Trimming to these x rays.

I’m so sorry to read this. I know how much he means to you.

The arthritic changes was what made me retire Beau and as soon as he started locking up, I made the decision. I didn’t post too much about him, he’d been retired for years, but having an occasional hooley lamed him, it was always obvious when he’d gone a bit mad in the field.

I’m so sorry. I think you’re doing the right thing. I hope he will be comfortable.

Edit: I know he’s ‘only’ retiring, but I was thinking today about how difficult I found it not having a horse when Beau went. I missed the daily interaction with a horse and my social life died. I’m resigned to it now and I can’t lie, I quite like not having the commitment and expense, but it’s taken me a long time to feel like this.
 
Have just read through the thread, and I'm so sorry to hear it ended with a retirement decision. That sucks.
I hope the retirement home you're going to visit turns out to be exactly as lovely as it sounds.

I'm sorry that you're crying, and I'm not surprised that you can't see a future owning another horse at the moment. But I'm sure there's some saying about not making definitive decisions when you're upset.

I know Ludo is still alive, but what you said reminded me about a day back in 2008, my Buhund Humla had to be unexpectedly euthanised due to my veterinarian finding a tumour growing from her heart, and around her windpipe.
Afterwards, when I carried her dead body from the car to the house so the pets at home would be able to say farewell, I felt so devastated I told myself I would never, ever get another pet of any sort. I would just let the ones we already had live out their lives, and that would be it.
(Note, Humla was far from my first pet to die, and my 4th dog I'd owned that had died, but for some reason, this time, I just felt enough, no more.)


Around 3 days later I started having vague thoughts about that some pet tortoises types are supposed to live really long lives.


A month later I had realised my life is miserable without dogs, and the plans I had previously had to breed Jonna in 2009, was hurriedly moved forward to 2008. Some months later Jonna had Beata, Blomma, and their brother Boris. I wanted to keep Blomma, my mum Beata, and I decided to keep both...

I hope you make a similar journey to me, and some month from now, realises that you do want a new horse in your life after all.
Surely there must be breeds that haven't been bred to be too fragile.

{{{{{Hugs}}}}}}
 
I'm very sorry you're having to retire Ludo, but he is one lucky horse to have such a caring owner. I know you were hoping for more riding time with him, but I think you also mentioned in your objectives for this year that you wanted to enjoy owning such a kind and beautiful horse. I know this is not the way you planned to enjoy him but I hope the two of you can still find enjoyment together even with Ludo in retirement.
I admire you for putting Ludo first and hope that things look a bit brighter for you soon.
 
Sorry to hear about Ludo ycbm x
I do understand how you feel about not wanting to go through it again. I always browse horse adverts, and I have toyed with putting Polly in foal, but I really don’t think I can do it anymore after these two. When I was young, my ponies and friends ponies never had any problems, if they did go lame they were back to normal in a couple of weeks. I suppose I naively thought all horses would be the same and then I lurched from disaster to disaster with each horse I bought once I hit 20. I’ve had nearly 20 years now of disaster and having to retire horses or PTS.

I bought Millie because Diva and Polly were pretty much write offs, and now Millie has navicular, coffin joint arthritis, hock arthritis and SI joint issues. Im starting to wonder if I’m actually too careful with my horses! I don’t like doing too much school work, I won’t bomb them round on bad ground (all things I probably did as a kid with no problems!), I carefully manage their weekly workload. Millie had a few years of very slow and careful work with me and then she slipped coming out of her stable at the back end of 2021 and half went down in the barn aisle and ever since then, the wheels have well and truly fallen off.

The enjoyment is gone for me, sadly. I love my girls, but it breaks my heart that I can’t do the things I enjoy yet I’ve still got the ridiculous expense of two horses. Honestly, it’s not worth the heartache for me anymore.

I hope the viewing at the retirement place goes well x
 
So sorry to hear this, he is such a gorgeous horse and I was looking forward to posts about you enjoying hacking him. Good job you are his owner and are doing the right thing for him, hope the retirement home is what you want for him 🤞. Good luck
 
Really sorry to hear about Ludo YCBM, I've always loved following your progress. I hope you manage to find somewhere perfect for his retirement.
 
I'm so sorry YCBM, how lucky is Ludo to have such a knowledgeable and selfless owner. This thread has made me look at my own horse very carefully and his way of going. We have always been happy hackers until I lost my nerve 3 years ago for no reason. I tried long reining him a while back but at the same time he had a hooley round the field and came in slightly lame. I have toyed with the idea of bringing him back into work but I think he probably has other issues going on and is best left enjoying his retirement. Hope you, and he, like the retirement home.
 
I am so sorry things turned out this way. I hope the retirement place is nice and Ludo settles into retirement well. It is such a sad outcome for a bright talented horse, I really feel for you.
I am on my last horse and he is retired, I will not do this again. I really enjoy my time with my horse, we walk out together a lot and have a nice time. But when he is gone, that's it for me. I've had horses since I was 5 and I'm 59 this year. I have read with great interest on this forum the posts about horse welfare and how much we ask of them and ethics of it all. I am not preachy and would never tell others what to do, but for me I am done.
You are at a very raw stage ycbm having just made the decision to retire Ludo. May the path forward go smoothly for you both. Be kind to yourself, I think you have done a stellar job listening to your beautiful boy when he showed you he wasn't quite right. Respect!
 
So sorry to hear this YCBM

your dedication and awareness of your horse is inspiring. I’m very sad he won’t come right for you. following your story will hopefully encourage others to really listen to our horses.
 
so sad about the retirement, he is still in your life to be loved though, hope he has a nice time at the new place.
 
So heartbreaking. I am really sorry for you. Ludo is an incredibly lucky horse not to be owned by someone with less heart and less ethics. There are so many ways his life could have become a downwar, increasingly miserable spiral
 
Really sorry to hear that this is the eventual outcome but totally understand your reasoning of not wanting to be wondering every ride if he’s in pain / of riding him is going to speed up him decompensating. I’ve had a horse who I had to walk a tightrope with to keep him sound & working (& I did so because he was sounder & happier & a heck of a lot easier to manage from a metabolic POV when he was in work) & I wouldn’t wish the stress on anyone (& certainly not for a horse who seems to always have struggled a little / who work is more likely to harm than help). I hope he enjoys his retirement & that you still get to spend time appreciating him for the lovely soul he is even if it’s in a non ridden way.
 
I have followed this with interest and am so sorry that the outcome is so devastating for you, after everything you have tried to do for your lovely boy. I think as horse owners, we are all walking a cliff edge - any of our horses are only a slip or a kick or a fall away from career ending injury..but your poor lad never had a chance, did he? For his sake, I'm glad he found someone with the patience and knowledge to work out what's going on, and to give him the best possible outcome. This awful time will pass, and he'll love his retirement. Sending my very best wishes to you x
 
I am, I think, very lucky with him from a metabolic point of view, he's always been able to eat whatever he chooses.

If he just had injuries, I'd give a rehab a try. But he doesn't. We know his injuries are caused by a physical defect in at least 2 legs, probably all four. It can only be a matter of time before it happens again, or the joints begin to fall.

To reply to anyone wondering but not liking to ask if I have considered shoeing him, yes I have. He could be shod to the width of the flare, but only with steel shoes. It would take a farrier with xray eyes to shoe to keep his foot level, he grows one hoof wall higher than the other to achieve that. And while that would reduce the leverage on the flare, a heavy steel shoe would add concussion problems of its own. I don't think it would help.

The retirement yard didn't reply to my suggestion of yesterday as a day to visit, but I'll get there this week. There's no rush, he can't go out full time without a rug yet.
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I have just caught up with this thread and was so sad to read your news. I have so much respect for your knowledge of horses and, now, even more for your persistence in finding out exactly what the problem was and making a very brave and heartbreaking decision about him. You put some vets to shame.

I hope you will take some time to decide the future because when you are hurting it is not always the best time - as we all know. Sometimes we just need that quiet time to let life unfold for us rather than force the pace and you have been through a lot in the last 18 months.

Take care.
 
I wonder if there is any mileage in contacting a company such as Easyboot, and asking if they would fabricate boots and shaped pads for him? Apologies if this has been considered and dismissed - I don't have the horse in front of me and you are very aware of the issues.
 
Oh, reading this has made me sad! At least, now that you have made your decision, the underlying worries and concerns you must have felt and endured for a long while can quietly disappear, and must be a relief to you. Ludo, lucky boy, will probably love his retirement!
I also have a wonky but sound pony, so far just worked in hand, and it has made me think - really hard.
 
With H it is not the same as Ludo,his flair which is on the outside of the OF is caused by chronic but relatively mild soft tissue issues on the inside .
Its thought what started this all off was very mimimal changes to NS hock which we manage now .
H has good limbs but slightly cow hocks and very large flat feet .
We did a lot of X-rays and corrective shoeing in front this was done by a world class farrier we got a mixed result the horse seemed sounder but unhappy .
My farrier at this time was not really interested in working with the vet and the specialist farrier so I changed the new much younger farrier decided to half correct the flair this was the game changer H is now hunting the second season since all this blew up .
We manage the hocks and laser the inside of the OF foot regularly with a powerful laser not one those you can buy and use yourself he’s really done well we also manage his work load and his weight .
He does like hard ground so we stable half the time during the day in summer and we control his weight all year .
Hes a high mileage model he done a lot of work but it just shows how modern diagnostics can help .
Hes an expressive person you can tell how he feels in the stable which helps .
Might a half way house help Ludo?
 
Highmileagecob said:
I wonder if there is any mileage in contacting a company such as Easyboot, and asking if they would fabricate boots and shaped pads for him? Apologies if this has been considered and dismissed - I don't have the horse in front of me and you are very aware of the issues.
Click to expand...

We can't straighten one joint without putting another somewhere else out of alignment. The pastern bone is simply bent when it needs to be straight to support his weight.

There's no getting around it, he's mechanically unsound to carry his own weight, never mind mine as well.
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Goldenstar said:
With H it is not the same as Ludo,his flair which is on the outside of the OF is caused by chronic but relatively mild soft tissue issues on the inside .
Its thought what started this all off was very mimimal changes to NS hock which we manage now .
H has good limbs but slightly cow hocks and very large flat feet .
We did a lot of X-rays and corrective shoeing in front this was done by a world class farrier we got a mixed result the horse seemed sounder but unhappy .
My farrier at this time was not really interested in working with the vet and the specialist farrier so I changed the new much younger farrier decided to half correct the flair this was the game changer H is now hunting the second season since all this blew up .
We manage the hocks and laser the inside of the OF foot regularly with a powerful laser not one those you can buy and use yourself he’s really done well we also manage his work load and his weight .
He does like hard ground so we stable half the time during the day in summer and we control his weight all year .
Hes a high mileage model he done a lot of work but it just shows how modern diagnostics can help .
Hes an expressive person you can tell how he feels in the stable which helps .
Might a half way house help Ludo?
Click to expand...


I'm in livery GS, paying big fees for that and we lost all our spare money with the disaster of selling the farm last year. I don't have the funds for that level of management even if I thought it would work, which I don't.

He is mechanically unfit to be a ridden horse and trying would inevitably, I believe, result in pain sooner or later.
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