How do you know when it is time?

[Thingamebobwotsit]

Long story but I currently have my horse of a lifetime, having ridden for over 35 years.

This year I had to come to terms with the fact my horse can no longer do the job I need them to, due to long standing injuries which I have nursed and rehabbed many times before and the amount of time spent "sound" is very little. At 17hh and a feisty competition horse, retiring on loan to a hacking home isn't an option and I won't sell as they don't deserve to be broken by someone who tries to push because the horse looks the part.

The issue is that the horse is only 13. Happy in the paddock and will hack (as long as in the winter you don't mind fearing for your life). But they are never to going to get any better, and a share is proving challenging as no one wants a horse they can't take in the school.

Due to various life circumstances I have to keep them on full livery and although I am completely restructuring things like my insurance costs it is still costing me in the region of £12-13k a year to keep. Turning out permanently isn't an option until the spring I don't think, and then and only then when I have made the decision the horse is ready to go, as the chances are they will injure themselves further. Which means I can't afford to buy another nor have the time to take another one to bring on.

It is miserable really, but my gorgeous horse is a very expensive lawnmower at the moment. And I either need to accept I am stuck until such times they deteriorated enough for the decision to be easy, or to make the decision to put to sleep sooner.

There is no rush. But I would like to know if you have been in a similar situation and how you handled it. Thanks for reading this far!

This sounds awful to me. Surely you can't be considering putting a 13 year old horse to sleep just because they cant be ridden in the way you want anymore. When you take on a horse surely you know that they live for a lot of years and there's a risk that you may need to keep them without being able to ride them and/or pay to nurse them through ill health? Sorry if that's not what you want to hear.

Here here 👏

It sounds like the OPs horse isn’t actually sound though? So it’s not a case of PTS because it can’t be ridden anymore because of behaviour, but it can’t be ridden because of soundness issues?
Personally an unsound horse that’s a tricky ride that the OP is struggling to afford to keep? PTS is the sensible and responsible option here (and I say this as someone with a collection of crippled lawnmowers). If I couldn’t ensure a horse like this future I’d rather PTS than sell on, for it to likely be sold on to some unexpecting novice full of Bute and sedatives to bury them a week later and get passed pillar to post.
There is a fate worse than death for a lot of these horses

We’ve always kept ours as decorative lawnmowers on full livery until they are actually end of life , if that meant we had nothing to ride then that’s life , and it was for many years . My first mare retired at 18 and was pts at 27 , gelding was retired at 20 and pts at 22 , second mare retired at 16 and was pts at 23 ( laminitis ) , Shetland companion was pts aged 16 ( laminitis / chest problems) . Current pony was bought for my son when he was 6 and they are both 30 next year and she’s been retired for about 18 yrs .

I agree with @Lastqueenofscotland2 , there are fates much worse than death for a horse like the OPs. However, in your place OP I would investigate grass retirement livery options.

My own 13 year old unable to be ridden horse is living the life of Riley in a big field with five other geldings. He’s checked on at least twice a day and has rugs changed if needed, hay in winter, feed if he needed it, barefoot trim every six weeks, dentist once a year etc. I visit regularly but I don’t have to and there are a couple of owners who live far away and never go down. The livery costs me £160 a month and I have catastrophe insurance for £30 a month. I realise that for some families that would be financially impossible but it’s much, much less than the OP is currently paying.

As long as he’s field sound and happy I will keep him there or somewhere similar. However there was a time last year when various health issues were raiding their head and the vet said we should start thinking about the fact that there would come a time when his quality of life would be impaired and at that point we would need to PTS in his own interests.

i think it’s important to remember that horses are prey animals so if they can’t run pain-feee they will be permanently stressed, they’re grazing animals so if they can’t eat because their teeth are too worn or other problems then that will also cause stress. They’re very good at hiding signs of pain so to many people a horse could look not too bad but actually be in a lot of distress. They don’t think about tomorrow, just the life they’re living right now. I’ve seen too many horses being kept alive by well-meaning people when very much the kindest thing to do would be to PTS.

I massively agree with please don’t that a horse that can’t run round without pain is a stressed animal. What people also fail to consider about the “Chuck them in a field” argument is how bad most U.K. grazing is. Most of what I know is 2x2 acre fields, with too many horses on it. No enrichment or variety. Where I sent mine was someone who had access to lots of land, there’s flat bits, bits various gradients, proper grassy bits, wooded bits, scrubby bits etc etc.
While the former is better than nothing option for socialising/a leg stretch it’s not adequate for any stimulation at all.

Thank you for taking the time to respond.

To answer some of the questions or concerns.

Yes it is not sound. And this a recurring injury from the age of 2 which was potentially catastrophic and we thought we would to pts then. I have done pretty well to get them to 13 pain free and sound for most of the time but the last 12 months have been hard. I appreciate it might sound awful having to think about options, but the question was about "when would I know?" and how other people have handled this situation.

Not if I should at all. I have known since this horse was 2 I would have to make this decision because of the nature of the original injury.

Yes I do know how long horses live for (I have been an owner for well over 30 years). Yes this horse is dangerous to hack at this time of year as it is a feisty professional level competition horse and gets very fresh so I can't pass it on to more novice hacking home.

And yes I can afford the livery on an indefinite basis. But let's not pretend it is cheap and that taking on 2 at that cost would be sensible in a world where the cost of feed has gone up 25% in the past 7 months alone. Grass livery is not an option for this horse due its injury history and it would end up injuring itself more charging round the field when the weather turns (it likes its stable) and I would end up with a potentially very traumatic and painful end to its life and it owes me nothing. At the moment its injury is well managed insofar as possible.

If this was a different sort of horse that was happy being in a field 24/7 and plodding round the block it would be a very different story. But they have never wanted for anything and I would like to make the end dignified.

So for those of you that have had similar situations with younger or older horses... how did you know when it was time?

Thanks that is helpful to know. And it is an option. At what point did you know it was time to let them go though?

The 2 laminitics were both pts when the latest X-rays showed that there were no further treatment options , after years of specialist shoeing, Bute etc . With the gelding it was easy , he laid down in his stable and couldn’t get up , we had had the scenario a few times in the last few months but had always managed somehow - on one occasion he tried to roll in the field and we had the fire brigade out . On the final day nothing was shifting him and we / the vet did try very hard as he was the first of our horses that we had PTS . With my mare ( 1st mare) she just went mad after years of I’ll health of various kinds that I’d nursed her through ( first horse and horse of my life ) , she wasn’t happy in the field with her friends just pacing the fence line and didn’t want to be in her stable . Our vet , who had known us for many years thought that a head injury the previous year when she had fractured her frontal sinuses in a stable accident may have sent her a bit loopy . It was a hard decision and one that even now , 20+ years later I still worry about at times but it had reached the point where it was making me sad seeing her so sad . If your horse is happy then leave him be , when he’s unhappy let him go would be my advice .

I just knew. Was bringing him in from the field and he stopped, I turned round to look and remember saying "ok, I know"
It was just in the way he looked at me which sounds ridiculous but he told me

It's a shame you haven't found a sharer - I shared for a decade a competition horse but mostly hacked as that's what I enjoyed. Occasional school work as she competed at medium and taught me a lot

Thanks that is good to know. It is the "not being able to get up" situation that I want to avoid. The injuries the horse carries would make it a thousand times worse if they struggled.

Yes he was an arthritic Irish draught x , had we already had a horse pts he probably would have been pts the second time he did it ( pre fire brigade ) but we had just lost our dad and neither me or my sister were really thinking straight plus it’s always harder the first time .

Your horse sounds a bit like a friend of mine who had a really sharp, beautiful dressage bred sport horse type.
At about 7 his behaviour totally deteriorated but he would trot sound. Turns out he had arthritis in a few places. By the time he was 10 he’d been PTS. In theory he could walk hack (couldn’t go in the school too many turns) but he wouldn’t hack alone at all (NOONE including a couple
of big name professionals, hippy dippy horsemanship types, lunatic thrusters (me) could get him off the yard alone) and was “quirky” to hack in company, and I’d go as far to say dangerous on the roads so it was hard to find someone to agree to go out with a horse that would throw itself about at the sight f a car
He’d just stand at the gate in a field and wind suck furiously if he was in. He was obviously an uphappy bored horse and was getting more and more stiff. Hacking probably would have helped but for the reasons above it wasn’t possible, and after he was very stiff and sore for an entire cold month it was decided the kindest thing to do was to let him go

My waffle point was it can be more difficult with these sorts, if you’ve got a quiet, buckle end hack there’s enough people looking for one to be happy to manage the injury, less so if it’s sharp

Thanks - I think I will know, but worry I won't and get into a sticky end...

And thank you @Lastqueenofscotland2 totally got what you meant and really appreciated it :)

I had to PTS an 11YO a few years ago. He had soundness issues from when I first bought him as a 6 yo, a lot of treatment to the point he was uninsurable. Some behaviour problems ( constantly banging front hooves on stable door) resulted in side bone, his last full lameness work up three of four feet lame, stifle & hock issues. Could not canter on lunge during assessment. It was heartbreaking. I took the decision as he couldn’t retire easily due to behavioural issues, it was quick, he was eating. Never felt a thing. Much worse fates for horses in my opinion.

It is your decision to make, always rather a say too early than a day too late imo.

However, have you considered retirement livery of the sort that is a group in a large barn through winter then field kept in summer? Mine was due to go to a lovely one in Crewe, think it was £400 a month for all routine care so significantly less than you're paying now.

@Moanranger thanks

We have agreed to give the sharer search one last try and then depending on that outcome will take a view in spring when the horse has the sun on their back and a belly full of grass.

Not a bad way to go, if we have to make that decision at that point. At best I have 2 more years of semi soundness left and I don't want to see them distressed.