At a loss

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HUJ9876

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Hi all,

I’m looking for advice or help on what to do. I’ll try to keep this as short and sweet as I can! I have a 14 year old thoroughbred - he had a tough racing career from which he retired in 2023. I have had him for around 1 year and 6 months - in this time I have had intermittent lameness. Below I have listed the issues and treatments we have done so far:
Hocks - steroid injections
Kissing spine - steroid injections
SI - injected
Front feet (would blow abscesses every 2 weeks) - pads in front

He started tripping and showing some lameness in front so we x-rayed his neck which showed some small arthritis. For this we have treated with tildren since he has quite a few other issues going on too. Whilst waiting for the tildren to ‘do its thing’ we kept him on 2 Danilon a day - still slightly lame. I have since taken him off and I wouldn’t say he is ‘lame’ but shows some signs of discomfort.

He has the physio every month and the farrier every 5 weeks. I’m at a loss - I’m not enjoying horses anymore and he is draining me emotionally and financially. Do I keep going or do I give up? Is there anything else I can try? I would turn him away for a few months but he came to me after field rest and was skin and bones! I also wouldn’t be able to take his shoes off as his feet wouldn’t cope.

Any recommendations or suggestions welcome
 
He's got a lot going on. If you're really determined I'd guess shoes off, boots and pads and leave him alone even if you have to bring him in at night. Reassess in 6 months. Bute etc as needed for comfort. IME, which is limited but painful, SI joint problems are often secondary to PSD and/or front foot imbalance. An excellent farrier or trimmer, a barefoot diet and enough turn out as he can cope with. He may never be fit to be ridden.
What were your plans? What was he turned away for?
 
Honestly, I would probably give up and either retire or PTS. It doesn't sound like a horse that will be particularly comfortable long term, or even now. Mine had neck arthritis and loved to gallop, she wasn't treatable so I retired her at 11. I could never trust her front leg not to give way when ridden, it was too dangerous.

Edited to say don't get yourself into debt that you can't quickly pay back due to all the treatments.
 
misst said:
He's got a lot going on. If you're really determined I'd guess shoes off, boots and pads and leave him alone even if you have to bring him in at night. Reassess in 6 months. Bute etc as needed for comfort. IME, which is limited but painful, SI joint problems are often secondary to PSD and/or front foot imbalance. An excellent farrier or trimmer, a barefoot diet and enough turn out as he can cope with. He may never be fit to be ridden.
What were your plans? What was he turned away for?
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I also forgot to add we treated him for ulcers around 4 months after having him 🤦🏼‍♀️. The Bute didn’t make any difference to his comfort which I found bizarre as I thought if all else fails I can keep him comfortable on this for a couple of years and potentially PTS if no quality of life. He’s turned out for around 8 hours a day so has a good amount of turn out and both my farrier and vet seem happy with his shoeing/feet now he has the pads in. I didn’t have huge plans but I love my dressage and flatwork - this will be my last horse though. I’ve had 3 now in the space of 5 years all with chronic conditions ending in PTS. I feel selfish but I don’t think I can do much more for him as I don’t have the money or the emotional capacity
 
mariew said:
Honestly, I would probably give up and either retire or PTS. It doesn't sound like a horse that will be particularly comfortable long term, or even now. Mine had neck arthritis and loved to gallop, she wasn't treatable so I retired her at 11. I could never trust her front leg not to give way when ridden, it was too dangerous.

Edited to say don't get yourself into debt that you can't quickly pay back due to all the treatments.
Click to expand...
This is my worry - now he’s tripping I’m scared we’re going to go over! I feel awful but if it’s not financially feasible and I’m not enjoying it anymore I can’t see any other alternative. It’s not like I’m able to sell him as that’s cruel. It’s so hard
 
mariew said:
Honestly, I would probably give up and either retire or PTS. It doesn't sound like a horse that will be particularly comfortable long term, or even now. Mine had neck arthritis and loved to gallop, she wasn't treatable so I retired her at 11. I could never trust her front leg not to give way when ridden, it was too dangerous.

Edited to say don't get yourself into debt that you can't quickly pay back due to all the treatments.
Click to expand...
I agree.
 
misst said:
If money is short and you're emotionally worn out I'd call it a day. He's got so many issues I'd probably PTS now. He's unlikely to do well long term and sounds as if he's getting worse. Its a horrible position to be in.
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Thank you for your replies. I feel like I needed to hear this as confirmation as I just feel like the worst person.
 
Bless you, its so hard isn't it and a constant bewilderment as to the fact that some owners horses never have a lame day in their lives and others seem to be walking vets bills. Not quite the same but we have retired coblet, who we bought and only had approx 12 months of straight forward ridden work before the lameness, investigations, surgery, rehab started and consumed us for the next 12 months and then we retired him 12 months ago. He's comfortable enough on 1 danilon/day but has to live alone due to his temperament and therefore isn't really having the relaxed retirement that we'd all wish for and at times appears quite down and this winter has been so very hard. He sees the vet regularly and they are happy enough with him, but in my mind (unless he deteriorates earlier obvs) we will get him through this winter now, let him have the summer in the field and then let him go in the Autumn. It will be so hard for both my teen daughter and I but i really believe in quality over quantity of life.
 
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