Moral dilemma - would you put down...

I totally agree with everyone who has said that the ability to get up is fundamental.

However, at least while you are coming to a decision, may have a suggestion to help management.

When my first pony became rather ancient, I noticed he always led down on a slope in the field. He lived out, but I arranged a shavings slope in his shelter which he used happily.

Is it worth trying a bedding slope in the stable?
 
wench said:
As far as I am aware you cannot bury a horse on your own land. They are classed as agricultural animals in this sense. I think you will find certain bits probably by law have to be cremated, as for sheep/cattle etc.

In fact where I live, it looked like my dog was going to have to be put down. The vet said if he was put down, he would have to be sent away for cremation, we couldnt bury him at home. Not sure if this was something the local authority had brought in, or if the vet was trying to make more money. Didnt matter in the end, as he suddenly died of natural causes, saving us the problem. He's now installed next to our other dogs!

Don't know where you are exactly but I have buried 3 of mine on our own land, one of which was PTS by vet and he knew we were burying her and he said that was ok as she was classed as a pet. The other two were different as in one died of old age and the other was a still born foal. Perhaps different councils have different rules. OP as many people have said it is better to early than too late, we left our little mare to long and in the end it was heart breaking to see her struggle to get up from the ground. In hind sight I wish we had made the decision earlier.
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You can't legally bury then on your land because of the risk to ground water. This has been the law for 10+ years. However you may be able to find a friendly digger driver if you desperately want them buried near you... 'nuff said.

We've literally just booked in our old lady this morning. She was my dads steady neddy when he decided to start riding aged 52. He's now 72, and Queenie was supposedly 12 when we got her, so she's had a long time with us, including the last 10 years as a babysitter. Her time has come now though, she looks well and glossy, but has no joie de vivre anymore and it's pittiful to see her standing in the rain, even with good rugs she looks miserable, and she gets stiff if we bring her in. She'll enjoy these last two weeks in the sun being stuffed with windfalls until we say goodbye. Very sad.
 
I've got an 18 year old TB whose mostly retired due to an arthritic coffin joint (occasionally the saddle gets thrown on to go for a plod around the fields). Thought about having him PTS but he seems very happy with life at the mo. He's turned out 24/7 in a lovely 20+ acre field with a few other oldies. They plod around all day, watch the boats on the canal, annoy the bird watchers and generally have a pretty idyllic existence. He hobbles a bit at times but then charges around the field at other times.
I think if he looked miserable at any point then I would have to seriously think about PTS but at the moment he's healthy (apart from leg), looks fantastic and is bright eyed and bushy tailed. I was given him for free over 10 years and have had lots of fun with him so I feel I owe him a decent retirement. I'm lucky enough that I can afford to keep him and have another horse too. Does he miss being ridden? NO!!! Does he miss miss his buddies when I take him out of the field for 5 mins? YES!!! Will I know when he's had enough with life? Well I hope so and at that point I will with a heavy heart do the responsible thing. Sadly for my bank account, knowing how tenacious he can be I won't be surprised if he keeps going for years! Well this is my situation but everyone's circumstances are different so you must do what suits you. The main thing is that people take proper responsibility for their old or injured steeds rather than passing the responsibility onto others.
 
emmah1979 said:
I've got an 18 year old TB whose mostly retired due to an arthritic coffin joint (occasionally the saddle gets thrown on to go for a plod around the fields). Thought about having him PTS but he seems very happy with life at the mo. He's turned out 24/7 in a lovely 20+ acre field with a few other oldies. They plod around all day, watch the boats on the canal, annoy the bird watchers and generally have a pretty idyllic existence. He hobbles a bit at times but then charges around the field at other times.
I think if he looked miserable at any point then I would have to seriously think about PTS but at the moment he's healthy (apart from leg), looks fantastic and is bright eyed and bushy tailed. I was given him for free over 10 years and have had lots of fun with him so I feel I owe him a decent retirement. I'm lucky enough that I can afford to keep him and have another horse too. Does he miss being ridden? NO!!! Does he miss miss his buddies when I take him out of the field for 5 mins? YES!!! Will I know when he's had enough with life? Well I hope so and at that point I will with a heavy heart do the responsible thing. Sadly for my bank account, knowing how tenacious he can be I won't be surprised if he keeps going for years! Well this is my situation but everyone's circumstances are different so you must do what suits you. The main thing is that people take proper responsibility for their old or injured steeds rather than passing the responsibility onto others.
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I'm in a similar position with my 31yo. I bought her as a 4 year old, she retired 10 years ago & owes me nothing. She's a creaky old lady now & has daily bute for arthritis, but she rolls / grooms / attempts to canter down the hill & is generally happy living out in a large field with a group of oldies. Just passed her annual MOT with the vet so I've replaced her 10yo old top of the range rambo with a new winter rug. I do appreciate that I'm lucky that she's happy with retirement & that I can afford more than one horse. Everyon'e situation is different though. If I couldn't afford to keep her or she wasn't happy being retired, I'd have to make a hard decision.
 
Well I've been hiding a bit TBH.. trying to avoid thinking about it all BUT yesterday we sat and had another long hard chat about it all and we think he will be going before the end of the month. He seems to have dropped condition in the last week and it may just be the change on weather but hes got a good coat and spends all day in the field shelter eating hay, and in his stable all night doing the same so it shouldnt affect him that hard. It certainly never did 2 years ago.

I think even if I had 20 acres of good grazing, I would still watch him trying to trot about and think he looked wholly uncomfortable. He has been retired for the past 4 years on a decreasing scale and we know realistically that he wont be ridden again now til March at the earliest because his fetlock struggles in the sand and we dont get time to hack over winter (and what hacking we do have is deep clay tracks used by the game truck).

So unless he suddenly picks up, he will be going before the leaves have all gone ='0(
 
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