How did you know when to stop ridong your elderly horse?

Pidgeon

Pidgeon

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Ok, so Pidge is 27y7m old and still in light work. He's pretty stoic and deals with pain well, for eg, I XC schooled round Eland Lodge and a hoof abscess burst whilst we went round. Not lame and just thought he'd caught his leg on the brush fence. So, bearing in mind how he is, how do I know when to stop riding him? He still loves going out as gets very jolly especially if trying to trot up a short hill! I know if he didn't want to be ridden he would just refuse to be caught, as he did that a couple of years ago when we tried to go out on the lorry two days running.
 
Pidgeon said:
I know if he didn't want to be ridden he would just refuse to be caught,
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I realise this isn’t a very helpful response but I just had a gut feeling. Nothing happened or triggered it, just in my heart I knew that it was my last ride.

It sounds like you know your horse and I think when it’s time you’ll know too.

(Another had a history of lameness and I reached a point where I just decided he deserved his time to be a field ornament).
 
I last rode my old boy in Feb. He was my first ride back after THR.
He didn't enjoy it, I had to push him all the way.
Got off and said I wouldn't ride him again.
He had a lovely summer, and I said goodbye 2 months ago. He was 27.

The old mare stopped around 28 years old when she became a bit wobbly. I also let her go this summer aged 32.
 
Mine is still going at 30, she is in light work, gentle hacking, "arena hacks" and some poles now and again.

A few weeks ago she was not happy about being ridden so I gave her some time off and planned to retire her. That plan changed when she became difficult to handle, slightly feral and the spark was definetly back in her eye!

I think she needed a break and is now happy back in light work. The signs she gave me where pulling faces at her tack, trying to bite me when tacking up, eyes panicked but this stopped after her time off. Vet, farrier, physio, saddle fitter happy for her to continue work.

You Do know, it's hard to explain but you feel it.
 
He wasn’t right generally a bit uncomfortable and quiet m (26) and after a period of time still wasn’t himself off bute, so he stayed on bute and retired as riding was of no benefit to him, he used to go on in hand walks a couple of times a week to keep his feet trim.
He also wasn’t one that loved going out, he was quite happy in a field eating 😅
 
My 31 year old is still lightly hacked and I spend a lot of time thinking about her and retirement… on Sunday she left my warm blood, who was doing her best gallop, for absolute dead in about eight strides……..galloping about 3/4 round a big field, maybe 50 acres, so retirement is not this week!
 
Niggling unsoundness made the decision for our special girl at 22. She had a huge career and was always top horse having been an eventer, then SJ, then dressage and finally pony clubber.

Sadly, even though she was sound in the field which made us all happy, she didn’t cope with not being #1 horse. So she now has “work” three times a week where she is bought in for grooming, light lunging and her Physio exercises. She is no longer ridden but craves the routine she has had all her life.

She has just turned 24 and looks great, is sound, engaged but no longer ridden.
 
I hacked my old share gently and only in winter throughout her old age so she could be stabled all day. (She was turned away in summer) She was 24 at the end. We never went far and rarely cantered. If I wanted a fast ride, I rode my favourite Connie at another RS.
I stopped riding the old mare when a friend of our RI who never liked me told her that the horse should be fully retired. The mare was retired and was totally miserable, asking to be brought in from the field every morning to start the working day she was used to. When autumn came she was put down and I was very sad.
Bonnie Allie said:
She is no longer ridden but craves the routine she has had all her life.
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Yes, that was what my old share wanted.
 
I haven't yet, but I would if he was reluctant to go hacking as normal. He still strides out with his ears pricked and does a useful job, both with his weekend sharer and a few other friends who ride him in the week. He's 27 now and probably hacks 4 times per week, which I think is good for his arthritis and age related stiffness. He has been sound for years, last hunted and did faster work and jumping probably 3 years ago, and if it were up to him would probably still be doing so. I do believe that he will get old when he stops working, and at the moment he doesn't seem old at all.
 
HopOnTrot said:
Vet at the moment is very much of the opinion that light work is good for them, even with our current health issues vet has asked that I keep gentle hacking or schooling as long as she is bright in herself.
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My vets are of the same opinion 🙂.

Carrying on with light work, be that 20 mins in walk around the block or even less, is better for most oldies than full retirement. Very much caveated that the horse must be sound and happy enough to do this, so any hint of reluctance from the older horse and you stop.
 
My last one to retire from old age related stuff just started standing with his head in the corner looking at the wall when he saw his tack. He used to call and have his ears pricked then be quite jolly on his way out. He'd started getting slower going out, still seemed fine but less enthusiastic, then the avoiding tack thing confirmed what I'd already wondered.
 
Mine is 25 and had been showing signs of wanting to slow down but I believed it was because he was feeling a bit stiff with the weather change. After discussing with Vet, I made the decision to start him on one danilon per day just to give him a bit of help and it is as if he is 10 years younger again and has his zest for life back! He is one that has always thrived on his work so I think retiring him too early when he isn’t ready would probably make him depressed. I have still slowed him down in the fact we aren’t hunting much to his disgust but he is loving his hacking and is back to his old sharp self. It had been such a gradual thing I had forgotten just how sharp he used to be 🙈 I realise the danilon will be what is making him feel much more springy so I don’t push him to do any more than walk if he doesn’t want to but he has been choosing to trot and canter (and shake his head with excitement and try and rodeo) so he is feeling well. He is ridden 2-3 times per week and he is still well muscled and quite fit.
 
I picked up the collar (driven horse), went towards her with it in my hand and she snapped at me, something she had never done before. I respected her decision and retired her that day. Two days earlier, she had enthusiastically dived into it and we had gone a quiet hack.
 
My old girl went extra spooky out hacking. She used to be solid even down the busiest of roads. One day out hacking through a little wooded area she just backed up and we nearly went backwards into a ditch. She enjoyed her retirement after that.
 
Mine had his hocks treated fir the second time and one hock didn't respond as well as had been hoped.He also tripped and fell while being ridden once.Vet said he could continue in light work for another 12 months but I decided to let him go before he was totally crippled.He is enjoying retired life.
 
Mine was 25 when she was PTS, I realised she wasn’t right when she was well behaved on our ride and not bothered if my friend went off in front. In hindsight I think she was slightly lame on both fronts so seemed pretty sound for her age. I stopped riding her in the march and her cushings figures were still rising even on 4 prascend a day and when she became a bit pottery in the field I decided to PTS in the September as we(vet and me) thought she was going to come down with laminitis . I never regretted the decision but wish I still had her as a field ornament..
 
Mine was semi retired but ridden weekly by a 10yo for quiet hack and I drove him gently
He stumbled in the trap and that weekend stumbled with child, he was retired that day and enjoyed 2years retirement, he was 28 when he was pts
 
Mine was also semi retired and hacked twice a week - out for one hour once a week and a quick 20 minute hack another day.
She didn't feel comfortable and at this point he was on one bute a day. In the end I had to call the vet out as he went very lame, vet said abscess which never materialised.
She was then not ridden at all for six months.

Unfortunately she remained inconsistently lame in hand, and was then nerve blocked which she reacted violently to and she never misbehaved with vets, ever! The nerve blocked resulted in blood everywhere much to my horror and dismay. She was then xrayed and results suggested bony spur on the back of the navicular bone which caused the tendon to catch and make her lame.

She was pts about a fortnight later. I'd had her since 2004, she was pts aged 24 after 17 years with me. She had come over from Holland - she was Nimmerdor bred (Grandsire), she was a fantastic horse, I loved the bones of her and I miss her greatly but try not to think about it too much. Having Lari has definitely helped even though I only got 15 rides out of him before he was retired into a herd aged 13. Now nearly 15.
 
Thanks everyone for your experiences, very much appreciated. I've got a call in with my normal vet next week to have a chat about this. I love the bones of Pig and I would hate to do anything to cause him pain or to have him trip or anything when out hacking him.
 
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