Old horses, at what point to PTS?

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Mistywoo

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My daughters old pony is getting on now. He's 28 and at the moment everything is good. He's not holding weight like he used to, but we aren't having too much trouble keeping him covered this winter. His teeth aren't as good as they were, but they aren't yet causing him problems. He's a bit stiff, 'aged' and creaky but not in any obvious discomfort.

Assuming that something doesn't suddenly change it is becoming more and more in the back of my mind that at some point in the coming years a horrible decision is going to have to be made. I don't want to leave him until he's got skeletal thin, or he's crippled with stiffness. I'm firmly in the camp of slightly-too-soon than too-late. That said, he's such a lovely chap to have around and he's got such a character we'd all be devastated to see him go too much before he's ready to.

Does anyone have any pearls of wisdom on knowing when the time is right?
 
Old saying of "Better a week too early than a day too late" always sticks in my head.
With our old guy we chose to PTS before the bad winter set in...as it was he chose for us as the day before he was due to be PTS he collapsed in his field and we called the vet out to let him go then xx
 
My old girl was PTS at 40 in July this year. I'd had her since she was 3.

She was getting thin & developed an eye prob & a stiff leg, & one day I realised that she was enduring her life rather than enjoying it. It's hard to explain, but I just knew.

A hard decision.

T x
 
As soon as quality of life becomes comprimised. Good luck hun, much easier said than done i know with an oldie that has given you the best years of its life :(
 
Better to soon and too late here too.
Sometimes you don't notice them getting worse because it's gradual and you see them daily .
For me if they stop lying down or lie down and struggle to get up the time has definatly come.
 
I soo feel your worry, ive been asking myself the same question, My old girl is thirty this year, shes looking good on baileys no.4 and is maintained on her daily danilon for her arthritis, she still has that "spark" about her and can take off up the field bucking some mornings, but i know this might change very quickly, she had a rough time a few years ago after a stroke and i thought we would lose her then but she rallied, i know she feels it if she doesnt have her danilon, but with it shes fine.
Last year i said it was her last winter, but here we are again because i dont think its her time yet, her facial expressions and actions arent saying shes had enough yet, im taking every day as it comes just now in the hope that she'll let me know herself. My vet feels our horses let us know and we just need to make sure we're observing to pick up on it. Probably not much help but i can sympathise with you
 
I always said the day my old girl needed surgery would be the day I said goodbye. She didn't act, look or think like she was 35, she still took off with me out on hacks (albeit slightly slower than when she was a bit younger), she didn't need any special management because she was old, wasn't on anything for arthritis.

Then one day, when my mum and I had gone for a day out, we got a call from my dad saying she had gone down in the field. We came straight home, the vet had already arrived by then (my dad is a vet but hasn't worked with horses for aeons). She had had something growing in her digestive system for who knows how long, and that was the day it decided to block everything up. We got her into her stable and my dad put her to sleep. She died with her head in my arms. She could have had surgery, but she would have died on an operating table, scared. I wasn't doing that to her because I was too selfish to do the right thing for her.

The vet had said there was a tiny chance the blockage would move itself and I was asking my dad over and over again how big that chance was. I was desperate not to lose her, she was my best friend. But I knew the choice I had to make- in fact, it wasn't a choice. There was no other option. The vet only said that to be nice.

Over 2 and a quarter years later, and I've got tears in my eyes remembering that day.
 
Ok sat here bawling now as I lost my old man on Saturday. He was 29. We'd had a couple of "false starts" during the year but each time my vet was happy that his standard of life wasn't compromised. Yes he was old but he was still eating well, going out everyday and cantering to his favourite rolling spot and able to roll and get back up again comfortably.

On Saturday morning he went out as normal and charged off almost before I could get his headcollar off. At 14.30 when I brought him in he was lame on his good leg (he broke a rib earlier in the year and was using near hind to weight bear).
I called my vet and she was on call and local. She came and then she told me that it was time.

He went stuffing his face full of carrots and with his mare standing with him. I was so worried I wouldn't know it was time and like you that I would end up letting him deteriorate and not be able to see but that wasn't the case.
I promise you you will know. It was strange but all very calm - I just knew it was time.

I got to spend a summer with him that I didn't think we'd get and I couldn't have loved him more if I tried. Enjoy everyday x
 
Baileybones said:
Ok sat here bawling now as I lost my old man on Saturday. He was 29. We'd had a couple of "false starts" during the year but each time my vet was happy that his standard of life wasn't compromised. Yes he was old but he was still eating well, going out everyday and cantering to his favourite rolling spot and able to roll and get back up again comfortably.

On Saturday morning he went out as normal and charged off almost before I could get his headcollar off. At 14.30 when I brought him in he was lame on his good leg (he broke a rib earlier in the year and was using near hind to weight bear).
I called my vet and she was on call and local. She came and then she told me that it was time.

He went stuffing his face full of carrots and with his mare standing with him. I was so worried I wouldn't know it was time and like you that I would end up letting him deteriorate and not be able to see but that wasn't the case.
I promise you you will know. It was strange but all very calm - I just knew it was time.

I got to spend a summer with him that I didn't think we'd get and I couldn't have loved him more if I tried. Enjoy everyday x
Click to expand...

Now this made me cry ((hugs))
 
It is very hard to judge we have a mid 30's old arab who came to us for retirement livery, and she looks amazing in the summer, but in winter rugs are getting thicker to kep her warm no matter how much we feed her she looks poor, and shes stiff when we let her out in the morning. every year we think its her last and she will need pts by winter but she always comes though and comes back amazing in the spring we do everything we can to keep her comfey and shes happy in herself and this year shes looking better than ever but for the last 4yrs we have been doing the umming and arring of this year its her time. I think we will leave her till she clearly shows me shes not well enough to cope but I always have the awful feeling i'll come down one day and find shes gone down and can't get up!
 
You just know I think. I think if they are happy, are eating/drinking, not too thin (its hard with oldies due to teeth and muscle loss if not in work to keep them looking 'good' IMHO ) and importantly still able to lie down and get up, then they are still ok. Unless they have another underlying issue obviously!

You will know when it's time, its harder if they are happy and well and you have to make the decision. We lost our old boy 2 weeks ago at 29, he made the decision for us as was unwell and then went down :(
 
I have/have had a number of very old horses of my own. I also have a number who live here on retirement livery, so I've obviously seen a fair few oldies be PTS. The one thing they seem to have in common (providing no acute conditions show themselves) is that they seem to be fine and ticking along nicely and then one day out of the blue they lie down and can't get themselves back up. Or they do, and then seem to have a second flush at life for a couple of days running around and suchlike, and then you find them down again and that's usually it. You just know and if you've been through it a few times the signs above are usually your first inkling that the end is nigh.

I'm not into prematurely having horses PTS, I prefer doing it at the right time, but then I'm here all day so can work around any incidents and have it dealt with quite quickly. What I'm saying is, I don't pre-empt, I just go with each day and enjoy them for as long as they are here.
 
Ask someone else, who doesn't know you well enough to care about telling you something you don't want to hear.

I'm spending my third winter driving past a sunken backed mare with hugely swollen knees who can't stand square and looks unhappy even in summer, that someone obviously loves too much to let go. Were the last two and a half years of her life of sufficient quality to justify keeping her going? Not from what I can see.
 
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