Hard decision

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daisybe33

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I have a TB ex racer I was given out of racing.

I went into it with my eyes open (he had done his check ligament on his off hind when I got him) I took him on for the summer thinking if h gets sound great if not he's had a good summer and he will be PTS.

His leg has healed totally and he is a great hack, opens gates rides and leads, bombproof in traffic etc and good to do.

He has horrific feet and is fed bucketloads to keep weight on (although he is starting to look good now)

a couple of weeks ago he went on and off lame, he had just had his shoes done and I thought he looked footsore and has had the last two weeks off and the farrier out the other day. He came sound again yesterday and I was really pleased.

Today he was lame again. I had a couple to take to the vet for their jabs and so I took him too.

the vet has known this horse since he was a yearling and said he has had knee trouble his whole life and his suspensory on his off fore looks suspicious and that I should have him PTS as I will struggle to keep him sound (although he trotted up sound for the vet!)

I'm heartbroken as he is such a nice boy.

Sorry its a long and pointless post as I know the answer it's just so sad.
 
No, he struggles with his weight and wouldn't do well out in the field over winter. It's hard enough to keep him well in summer on good grass.

I feel awful as he trotted up sound or "as sound as that horse will get" for the vet.

I thought I'd be tough enough to make that decision but I'm struggling
 
I would speak to the vet about what you have been told by the farrier and ask vet to do closer examination on the area and ask their impartial advice and go from there, good luck x

ETS: completely misread your post, i am such a plonker sometimes! I thought it was the farrier who said this.
Perhaps get a second opinion from another vet and say what this other vet also thinks
 
When I offered my ex racer as companion(he s 8) I had loads of emails from people wanting companion that they didnt want to ride.Found him pemanent home for life on project horse at least give it a go.I had references from vets and rspca for my boys new home.You can be very strict with criteria that he needs.Lots of enquiries were from people that had tbs and couldnt as have pony companion as too much grass.
 
Play it by ear, could be the shoeing and time is a great healer, most TB are difficult to keep weight on thin skin and all that. But is he happy in himself, if so keep riding him when he's sound, when he's not give him time off. Do you enjoy having him around and do you enjoy riding him when he's sound. I did with my old Tb and the good days were well worth it for the enjoyment of riding him that it out weighed when he was lame and I had him for 12 years before I had him put down and mostly he was lame but he did enjoy his life with us and was the boss
 
I would certainly not rush in and make any rash decision here. We took on an ex-racer aged 19 as his owner had run out of options after several failed loans so was going to ahve him PTS. he had previously broken down racing and also had an 'incident' where he'd galloped off attached to a gate shredding his front legs in the process.

So, you can imagine his front legs are, well - buggered! he has horrendous bowed tendons. However, he has been sound and hacked out with us plus done a little jumping. he is now 25 but this year he has been lame for several months after having his feet trimmed. He had been barefoot as was not really ridden alot and had a tendency to rip his shoes off on fencing and we'd never had any foot probs with him.

This year though after being foot sore (to cut a long story short) after farrier visit and vet visit a bit of bute to help him he then went terribly lame to the extent he was actually on 3 legs (seriously!). It took ages and two vets to discover really bad abscesses that just would not shift - this had been brought on by the initial foot trimming at the beginning of the year. Eventually he is now sound (ish) and has shoes fitted back on his front feet as they were breaking up before.

I would give yours some more time - these TBs are pretty tough! Also maybe look at changing feeds. Ours doesn't ahgev much trouble keeping weight on at all, drops a bit in winter but that's it and he's a traditional fine TB type. Have you tried something like pink powdetr to help boost his digestion, had his teeth checked to make sure he can eat properly and also maybe change his feed. We've found Allen & Page Weight Gain very good at putting weight on.
 
He is on Allen and page C + C and blue chip. He looks alot better than he did, it just costs a fortune!!

Thanks for your posts. I feel a bit better this morning. The farrier is coming to him again today and I am investing in some magnetherapy boots for him. I take another horse I have swimming so will take him too.

I have decided to give him some more time, he is such a sweetheart and is just starting to work in a nice outline so it may be that he can just be used for light hacks and dressage.

I will keep you posted xx
 
To be honest it sounds as though this vet has already written off this horse. Maybe get a second opinion? Or maybe try turning him away in the winter and see if he stays sounds.

Re food, can you change him to something cheaper like substitute sugar beet and ground linseed for the blue chip and feed something like biotin for feet? Then you can also keep the Calm & Condition or change to a conditioning cube or mix? I feed my TB speedibeet all year round just less in summer (basically just speedibeet water) and more in winter and it really does keep the weight on. He gets linseed in winter as well but not in summer otherwise he would be too fat.

I take it he is out 24/7? If you are feeding him only once maybe try splitting the feeds as they actually have quite small stomachs so really only digest a very small ration and then the rest is really just waste.
 
I feed him twice a day at the moment and he has speedibeet too!.

The vet has definately written him off. I thought if I give him every chance until winter and they need to be in (Nov ish) then I can make my decision then.
 
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