Do you have retirement plan for your horse?

SO1

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My pony is 19 and had some injuries in the couple of years - currently on box rest for his 2nd soft tissue injury in 18 months. I was chatting to my vet about possibly retiring him as he is said the less exercise he does the less likely he is to get injured and with age the tendons and ligaments are not are strong.

He was in full work before the 2nd injury except I was not jumping him as I was being careful due to the first injury (different structure, different leg). The vet is hopeful he will return to light work and said it would a shame to retire him whilst he still do things.

However I don't want him to be reinjuring him on regular basis, the only problem with retirement is that even in daily work I struggle to keep his weight under control as he is such a good doer so I just cannot see how I can safely retire him at least not anywhere near where I live in London. In some ways we are lucky as all the yards within commuting distance have all year turnout on good grazing whereas what I need for his retirement is somewhere with very little grass where ideally he could live out with a field shelter and company or in at night. It would need to be part livery due to my working hours and in a non covid-19 year needing to travel for work. I am currently on part livery at a lovely yard where the level of care is excellent and he is settled but the grass is very rich and muzzling is tricky as he gets it off a lot and he is already on soaked hay.

Prior to his injuries I had no retirement plan for him I just presumed he would keep on going in enough work for long enough to keep his weight reasonably under control and then he would be at the age when he was a less good doer so weight control would not be so much of a thing. I am not looking to buy another horse or same money by retiring somewhere cheap but thought of sending him far away where I could not see him often is very upsetting but I am actually thinking I have no other option because of the weigh control issue.

I expect maybe I have been rather remiss in thinking he would be one of those veterans still being in active in work in his 20's especially after seeing so many ponies in their late 20 being in the veteran classes at Windsor.

I suppose the whole idea of these retirement yards are that they can cater for people who don't have a suitable yard locally where they can retire their horse, but after hearing of awful things happening to horses that are sent away where their owners can't check on them all the time I just feel a bit worried about that option but then I also don't want him getting obese and getting laminitic which is the risk if I keep him retired locally. Besides he is my friend and I have him 14 years so the thought not being able to see him whenever I feel like is very sad.

I am hoping that I get another year or so of ridden work out of him if recovers from this injury which my vet thinks he will do - he is not lame in walk so he will at least be field sound whatever the outcome but long term if he gets another soft tissue injury then I will retire him and I need to be prepared for that I think and starting looking at a few options.

Do most people have a retirement plan for their horses or are you luckily not to need one as the yard you on is suitable for retired horses.
 

05jackd

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I am lucky that we have the horses at home so they would just retire there and we would amend their routine to suit but when we were in a yard I noticed there were very few retired horses. General opinion was they would just go onto grass livery somewhere once retired which may not be suitable for some horses.

I think there is a growing market for custom built retirement facilities which can offer that specialist level of care for older horses. I personally wouldn’t want mine stabled but would prefer a run in run out system to help with stiffness.
 

SO1

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I have seen this place and it looks good just rather far away from where I live, though only 40 mins from where my sister lives so she could pop in and check he was doing ok and I could maybe go at weekends and stay in and B&B near by and then meet up with my sister.

Hoping not have to make the decision for a few years yet but I like to have a plan!

https://backontrackretirementlivery.co.uk/
 

milliepops

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there are one or 2 retirement places within not-daft distance of me that I'd be happy to use. and in those circumstances I think I'd say, keep him as slim as possible and then what will be, will be.

i'm lucky i can keep my retirees at home, (currently have 4 dossing about) and manage them as i choose. the one i am unsure about at the moment is my current competition horse, she is *not great* turned out with others so I am just hoping that when the time comes she is a bit less antisocial. otherwise i will have to decide whether to keep her separated forever or chuck them all in together and hope for no disasters :/
 

irishdraft

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I have the same problem with one of my horses, soft tissue injury seems to have morphed to ringbone so can only walk him occasionally and he is an incredibly good doer. I'm lucky and have him at home but even so it's a lot of work trying to keep his weight under control . I've taken the stance that he is heavier than I would like but for his mental health he needs to be grazing but I keep him on a grazed out field and have him in during the day . If I wasn't able to keep him at home I'm not sure what I would do as being at grass especially this time of year would be impossible so he would require almost a part livery .
 

EchoInterrupted

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I have seen this place and it looks good just rather far away from where I live, though only 40 mins from where my sister lives so she could pop in and check he was doing ok and I could maybe go at weekends and stay in and B&B near by and then meet up with my sister.

Hoping not have to make the decision for a few years yet but I like to have a plan!

https://backontrackretirementlivery.co.uk/

Another idea might be to find a place that can meet the livery requirements you have but that's a bit further away than you originally wanted (like the one you've linked), then advertise local to the livery to see if there is anyone (maybe someone who use to ride but no longer does because of injury, nerves, etc) who would be interested in "loaning" him for free, where loaning would be strictly no riding and only involve cuddles and grooming whenever they are available to do so. Maybe someone who is interested in doing something like liberty, clicker training, horse agility, etc from the ground if that's something you would be happy with. They would have zero costs and minimal commitment since they aren't at all responsible for care, only for extra attention/cuddles, and you would have the benefit of knowing he is getting one on one attention and you can regularly receive some more personalized updates.

It would probably be difficult to find someone like this, but you never know! There are loads of older people out there who rode when they were young/teens and have enough horse sense to safely handle an old retiree pony, but who may not be up to starting to ride again.

ETA: In case it's not clear, I mean to say that the "loaner/sharer" would be paying nothing in this arrangement and it would be a "when they have time to do so" arrangement since the horse is fully taken care of by the livery yard. I've been seeing loads of people trying to get sharers/part-loaners for £15/day for their horse that is either not broken in yet or unridden recently and I think that's pretty cheeky...
 
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FlyingCircus

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My retirement plan for my 2 is save up to buy somewhere with land for when they retire ? if either retire earlier than anticipated (6yr old and 14yr old) then I'll look into retirement livery in the area as my yard doesn't suit a retiree.
 
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