Opinions on Quality over quantity and the use of meds

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0310Star

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Just wondered what peoples general opinions on this are.
My horse is in full work and has a degenerative disorder, Ringbone. She is kept sound and pain free with meds. Out of work she is miserable and lame.

Some people I have come across disagree with this and think I should keep her alive as long as possible and trying to slow her condition down by doing very minimal stuff with her even though she is a horse that thrives off of work.

What is everyones opinions on this? Qulity or Quantity?
 
If the horse is happy to work and is sound on minimal meds - then I think you are absolutely doing the right thing.

No point allowing her to be miserable, may as well shoot her.

People are very odd sometimes. And at the end of the day, it's simply not their business to comment on what you do with your horse, providing she is happy doing what you ask of her.

So, for me - QUALITY
 
I couldn't agree more, Amymay.
In my mind, if she is in pain she will tell me and I will know when it has got too much for her and when to adjust her lifestyle but for now she is sound and happy.

I would rather have a few years with her living life to the full than another 10/15 years of her being itterly miserable and watching her waste away :(

She gets excited eveyrtime the horsebox comes out, if there is a jump put up in the school for another horse her ears prick up and she stands at the edge watching and walking up and downt he side of the school.
A few fun rides, bit of low level dressage, 2 lessons a month of half hour, hacking for an hour or so at a time.... I dont think this is a lot of work to be totally honest! :confused:
 
Quality - every time!
If you can keep her painfree, what is the point of leaving her standing in the field, especially as she wants to be doing things. You don't sound to be working her very hard anyway.
Just to put it into context - I have a healthy 30 yr old cob mare who retired about 5 yrs ago, she is perfectly happy as a field ornament with her herd but we are constantly assessing her condition and if anything changes that means we can't give her quality of life - she will be pts.
 
Quality everytime

As a palliative home carer I can tell watching humans waste away is terrible, we have a gift to our animals that we can choose to end suffering before they have to experience the 'wasting away' process that accompanies so many deaths.
 
I am glad I am not the only one with the opinon of quality of quantity, as I have felt as if people think I am cruel for this at times :confused:

I will work my mare until she is no longer comfortable working and then I will attempt retirement and if she doesn't cope i will pts.
She loves her work and I honestly have never seen her so happy as she is now she is doing something and comfortable! I am pretty sure she had it when I bought her a few years back but because she had shoes it hid the problem, I put her barefoot last october which bought out the problems in her leg.
Now she has been properly treated it makes me realise she was never 100% back before diagnoses and is so much happier now :)
 
Disagree with most of the above in that I beleive it is frequently a balancing act between the two. No defintive answer is possible for me.

Many people, including on here, would say 'no' if asked the question 'should I bute my horse up to ride it beyond his/her physical capabilities?'

I'd be unhappy to belive I was shortening a happy horse's lifespan by my activites; and I believe that *most* horses can be perfectly happy out of ridden work if with appropriate company/getting non-ridden attention.
 
Tickles said:
I'd be unhappy to belive I was shortening a happy horse's lifespan by my activites; and I believe that *most* horses [/COLOR]can be perfectly happy out of ridden work if with appropriate company/getting non-ridden attention.
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So what would you do if you had a horse that did not cope with this? Would you pts or then ride with the aid of meds?
 
I don't think there is anything wrong with doing this, so long as owner is perfectly honest with herself/himself (not meaning you, just anyone) about whether horse is REALLY happy with work

I suffer with Rheumatoid arthritis and am in pain everyday. But I would hate for anyone to tell me I would live longer if I did not have a horse. For one thing I am better when I ride and even if I wasn't I agree quality over quantity. I do not want to spend the rest of my life doing nothing. OH and I know that you can't humanize horses!!
 
Tickles said:
Many people, including on here, would say 'no' if asked the question 'should I bute my horse up to ride it beyond his/her physical capabilities?'
Click to expand...

I think most of us would agree with you. I don't think anyone is suggesting that 'buteing' a horse up is the way to go. However, one Bute a day I don't see being a problem, personally.

However, I can fully appreciate that not everyone would agree with this.

I would also say, though, that not all horses are happy being field ornaments - and if they can't work or retire, then you pts.
 
we have one in a similar situation - he's now 18 and was diagnosed with sidebone at 5. He's sounds on a firm surface without medication, but finds soft ground pulls at him too much to be comfortable. So he is buted and kept working - he is maintained on 1/2 a sachet a day.

the price of keeping a busy, nosey horse happy and in work - well worth it!
 
My mare is also on 1/2 sachet a day of bute, I would rather this than an unhappy field ornament.

It is a matter of opinion and also what works for individual horses, for mine this is the best thing I can do for her and her quality fo life
 
Good grief, no question - if the horse is leading a happy life on meds atm, then why change things ? It's when the amount of meds has to be increased up and up to maintain the same level of comfort that I would be questioning it.

I have to take meds every day, and see it as the same thing. :)
 
shysmum said:
Good grief, no question - if the horse is leading a happy life on meds atm, then why change things ? It's when the amount of meds has to be increased up and up to maintain the same level of comfort that I would be questioning it.

I have to take meds every day, and see it as the same thing. :)
Click to expand...

well said SM! you put it better than I did! :D
 
I rode my horse for 2 years on danilon every other day, she told me when it needed upped to a daily sachet, she went into semi retirement for another year and then became a field ornament. Shes been retired now 3 yrs and i see her changing again, more psychologically, screaming if she doesnt get her own way, or out first, i think shes going senile she had a stroke last year, and ive decided this is her last summer, you know what i feel ok about it as i know she has had a good life, ive had her 17yrs shes had a good retirement is now 28 but i know she wont cope with another winter, i will cry my eyes out, but itll be carried out in a controlled manner, and i wont let her go through it herself, i'll be there, hopefully holding it together until shes asleep, she deserves that after all she gave me
 
Quality for me too. I have a 17 year old, no longer ridden but happy out in a large field eating grass with a companion, she looks so happy and relaxed, she has laminitic tendencies so I am taking a chance really, but she is so unhappy, grumpy and downright bored and miserable muzzled and stuck on a mud paddock, I cannot do that to her just for the sake of a few more years. Touches wood she has had no problems with laminitis thus so far and will lose a fair amount of weight over the winter as she gets no hard feed just hay and goes into spring reasonably lean. She sometimes has a sachet of bute in the winter months if the rain carries on, but by being out in a large area she toddles around quite happily with no stiffness problems that she gets when confined to small areas and stables.
 
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