Most Horse Owners

I hope so too. Touch wood, I've always been pretty lucky with horses although I have had some awful things happen to some of them over the years. They certainly keep you on your toes!
 
well i know there are people worse off than me but im afraid with the 3 i have had iv had problems...none can be helped or prevented they ujust happen,
first pony strained suspensory ligament and then by the time she was better i had outgrown her far too much, first horse he was older and free but had a lovely year then went lame and has bad arthritus (which we knew he was a bit stiff) but he then had bone spavin, and millie had her tooth abcess and went lame at the same time and couldnt find anythin with the lameness and wasnt bad at all, and sorted itself out by the time she had all the fuss with the abcess!

so i dont know!! its damn frustrating tbh!
 
Well, I've just had a vet bill for £3700 for a horse that is yet to be broken....and I paid £1200 for as a weanling.....
Horses' lives have value too, and if we can make them happy lives, then we ought to....besides they pay us back eventually.
S
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Ah you are a perfect candidate for my other question about placing a value on your horse's head.
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Oh yes, sometimes it is just one thing after another with some horses. I'd sell a horse like that
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. Get it better and make sure it was totally sound and then advertise and get shot of it as soon as possible. Of course I would always tell the prospective buyers any issues it might have had - hence would take a low offer for horse.....better than it costing me money though.
 
i know what you mean but a tooth abcess isnt exactly her fault its just one of those things, and shes not prone to leg problems it may well have just been a bang the first time as no obvious signs or when vets checked and tested and cleared itself up. this is the only real thing shes had and hopefully it might be something like her bangin her leg in the field or something. oh well we shall see i guess!!
 
My horse is a working animal and if its lame... its not working.
Sorry.. unlike humans.. horses dont whinge about injuries and I'm lucky. Ted just gets on with it.
Lou x
 
I tend to think "Damn, another vet's bill or scar devalueing this horse!"
The actual sympathy I never thought about, I always do my utmost to make them as pain free as possible but tend to be business like in that I am a perfectionist at their treatment.
I think that's because you don't see them as part of your family as many one horse owners tend to.
 
I don't think most horse owners are selfish, normally their first thought is always for the welfare of the horse. The vet will be called out & the horse treated. You can't blame them, for having the thought in the back of their mind regarding yet another vet bill & wondering how much it will come to. This will invariably be followed by the next thought of "Well, won't be going to that event this weekend" which again is understandable. As for any extra work, well that's all part of horse ownership isn't it?
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I'm more concerned about my horses illness or injury and making things as stress free as possible as they are insured for vets fees and I don't compete all that much. I do however think of the extra work involved if I'm busy at work or have other things planned so I guess I am selfish
 
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Do you think most horse owners are pretty selfish?

When their horse injures themselves, do you think that most owners think "oh poor horse must be feeling lousy"? Or do you think that they think "what a blooming pain, I was hoping to do such and such with him/her .... and now I can't"? Or "damn more vet bills!" Or "gosh all the extra work I'll have to do now"?

Just interested in your thoughts and how YOU feel when one of your horses injures itself.

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I think that if people have their horse for their "sport" then they're more inclined to react like you say. I do what I can with my horse because I can, it's not the reason I have him. I have him because he makes me happy jsut to look at him happy.

If he wasn't happy I'd be devastated.
 
I am lucky in the respect that I have a very reasonable vet as well.

The emergency treatment for Tex was only $220! The "emergency call fee" was $20 out of that amount


when I lived up by a bigger city my old vets callout for after hours began at $200!


Speaking from my current situation I can answer that I am most concerned for Tex to be well . It really has changed all of our plans for ALL of the horses having him injured but I am working around it. What good would it do to moan about it? It is what it is and I cannot change it.

I can understand ones frustration having only one horse and being really into competing. many people have large amounts of money and careers resting on their animals.

At the end of the day though they are living breathing things and if we take on the job of owning them we must accept them when the chips are down as well. They deserve respect when ill imo.
 
If I have something like an competition planned then I feel abit annoyed, but most of the time I just feel sorry for her!
 
For me it more depends on whether the horse is in pain and miserable. If the horse has a minor lameness that doesn't stop it from charging round the field, playing with its friends and the only thing it CAN'T do is be ridden, then I tend to feel more sorry for me than the horse!

If the horse is feeling poorly and looks in pain, then I worry more about the horse.

The last thing I worry about it the vet's bill (until i get it, of course).
 
Tia you're on a bit of a roll with these posts tonight!

TBH (*frantically touching wood). Rhyn doesn't really get injured....In Jan when he had his op the only thing I was concerned about was how he was and making sure he was comfortable. He did once get bitten on his back right where the saddle would sit, meaning I couldn't ride and missed a comp. Must admit I was a bit annoyed underneath it but he was v sore on it so not much I could do! Just have to be philosophical about it I think.
 
I don't think it's actually selfish as such to think: "oh poo...that'll be an expensive vet bill/I'll miss that competition etc..." but it would be selfish to ACT on that thought if that makes sense, i.e., if spending money on a vet bill meant sacrificing a shopping trip/night out most owners would, I think, make that sacrifice....they might have a mini-grumble about it but they put their horse's welfare first all the same, if they didn't make the sacrifice that would be selfish.
 
I worry like mad it'll be the start of something terrible, that I may lose my best friend and I feel sick to my boots. I have five at the moment so I am permanently up and down. Today it is down as my best boy has bone spavin which is making him very lame, although some days he is fine.
 
I think I tend to change depending on the injury. My horse came in from the field the other day with a cut on her leg. She wasn't lame however and I cleaned/poulticed it up and left her in her stable happily munching hay looking very satisfied with life. I got my boss to check it and he said not too worry, it was the sort of injury that is generally more of a 'nusiance' than something to get really worried about. I have to say, at that point most of my sympathy was directed at me as she had only just come back into work after a minor unspecified period of lameness and now she was back on box rest, needing mucking out every day, unridable, no shows for another 2 or 3 weeks etc etc.

But today when I did the leg I could see that unfortunately an infection has started up in the leg, she is very sore on it and when my boss checked it he put her on a course of antibiotics. So now I'm feeling very sorry for her and a bit guilty that I wasn't more sympathetic towards her before.

So I think it depends on the severity of the injury, just how 'selfish' I am.
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My horses are my pets...I feel very sorry for any pain or discomfort they may encounter along the way just as I would with my dogs or any other living creature!!...
 
WELL, the time PF fell over in the trailer and cut her leg, I wanted to geld the stupid, irresponsible ARSE who couldn't be bothered to put her bandages on before loading her. (She was boarding overnight at a different yard and I foolishly believed he would do as I told him
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) last time she hurt herself I was worried that she might've hurt herself more seriously than was immediately apparent, but the fact that she couldn't compete was barely relevant (if at all) Then again, I'm very, very soppy about PF! Much more so than A, whom I love but of course isn't even mine.
I'm expect I would've felt differently if I had some major comp coming up, especially if I couldn't get my entry fees back!
 
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