harry........ a dilemma

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maggiehorse

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hi folks i,d really appreciate your thoughts about harry , first a little background
i bought harry 3 years ago aged 15 , hes full tb he was emaciated and lame behind , for 3 years hes had a lovely life , hacking , mooching in field , the odd little show , hes an absolutely lovely old man , very soppy and a complete gentleman to ride and to do , in fact everyone who meets him just wants to cuddle him hes so sweet , (last year he taught a 65 yr old man to ride from scratch , he was a star putting up with the wobbles and bangs lol )
the original lameness was stiffness behind and after a vet check and a lot of groceries the vet advised superflex and graduated exersise to build muscle , which we did and he improved a good deal .. but hes always been a stiff horse , so only light work
two winters ago he had to be stabled for a few days as he fell and cut his knee while being led , he developed lymphangitis , which with high dose of antibiotics cleared up in a week and he was able to be turned out in daytime again , this brings us to last winter , he was fine , in at night out during day , till end of jan when i found him down in field and unable to get up , after much effort and help we got him up , vet arrived and diagnosed a badly torn ligament in hind leg due to struggling to get up so strict box rest anti inflamitaries etc .. after 24 hours he developed lymphangitis again in both front legs , same as before , vet arrived gave 10 days intramuscular antibiotics , pain killers , bute etc , harry didnt respond as well , so more antibiotics , then he starts to ulcerste on backs of front legs , so vet gives him iv antibiotics followed by two weeks of in feed ones , harry then slowly improved , took 3 further months for ulcers to finally heal , vet strongly advises , NEVER to stable harry again , so that brings us to today
harry is very well , very high maintenance , is fed twice a day , has to be shod , have superflex and devils claw for his stiffness , hes a very happy horse ambling in file d with his mates etc and is no longer ridden
so , heres my problem ...
vet says he has to live out in winter , hes a poor keeper prone to mud fever cracked heels etc , he hates bad weather , gets very miserable , our set up is good but being cornwall we have very wet winters , i HATE the idea of him having to live out , he cant lie down anymore , i worry his arthritis will worson with living out and i,ll find him down in field , let me just reasure you all , hes very well at mo , not suffering at all just stiff in all joints ,
i promised him years of happy retirement , money is not the issue , if hes with me another 10 years or so i would be ecstatic , but the question is , would you

A keep him out this winter , and see how he goes?
B have hinm quiety put to sleep in autumm and live with the what ifs ?
C something else ?
thanks for getting this far , this horse means the world to me and i,m crying sitting here writing this , hes only 18 i hoped he,d have years of happy life , he deserves it
tracy
 
how awful [hugs]

unless i perhaps had access to a large covered barn so Harry could be in but not restricted in movement I think I would be making the difficult decision to let him have one last summer and not put him through another winter.

After all, even if you make the decision to keep him out and he copes with this, you can't guarantee that he won't have another accident in the mud/rain/snow etc of winter and then need box rest. Likewise if he doesn't cope with the winter, he'll go down and get poor and you'll still have to make the same terrible decision.

Awful situation though, it sounds as if you have given Harry some great years. [hugs to you}
 
thanks SWW , i have looked around for other places to keep him where he could wander in and out , havent found one yet and having 3 other horses is a prob as am very happy at present yard , and moving 4 including a pregnant mare is difficult , oh for my own place , i could bulild him something to suit his special needs
 
If it's any consolation, since we started turning out our arthritic mare 24/7 365 days a year the difference in her has been startling. She has a field shelter she can use and has Danilon in winter but I can genuinely say that despite my huge reservations at the time - about 5 years ago - she is SO much better now. The movement really does help her.

Re the cracked heels, mud fever etc just use a really good barrier cream or whatever and all should be okay.
 
thats good news ish mad , i do worry about mud fevcer etc , last winter he was plasterd in barrier cream , dried off very thoroughly every night and ended up wearing equilibrium turnout boots which helped a lot but hes very prone to the slightest cut blowing up , we go over him with a fine tooth comb every day to check he has none , much more difficult with him living out , of course he can come into the stables for a short while every day so we can check him , but not for hours to enable his legs etc to dry off
 
I feel for you.

Not quite sure about the lying down and getting up, so if I have misunderstood I apologise. Does the vet think it is temporary due to the hock problem or has it been a problem for a while due to arthritis? If he cant/wont lie down because he is unable to get up again due to arthritis, I would pts rather than winter him out. Mainly because there is always a chance he could slip or try to roll in the mud and may be down all night in bad weather. I think that would be my main worry.
 
My mare started having difficulty in getting up (25yrs old) and I found her down in the field one day, she was in such a state that I had rung the vet and asked her to bring the gun with her
frown.gif
. But we got her up and vet advised Dannilon, I tried it and it has made such a difference
laugh.gif
. She is so happy and you honestly wouldn't believe how old she is now.
However in your situation I am afraid to say that I would go for option B
frown.gif
.
 
hi DM , the lack of willingness to lie down is due to his overall stiffness , he hardly ever rolls now , and has been seen to really struggle to get up , this last winter he didnt lie down at all at night , the vet didnt prescribe danilon as he feels that harry has a compromised liver , i havent had the testing done as he is well but i expect hes been kept in the past in less than perfect conditions , ragwort etc , i,m going to vets in a min to ask him to come out while harry is as well as he gets and give me an honest apprasil of his condition and future
tracy
 
[ QUOTE ]
i,m going to vets in a min to ask him to come out while harry is as well as he gets and give me an honest apprasil of his condition and future
tracy

[/ QUOTE ]

Good luck, I hope it goes ok.
 
I would see how he goes really - one of our old ones was very accident prone, and was impossible to stable (pushed out the back walll
blush.gif
). I don't think he lay down much in his last years (got to the grand age of 36) but was perfectly happy, and forever getting into scrapes - throwing himself down ditches etc.

Buy a good rug so he doesn't feel the cold, and give him a chance. Re the mud fever etc, I hardened up my horses skin with liquid paraffin and it worked a treat.

A very hard decision, but I would give him a chance first. We said for about 6 years that we would give my old pony 'one last summer' and he kept soldiering on (very happily - if you could call the miserable old git that!!!) , until one day it was obvious we had to make the decision.
 
Having gone through something similar a few years ago, i'd give Harry THE most fabulous summer/early autumn he's ever had in his life, and let him go before winter sets in.....

best wishes in your decission, it's a difficult call when they look full of the joys of spring....
 
What an awful decision to have to make. I dont think I can give an honest opinion of what I would do.....probably take it one day at a time......

I hope that you vet is able to help you in your decision making, and wish you all the best with whatever you decide.

Either way, you should be proud that you have managed to give a poor old boy a happy end to his life........
 
[ QUOTE ]
Having gone through something similar a few years ago, i'd give Harry THE most fabulous summer/early autumn he's ever had in his life, and let him go before winter sets in.....

best wishes in your decission, it's a difficult call when they look full of the joys of spring....

[/ QUOTE ]

I'd be exactly the same I'm afraid, sorry.

The only other thing I would try is Synequin, a joint supplement.
It's done wonders for a friend's old TB but he only has an arthritic knee which is easier to deal with as in he doesn't need that as much as a hind to push himself up. He's been on it 3 years now at half dosage whereas before he was on 3 bute, Cortaflex, Blue Chip Dynamic and something else every day, he still gets a half measure of BC Dynamic as he looks so well on it and from being a field ornament he now does occasional light exercise where he is a total lunatic because he is bouncing all over the place! Friend can't imagine how much the Synequin has done for him, she and her vet, like you, were ready to call it a day that autumn so it might be worth a try too, it won't do any harm and it could give him another chance.
 
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