how many of our horses are kept sound on bute?

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Walder

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following on from my 'how much bute' post spaniel says that lots of horses are kept sound on bute permanently - is your horse one of those? if so how much per day - if not, do you agree with it?
 
Arthritic pony staying here for the summer is on 30mls per day of buteless. He hacks out fine but not allowed to jump
 
I'll kick off.

There are two at the yard, both cobs, one is early teens and one is late teens. Both have arthritis, one in a fetlock the other in a hock. Both get 1 bute per day and stay in light work.

Ive known competition horses run on bute throughout the summer season for shows and the winters for dressage with no obvious ill effect and certainly any number of hunt horses who have worked hard on a sachet a day.

(Bear in mind rules and regs of various governing bodies may not allow this).
 
Chex was kept sound over the winter on danilon, one every other day. He wasn't lame as such (arthritis), but very stiff and uncomfortable. He's off it now though, as he's fine on a good joint supplement. I figure at his age I'll do whatever I can to make him comfortable.
 
Mishky has 1 danilon in his morning feed when I am going to ride him. He also has a sachet before he is shod. I only walk him out, but it keeps him ticking over and he enjoys his potters out - makes him feel quite important I think
smile.gif
 
YO's old 37yr old buted daily, just to keep him happy. However YO, his owner doesent bother, so we pay for it.

Must say, seeing competition horses kept sound on bute really P's me off.
Friend had one with a floating pedal bone, she kept it sound on bute for the season.
By the time the season was done the horse's foot was so bad and irrepairable it had to be PTS.

Sorry for the rant.

I will be putting my mare on Bute should her arthritis cause her too much trouble, however not for a good few years.
 
There's two horses at the yard next door on bute permanently. One is a chronic laminitic who is sound on half a sachet a day. The other one has any number of foot problems and arthritis and is not sound on two sachets a day. It also struggles to get up if it rolls in the field. I really am torn about the morality of it. Neither horses are ridden and are just kept as pets, and there are plenty of arthritic dogs who are kept comfortable on Metacam. Is it right or wrong to permanently medicate a horse? I honestly don't know the answer, and I don't know what I would do in similar circumstances. Also there is the possibility of side-effects with long term use of bute/danilon to consider.
 
Cairo occasionally has bute - he has low ringbone and is getting on. Probably has it once or twice a year - normally if the daft old bugger had run round the field playing too hard with Chancer.

He did have bute for a month two years ago until I put on magnetic straps.

My old TB has a bute very other day from the age of 25 to keep her comfortable - she was not lame but stiff. Gave her one before and one after hunting - she hunted odd half days until she died at 29.

I have no problem with using bute on an elderly horse or one with a minor problem to allow it to continue light work in the interest of its health and having a purpose in life. I totally disagree with using it to hide an injury for competing.

When I had Breeze on regular bute I used to buy a box of 100 at a time to keep the cost down.
 
My mare is 26 and has arthritis. She is on half a sachet a day to keep her going. She does a bit of light hacking to kee her ticking over, still goes for a bit of a canter round the field which she enjoys. I would never bute a horse to compete it though, When she was at college she damaged her hip and I was told she would be a lose of use horse but a lot of people including someone from the vet said to pump her full of bute and put her back in the college school. She was only 16 at the time and fat to young as far as I'm concerned to be on bute every day. She was turned away for 18 months or so and came back in to work sound.
 
One of my mares is on glucosaime (think thats right), she used to have a clicky hip and ex vet said it was arthritis. Turns out that she doesnt and the glucosaime has helped it, its loads better than cod liver oil
 
My 17yo Arab with navicular is kept comfortable on a sachet of bute every two days. He is fine to ride on that dose but I would never push him. My vet warned that if I find he needs one and a half to two sachets a day, then that's time to call it quits. Hopefully we're a long way from that.
 
Not at the moment but my navicular horse probably will be in the future. I have absolutely no moral qualms about doing it either, for me the quality of life for my horse is paramount.
 
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Not at the moment but my navicular horse probably will be in the future. I have absolutely no moral qualms about doing it either, for me the quality of life for my horse is paramount.

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Ditto , he's retired and not on anything at the moment. He can have bute when he needs it. When he needs lots daily of it then it will time to say bye bye.
 
My old pony was kept on bute to keep her comfy as she had arthritis, it gave her a decent quality of life for her last year or so. My daughter had a mare on loan who had arthritis in her knee. We were told at the time of loaning to give her a bute the night before a show to keep her sound. However in the 12 months we had her she was lame more than she was sound. Had her x rayed and showed a lot of damage, our vet said she shouldn't be doing much more than hacking. Her owner told us at the time not to use bute but the stronger stuff (can't remember the name but it isn't allowed under BSJA rules). I wasn't happy doing this so sadly returned her, as we had got fond of her. Owners daughter is now jumping, xc every weekend with her. I hate to think how much they are giving her to keep her sound.
 
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