Retiring our friends

I'm interested to hear peoples thoughts and what they do when it comes time to retire their equine mates. Due to injury my horse can no longer be ridden anymore, he isn't in any pain and according to the vets just cruising in the paddock for the rest of his days is fine as he is in good nick for his age despite his injury. I'd like to look at this subject from a 360 point of view, and to be honest I've been struggling with my emotions as I've had him for so long it's not something I really ever considered.

After reading these two articles:

Easing Your Horse into Retirement from EQUUS | Equisearch
Retiring Your Equine Friend | TheHorse.com

It got me thinking about mental welfare aswell as physical and having a "job" for him. Previously he has been a performance horse, eventing and worked no less than 3x week (when he was in full work) I cut things back at the beginning of this year as I could feel he just needed that. Now it's come to a grinding halt. Though looking at him you'd never think he was unsound.
He will live for awhile yet I feel, atleast another 5-6yrs and I am weighing up my options (as I agist, I do not have my own property). I feel as he is moving into his twilight years he needs that extra care so throwing him out into a paddock with a bunch of others no rugging during winter isn't an option. At the same time he doesn't require much. Now that he has no job anymore as such I feel he shouldn't be individually paddocked anymore though, and should be with others. Otherwise I'd just keep him where he is. He has definitley gotten grumpier in his old age though so living with others will be an interesting experience...

What do you all do? Esp those that agist and still ride or want to ride and have or move on to another horse? Are there retirement agist centres out there that have lots of space but still have a little care at a decent price? A place that I can still go and visit him, groom, bring him some treats and walk him on the regular?

Hey BRE,
I am sorry to hear that your boy has been injured.

Maybe talk to Neighlands? They run an equine retirement home in Oldbury. My friend lives near there and I drive past all the time. From what I have seen and heard, they offer top notch equine retirement and depending on where you are located, they are close enough for at least a weekly visit. Here is their website and they are also a paid advertiser on here.
Neighlands Horse Agistment and Saddlery!

If that's not an option, can you pop him in with a youngster or two to teach them some manners?

what is he like with young horses? He might make an ideal nanny for youngsters if he wont tolerate bad manners but will be a calming influence.

It is such a hard thing to have to retire them.

I always said I was going to retire my old gelding when he needed to not work anylonger however his retirement lasted less then 4 weeks as he went downhill very fast (He went blind and had other things going wrong at the same time)

I do believe that they earn their retirements hwoever I also understand that for some people the costs of having a horse in retirement means they cant have a horse in work and that is their mental health and physical activity.

Hope you find a cheap place that looks after him well so you can visit and play with him.

my old girl is only 22, not old by anyone's standards. she almost severed her tendon ,it became infected and I all most lost her, thankfully she recovered but walks with a limp according to the vets she is not in pain the limp is due to the tendon thickening and shortening . she is fantastic condition .I can still ride her ,but I jst don't want to at the moment

I like to think that she isn't bored but probably was until April arrived. April is a little Lime hill foal whom has adopted my old lady as her grandma. they are inseparable . I to thought about having the old girl PTS , and also about spelling her at a retiring property, but to be honest I am not brave enough to even think about PTS as she is in such good condition, and retiring her she would be bored and probably give up and die anyway.
I have a brilliant nanny , and a wonderful happy OAP sitting in the paddock who shout hello every time she see's me.
fingers crossed she stays happy, and hopefully your horse finds his "niche" in his retirement. just wanted to share

NaeNae87 said:

If that's not an option, can you pop him in with a youngster or two to teach them some manners?

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I don't have that option but thankyou it's not something I had thought of. I honestly have no idea what he would be like as an uncle to youngsters. Great manners, gentle and easy to handle by anyone but in the horse world he is the boss and I've never been able to keep him one on one, in a herd he is no problem.

Sugar's Mum said:

I do believe that they earn their retirements hwoever I also understand that for some people the costs of having a horse in retirement means they cant have a horse in work and that is their mental health and physical activity.

Hope you find a cheap place that looks after him well so you can visit and play with him.

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It is a hard one, but I'm thinking it's just the reality of ageing horses and our responsibilities which I am fine with. He looked after me in my younger years so I'm keeping my promise that I look after him in his ageing years )) My new eventing prospect will be young so I don't have to go through this again anytime soon! heartbreaking.

Hi BRE last September I had to retire my then 13 yo QH mare due to arthritis and tendon/ligament injury that didn't respond well to treatment. Lucky for me I have a friend with a couple of 7 acre paddocks in Capel who was more than happy to take Shanti on as a retiree agister. Shanti is out with 2 other horses and is having the time of her life. She gets a tiny hard fees mainly for supplements daily, rugged when needed, farrier, etc and lots of cuddles and carrots from Naomi and half of Capel lol! She is happier than I've seen her in the 2 and 1/2 years I've owned her and I'm more than happy to keep her going until she becomes unsound in the paddock.

When i retired Shanti I bought back my first horse Misty and have part leased her out because i don't have the time to ride her often and also couldn't afford to have 2 horses in agistment.

If you have somewhere to keep your boy and can afford it plus the expense of having another horse for riding then go for it

Thanks Wawa, nice to hear it worked out for you * Have had to compromise by keeping him a bit further out then I would have liked but it means I can afford to have a horse in full work at the same time and not stop doing what I love.
I'm pretty happy I managed to find a spot for my old mate and land my new dream WB all in the same week! :birthday:

I actually think if you could afford it putting your horse out with other horses in a big retirement paddock would be the best thing that you could do! They are social animals and enjoy interacting with each other, you might find that without rugs and people fussing over him he can chill out with some older buddies and enjoy his twilight years. Sheila Greenwell down in Margs offers great agistment for spelling etc and could probably put him in with a bunch of oldies.

It's not an easy decision though so you have to make the right one for yourself. I personally think they deserve it for what they give back to us every single day of their life.

I was in the same position . I retired my 23 tb gelding because he could no longer be ridden . He lives in a paddock with 2 others horses and is doing fine.

I was so scared of letting him go so I kept him for the last year in fb private agistment paying a lot of money for him , even though he was not being ridden . He was still fully shoed and he required a lot of feed to keep the weight on . So it was safe to say i was expecting him to turn to a bag of bones from not being fed or rugged when retired . Guess what ? He is 100% fine . I was amazed that he held his weight just on grass and he only gets rugged on very cold nights where the next day will be mild as i have to drive 45 mins to rug him . He is having the time of his life playing in the stream in his huge paddock and eating all the yummy grass .

It's always scary letting them go as you worry, but you soon realize they are horses and they manage just fine . What I told myself is that if he didn't do well out in the paddock I could always bring him back to full board agistment

I was interested in the recent Horse Deals feature about golden oldies and esp. the article about the riding school/agistment centre in Melb which keeps their oldies 'working'. One of their oldies was 43 (?).

Some are past being ridden for anything other than a walk so they get used for first lessons for young beginners - start, stop, turn right, turn left.

Others are past being ridden at all, so they come in twice a day with all the others and are used to teach kids how to halter, lead, brush, rug/unrug, etc.

Each horse gets fed, checked etc. regularly and best of all they have a routine and a purpose in life.

That to me would be a wonderful retirement for your horse if you could arrange it.

I went through this last year with my boy - also retired due to soundness. I don't agist so it's slightly different for me. He is in a paddock with my other retiree...he is still on a hard feed, stabled and rugged...I just can't throw him out there to be a horse - he's so used to always being in work/fed/rugged so I just keep it up. I owe it to him

I actually take him out for walks (yeah, like a dog) as well. I could hop on him for a walk around but he's a bit of a hot pocket rocket so I think i'd hit the deck faster *#)

So I just treat them/him exactly like he was before - minus the work.

......Golden Oldies are here...

Our spelling centre takes in retired hayburners so if you would like some info
please feel free to email or PM...swinney@westnet.com.au

I can give you a full run down on what goes on here with our retired mates. I personally think I want to move in with them. A lot of Perth here.
Its a hard decision and emotions run high...:hug:
Cheers

ETA: Oops, just noticed this is an old thread!

I officially retired my mare. Bess, in October 2011, she was 24 at the time and although sound was just not coping with eventing anymore and not enjoying arena work. For 15 months I kept her in Perth on DIY with my young ridden horse, she was happy but I always felt bad that I had so little time for her. In January I chucked her out down south at a friends place. Best decision I have ever made. She has gone all winter naked down in Harvey, is fat and happy, just lives off grass. She has her own little herd and is checked every day. Still gets her feet done, wormed, teeth done etc. I go and see her every few weeks whenever I have a weekend free.. I wish I could go see her more, and I miss her ever day.. but she is seriously happy.. I hope she will live out her days down there.

2 Photos of Bessy, 26, just coming out of a spell completely naked in Harvey.. I think she looks pretty awesome.. I am super, super lucky to have her where she is I never have to worry about her health, as I know she is well looked after.

Her herd


After a brush with a shedding comb!

We've retired several horses over the years, mostly into larger paddocks with company. Even the ones who were used to having a job coped fine with it. The trick seemed to be to find them paddock mates that they got along with, and a large enough area to roam in. All needed supplementary feeding in the summer, and occasional foot trimming and dentist work. The arab needed rugging in winter, as he had a thin coat.

We retired an Arab X at about 23, he lived to be 29. We also retired a cross bred (mutt) at about 22 (?), he's still going at 32. And a family who bought our hot, idiot, nitwit of a TB who I always thought would be impossible to retire now have him turned out in a huge paddock in the wheatbelt at age 20, and he is apparently doing just fine. All these horses were used to being ridden often and competed etc, but none of them had a problem with no longer having a job.

I had to retire my old anglo at 37 when eventing got too much for him (he'd still happily gallop around and love it, but after a small heart attack I wasn't going to risk the adreneline rush!) He HATED retirement! He lost a tonne of weight and couldn't put it back on. He had a full workup and bloods done every 6months and every time the results came back spot on, he just wasn't coping with doing nothing.
I got my young filly in that time and decided that Rocky could be nanny. As much as he told me he loathed the job, he absolutely loved doing something! He'd tell her off, chase her around and taught her some good manners!

He galloped around one day and it was too much for him, the next morning I found him in a bad way and we kindly had him PTS.

I wish actually that I hadn't retired him. Hopping on him bareback for a walk 1/2 a week would have kept him in better shape but I couldn't handle four horses in work at the time.

Can you ride him out on trails? Might keep his mind active?