Horse ownership unbearable

By contrast I sometimes muzzle one of mine for part of the day when the grass is very good (usually when they've just moved fields, while they're eating off a space to strip graze from) - he's retired, is always fatter than I would like, and his quality of life comes from living out 24/7 with his friends. If I let him eat all he wanted, his quality of life would soon deteriorate to the point of needing to end it - I can see it in his feet. He'd rather be muzzled for some of the time, than be separated from his friends, and he comes to me to get the muzzle on, so he's not that bothered by it. For most of the year, as now, he is managed the same as the others, except he doesn't get rugged.

This is what I mean by compromise. It's not what I would do by choice - in an ideal world he would still be in work - but it's the best option for his circumstances, his personality and his life. There are lots of solutions to the same problem. I really couldn't turn him loose and let him eat himself into laminitis, then put him down - though it would be cheaper than keeping a field ornament in the long run!
 
It's all about which compromises isn't it, I'd be lying if I hadn't also thought I'd feel bloody terrible if he did end up with lami. But we also took the risk with bute given previous liver issues - and were just lucky to get away with that one. Also until I moved him initially I didn't realise just quite how much more lush our somerset grass was compared to anywhere else I've been.
 
ester said:
It's all about which compromises isn't it, I'd be lying if I hadn't also thought I'd feel bloody terrible if he did end up with lami. But we also took the risk with bute given previous liver issues - and were just lucky to get away with that one. Also until I moved him initially I didn't realise just quite how much more lush our somerset grass was compared to anywhere else I've been.
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I also think that making the decision to make an elderly horse's last couple of years as pleasant as possible for them, with some risk of it going unpleasantly right at the end, is very different from making that decision with a younger horse that's retired early but could (theoretically) have a decade or so to live.

(I mean, D has so many issues, he won't live for the decade he should but, y'know ... )
 
I have had my own horse since I was twenty, thats only forty years ago, and I have been on the max six livery yards, my shortest stay is two years, and I used to move when we moved house. I am not sure if I have low standards or just low expectations, but I find the the less organaised basic ones are better for me, because to quote the Fleetwood Mac song, I go my own way, and just about ignore everyone else.

I would always go for quality rather than quantity of life, I know we have had a lot of grass this back end, my husband cut the grass today, I have Highlands and I would turn it out with a bib clip or low front trace, turnout without a rug and see how it gets on, and stick your fingers in your ears.
 
I can totally understand yard hopping. Good yards are so incredibly rare. I've seen some shocking things at livery yards and some completely bonkers yard owners who promise the earth and then don't deliver or change the goal posts. I do wish the livery industry was regulated but of course that would mean even fewer yards and the ones that are left being un-affordable.
 
Polly is very metabolic. She doesn’t look the type, she isn’t fat, but as soon as spring comes you have to watch her like a hawk as she goes footy.
I refuse to lock her in her stable. She is muzzled and goes out as normal. If she comes down with full blown lami again, then she gets PTS.
I use winter to my advantage to get her weight down further, but I accept that she will have the odd footy day in summer and I just manage it best I can.
There’s no point me panicking about it anymore. I can only do what I can do (and I remind myself that any sane person would have had her shot years ago given all her issues!)
 
I have always kept my horses at livery, and I believe that the perfect livery yard does not exist. Looking for nirvana is a futile pursuit. It is always the case that, wherever you are, there will be some sort of compromise that you will have to make in order to allow you to settle and get on with life. If that means that you have to grit your teeth and put up with bonkers owners, changing rules, other liveries doing things, or behaving in ways, you don’t like or approve of, less than perfect facilities or whatever, then so be it. That’s livery yard life, unfortunately. The trick is finding the place where you can live with the compromise: constantly yard jumping looking for non-existent perfection is futile because it’s not there to be found.
 
First yard I left because turn out very limited and stables kept flooding. Also hacking poor. Second yard loads of acorns in autumn and yard owner wouldn’t fence off trees or offer different field also field flooded by the river. Oh and rubbish hacking. Third yard lovely hacking but back to poor turn out and tyrannical yard owner! Gave us time slots for collecting hay from barn. Horses only turned out four days out of seven! Fifth yard the mud!!! Also had to stable for seven months of the year and roof literally collapsing in his stable! Sixth yard another bossy yard owner who used to top fields and leave fermenting grass in field and expect our horses to cope. So dangerous! Then Rockley rehab for three months then yard seven or eight minimal turn out terrible hacking but I actually really liked it. Kind people and I could ride to the beach but horse struggled as just not enough turn out so got really stiff. Ninth yard owner was own land and she had a sort of track set up. She wouldn’t let me electrify a paddock when horse got lami through cushings. So tenth yard was for one horse who was recovering from lami and eleven was for my highland recovering from colic surgery! He colicked in the ‘track’ livery due to unsoaked food! Twelve was lovely! My own rented field but steep slope and not suitable once the stifle injury diagnosed. So thirteen is where I am now. Crazy woman who moved goal posts!
 
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Oh and teeth already damaged by muzzle in 2022. It’s a thin line. The ground is very gritty. Dry chalk in summer.
 
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pistolpete said:
Oh and teeth already damaged by muzzle in 2022. It’s a thin line. The ground is very gritty. Dry chalk in summer.
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You can get the cheaper bucket muzzles with quite soft ‘plates’ on the bottom. They do need replacing every so often but no way are they are enough in themselves to do any damage. In the winter though he’ll be eating the hay so I wouldn’t worry too much. In summer you just need slightly longer grass if he was muzzled with grass so short the soil was coming into play in 2022.

I have muzzled 24/7 for years on chalk with no damage. Just a cheap bucket muzzle, replaced every so often, grass never crazy short.
 
maya2008 said:
You can get the cheaper bucket muzzles with quite soft ‘plates’ on the bottom. They do need replacing every so often but no way are they are enough in themselves to do any damage. In the winter though he’ll be eating the hay so I wouldn’t worry too much. In summer you just need slightly longer grass if he was muzzled with grass so short the soil was coming into play in 2022.

I have muzzled 24/7 for years on chalk with no damage. Just a cheap bucket muzzle, replaced every so often, grass never crazy short.
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Bucket muzzle rubbed his fat chin raw!
 
I'm Dun said:
I'd do this. From previous posts he's not a particularly nice horse to have aroundand I'd have PTS a long time ago. But if you don't want to, then you need to be realistic. Why are you keeping him going if his life is going to be muzzles and restricted grazing, just to give him a few more years. Its quality over quantity.

Turn him out with his friends, watch him closely and if he gets lgl then its PTS time. Keeping a retired horse muzzled 24/7 or moving yards when he's happy just to get a few more years doesn't make any sense at all.
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I think this at least fifty percent of the time. The other fifty I remind myself causing lami almost intentionally is morally wrong.
 
I can see why you’re exhausted.

My take - and genuinely kindly meant, I hope you know that - is that this isn’t merely an issue of unsuitable yards. It sounds like (and correct me if I’m wrong on these because it may be different horses that you’ve described) you have a horse which:

Can’t live out 24/7 because has to be on restricted grazing.
Can’t stay in too long or it gets stiff.
Can’t be out on lush grazing for any amount of time due to metabolic issues.
Couldn’t live on a hill due to stifles.
Can’t wear a muzzle.
Can’t easily live on a track livery set-up as he’s prone to footiness and will need to be penned and confined, and that is generally not operational set up that track livery will be able to offer.
Is too nervous for busy yards.
Requires ongoing medication for Cushings.

That’s a lot!! Any livery yard will struggle to meet those needs, regardless of the quality and effort.

It sounds like he needs maximum turnout on scrubby, poor grazing or a track you can manage yourself, with your own stables or pens for episodes of footiness. That sounds like an own land or rented land situation, and even that is not going to be easy to find on flat and not lush ground. And then you would like good hacking, so that’s also going to narrow the pickings.

In your shoes, I’d probably find something which I believed represented the best overall quality of life and balance for the human (that yard on the hill sounds like it was the closest) and if the horse couldn’t cope with that, then I’d be considering quality of life more broadly.
 
I worry a lot about laminitis. It's a risk to my Cushings pony. But he also has arthritis now, and if I keep him in he will stiffen up. So will his companion, who just stands by the gate waiting for him to come out again.
I do have a lot of electric fencing so I can reduce the acreage they are on but have abandoned off-grass time in favour of constant movement. Pony isn't really fatter than usual, so the risk is not as bad as I had feared it would be.
I'm not sure I'd blame myself if he got laminitis - he's had Cushings for 9 years now and is possibly facing his fourth increase in medication since starting it. Realistically, he hasn't got all that many years of meds increases left, he's only little and is on more than 1 pill per day now. I'm aiming for quality rather than quantity of life here.
 
canteron said:
Why not try finding a private person with a horse(s) and offer your horse as a companion - but with all costs paid and help with looking after their horses (holiday and busy day help, especially if you can add say dog walking etc in as well).
Life has got expensive for everyone and I think people who before wouldn’t have looked at it before as don’t want the hassle of someone in their private world might now be tempted? I certainly would! Would a punt on local fb groups and feed merchants etc?
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My experience with a private person was awful. She wouldn’t let me make an electrified paddock for my lami pony!
 
LadyGascoyne said:
I can see why you’re exhausted.

My take - and genuinely kindly meant, I hope you know that - is that this isn’t merely an issue of unsuitable yards. It sounds like (and correct me if I’m wrong on these because it may be different horses that you’ve described) you have a horse which:

Can’t live out 24/7 because has to be on restricted grazing.
Can’t stay in too long or it gets stiff.
Can’t be out on lush grazing for any amount of time due to metabolic issues.
Couldn’t live on a hill due to stifles.
Can’t wear a muzzle.
Can’t easily live on a track livery set-up as he’s prone to footiness and will need to be penned and confined, and that is generally not operational set up that track livery will be able to offer.
Is too nervous for busy yards.
Requires ongoing medication for Cushings.

That’s a lot!! Any livery yard will struggle to meet those needs, regardless of the quality and effort.

It sounds like he needs maximum turnout on scrubby, poor grazing or a track you can manage yourself, with your own stables or pens for episodes of footiness. That sounds like an own land or rented land situation, and even that is not going to be easy to find on flat and not lush ground. And then you would like good hacking, so that’s also going to narrow the pickings.

In your shoes, I’d probably find something which I believed represented the best overall quality of life and balance for the human (that yard on the hill sounds like it was the closest) and if the horse couldn’t cope with that, then I’d be considering quality of life more broadly.
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Nearly right but yes different horses. This one doesn’t have cushings that was my other boy now no longer here. This boy has the stifle problem isn’t ridden and is nervous so needs a flat quiet field which I had until present yard owner changed her mind on allowing me to separate him onto two acres with his friend. If I try to stable him he is prone to colicking. Has had two hospitalised colics including surgery!
 
suestowford said:
I worry a lot about laminitis. It's a risk to my Cushings pony. But he also has arthritis now, and if I keep him in he will stiffen up. So will his companion, who just stands by the gate waiting for him to come out again.
I do have a lot of electric fencing so I can reduce the acreage they are on but have abandoned off-grass time in favour of constant movement. Pony isn't really fatter than usual, so the risk is not as bad as I had feared it would be.
I'm not sure I'd blame myself if he got laminitis - he's had Cushings for 9 years now and is possibly facing his fourth increase in medication since starting it. Realistically, he hasn't got all that many years of meds increases left, he's only little and is on more than 1 pill per day now. I'm aiming for quality rather than quantity of life here.
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I sympathise, I managed my little pony with similar problems for years but was lucky enough to keep her at home. Her last lami attack when she was 28 I made the decision to pts as stabling would have caused her stifle to lock, and she'd had a good quality of life up to them. Just one point of reassurance for you, she was 11.2 and was on 3 prascend a day for several years.
 
MurphysMinder said:
I sympathise, I managed my little pony with similar problems for years but was lucky enough to keep her at home. Her last lami attack when she was 28 I made the decision to pts as stabling would have caused her stifle to lock, and she'd had a good quality of life up to them. Just one point of reassurance for you, she was 11.2 and was on 3 prascend a day for several years.
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This boy isn’t in any medication and seems the happiest since I had him but likes to be left alone.
 
Tiddlypom said:
You say that he is lame. How lame is he?

Visibly lame in the field?
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No. Looks pretty good but stifle has been fractured and healed. Vets advised against riding. He wasn’t that nice to ride anyway. In hand work out of the questions as he does a marvellous highland pony plant if worried. Wouldn’t achieve much just walking him anyway. He currently walks around seven acres!
 
pistolpete said:
Bucket muzzle rubbed his fat chin raw!
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You need to get the size up from the one he would be in a headcollar (so full size for a cob) and add padding wherever it might rub. I used to pad the whole of the top (sewed on fake fur from eBay or the insides of old coats) and then lined up the hole with the pony’s teeth to check it was in the correct place. If not (horses with an overbite will find it isn’t for example) we did a little DIY on the hole so there was an appropriately sized hole in the place where their teeth met.
 
Getting fat doesnt always lead to laminitis, I see far too many fat horses without it for that to be the case, so its not wilful, its more of a gamble I guess.

I wouldnt normally say this, but I'd post on the highland pony group and see if anyone will take him. Highland people are very protective of the breed and I've often seen ponies being rehomed.

I have a friend sent her 2yr old to conservation grazing as she was smashing through fencing at the yard. I can try and find out details for you if you want? Its all highlands so must be suitable grazing wise and sounds like a set up he would enjoy. Does he get on ok with other horses? I'm assuming so, and in that case I have someone I can ask who I know personally who might have some options. Neither of these is likely to be local though, so not sure how you would feel about that?
 
From experience the best yard owners seem to be the farmers who just rent the land to you... dedicated yard owners/managers just seem to be a different specie. Amongst many other baffling comments, I had one recently genuinely shocked and felt the need to comment that I probably shouldn't have clipped my ridden very hairy native if it would be living out because he 'might be cold'. This was while he was standing there fully rugged...

Thankfully I managed to leave and my sanity has been restored!
 
MurphysMinder said:
I sympathise, I managed my little pony with similar problems for years but was lucky enough to keep her at home. Her last lami attack when she was 28 I made the decision to pts as stabling would have caused her stifle to lock, and she'd had a good quality of life up to them. Just one point of reassurance for you, she was 11.2 and was on 3 prascend a day for several years.
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That is reassuring, thank you!
Yes, I have mine at home too, it's so much easier than keeping them to someone else's rules. Livery is so much harder in many ways.
 
maya2008 said:
You need to get the size up from the one he would be in a headcollar (so full size for a cob) and add padding wherever it might rub. I used to pad the whole of the top (sewed on fake fur from eBay or the insides of old coats) and then lined up the hole with the pony’s teeth to check it was in the correct place. If not (horses with an overbite will find it isn’t for example) we did a little DIY on the hole so there was an appropriately sized hole in the place where their teeth met.
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This and also get a couple so you can change them when the fur gets too wet.
 
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