Big Decision ie horse health

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Treacle24

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I have a 19 year old mare. She is very difficult to handle but a lovely ride. I have had several vets ask me if she is rideable as she is very aggressive with them!!! So, my problem is that we have to move after the summer due to my husbands work. We will be moving abroad and I cannot take my horses. This particular horse is a real dilema for me, I have already been very worried about rehoming her as she really does need time to get to know her and I would dread her going somewhere where they could not handle her. So I was already worried about what to do for the best for her. Then just recently she has had problems breathing, in the morning when I feed her I can see her breathing very heavily and can count her breaths going in and out, and it looks difficult for her. The vet has been out and has provisionally said COPD, but would like to do further tests. I am beside myself, a. as I don;t want her to be in pain and b. because there is no way I can find her a new home now. Even with treatment it would be an extra worry for someone taking her on. Or do you think there are people out there who would care for her? Or should I do what I really don;t want to and put to sleep.

For more information she lives outdoors with a field shelter, so is not boxed. I am also in rural FRance and their view on horses is slightly different to ours.

Thanks for your help
 
Sorry to hear of your predicament, but good luck with the move!

You have two options if you are worried about selling on to the wrong home. Do more tests, consider vets advice, and if all is ok then I would look at finding somewhere to loan with LWVTB so that you can be part of the handover process, and can monitor potential new home. You will need to take into consideration the costs of any treatments or medication following on from the vets diagnosis, and whether Once sold though, you do have the live with the thought that she could always be sold on, even if you do find the perfect home for her. Alternatively you could pay someone to care for her on a full livery/retirement livery basis - preferably living out in a herd, as natural as possible. Considerations would need to be made as to how she would cope with this, and whether you would be happy leaving her care to someone else, depending on how bad her behaviour is.

Your second choice is PTS. There are many owners on here who have been faced with similar situations and horses who would be hard to rehome or sell on for health or behaviour issues and they may be best to advise you. Just remember that there are worse things than putting a horse to sleep, particularly one who has behaviour and health issues, that someone else may or may not care for or understand enough to ensure her comfort and welfare. If her behaviour makes her in any way dangerous to handle, or work around, then in my opinion PTS is probably both the safest, and kindest option.

Is there absolutely no way you can take her with you?

I wish you luck whatever decision you choose to make.
 
Her vices depend on her mood!! In general she will not stay still to be brushed, this has got better over time. but with strangers she would just bang them up against a wall, I was black and blue when I first got her! she also kicks, has double barrelled me once! She barges when leading, again this better now as she knows me and my children. But its more that it took a long time for her to settle and some people do not have the patience for this. I have really worked hard with her, so much so that now my 9 year old can lead her in from the field and brush her, supervised of course!!

Her worst vice is with the vet. She is fine with the blacksmith, but when she sees the vet she freaks out !!! She must instincitvely know, as I have tried to trick her by arranging a different vet to come so doesn't recognise them! So now I sedate her with granules, then the vet arrives and we have to put the twitch on her and give her an injection of tranquilliser and she still only stays sedated for a small amount of time!!! So her worst vice now would be the vet.

But to ride, she is a pleasure. I am a nervous rider and over the past 4 years have ridden her out on long hacks on my own. 15 km rides of unknown lanes, and we have had some napping but in general she is very reliable. We have had the best gallops together in company and alone and never once have I been afraid that she won't stop. So it would be a shame not to find her a good home, but this COPD really changes things now.

So upset about all of this, the idea of selling her to begin with is very difficult.
 
misskk88 said:
Sorry to hear of your predicament, but good luck with the move!

You have two options if you are worried about selling on to the wrong home. Do more tests, consider vets advice, and if all is ok then I would look at finding somewhere to loan with LWVTB so that you can be part of the handover process, and can monitor potential new home. You will need to take into consideration the costs of any treatments or medication following on from the vets diagnosis, and whether Once sold though, you do have the live with the thought that she could always be sold on, even if you do find the perfect home for her. Alternatively you could pay someone to care for her on a full livery/retirement livery basis - preferably living out in a herd, as natural as possible. Considerations would need to be made as to how she would cope with this, and whether you would be happy leaving her care to someone else, depending on how bad her behaviour is.

Your second choice is PTS. There are many owners on here who have been faced with similar situations and horses who would be hard to rehome or sell on for health or behaviour issues and they may be best to advise you. Just remember that there are worse things than putting a horse to sleep, particularly one who has behaviour and health issues, that someone else may or may not care for or understand enough to ensure her comfort and welfare. If her behaviour makes her in any way dangerous to handle, or work around, then in my opinion PTS is probably both the safest, and kindest option.

Is there absolutely no way you can take her with you?

I wish you luck whatever decision you choose to make.
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No, unfortunately my OH is not at all horsey and has said in no uncertain terms that we cannot take them. We have had many a row about this, and I have come to the conclusion that I need to put my marriage first.

I ideally want to find a home where she could live out, in company, and have shelter. Shelter for horses seems quite a rare thing where I am living. I see horses kept on livery out in winter and boiling summers with not any form of shelter, so no shade even in the summer. All my horses use their shelters during winter and summer, so could not imagine them not having this. They also seem to send them to slaugther rather fast rather than rehome. This has just happened to 6 horses in the fields next to mine, one day they were there and the next morning gone. I found out they sent them to slaughter. I need to find a nice English family!!!!!!
 
Treacle24 said:
I need to find a nice English family!!!!!!
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I was in a very similar situation to you about five years ago. Pony was on the older end of the stick, coughed occasionally, had to have soaked hay (unheard of in France!), could be a monkey to ride but I loved her to bits!

I sold her on http://languedoc.angloinfo.com/classifieds/index/1009/category/pets-and-animals-for-sale/ - it's an English website for people living in France. It's not bustling, but enough people know what it is and there are usually a few horses for sale/wanted on there.

www.leboncoin.fr is always pretty good for selling locally and a lot of people use that, too.

It sounds as though your mare knows she can take the mick and it's just got a little out of hand.
 
SpringArising said:
I was in a very similar situation to you about five years ago. Pony was on the older end of the stick, coughed occasionally, had to have soaked hay (unheard of in France!), could be a monkey to ride but I loved her to bits!

I sold her on http://languedoc.angloinfo.com/classifieds/index/1009/category/pets-and-animals-for-sale/ - it's an English website for people living in France. It's not bustling, but enough people know what it is and there are usually a few horses for sale/wanted on there.

www.leboncoin.fr is always pretty good for selling locally and a lot of people use that, too.

It sounds as though your mare knows she can take the mick and it's just got a little out of hand.
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i also live in France and i'm going to be really honest here and if people have a go ,fair enough but i would never sell my horses here unless to the English and then i would still be worried that they would be forced to move and not be able to take them like you, the level of horse care here is shocking and because there are tax benefits if you are an ' agriculteur etc ' many idiots get horses then off they go to the knackers yards after a bit and more are bought.
i am so sorry for you, that's a terrible situation to be in , SpringArising is right, Anglo Info is your best bet, Le bon coin attracts the merchants looking for a bargain so be careful there, i hate to say this but i might consider pts if you are in any doubt as to her future well being.
 
Shady said:
i also live in France and i'm going to be really honest here and if people have a go ,fair enough but i would never sell my horses here unless to the English and then i would still be worried that they would be forced to move and not be able to take them like you, the level of horse care here is shocking and because there are tax benefits if you are an ' agriculteur etc ' many idiots get horses then off they go to the knackers yards after a bit and more are bought.
i am so sorry for you, that's a terrible situation to be in , SpringArising is right, Anglo Info is your best bet, Le bon coin attracts the merchants looking for a bargain so be careful there, i hate to say this but i might consider pts if you are in any doubt as to her future well being.
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It is a different level of care over there, but it is important to remember they there are good owners too!

I was worried sick about the thought of mine ending up in some shoddy French riding school in a dark, dirty stable. Unfortunately that does seem to be the norm there, but for every bad owner there is one good one.

I got lucky and found an amazing English family with their own land to buy my old pony. They kept her for a couple of years and I was distraught when I learnt that they had sold her on again to a French family. I was thinking up all sorts of terrible scenarios in my head! But, I receive pictures from them regularly, and I am very happy with how she looks now and how she's kept. I very much doubt that they pamper her like I did, but I've come to terms with the fact that she's a horse and not a delicate baby.

I've hardened up a lot since living there in terms of how I keep horses and animals in general. I actually think that a lot of the horses are kept much better in France. Granted, most of them aren't in fancy stables and what not, but they live naturally. If there's one thing I wish we could take from them, it's their simple approach.

Sorry - went off on a bit on a tangent!
 
SpringArising said:
It is a different level of care over there, but it is important to remember they there are good owners too!

I was worried sick about the thought of mine ending up in some shoddy French riding school in a dark, dirty stable. Unfortunately that does seem to be the norm there, but for every bad owner there is one good one.

I got lucky and found an amazing English family with their own land to buy my old pony. They kept her for a couple of years and I was distraught when I learnt that they had sold her on again to a French family. I was thinking up all sorts of terrible scenarios in my head! But, I receive pictures from them regularly, and I am very happy with how she looks now and how she's kept. I very much doubt that they pamper her like I did, but I've come to terms with the fact that she's a horse and not a delicate baby.

I've hardened up a lot since living there in terms of how I keep horses and animals in general. I actually think that a lot of the horses are kept much better in France. Granted, most of them aren't in fancy stables and what not, but they live naturally. If there's one thing I wish we could take from them, it's their simple approach.

Sorry - went off on a bit on a tangent!
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oh gosh , i'm sure you have a point , i just don't see it here, i wish i had blinkers sometimes and didn't have to pass one scarecrow after another or horses with worm belly's and turned up hooves, don't know what it is here that makes them so lax and i totally agree that horses should live freer lives but it's sooo hot here and sooo cold too and i see very few shelters.
damn , now youv'e got me going off on one! sorry OP, i would LOVE you to find someone as SA did, do put an add on A INFO.
 
Thanks for all your helpful replies. I am going to have a look at putting an ad on Angloinfo. I have thought it through and am going to put that as I am not in a hurry to sell, as can keep her until the end of the summer, that I am happy for someone to come and spend some time getting to know her and riding her. I hope this would appeal to someone, as it would make it less stressful for her as well!!

It is shocking the level of care here. Its what makes it so much harder. And I also have the situation of seeing all those horses go to slaughter from the field next to me, but they kept 3. Of course they now have more as they are breeding and the farmer told me they are probably going to send them off to slaughter. Why did they not learn the first time, at least if they wanted to keep some just keep one sex or the other. I have also found out that this farmer also left a sheep that had been attacked by a dog to die. It had been pretty much ripped apart but what still alive, he chained it to a tree and left it to die. I really thought farmers and people in the country would be more loving to animals than townies. But it seems to be the opposite as they see animals in a different way!! So very sad.
 
Shady said:
oh gosh , i'm sure you have a point , i just don't see it here, i wish i had blinkers sometimes and didn't have to pass one scarecrow after another or horses with worm belly's and turned up hooves, don't know what it is here that makes them so lax and i totally agree that horses should live freer lives but it's sooo hot here and sooo cold too and i see very few shelters.
damn , now youv'e got me going off on one! sorry OP, i would LOVE you to find someone as SA did, do put an add on A INFO.
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I'm not sure if you know already, but there are a few English charities in France that you could report the really bad stuff to.

www.equinerescuefrance.org and www.ashafrance.org might be helpful. Horses are on the skinny side in France (although I much prefer that to our obesity problem!), but thankfully I haven't ever seen turned up hooves or what not. That's abuse regardless of where it is in the world!

I saw some terrible things when living there, most of it in a riding school and competition yard. I know that this kind of stuff happens all over the world, but I can't help thinking it's just the norm for them.

At one of the livery yards there was a pony being used who was so thin it was genuinely like something you'd see on an animal rescue programme. She really was just skin and bone and still being used for the usual riding club stuff. When I first arrived I asked how old she was, thinking they were going to say around thirty or something ancient. She was ten!

No one seemed to care and no one ever said anything. We ended up leaving as we were sick to the back teeth of the way their horses were kept - filthy boxes full of urine and poo, horses would be publicly beaten, two ponies dying from (what I think) exhaustion etc. Makes me angry and upset just thinking about it. This place is still running and I hope to God it gets shut down one day.
 
Sounds a tricky situation, I do feel for you!
If you have the time, it would definitively we worth trying to find a suitable home for her in that time, with the option of PTS at the end of that time...you wouldn't be in the wrong for considering PTS as the thought of her going to an unsuitable home is a lot worse that her spending her time with you and going to sleep at home.

My dad now lives in S France, luckily around him there are lots of well looked after horses, however there do seem to be plenty of people that just have 1 horse or donkey on their own which is a bit sad...just wish I could match them all up with a buddy! perhaps I am just lucky with the areas I have seen and I only visit so am not involved in the equine world there.
Best of luck in whatever you decide!
 
Kati*89 said:
Sounds a tricky situation, I do feel for you!
If you have the time, it would definitively we worth trying to find a suitable home for her in that time, with the option of PTS at the end of that time...you wouldn't be in the wrong for considering PTS as the thought of her going to an unsuitable home is a lot worse that her spending her time with you and going to sleep at home.

My dad now lives in S France, luckily around him there are lots of well looked after horses, however there do seem to be plenty of people that just have 1 horse or donkey on their own which is a bit sad...just wish I could match them all up with a buddy! perhaps I am just lucky with the areas I have seen and I only visit so am not involved in the equine world there.
Best of luck in whatever you decide!
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I would think people in the South of France would have more money in general and the care would be different. I am in the west of France in a very rural area at the moment, and it seems to be different here. Thanks for your advice as well, I am putting up an ad with a view to having plenty of time to find a home for her, as I mentioned before I have stated that someone could ocme and try her over a period of time if they wanted. Fingers crossed.
 
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