years in a good home and now with arthritis I would be offering to gift him to her. Perhaps a token amount to make it official.

I would do this too. We did the same with an older pony who'd been in his excellent loan home for a number of years. They kept him through his retirement and had him put to sleep when it was time. They were a great home for him. We sold him for £1 in the end.

 

[Polos Mum]

Has she raised the issue of giving him back? Why does the current loan arrangement need to change?

If she's not raised it could you just wait until it needs changing, rather than pressing something now.

If you try and gift him to her now in the early stages of a diagnosis she might say no and you might prompt a change sooner than she is planning.

I had a horse on loan, out of the blue the lady who owned him called (she was nice bud had very little contact for her own reasons) and said her husband had cancer and she just wanted to check that I knew she never wanted him back (she'd have had to shoot me to get him back but that was a side issue!) If my circumstances had been different then her call might have stimulated just the situation she didn't want

 

[sc22]

Has she raised the issue of giving him back? Why does the current loan arrangement need to change?

If she's not raised it could you just wait until it needs changing, rather than pressing something now.

If you try and gift him to her now in the early stages of a diagnosis she might say no and you might prompt a change sooner than she is planning.

I had a horse on loan, out of the blue the lady who owned him called (she was nice bud had very little contact for her own reasons) and said her husband had cancer and she just wanted to check that I knew she never wanted him back (she'd have had to shoot me to get him back but that was a side issue!) If my circumstances had been different then her call might have stimulated just the situation she didn't want

She hasn't raised the issue exactly but has expressed her concerns about it, especially as the condition is progressive. I don't want to push her but at the same time, I also don't want her to turn to me in a year or two if the condition is worse and then say that she no longer wants him anymore. Then I would be in a very difficult position. Like I said above, I have only recently graduated from University and would not be in a position financially to deal with that and there is also a possibility that I may have to relocate further away for my job. This is why I need to sort out the situation sooner rather than later, so that I have peace of mind that he is in a good permanent home. It's a very difficult situation and hard to know the right way to approach it to get the best possible outcome for everyone and the horse.

 

[Polos Mum]

If it's concerning you, maybe see if you can go and see her and have a socially distant cup of tea and talk it over. But I would be prepared for her to say she'd like to hand him back now, lots of people are struggling with the virus impact.

A 17 y/o with a degenerative condition would be really hard to sell on the open market - despite his good qualities. Do you have any other friends who might loan him or would appreciate a sensible hack?
I would be really really hesitant to sell him on to a stranger, even for £1, there are sooooo many unscrupulous people around

If the condition is worse in a couple of years - you won't have a lot of choice even if you have loads of money - sadly.

 

[sc22]

If it's concerning you, maybe see if you can go and see her and have a socially distant cup of tea and talk it over. But I would be prepared for her to say she'd like to hand him back now, lots of people are struggling with the virus impact.

A 17 y/o with a degenerative condition would be really hard to sell on the open market - despite his good qualities. Do you have any other friends who might loan him or would appreciate a sensible hack?
I would be really really hesitant to sell him on to a stranger, even for £1, there are sooooo many unscrupulous people around

If the condition is worse in a couple of years - you won't have a lot of choice even if you have loads of money - sadly.

Yes that's very true, I might just have to do that. If she wants to give him back then I would have to find a new lwvtb home for him. He's 16yo at the moment and in early stages of the condition so could go on for many more years (with careful management) but I agree, it would be difficult to sell in the current market and a good home for him really is my top priority. I may be able to find a new home for him if I put the word out and asked some of my horsey friends. He really is such an easy lovely horse. Thank you for your response anyway, it's good for me to consider all angles

 

[emmmilythinks]

Could you not as others have said gift him to her? Maybe she would be willing to keep him as is but is reluctant to pay any money for a horse with arthritic changes, especially if she already has one that is retired. As others have said, rather than looking for a new home for him, why not keep him with the lady you've entrusted him with for the past couple of years? And just say that if she was ever in a position where she couldn't have him anymore, that you would have first refusal and you could decide what to do with him at that point? It is a tough decision, but I think that is what I would do. If it helps, my horse was diagnosed with arthritis in her knee 3 years ago and is sound on half a sachet of danilon a day which is the same as a human having a couple of paracetamol