What would you do if your horse was going to be permanently lame?

C

Coffee_Bean

Well-Known Member
Joined
27 January 2007
Messages
11,653
Location
In a stable...
www.horseandhound.co.uk
What would you do if you were told your horse had a longstanding, undiagnosed lameness in one hind leg, causing them to be 2/10 lame on a ridden circle, sound on a straight line, would pass a 2 stage vetting but fail a 5 stage.

I may be facing this scenario with my mare, and am at an utter loss as to what I'd do if this happened. I was planning on selling her as a RC/PC allrounder (I've outgrown her), which she would have been perfect for, but obviously if we can't work out the problem or it is not fixable, this won't be happening
frown.gif
This would have worked well and I would have pretty much have had a enough money to fund new youngster.

But if the worse comes to worse I have no idea what to do. I guess that she's hacking sound? Will obviously act on advice of the vet, who is seeing her regularly at the moment, but providing she is hacking sound I still don't know what to do.
frown.gif
I can't sell her for much if she isn't sound of course, but I don't want to sell her for peanuts and her end up in the hands of a dealer/ meat man. I owe her more than that. She is great to hack so I'm sure would make a lovely hacking horse/companion for someone. I could loan I guess but then I always have the worry of having her handed back, and we can't afford two on livery. How easy are good hacking loan homes to find? She only suits riders under 10st anyway, so that limits the number of people. Also I would have nothing to get a new horse with, so in that case I might as well keep her, but I've outgrown her.

I thought about her being a broodmare for embryo transfer but I guess at 15hh she is too small to do that?

Could I claim LOU on the insurance? We are going to have all 4 legs excluded anyway soon.

It's not definate about this lameness yet, we have another review in a weeks time with the vet, and we'll take it from there... but what would you do
frown.gif
? I want to do the best for her, but I just have no idea what that is.
frown.gif
She's only 10 and I never envisioned having to make these kind of descisions, which was perhaps naive, but hey
frown.gif
Any help, or experience of similar situations appreciated.
 
I think you have to find out what the problem is before making any decisions. What diagnostics have the vets done?

I was in this situation some years ago, and I retired the horse and kept her. You may be lucky and find her a home as a companion - but do this carefully, and only through well known and reliable contacts. But I certainly wouldn't be looking to pass her on.
 
If I was in your situation I would claim LOU if the vet would support it (and if she's clearly not sound and covered for jumping, dressage, etc, you should have a very strong case). Then if she were sound enough for hacking I would look for a loan home within reasonable traveling distance where she would be doing this job. If I couldn't find one, or she was only field sound, I'd retire her or pts depending on circumstances.

frown.gif
I do hope this is worst case scenario and she improves for you.
 
I let my horse go in may .He was 8 and had lameness issues for 3 years all different legs.He couldnt cope with regular work.I found him a wonderful home on project horse.The lady who has him has 10 acres and 6 other rescue horses .She wanted a horse to heal and I wanted a permanent home for him if he comes sound.I had references from her vet and rspca as she worked for them.Dont despair there are good homes outh there. I didnt advertise him with price as he will be lou home was more important .I thought it would take years to find good home but was lucky that he found place in few months.There are lots of people who are looking for safe happy hacker maybe permanent loan would be option for you. Good luck
 
Amymay- We've had xrays and scans to date, and she had steroid injections in both hocks, which sorted the left hind and improved the right but we still have this lameness in the right hind. We haven't nerveblocked as yet because she is a bitch to inject, but will most likely go down that route before writing her off. That has always been her lazy leg, ever since I've had her, but I've never really thought anything of it. We only had her 2 stage vetted, and it only shows up when ridden. There is a limit to how far we can go with it due to costs etc.

How much do you usually get for LOU? The full value of the horse? Half?
 
[ QUOTE ]
How much do you usually get for LOU? The full value of the horse? Half?

[/ QUOTE ]

You get a percentage of the value - that's if you have LOU. You'd have to check your policy.
 
hopefully your horse will come sound.

if not, my first question would be to ask how sensible your horse would be if it was only hacking 1/2 a week mostly at walk?

the reason i ask, is that i happen to have bought a horse similar to your's as a light hack/companion. he fulfils his companion role brilliantly, but was sacked at his previous light hack home for being too sharp. winter hacks are quite jolly. if i had not bought him, he would have been advertised locally for offers. given his past competiton record there is a danger he would have been buted up and sold on.

on a more positive note i would like to think that i ahve provided him with a suitable home for life - even if i am swearing under my breathe coming home on winter hacks
grin.gif
 
I've had 2 fairly young competition horses that have had to retire due to lameness issues. One was sound enough to hack but too quirky to put out on loan (had a massive buck and I felt may have been too unsafe to be a happy hacker), I retired him to a local farm where he was able to live out with other retired horses and seemed as happy as larry. My other horse never came sound enough to even hack out, he could not live out all year and took to jumping out of his field, making himself even more unsound. I had to make a hard decision and had him pts. It can be difficult to find suitable loan homes, altho it is possible, but sometimes it is easier to either allow them to retire completely or if that is not possible either financially or due to horses' temperment, difficult decisons have to be made to ensure that the horse's welfare doesn't suffer. Hope it all works out for you.
 
If she is a really good hack - goes out by herself and is sensible, why not do a "Loan with a view to buy" and make a definite decide by date. There are lots of people looking for a good hack and don't want to tear round the countryside or jump. So long as she is mannerly and a nice person I would think you would have a queue of buyers. You could ask that if they couldn't keep her for some reason (rider illness for instance) you would have her back and then you could decide what to do with her.

You might have to be a bit particular about who buys her, but there are genuine buyers out there!
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top