Giving an older horse a holiday??

floradora09

floradora09

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Hello everyone, hope you're all out enjoying this lovely weather! I've got something else to pick your brains about now..

I've got a 16yo TB who I've had for 1 1/2 years, and has been in work all year round. In the summer he's worked more, about 5/6 times a week with events and competitions at weekends, and in the winter this drops back to about 3 due to time and light constraints. We still compete at weekends in dressage and showjumping.

A few people have said to me that it would be a good idea to give him a month off in the winter, including my farrier (his feet are rubbish), who says we could pull his shoes and it would give his feet a break. I see that it would be good for him to give his feet a break, let his muscles relax a bit, put on a belly etc, but also I've always felt that it's better for older horses to be kept ticking over in light work, to stop them getting stiff and also they're much harder to get fit once they've lost fitness. Oh also he lives out 24/7, unless he gets mud fever.

What are your opinions on this? Could I come to a compromise- say, pull shoes, turn out but do a tiny bit of loose/suppling schoolwork or a short hack once a week.. or does this defeat the object of a holiday? Huge thanks to any advice! Also in comp riders.
 
I think giving them a holiday, providing they have daily turnout is a great idea. My 21 year old has been off work for the past two months as the farrier couldn't get shoes on as all his hoof horn had broken up. We were going to put the shoes on next time round, but I'm now thinking of giving him the whole of winter off so that the feet can totally repair and start him again in Spring. He's only done really light work anyway for the past six months and has been semi-retired for some time. He's suffering with arthritis quite badly now anyway, so being turned out is the best thing for him, although he'll have to come in at night in winter. Your horse will come to no harm if you give him a holiday to chill out. They sometimes come back into work better than ever! Good luck with whatever you decide to do.
 
He's unlikley to lose much fitness in a month, especially being TB and in good condition. Being out all the time should stop anything properly seizing up!
But maybe just watch his feet, I would imagine rubbish feet suddenly without any shoes may break up quite quickly.
 
Im all for giving them some time off :) weather might do it for you depending on where you are in the world, we are supposed to be getting snow soon.

Iwould say tho that shoes off for a month wouldnt make much difference to his feet. It was about 2/3 shoeings (periods of 8weeks) before my horses nail holes had grown out and new wall was there for farrier to nail to.

But definately give him some time off if he needs it :)
 
I give all my horses holiday time in winter (if they aren't permanently on one :p). I think it does many horses good to have a break and unwind (although not all!), if not resting them physically, it is resting them mentally.

Mine have only been in light/med work this year, with a few local shows chucked in, so they don't need any more time off (probably will still get it), but horses that have a heavy workload deserve time to just go and be a horse :)
 
I don't think 16 that old my tb will be 16 next year and has all summer April- august off every year if he's only having a month off leave his shoes on as they won't have recovered enough in that time and it may be difficult to get a new set on
 
my 21 yr old had a week off in the summer & even with 24/7 turnout had [ mostly due to her arthritis] really stifffened up in that short time:(
so, personally, i would not give time off except her 2 [ non- consequitive] days off a week
 
Wow thanks for the replies everybody! :)

HollyHocks- Thank you that's quite reassuring, in fact my boy had an enforced 2 weeks break in the summer (1 box rest and 1 turned out) due to a corn, and he did actually come back feeling brilliant and having a bit more 'sparkle', going on to win our second novice dressage test a week later with 71%!

NiknKia- I'm south of oxford so hoping not to get too much snow.. although we did get quite a bit last winter (not as much as you did of course!). I'm sure his nail holes certainly won't have grown out in just a month, but I hope that even just a few weeks out of shoes might help his feet (and if I'm honest, deep down there's a part of me hoping that he might cope well enough to stay a bit longer without shoes when I start bringing him back into work).

My only concern is that he'll lose the muscles he's built up, and by riding enables him to stay fit and using the muscles he needs to support himself..? Vet out on wednesday for teeth/vacs so will talk to them too :)
 
I tend to give zhorter breaks throughout the year rather than one big break as my girl is much more content in work, she gets a bit to nutty if off for more than a week or so.
 
16 is not that old, but if your farrier is suggesting giving his feet a break its well worth asking him why.

If you are working him as hard as you say then I do think its probably time for a holiday, you can give him the winter off and hack out twice a week if possible. Let him be a horse - getting muddy and enjoying life and lie ins.

at a rough estimate i do believe 16 horse years = 48 human years.
 
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