I'm basically in the same boat, only my horse doesn't
look lame. My shoer thought Wichita was a bit stiff on his left front, this last
October. Had my vet do a check in November. Trotted him back & forth, and in
circles. Couldn't find anything - no heat, no swelling, no lameness. Then she
did a flexion test and he was three legged lame. Did x-rays, which showed
nothing in front, but he is developing some arthritis in his left rear. She
thinks I may be able to do slow LDs on him, a very big maybe.
Wichita's 17. On top on that, his back has dropped, and of course his saddle no
longer fits. Sooo, here I am, just retired, lots of time on my hands, and no
horse to ride. Very frustrating. Luckily I have a sweetheart of a deal for
pasture so I don't have to make the decision of what to do with
him.
Well, the vet was out today to evaluate my horse, Phoenix. He's
effectively been lame for 3 months. After all was said and done, the vet
said he needs 8 to 12 months off, and then he can probably be a light trail
horse. It's a disheartening evaluation, but it wasn't unexpected.
The horse is about 12yo, and he's not exactly well put together. I got a
few good years out of him, but his endurance career is over. I knew it
was coming, and knew it for eight years. Now, I have to figure out what
to do with him. I'll never be able to ride him again, as he'll only ever
do well with a much lighter rider, I'd say no more than 150 to 175. I'm
well up into the 240 range with tack. I'd love to find him a new home,
but there's that whole lay-up thing, AND, just to make it more difficult, he's
got a thyroid condition requiring daily medication. It's not expensive
(less than 75 cents a day), but it'll be a hard sell, even for a give-away
horse. I'm hoping ya'll have some ideas for this guy. He's really
a very nice horse, and I'd hate to euthanize him if he can be happy with
someone else. Also, I'm going to have to get another horse, and I'm not
sure I can sell my husband on keeping two horses, especially one I can't
ride. Phoenix is very willing, and he gets along really well with other
horses. He'd even make a good "companion" horse. He's been used to
break youngsters in to trail riding. He's got a good chance of being a
light trail horse after a recuperative period, so he could probably even do
that again. If anybody has any ideas, I'd love to hear them. I
will euthanize him if I must, but I really don't want to.
