What would you do if your horse can't be ridden again?

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Ali27

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I am facing this as my mare has a tendon injury!
I am quite happy to keep her as a field ornament even though it will cost me a couple of hundred month to keep her! I can't afford the time or money to have another one too!
My daughter does have a 14.2 which I hack out once a week but I do miss riding more! I always rode my mare 5-6 times a week!
However I'm happy to sacrifice riding to give my mare a happy retirement!
 
Afraid to admit we currently have 5 field ornaments! Only one is permanent though, due to his having scary and rather odd 'moments' The others are due to a pregnant daughter and one who was off due to persistent LGL, now sorted.

But 3 of them cost no more than farriers visits and minimum feed as her OH has land for them. Not sure what we would do otherwise.

Is a tendon injury forever? Will it not heal at least to the extent you can hack out on her?

Good luck and glad to hear you will keep her anyway.. so many don't.
 
I had to retire my mare and hated losing the riding side but she is happily retired and I still get a lot of enjoyment from her. Could you look at riding other peoples? There always seems to be people who want their horses ridden. It would give you a chance to ride a wide variety of horses too.
 
My boy is 9 and due to various issues I have retired him. I didn't seethe point in keeping him in full livery so have moved him to a friends place where he can live out with 3 others. It's the happiest he's ever been :)

Bought a new horse to ride but I still enjoy going up the field and spending time with the other one.
 
As we have ours on our own land then we would just retire them or at least just let them live out for a year or so or however long it may be. My sister's horse has just been through this - had PSD in one hind and then a suspected tendon injury on the other hind (after his PSD had been sorted!). As you're paying livery then i would maybe try and see if you could move her to cheaper grass livery if cost is an issue or if it is a permanent injury and then you may be able to afford to take on something else (either bought or on loan) that you could ride?
 
mine has a tendon injury to!!
almost a year on and back to walk and trot again...if its not healed properly without any fluid build up/tendonist by march she will become a 'pet', a possible 'exciting' hack (aka very spooky) once a week... or may foal my next horse! (shes by catherston springsteen so good lines)
shes only 8 but i love her way to much to think of doing anything else with her!!
 
What type of tendon injury? I retired my mare after she fractured the tip of her humerous and badly tore her bicepps brachii tendon. Prognosis was guarded and I was told I would never ride her again and it was doubtful if she would ever become field sound. After 3 years she came sound enough to ride. I also had an ex racer who had done both his foreleg tendons (one of them twice) and he came sound.

But to answer your question, I would (and have) retired in your position.
 
I'm maybe facing this currently as my boy has arthritic changes to his hock and is quite lame. I don't know, honestly. I can't afford another, although I'd love one. He's my big dog, as the OH says, so I'll probably just keep him as a field ornament. :confused:
 
I have a lovely field ornament in retirement livery close to me. He's only 8 so it's a daunting idea how much oney he will cost if he lives happily for another 20 odd years, but he is such a lovely pet that, fingers crossed, he can live out a happy retired life and I can afford it.
 
That's one of mines issues cinnamon toast. I also call him my big dog and even thou he's only 9 and could live retired for many years I could never let him go.

He gave me 4 years of riding and I did stuff on him I never thought I'd be brave enough to do and always looked after me when I needed it. Now it's my turn to look after him.
 
I retired mine, I got one season out of the old girl, but now she is just a pasture puff. Fortunately I keep her at home, and even more fortunate I met up with a lady who used to own her, so now we share her, the old lady goes to her place for the summer to keep her donkey company, then I get to have the donkey and my old girl in the winter.

So far it is working perfectly, and Ace at last has a baby that no one will take away from her and she can just look out for him and enjoy herself.
 
My mare will stay with me no matter what happens in that respect.

But I don't think it's wrong or selfish if you did want to part or whatever in order to have another you can ride and do the stuff you want to. I suppose it just depends on how much attachment you have to her.
 
If I could only afford to keep one and rehoming was not a possibility and the injury was permanent, I'd have the unrideable horse put to sleep.
 
I have my mare 9 years and is now 14. She has given me so much so I owe her a happy retirement. Hopefully we will get own land in future which will make life easier. Daughter will be off to uni in 2 years time so will have her pony fulltime. We also have her old pony out on loan so will end up having her back at sometime.
Even if vet decides that she can be ridden then I have decided not to as don't want to ruin her chances of being field sound!
 
My mare with a tendon injury was going to be retired fully to the field had she not been sound enough to hack, even though that meant we couldn't have another to ride. We commit to looking after a horse for the rest of its life, or re-homing if it's happy and healthy enough for that, when we buy one. Maiden couldn't have been re-homed but was perfectly happy in the field so she would have stayed like that for however long she lasted.
 
If my mare couldn't be ridden although was well and happy in the field, I would retire her until her quality of life meant it would be kinder for her to be PTS
 
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I'd retire them.

You'd find lots of people that need help with exercising their horses (I'm one of them), and a lot would let you compete etc too. It won't mean the end of your riding..
 
Send him to live in retirement livery (somewhere I trust implicitly) as I would then be able to afford another. As long as he was happy I would fund his retirement until his quality of life dropped at which point PTS. He would be very happy living out in a herd.
 
I'm on livery, but no question I'd keep her. Twice in her life I've been told she had only a small chance of ever being ridden again. And both times all I cared about was that she could have a healthy long retirement. I'd be disappointed, I love riding her & can't afford another. But I'd just ride other peoples. I'd pick a retired her over any other horse in the world.
 
Would happily keep her as a pet and she is great for in hand showing, plus did well in her mare grading so a foal or loan as a broodmare could be possible.
She lives out on rented land and costs fairly little so I would get another eventually :-)

I understand it is more difficult for those on livery though.
 
I retired mine, aged about 8, and bought half of another (with sister's then OH) to ride. They were at livery then but this was one of the reasons that we bought our own place. We have since retired several, but at a more normal retirement age, and they just become field ornaments until the time comes to pts.
 
I have a few who are retired either through injury or old age. I still enjoy putzing around with them. They have a home with me for life until it's time for them to leave this world. I still very much enjoy riding and I do have plenty others to ride but being with the ones who can't be ridden gives me just as much pleasure.
 
No way could I pts a horse just because I was no longer able to ride them, I just couldnt justify it in my own mind. There are always other options if you ask about and are desperate to ride more...maybe a horse share would work?
 
Retire and let him live out the rest of his days munching grass. Earlier in the year I did face up to this as a very real option for my arthritic pony as I wasn't happy riding him on the high doses of medication he was needing. He did spend a few months being retires and pampered but then got to a stage where I wasn't happy that his pain was being fully controlled so we changed our approach in that we gave steroid injections a shot just to see what happened and they had such a dramatic effect that he not only became field sound again but became sound enough for me to start riding him again. We took things slowly at first but he's now back to doing walk, trot and canter work. He has recently gone back on a low dose of bute to help him out with the cold, miserable weather but other than that he's happy. Just goes to show that you never know because I honestly thought that he was going to have to become a field ornament. I am in the very fortunate position that I could probably just about afford a second horse financially (although time would likely be an issue at the minute for me)
 
I have a mare who sustained an unusual tendon injury - briefly, where the ligament attaches to the bone, it partially tore away creating bone fragments that travelled up the core of the tendon.
She is a very busy, active mare and I was worried sick about retiring her. She had a year off and became bored stiff and downright miserable. So I started hacking her out, really short little rides around the farm - it made her leg no worse and she was much happier.
Over two years on, she is now being ridden every weekend but on soft ground, road work (trotting) makes her a bit worse and better still we are going to take her hunting again (albeit maybe only for an hour or so!).
But basically in this mare's circumstances it was just as important to keep her mentally stimulated without making the injury worse than to retire her completely.
Its a tough one isn't it? I have plenty of friends who quite happily have "end of use" horses put to sleep and quite right too - just couldn't bring myself to do it!
Although I think when we get to the point of her either being in constant pain (ie not field sound) and never able to hack out (even for a Sunday jolly around the farm with the dogs) then I most certainly will consider having her pts - can't bare to think of her being miserable, standing around in a wet, cold soggy field - not much fun for them.
I do remember the first vet that diagnosed her did say that being turned out in retirement is just a "slow death sentence" :(
 
It depends hugely on the horse.

I had a pony who broke down badly behind (his tendons looked like honeycomb in both legs, poor sod). We loaned him out as a companion pony where he stayed for a few years. He came sound in that time, and the et said he could probably be a light hack. He was super safe and adorable, and just the right sort- he was 14.2hh and solid without being overly cobby, and he's made a great horse for a nervous mummy.
 
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