Have you every felt that fate is telling you something?

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I have now owned Grace for just over a year, and in that time we have had nothing but problems
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I have never had a month without a vets bill for her... She had chronic mud rash last winter which required numerous visits, plus a scan because she got a fat leg caused by lymphangitis. Then she was lame which was caused by an abscess in the hind foot, then she was out of work because she sliced her shoulder open in the field, then she was lame with her shoe rubbing on her foot causing a corn, and then she did her suspensory.

Now she has a virus and I am starting to ask myself how much more I can take before I realise perhaps fate is trying to tell me that we should not be a partnership. I love her very much, she has so much potential just waiting to be opened up and she was starting to win at Novice BD competitions
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But is there a time when you have to admit that something is not working out?
 
I know how you feel Becki. I've owned my gelding for just over a year, and apart from a trouble free first three months, I've not had a month without a vets bill either. First he went lame with a new splint, then he sliced his eye open, then he fractured a splint bone, had surgery. He came back into work for a month and a half, and is now lame again after breaking through the electric fence a fortnight ago.

I'm starting to wonder if it's not to be.

But we all struggle through, and I suppose the bad times make the good times more sweet.

Fingers crossed for you and Grace.
 
wow thats alot, but that's horses for. I have have two horses and i am very good at breaking one and other one i can't seem to break!
I thing is cos you had such bad luck, you will get some good luck soon and then this year will disappear into past....
 
Yes I know how you feel- I bought a lovely foal who was always up to no good, escaping from the field etc who then spent a year battling illness ( Vet said "Im sure its grass sickness,give him another week and if he doesnt improve...") looking like a skeleton with a motheaten rug over the top- When he recovered against all odds, Vet said " he will be too weak to ever ride" I finally broke him at 6 and after 3 years of many problems- being thrown off 3 or 4 times a hack for example, He finally got his act together and became the best and most sucessful horse i have ever had. Many people told me to sell him but as he was so foul and wouldnt travel (loaded fine though) noone wanted to buy him!
 
I have a horse with problems too. I bought him as a four year old and he was my dream horse. A 16hh skewbald irish MW. He is the most genuine horse i have ever come across and has never said NO to anything i have asked of him.
I competed him as a five year old and he was placed in all his small unaffi, ODEs and he got 51BD points, qualifying for the regionals.
He then went lame. After xrays and nerve blocks he had a jab in his coffin joint and came sound. A few months later he fractured his pedal bone!. After eight months off i started working him and he went lame on three legs! He then went to Liphook for MRI scans and was diagnosed with degenerative deep flexor tendons in all four feet
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Liphook said we may as well shoot him but my vet wasnt convinced. We put him on a course of drugs and heart bar shoes and he gradually came sound.
He has now been sound for two years and is back competing successfully again.
Dont give up on Grace, i have been there and no what its like. You still have Hannah and Troy so she may just need time to sort out her problems.
I bought a new horse and now run them both together, it helps take the pressure off the coloured boy
Im sure Grace will be ok, it just seems so depressing at the time, like the world has got it in for you.
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I think you need to take a step back. Generally with horse it goes in peaks and troughs - you have good times and invariably, worse times.

We all go through periods where horses are ill or injured and sometimes it can seem like the whole world is conspiring against you.

Grace's problems all seem like genuine issues, I know I am not perfect and I wonder what Diva would make of me sometimes. In the last year I have had serious tooth problems and am awaiting an operation on my jaw! not forgetting a benign breast tumour, not to mention an old knee injury plus a car accident which gave me whiplash!

If you both come through it the other side it will make your victory all the more sweeter! When you have worked hard to get somewhere you appreciate it even more.

Try and stay positive - OH is massive believer in PMA Postive Mental Attitude
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This is just totally normal with horses Im afraid.

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With my other mare I have never really had the vet out to her other than for colic and when she was having her foal... (touch wood). I really look after my horses, I make sure they are always warm enough, have clean beds, have the right amounts of food, are well bandaged/booted depending on what they are doing, and still I end up with Grace the way she is. Some people I know couldn't care less about their horses welfare and they are done quickly and with the least amount of attention or fuss... and yet they are fine!
 
Thats life im afraid! The ones who dont ride from one day to the next can go out hunting and the pony never goes lame or ties up etc. The ones who do everything they can for them always seem to have disasters
 
Sorry to hear how much trouble you are having Becki, I do sympathise as my older mare who I've had for 11 years has rarely been sound for more than 6 months at a time....just seems like one thinga fter anoter.

Just quickly - sorry to hijack post becki - Flatcoat - interested to hear your horse has come sound after a negative outcome from an MRI - OH's mare was virtually written off after an MRI 3 months ago however she is sound in a straight line now (was 5/10 lame at one point - DDFT problem too). Like you, my vet isn't convinced it si nearly as bad as the hospital said. How lame was your horse? What dod you do to get him sound if you don't mind me asking? And what do you do with him/her now?
 
Tell me about it! I kid you not, for 14 years we never once had to call a vet out for anything other than for vaccinations! That was 14 years of horses and ponies with no problems whatsoever, they were happy, sound and fit, all jumped and competed regularly. Now for the last 5 years we've had nothing but constant problems and sky high vets fees!
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and Ive hardly done any competing for 5 years.
Never mind , lets hope that 2008 is a new start for all of us!
 
I know exactly how you feel..... after having owned the ginga one for 18 months having no problems at all, he started to get colic..... we never had to call a vet to any of them in all the years preceeding this and it seems that the ginga one is now making up for twenty odd years of vet free fee's!!! But I wouldn't say that the partnership isn't working because he decides to throw himself on the floor every couple of months..... Look at the week i've had, colic on monday, escapist pony twice on tuesday, wednesday was a peaceful night and then thurs said ginga gets himself cast!!! It does leave me wondering what is in store for this evening!!!!
 
Becky - I know exactly how you feel. Spider has done the same to me this year.... one thing after another.
I bought him in august 2006 as a just backed 4yo & the first 9 month were fine, although given his age & size I'd brought him on slowly.
I was all ready to start getting him out & about in april & we had
1) huge leg due to corn
2) just back in work & Strangles - very bad which meant hospitalisatin
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3) Back in work but he now has a noise, so tie back surgery
4) 5 weeks into recovery & he gets an infection on his lungs & needs emergency call out on a saturday night plus 10days hospitalisation. He's been back home just over 2 weeks.

He's been in & out of the vets more than any horse I've ever had, my bills are huge & I still don't know if he'll come right.
I try to stay positive because if he does I think he could be the best horse I've ever had.

You're not alone. I feel like I'm on a rollercoster... & want to get off!
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I'm sending loads of positive vibes to you & Grace & hope that 2008 will be a fab year for us all. x.
 
I can't wait for 2007 to be over...

I just wonder whether fate is trying to tell me she is not the one for me. I bought her because we were getting on incredibly well and had a very strong bond. That bond is even stronger now, but we just don't seem to have ever got going! She made me the proudest Mum in the world when she qualified for the Area Finals in both prelim and novice, and since then it just seems to have been one thing after another.
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That just life as a horse owner you have to remeber the good bits just to get through the rough times. I have owned Ed 14 years during which time he has had

1. Hairline fracture on his hock

2. Surgery for a suspected quittor

3. Surgery for colic

4. Fractured radius

5. Suspensory ligament desmisis

He has also had more cuts than i care to mention, hoof absess etc, etc, etc.

But he has also given some of the best times of my life.

Hope Grace is feeling better and 2008 is a luckier year.
 
I know how you feel Becki, but this is just horses! I lost two horses within 12 months of each other (one was only 6). The next youngster I had threw me off on a regular basis and turned out to be totally unsuitalbe for dressage, despite sepnding large amounts of money on reschooling etc and then I had to have my youngerster that we had had from a foal put down following severe lameness problems! It took me a year to find my next horse, but he has turned out to be one of the best and was an absolute bargain.

As someone said in the post above, things go in peaks and dips with horses. I know it feels like things are against you at the moment, but just look on the bright side - you have a fabulous foal, his mum who is coming very sucessfully back into work and Grace has so much potential.

Sometimes I think that people that really mollycoddle (sp?) their horses (me included) just seem to have worse luck, but I think we just notice these things more!
 
Hi Becki
Im sorry you are going through such a bad time with Grace.

Some horses are just more high maintenance/accident-prone than others.

I tend to be very pragmatic about these things and think that fate has nothing to do with it. If the time and money spent outweigh the pleasure you get when you do compete, then yes she is probably not the one for you. But remember the posts you have made when all is well and have been so pleased and proud of her
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We dont always make our best decisions when we are worried/stressed. I would sugggest you get her sound again, start riding her (which you would have to do before you could sell her anyway), and then reassess how you feel.

Good luck whatever you decide.
 
I feel like i'm in the same position too, my run of bad luck has only been going on for a couple of months but everyday there seems to be a different issue to deal with. My mares on box rest for a tendon injury but for one reason or another shes lame on any one of the other legs and in the moments she's ok to be walked in hand I'm fearing for my life (shes a clumsy big girl who doesn't really care where I am when behaving like a t!t, I can't blame her too much i guess its dead exciting to be out of a stable block when you are condemned to it).
All I can say is plough on through the days when you are feeling like it can't get worse maybe tomorrow you'll have a slight improvement which you'll be all the more thankful for. Hang in there, try not to take it personally, its not fate just awful luck!!!
 
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