No Upper Limit?

T

Tia

Well-Known Member
Joined
21 January 2004
Messages
26,098
Visit site
I'm confused
crazy.gif
. How can any of us have no upper limit to the amount of money we have available to us to spend on our horses?

I don't exactly struggle to keep my horses and I do have a significant amount of money available to me in emergencies.....however even that does not mean that I have no upper limit
smirk.gif
.

What sort of money are you guys talking about when you say that you have no upper limit of money available for your horses? Do you have £100,000 to spend on ground-breaking surgery/drugs etc? Do you have the money to fly in specialists from other countries or to fly your horses out to them? Or are you talking about a handful of thousands of pounds which you can beg from your parents or to raid your piggy bank?

As I say, I'm confused - I didn't know we had so many millionaires on here
tongue.gif
.
 
I do have an upper limit. My horse is insured for £5000 per incident for vet's fees. If I had money spare or my parents were willing to help out should any fees come to more, I would be willing to spend some more but not endless amounts.

IMHO eventually you get to the point when you're spending money on a lost cause. Much as I love my horse(s), if you spend silly money getting it right, have it on box rest for months etc, don't you think a lot of that is done to make us feel better rather than the horse? So we can say we did everything possible?
 

[ QUOTE ]
Do you have £100,000 to spend on ground-breaking surgery/drugs etc?

[/ QUOTE ]

Umm, nope

[ QUOTE ]
Do you have the money to fly in specialists from other countries or to fly your horses out to them?

[/ QUOTE ]

Umm, nope again

[ QUOTE ]
Or are you talking about a handful of thousands of pounds which you can beg from your parents or to raid your piggy bank?

[/ QUOTE ]

grin.gif
thats the one.
 
Sadly I have an upper limit
frown.gif

My mare is insured , vets fees are covered up to £5000 per condition per year. I'd do whatever else was feasible(sp) to help her but I wouldn't bankrupt us
 
I said I had no upper limit. I'm no millionaire, believe me. Suppose I should have said, realistically. I mean, is a vet's bill likely to go to £100,000 AND the animal still has a good quality of life? Possible, but unlikely, I'd say. What I would say is that I would try very hard not to let money influence veterinary decisions. My horses and dogs are insured, but I would go beyond that.
 
Mine are insured, if it was more then it would depend but i wouldnt go to 100,000. I love my horses but i have to be realistic
 
nah, slap it on the credit card and still be paying it off 10 years later
wink.gif



To me, a horse is a horse. I love em to bits, but if they have no use I don't see the point of keeping them. Say if the kid's pony went lame, and the vet referred him to equine hospital and they said it would go over the insurance then I'm afraid I'd have him PTS. I can't afford to throw money around. If the vet said "for 2k I can fix him, he'll be pain free but won't be ridden again" I would have him PTS. I cannot guarantee to find him a home where he'll be safe for the rest of his days, and I couldnt keep him, I couldnt justify keeping him if he was of no use (afterall, i'd have to buy another pony... then would have two to keep). Maybe that's harsh, but it's just the way i feel. I'd rather have no horse than one in pain with no guarantee of recovery, and be sitting watching money go down the drain.
 
[ QUOTE ]


To me, a horse is a horse. I love em to bits, but if they have no use I don't see the point of keeping them. Say if the kid's pony went lame, and the vet referred him to equine hospital and they said it would go over the insurance then I'm afraid I'd have him PTS. I can't afford to throw money around. If the vet said "for 2k I can fix him, he'll be pain free but won't be ridden again" I would have him PTS. I cannot guarantee to find him a home where he'll be safe for the rest of his days, and I couldnt keep him, I couldnt justify keeping him if he was of no use (afterall, i'd have to buy another pony... then would have two to keep). Maybe that's harsh, but it's just the way i feel. I'd rather have no horse than one in pain with no guarantee of recovery, and be sitting watching money go down the drain.

[/ QUOTE ]


Ditto all of what Katy said....
....However, I actually have 2 which technically have no use. One is my old pony, he's 40 and I've had him for 23 years. He will go the minute I think he is in pain or unhappy. The other is a thoroughbred who is a field ornament to keep the pony company because she is prone to laminitis too. Money wouldn't really be an object with the pony, more his quality of life. I will not spend much more on the thoroughbred. Harsh? Maybe.
 
£10,000; or £20,000 if he neighed particularly well on seeing me. Don't especially want to spend my money on anything else anyway.

However would not keep alive if in severe ongoing pain, very poor prospects of being field sound, bad laminitis (seen too many wrecks kept going as owner can't face facts), or long box rest required or other extreme negative factors. Must have a reasonable expectation of quality of life after treatment.
 
I'm married to a livestock farmer. Do you really think I'd be allowed endless funds to finance vet fees?

I would say I wouldn't want to pay more than a good replacement for my horse would be. I love her to bits, but she's not a superstar (well not to anyone but me) and I can't justify living on bread and water (ooooo and eggs if the hens are still laying lol) just to vainly try and fix the unfixable. If the vet said it was going to cost £4k over her insurance amount, I'm pretty sure I'd be tempted to retire her and put the money to buying another one instead.
 
In racing a lot of our owners had no problems with any bills - Barbaro's vet fees were estimated at the half million mark, we had a horse fly to Kentucky for a vet appointment, and probably the best, an owner's wife liked one of their horses in training with us, she wanted it as a pet, and that is what happened. Well the horse was bought as a yearling for over $1M, and never raced. Very nice lawn ornament.
 
I'm sure paying for Barbaro's vet fees was just pocket money to his owners. I don't have a bottomless pit and neither do I own a national hero of a horse. If I was ridiculously rich, then I'm sure I'd spend extortionate amounts on any of my horses as and when they need it.
 
You see, I think I probably would, but not in vain. Only if they had a very good chance to return to field soundness at the very, very least. Take Barbaro....I don't believe that I would have treated him. The moment they mentioned fusing those joints and the realisation of how that would affect his gait I would have opted for PTS.

However, if I had £300 million in the bank, £15k on vets fees would be nothing and the old addage "better the devil you know" is quite true.

Oooo but on second thoughts, if I had all of that money, I'm pretty sure I'd have more than one horse to ride at my disposal. To that end, battling to return one of my many mounts to full health won't have quite the same meaning will it?
 
i have insurance £5000 per incident, i do have a "slush fund" BUT i would have to weigh up wether the treatment was going to be a lost cause or not, also quality of life would have to be taken into account, having watched someone spend thousands of pounds to prolong and old horse's life when she should have let go was not nice....
so yes i do have an upper limit, this is life and with it comes reality.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top