Retirement/Grass livery

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hellspells

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I apologise now if this gets long but I think I may have alot of questions!?

Its been suggested I turn my horse away for 9/12months. I have no option of this where I live, there is not the space or anywhere with the 'herd lifestyle'.
At the moment she hates being out in anything other than nice weather and in the winter comes in at lunch time. Do horses like this ever get use to being out in all weathers? Can you send them with all their winter turnouts so they are nice and snug? She also gets COPD and I know lots of places chuck out hay in the winter - can you ask for it to be soaked or is it as it comes?
How much contact can you have? Do people get annoyed with you for frequent emails etc???

Sorry for rambling but I am trying to explore every availble avenue at the moment. Please if anybody has any experience can they share with me?
 
I am sorry I cant answer all your questions but my horse has had to be retired for at least 12 months and he is used to being stabled a lot. he has only been away since May he is a Companion and I get frequent emails and tests about him and can go see him whenever I want. He is 17 and I dont expect him to come back sound due to the length of time he has been intermittent lame but you never kbow. I think you just need to ensure that you find the right situation for her.

Why does she need the lay off?

Sorry about typos still suffering from last night eye wise!
 
We have got a few on retirement livery at our yard, most of whom used to live in - and they adapt really well to living out 24/7! None has had to be brought in etc! I would be the same, now my TB is retired Ive been toying with the idea of living him out - im the same - would he cope etc etc!!

Im sure with rugs, and some supplementary forage most of the softened breeds would be able to cope!!! The YO even provides rugs if the ones sent arnt warm enough, i cant see any YO not allowing rugs!!!

The hay situation would depend on how nice the YO is, but if the T/O was in a large field i would say it wouldnt be practical to soak all the hay that was required for lots of horses! No expert on COPD, but would it not be OK unsoaked in the open anyway - as english winters tend to be wet anyway!!?
 
Thank you Artyannie. She was diagnosed with KS a few weeks ago. She's 14 and i will not put her through the op at her age I really don't think its very fair on her, knowing what she is like - she likes to be out competing and doing things, I'm not even sure at the moment she'd cope with being turned away for that length of time. The idea (from trainer, YO and vet) is to turn her away for a few months to see if it will help with the fusing period etc.

I'm really stuck at the moment as too what to do with her.
 
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The YO even provides rugs if the ones sent arnt warm enough, i cant see any YO not allowing rugs!!!



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Wow I like your YO!!!
 
Oh B****r. I can understand your distress all I can advise is Dont Panic I did at turning Gully out. He has never been out 24/7 and he absolutly loves it. I did spend several weeks getting him used to it turning him out as much as possible and the girls at the yard were very good at leaving him out in the pouring rain as we knew he would have to cope and he did.

Horses often acclimatise better than we think!!
 
Thank you. I'm trying desperatly not to panic - but lets just say work has not had very much out of me today!!!


I spose next question is - does anybody know anywhere South West ish, max a couple of hours drive from either Weymouth or Poole???
 
Unfortuantly I live in the Channel Islands and there just isn't the space to do this. Ideally I'd like her to stay at home (on livery) with me but... nobody else thinks I should. What ever I decide I'm going to upset somebody, be it my vet, my YO or my mother - least of all me.

I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place

(p.s not asking for sympathy and i know ultimatly only I can make the choice)
 
you could try placing an ad in local shops saying you are looking for retirement livery for you horse, then go long and have a look at places and a chat with the YOs or farmers.
 
Can I just say that seems an odd solution for a KS horse, without muscle to support the back it will deteriorate further surely. It is a very rare thing for a KS horses spine to fuse, but if it does then surely it will have even more limited mobility?

You have probably been through all of this already but the advice seems to be the opposite of everything I know about kissing spines, my horse has had op and clearly is in an entirely different situation to yours, but I would be inclined to check with someone like Svend Kold at Willersley Equine, am not sure if you tried the palliative route, but anaesthetic and steriods in to the back can sometimes give you enough of gap to work the horse and build muscle so it can support itself, pm me if you want any info and apologies in advance if this post seems interfering
 
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