The BUTE debate

[Wishful]

It's a NSAID (Non Steroidal Anti Inflammatory Drug), which affects the gut and the gut wall to a point. All of them do - also happens in people (e.g. ibuprofen) and cats and dogs (metacam) as well. Some are more sensitive than others.

 

[monstermunch]

I wasn't actually stating that fact I was repeating what this person had said to me. They had been told it was 4 years to every 1 year human?? If he's equivalent to a 30 year old then I guess that's even worse to cosider retiring a horse that loves his work?

 

[monstermunch]

You make an interesting point about horses lack of speech. I think sometimes we assume that a horse will agree with what we are doing because we do it for them with the best intentions. However I did have an interesting converstaion with my other half who is a professional cyclist. I asked him if he became so sore with arthritis that he could no longer compete would he rather give up cycling or take pain killers at a level that would allow him to continue compeition. his answer required no thinking and he said YES he would rather take pain killers than give up competition. So my question is who are we to take the moral high ground on denying a horse competition who clearly loves it because of our own beliefs. We ultimately make the decision for them and I can't help but wonder whether sometimes it is the wrong one.
This debate is fascinating and it has got me questioning my own opinions on absolutely no bute for competition.
keep it coming, it's intriguing

 

[ihatework]

I think it's an interesting debate and one I don't have all the answers too.

At the moment I have an 11yo horse, he thrives off work and jumping. He has ligament issues and also navicular. At the moment he is pretty sound just on synequin, has done a couple of dressage tests recently and the judges certainly haven't highlighted any issues.

My vet advised I could continue to event him but to be mindful of ground conditions, I made the concious decision not to do this to try and increase his sound working life. He does however compete dressage and showjump on a surface.

I have absolutely no moral qualms at all about small amounts of bute to keep a horse hacking comfortably. The grey area for me is when it comes to competing. At the moment he doesn't need any bute so he doesn't get any ...

However BSJA allow it and I wouldn't rule out using it in the future, to make him more comfortable rather than mask a true lameness. I think that you would need to be sensible about it though and make sure the horse had regular breaks from the bute to assess if there is any deterioration.

At the end of the day 1-2 bute a day will not mask a serious lameness/injury therefore if a horses quality of life is vastly improved by a low dose of bute then so be it.

I am sure a lot of people will disagree with me but once you have a horse that thrives on work you start to see things a bit differently.