marmalade76
Well-Known Member
..is it time to PTS?
Just musing really, brought to mind after reading on here about horses needing REM sleep and that they need to lie down for this, owning an oldie and having known some very oldies owned by friends.
Oldie no 1 was a cob belonging to a friend I shared a private yard with. He was one of those who nobody really knew how old he was and I think she was fibbed to when she bought him because I remember riding past his field years before, I reckon he was in his 30s, he had lost all his top incisors. He would lie down to scratch his legs but would not lie down to sleep, he would doze off standing up and then nearly collapse but always managed to save himself from what I saw. He's since been PTS due to a field injury that he never recovered from (and this went on too long IMO).
Oldie no 2 was a pony I had loaned in my teens. She made it to 42 when she was finally PTS due to colic. Her owner told me she hadn't laid down for years.
So is it fair to keep a horse going when they no longer feel they can lie down to sleep? I do think there is an element of competition/ achievement to get an animal to a grand old age, I got a feeling of this with the 42 yo. I wouldn't have kept her going as long as that, that's for sure and not entirely for selfless reasons either. Someone else I know had a horse in his thirties who couldn't get up in the stable, the fire brigade were called and he was winched up only to be PTS a couple of weeks later for the same thing. Why was he not PTS the first time and saved the trauma of being winched up?
My current oldie ( 22 this time) definitely still lies down to rest both in the field and in her stable so I'm not at that point yet! But is this something the owners of aged equines should be considering?
Just musing really, brought to mind after reading on here about horses needing REM sleep and that they need to lie down for this, owning an oldie and having known some very oldies owned by friends.
Oldie no 1 was a cob belonging to a friend I shared a private yard with. He was one of those who nobody really knew how old he was and I think she was fibbed to when she bought him because I remember riding past his field years before, I reckon he was in his 30s, he had lost all his top incisors. He would lie down to scratch his legs but would not lie down to sleep, he would doze off standing up and then nearly collapse but always managed to save himself from what I saw. He's since been PTS due to a field injury that he never recovered from (and this went on too long IMO).
Oldie no 2 was a pony I had loaned in my teens. She made it to 42 when she was finally PTS due to colic. Her owner told me she hadn't laid down for years.
So is it fair to keep a horse going when they no longer feel they can lie down to sleep? I do think there is an element of competition/ achievement to get an animal to a grand old age, I got a feeling of this with the 42 yo. I wouldn't have kept her going as long as that, that's for sure and not entirely for selfless reasons either. Someone else I know had a horse in his thirties who couldn't get up in the stable, the fire brigade were called and he was winched up only to be PTS a couple of weeks later for the same thing. Why was he not PTS the first time and saved the trauma of being winched up?
My current oldie ( 22 this time) definitely still lies down to rest both in the field and in her stable so I'm not at that point yet! But is this something the owners of aged equines should be considering?
