H&H article I SO agree with

ycbm said:
So, to clarify, you ARE saying people are wrong it they put a horse to sleep because it can't be ridden?
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Well I for one couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t judge anyone else and I’m fortunate to have my own land so I can collect broken ponies 🙄 I didn’t have one to ride for 4 years once because both mine had got old together. I do understand that not everyone feels the same way though.
 
I'd love to be in a position to keep a broken pony if it was happy mooching around. However, my girl is 12 now - if I had to retire her from riding now she could live another 18 years easily. That is 72k+. I can't justify a 72k pet, even though I adore her. I can't afford 2 long term, in either cash or time. So it would be a few months in the field because I love her, then I would PTS.

A lady I know has a broken pony but she feels the cost is worthwhile for the enjoyment she has in keeping it as a pet.

It is fine for anyone to have their own view on what they would do with a broken one as long as the pony is happy - I support anyone facing the decision to PTS or retire even if I don't agree because it's very hard and ultimately you have to make a decision you can live with - as long as the decision is in the pony's interests and not your own.
 
meleeka said:
I wonder why people won’t pts when needed? Is it because they haven’t seen the process and imagine it to be worse than it is, or perhaps financial? I don’t think there’s anything worse than watching your much loved horse suffer. I just can’t bear it personally and I think that’s worse than having them put to sleep. If you are giving it away then you are still having to say goodbye so I don’t really understand.
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I think it might be that people's opinion on what is suffering differs. Imo when there is an emotional connection people don't always see what other people who don't have that connection can see.
 
OK, here's a WWYD (real situation): The horse is 19 years old, 15h, stallion, not a novice ride, has arthritis that is just starting to show up as general stiffness and some difficulty on getting up, has sweet itch which requires wearing a SI rug 24/7 in the summer + face mask & boots and stabling in the mornings and evenings, has COPD which requires soaking all hay, prone to mud fever, does not turn out for longer than a couple of hours, needs regular work to keep energy levels on an even keel.

His working life is done, he's high maintenance - what would you do with this horse?
 
I would have a problem his difficulty in getting up and his requirement for work, so I'd feel that I couldn't cater for his mental needs adequately.

Frank's pretty high maintenance, he is arthritic but with no issues getting up (that's really important to me), photosensitive so covered, caring for his scabbiness is a fairly permanent state of affairs (and always has been), and is likely metabolic. But he is currently happy in himself and not fussed about work.
 
Cortez said:
OK, here's a WWYD (real situation): The horse is 19 years old, 15h, stallion, not a novice ride, has arthritis that is just starting to show up as general stiffness and some difficulty on getting up, has sweet itch which requires wearing a SI rug 24/7 in the summer + face mask & boots and stabling in the mornings and evenings, has COPD which requires soaking all hay, prone to mud fever, does not turn out for longer than a couple of hours, needs regular work to keep energy levels on an even keel.

His working life is done, he's high maintenance - what would you do with this horse?
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PTS sounds to be in his best interests. He sounds like he wouldn't be happy retired.
 
For Cortez's horse (quote not working!) with already present health conditions and limited scope for keeping him happy, I would PTS, and I wouldn't see that as a difficult decision.

It would be potentially trickier if he only had the arthritis rendering him unrideable, and if he was a gelding. But I think I would still PTS after a short and pleasant retirement. 20 is actually a pretty good age for a horse and if he has had 20 amazing years of being loved and cared for, he has had a much better life than most.
 
ester said:
I would have a problem his difficulty in getting up and his requirement for work, so I'd feel that I couldn't cater for his mental needs adequately.
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This.

The difficulty in getting up would be the flag for me - it must be absolutely terrifying for a flight animal not to be able to move.
When a horse isn't 'happy being a horse' any more is when I'd have The Discussion with the vet.



PS - I'd be very unlikely to let anyone who wasn't actually involved with horse, such as joint owners/daily carers, know until afterwards.
 
I wrote an article for the Chronicle of the Horse last year about a mare in her late 20s, who was advertised for sale at $100. The story is that someone posted the link to the ad on the Chronicle of the Horse forums (the American equivalent of this), and the forum's posters were incensed that someone would get rid of their old mare... not do the responsible thing and keep her or euth her, etc. etc. After a number of incendiary posts about what terrible, irresponsible owners these people must be, a number of posters who lived near this mare's alleged location organised themselves to buy the mare, and one of the posters had her own property and an open stable and was happy to have her. They also agreed that if the mare were in poor health, they would euth her straightaway. To make a long story short, when they got to the farm to pick up the horse, they learned that the owners had once had a TB breeding farm, but as they got older, they retired and let the stock gradually die off. This old mare was the last. The man had taken care of her but he had died recently, and his wife's health was too poor to be dealing with a horse (and by the sounds if it, she wasn't compos mentis enough to be making decisions regarding the horse). The couple's children and grandchildren weren't at all horsey, hence the decision to rehome. The mare herself was in far better health than the grandmother. The COTH posse bought her, and she lived for another five or six years in the lap of luxury.

Obviously this mare got lucky and it could have gone badly for her, but my point is that since the elderly couple's children were not horse people, I don't think it would have occurred to them that putting the horse down was the most responsible thing to do. Being not horsey, they had little knowledge of how dodgy the industry can be. They had a relatively healthy old horse, which they found themselves stuck with due to the horse having outlasted their grandparents. Why not try to find it a new home? Seems logical.

I don't know...I don't think there is a blanket rule for these things. Some cases will always have unique circumstances
 
Cortez said:
OK, here's a WWYD (real situation): The horse is 19 years old, 15h, stallion, not a novice ride, has arthritis that is just starting to show up as general stiffness and some difficulty on getting up, has sweet itch which requires wearing a SI rug 24/7 in the summer + face mask & boots and stabling in the mornings and evenings, has COPD which requires soaking all hay, prone to mud fever, does not turn out for longer than a couple of hours, needs regular work to keep energy levels on an even keel.

His working life is done, he's high maintenance - what would you do with this horse?
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This is a no brainer. I'd call the knackers yard.
 
I think Cortez's post is fairly clear cut - problems getting up are awful, he won't settle out and needs exercising but is becoming less able.

PTS would be the obvious answer to me in the near future. Depending on how bad his stiffness and way of going is, that could be sooner or later - couldn't tell without seeing him.
 
Caol Ila said:
Obviously this mare got lucky and it could have gone badly for her, but my point is that since the elderly couple's children were not horse people, I don't think it would have occurred to them that putting the horse down was the most responsible thing to do. Being not horsey, they had little knowledge of how dodgy the industry can be. They had a relatively healthy old horse, which they found themselves stuck with due to the horse having outlasted their grandparents. Why not try to find it a new home? Seems logical.
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I think this story highlights how important it is for anyone who owns a horse to have a will which includes details of what should happen with the horse if they die.
 
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Cortez said:
OK, here's a WWYD (real situation): The horse is 19 years old, 15h, stallion, not a novice ride, has arthritis that is just starting to show up as general stiffness and some difficulty on getting up, has sweet itch which requires wearing a SI rug 24/7 in the summer + face mask & boots and stabling in the mornings and evenings, has COPD which requires soaking all hay, prone to mud fever, does not turn out for longer than a couple of hours, needs regular work to keep energy levels on an even keel.

His working life is done, he's high maintenance - what would you do with this horse?
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it would depend n the horse first and then my circumstances tbh. If I could keep him happy (is he on bute, would it help?), would he be happy with non-ridden work such as in hand work and tricks/games? If I could afford it and put in the work and the horse agreed with all that then I would do my utmost for as long as he was content and not struggling physically. But I'd not judge anyone else for PTS at any time tbh, not my business-I'd also sure as heck not ask for opinions on a large public internet forum either ;)
A horse struggling to get up is a huge red flag to me but the post does say 'starting to show up' not that the horse has been suffering for some time.
 
I will admit that bit confused me a little, I don't usually with starting to show signs of stiffness with struggling to get up
 
Any difficulty in getting up due to increasing stiffness would be an instant call for PTS for me, and tbh I'd be mortified that I'd allowed the horse to get that bad. Sadly I know of too many horses whose lives have ended down in the field, unable to rise.

Better a day too soon...
 
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