Deciding when to retire

[netg]

How did you decide when to retire a horse? Please share the signs it was time you saw (traumatic injuries are fine, too, just won’t help me in my specific circumstances.)

Horse is my OTTB. He’s not that old (16), but he has always played VERY athletically, and has beaten up his body repeatedly with his acrobatics - wipeouts, crashes, etc.

He is the love of my horsey life - call him a heart horse or not, we connected in a way I have never connected with another horse. When I’m on the property, his eyes follow me and I get whinnies each time I am within sight. He walks away from his grain or hay to come to me for attention. I don’t show him, and have no goals for his performance future. He is only in training to ensure he continues to get regular work until his body says it’s time to retire.

Last year I started noticing topline changes, and have worked with a vet to get him the healthiest feeds to keep weight without encouraging him to injure himself playing hard again. He has really reduced the amount of his play time in the last two years, but still does play a lot more than most horses I know. Where he used to take joy in the extensions and lateral work, pirouettes, etc., he has shown less desire to work as hard, and we have reduced his workload based on his attitude about work - never pushing him. He also regularly stretches himself more (see downward facing horse photo), and really as expected for a 16 year old just isn’t as physically loose at the start of a ride as he used to be - even while mentally he starts out without the tension he used to hold.

In the last 6 weeks he has been sore in different ways 3 times. No tendon/ligament type injuries, and nothing which should be a long lingering problem. However, it just seems as if he is reaching a point where he has the aches and pains of age, arrived early because of his enthusiasm when he plays and lack of bounce back ability in his body compared to when he was younger.

I question if the easy work focusing on keeping him supple in his body and relaxed through his back is still helping anymore, as yesterday’s lameness was overall muscle soreness (and he appears to have hit a tree sideways, probably spinning and playing with another horse, but topline muscles being the main location of discomfort.) First we go to bodywork for the current problem and see how it resolves - I assume it will help right away and he’ll be back in work shortly.

Anyway, we’re getting to the point I need to start paying attention to what the right time to retire him is. With no goals for him but his happiness and comfort, that means figuring out how to balance if physically he should still be in work or not vs his mental happiness. Last time he was out of work was 6 months while I recovered from an injury, and he developed an ulcer despite free feed hay and 100% turnout with buddies.

When he retires, he’ll come home, and we will both enjoy that. He watches my bedroom window in the morning, and we have chats together every morning and night, the barn was built for his preferences with a stall attached to a 1 acre run so he can stay inside or go out at leisure, even a nice flat area he likes to nap next to his friends (equine and canine.) I don’t want him to age, I want him to stay my ridiculous, goofy boy… but I want him happy and comfortable most of all.

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[Xanthoria]

I retired my OTTB at 15 due to ringbone - he couldn’t jump anymore and was a little off unpredictably for every other dressage lesson. Injections and shoeing of all types had stopped working.

In retrospect I wish I had kept him going with painkillers, but I was ready for a horse who liked dressage. He lost a lot of muscle very quickly, and was retired for more than 8 years, the last few on painkillers. I could have kept doing dressage w while longer, and trails too, and it took a lot longer than I expected to find a replacement.

Is you guy on 24/7 turnout? I find it’s the turning out that causes injuries, not the living out: Horses in stalls tend to go berserk when released. Don’t know what’s possible in your area but he might calm down a lot and stay looser in a big hilly pasture.

[WildLittleWren]

I think it is wonderful how tuned in and perceptive of him you are. You guys sound a lot like myself and my mare. I want to say that since you seem to be very aware when he is having issues, that you will know when it is time. It is an especially hard decision when the horse truly enjoys to work.

He is only 16. You have no show goals. Just ride him as long as possible with his comfort in mind, and enjoy him. Don’t stress, just stay aware.

[Edre]

This is really horse dependent, admittedly.

At sixteen, my old horse was finally maturing and finding challenging work “fun” and easy. On the other hand, I think horses with more advanced signs of aging (or other health concerns) might have a different experience.

The one potentially applicable case I have is a 19yo OTTB. He was used hard early in life (and then fell into a neglect situation after he left the track). He was eventually picked up by my trainer when he was 6 or so? Had a catastrophic injury right off (broken sesamoid in turn out) which changed their career goals from eventing to dressage. (Catastrophic injury is par to the course for this guy, unfortunately. He’s cursed. Punctured joint capsule/hock, laid his shoulder open, impaled on a stick… random freak accidents that require significant time off.)

They ended up showing up through 4th successfully and schooling PSG though some hind end weakness in the working canter pirouettes kept her from ever being satisfied enough with the movement to show.

He no longer shows (last time was at 18? I think, at 4th level) but he’s still in regular work schooling the same levels - the main concession is that he doesn’t have to string a number of complicated things together that require a level of fitness he doesn’t really have anymore.

For her, it was less a case of retiring him and more letting him indicate what he was happy and comfortable doing (and adapting his care to address “senior” conditions… he’s also got a thyroid issue, is pre Cushings, and genera gastric sensitivity). So three days a week they may just go out on trail or hack in the field when it seems that he might be feeling his age and not up to “work”. He’s a happy, happy guy though and still truly seems to enjoy “doing the things!” which is why she still pulls him out regularly.

At this point he’s used up more lives than a cat with injuries, but he’s so very kind in his nature and remains happiest with a job - so they’ve just changed what that job is. When he’s feeling his age and is sound but stiff, they just hack out somewhere. When he’s having days where he’s trying to volunteer more advanced things because he feels more limber and energetic, they’ll do their old 3rd/4th level questions.

[alibi_18]

@netg

Horse is my OTTB. He’s not that old (16), but he has always played VERY athletically, and has beaten up his body repeatedly with his acrobatics - wipeouts, crashes, etc.

[…]yesterday’s lameness was overall muscle soreness (and he appears to have hit a tree sideways, probably spinning and playing with another horse, but topline muscles being the main location of discomfort.)

Horses of that age usually don’t « play » much. It’s either he is being harassed or he is harassing others.

It is not what I would consider normal at all and I wouldn’t want my horse to stay in such condition.

He used to bounce back easily from bullying/behing bullied but at his age, it clearly no longer works.

If it was my horse, I would find a better place for him to be quiet.

Last year I started noticing topline changes, and have worked with a vet to get him the healthiest feeds to keep weight without encouraging him to injure himself playing hard again. He has really reduced the amount of his play time in the last two years, but still does play a lot more than most horses I know.

What is he eating now? Has his topline improved since then? What was the vet’s opinion about the change?

Pain can make a horse lose weight just from the stress of it.

Where he used to take joy in the extensions and lateral work, pirouettes, etc., he has shown less desire to work as hard, and we have reduced his workload based on his attitude about work - never pushing him. He also regularly stretches himself more (see downward facing horse photo), and really as expected for a 16 year old just isn’t as physically loose at the start of a ride as he used to be - even while mentally he starts out without the tension he used to hold.

What type of maintenance have you done so far? Adeqan injections? Supplements?

Does he sleeps/take naps lying down on the ground?

I question if the easy work focusing on keeping him supple in his body and relaxed through his back is still helping anymore[…]

It should still help. If it is not working, it’s probably because he’s in pain somewhere. You need to investigate.

IMMHO, your horse is not in need of a retirement but in a lifestyle change with maintenance.
From a quieter herd situation, to better feed and training program (I would actually up his workload - when the injections kicks in) and have a maintenance plan, your horse should be back in shape for some more years.
Your horse is not old or tired of working, he’s sore.

[piedmontfields]

It is so horse dependent. OP, I would caution about going from lighter work to no work, though, as many aging horses really do decline more rapidly when all work is out of the picture. A lot will also depend on your overall management (turnout time/space, kind of work options (do you need to do less in the ring and more on the trail for ex.), turnout buddies, etc.).

Good luck. I have a 16 yr old who is at a very different point than your guy, but I still think about these things (the day will come).

[Nestor]

Barring a lameness that makes the decision for you, it’s hard to say “when.” You know your horse best, and it sounds like you know him quite well.

I like the idea of more turnout time, 24/7 if you can. I also find that keeping them fitter helps to keep them feeling better, as their body is much stronger and more elastic. You say you’ve stepped him down, but to what level (approximately)?

What kind of maintenance has he had? Body soreness could just mean he needs a little help. What does your vet say?

[Lunabear1988]

You guys have an incredible bond. I have no doubt that the answer will come from him to you. As others said, trying a lighter work load and something like Adequen might be worth a try.

[exploding_pony]

My old guy was always explosive under saddle, so when I couldn’t keep him reliably sound in consistent work, I retired him. I think he was 16 at the time. My current horses, I would keep working much longer as they are fine to walk around the property and do light work. He was not that kind of horse. He lived another 12 years, being dramatic and causing trouble in his retirement

Personally I think they are happy getting dressed and doing light work, I would just keep stepping it down. I’ve had a few vets tell me that it’s best for the horses to “keep their job” as long as possible as sometimes they deteriorate quickly when they are retired.

But like I said, my old guy, I had to retire because if he couldn’t work hard enough to keep his brain engaged, he was a nightmare. He was always happiest working hard 6 days a week.

I think it’s a very individual decision and you are being amazingly thoughtful with your horse.

[Heinz_57]

Do you have a suitable place to hack at home?

My own experience with this kind of horse tells me he will likely be forlorn without a job. It doesn’t have to be a hard job, but a job nonetheless - even if it’s you teaching him tricks, doing ground work, or going for trail rides. Mental stimulation and a purpose will combat depression. Is he currently on any joint maintenance?

I made the decision to retire mine last spring; at that time, I was dead set on getting back to eventing, so I took him to the top lameness clinic in the area to cover all the bases. He wasn’t lame, per se, but he is older and I could tell he was guarding himself a bit. We injected several areas, applied therapeutic shoeing measures, etc. and it was a fairly expensive endeavor, after which he was still not sound enough to handle jumping. I decided I couldn’t throw any more money at the issue and retired him completely. He seemed fine through the summer, but in the fall/winter he became listless and dull, would not hold weight, and overall just seemed as though he was waiting to die. I seriously contemplated euthanizing him several times.

I put him back to “work” in May. He’s on Previcox now, and we still have some stiffness kinks to smooth out, but he goes to “work” 5-6 days a week. For him, “work” consists mostly of long walks, only because my arena is not done and the pasture ground is so rock hard that I don’t want to pound on his feet doing faster work. He’s fat and shiny and enthusiastically power walks out to where we work with a sparkle in his eye. The addition of Tri-Amino has really helped bring back his topline, too.

[TWH_Girl]

I am not clear on what this horse is retiring from exactly since he is not showing any longer. Are you saying you would retire him from riding all together? Personally, a 16 yr old otherwise sound horse with some issues that can be managed is still serviceably sound and keeping him active is better than full retirement IMO.

I would ease his workload down from schooling up to 4th level. That’s a lot to ask of a horse. I would break it up with some trail riding which would hopefully help him relax and just chill. If he has no permanent lameness issue that keeps him from being ridden, I would continue to ride him lightly 3x or so a week to keep him fit and give him a job.

I have a 16 yr old and we have adjusted our routine based on how he feels and where he is at. But he is absolutely still ridden and enjoys it- he is in my profile photo and the love of my life. 10-15 yrs is a long time to live doing nothing.

[Dbliron]

I think only you can know for sure. I retired my GP horse at 19, when he was still sound, and he still looked amazing, but he was losing his joy in his job. He came when I called, and he went into the arena willingly, but I had to make him work, and his lifetime-long crazies stopped altogether. He’d always been a very spooky horse, with extravagant reactions to scary thing, and all of that just stopped happening. He spent 2 years in the pasture, longeing lightly 3x per week, enjoying daily grooming, and hanging out with his buddies before Cushing’s hit with a bang. I euthanized him on a sunny day in August, and I know I made the best decisions for him. Thankfully my vet took my word for it when I explained that the joy in living was gone. I think it’s quite possible that I could have kept him alive for much longer, but being alive and being joyful about being alive are two different things.

I think that the number of years is not what’s significant when making decisions about retirement. I have had horses who were still bouncy and playful well into and even through their twenties, but every case is different.

[alibi_18]

@Dbliron

I think only you can know for sure. I retired my GP horse at 19, when he was still sound, and he still looked amazing, but he was losing his joy in his job. He came when I called, and he went into the arena willingly, but I had to make him work, and his lifetime-long crazies stopped altogether. He’d always been a very spooky horse, with extravagant reactions to scary thing, and all of that just stopped happening. He spent 2 years in the pasture, longeing lightly 3x per week, enjoying daily grooming, and hanging out with his buddies before Cushing’s hit with a bang. I euthanized him on a sunny day in August, and I know I made the best decisions for him. Thankfully my vet took my word for it when I explained that the joy in living was gone. I think it’s quite possible that I could have kept him alive for much longer, but being alive and being joyful about being alive are two different things.

I think that the number of years is not what’s significant when making decisions about retirement. I have had horses who were still bouncy and playful well into and even through their twenties, but every case is different.

Cushing usually creeps in slowly.
Your horse’s lost of energy and joy probably came insidiously from that before you saw more obvious and visible symptoms.

I’m sorry for your loss and indeed, you knew your horse and made the right choice for him.

The OP should investigate more with the vet to see if there is anything tht could be done before retireing the horse completely.

[Calhoun]

Agree with Lunabear, wow, how lucky the both of you found each other. He will let you know and you will know when he does.

[SuzieQNutter]

I am afraid I have to agree with above and horses do not play at that age if on the correct feed and not being bullied.

If he has hit a tree he may have done something. My boy is only young and the chiropractor said he had gone over at speed and had pulled a muscle deep in his chest. He was still fat. He was still able to be lunged with no lameness, but he was not happy under saddle. For him I had to give him a few months off so as he didn’t relapse and pull it again and we are finally over that and back at work.

My chiropractor said that they do damage when they do things at speed. Being pulled with ropes when cast and down is a lot slower and doesn’t seem to do much harm.

[netg]

@Dbliron

I think only you can know for sure. I retired my GP horse at 19, when he was still sound, and he still looked amazing, but he was losing his joy in his job. He came when I called, and he went into the arena willingly, but I had to make him work, and his lifetime-long crazies stopped altogether. He’d always been a very spooky horse, with extravagant reactions to scary thing, and all of that just stopped happening. He spent 2 years in the pasture, longeing lightly 3x per week, enjoying daily grooming, and hanging out with his buddies before Cushing’s hit with a bang. I euthanized him on a sunny day in August, and I know I made the best decisions for him. Thankfully my vet took my word for it when I explained that the joy in living was gone. I think it’s quite possible that I could have kept him alive for much longer, but being alive and being joyful about being alive are two different things.

I think that the number of years is not what’s significant when making decisions about retirement. I have had horses who were still bouncy and playful well into and even through their twenties, but every case is different.

That joy in work is the part that has gotten my attention. He is actually better behaved, with less of the kookiness, and still his same personality on the ground. But where he used to be almost gleeful after a good ride, now he’s more like “ok, that’s done, how about a treat?”

To answer some of the questions:

• He has 24/7 turnout now sharing a fenceline, but no other horses in his pen or bullying him. Unfortunately, no hilly pastures exist here, because I only dream of being able to turn my horses out on that!
• Yes, he truly DOES play. With the other horses near him, with the dogs when he can convince them to come over, with gusts of wind. I once calculated that I saw him gallop about 10 miles/week on his own - and that eventually turned into more trotting, less bucking, but he's always been very enthusiastic about play time. He is terrified of cattle and we're a free range state - it is also possible a cow walked by the open area near him and he spun into something (this is also a risk at my house, and hard to get away from in horse areas)
• His left hind hock is fused, and right is in very good shape, so he hasn't been on maintenance there. I do truly think his current issue is not a recurrent thing, it's that he keeps having different little things bothering him. We have an appointment coming up Friday to dig into the root of this current specific issue. In general, he has been completely sound - just with a few things in a very short timeframe making me start thinking about it. I think he'd been sound for the two previous years other than one abscess.. Of course anything which comes up as maintenance will be something I look into, and am willing to do. In his case it's more stupid little injuries of different types coming up which concern me - if he's just much more breakable now and overall not going to hold up to work.
• If he comes home, we will likely just trail ride regularly - there are options around me, and at one point I was between jobs and we discovered the joy of wandering through the desert together, when I was simply too stressed to try to do any actual training. In hand work isn't a bad idea either, he loves short rein work and that's how I taught him all his lateral work.
• Right now we really tend to do work at a much more first level type level - he has more power/suspension/cadence than a typical first level horse, but we're not even doing a lot of lateral work. An occasional change or half pass, and he has become the ride of choice for my nitpicky lessons when I need to really work on position, lengthening my legs, getting balance just right, how to really ride walk pirouettes well, etc.

[Cowgirl]

I retired my last horse at age 22 but he had health issue and passed at 24. That was not “retired” from showing, but “retired” from regular work. I still threw a saddle on and walking him under tack once in a while, but that was not really riding.

I am currently making a decision to retire my grand prix horse from showing at age 18. She and I had a traumatic injury necessitating surgery (3 for me and one for her) in 2015. I have not been able to get her back to the same level of performance as before her surgery. She is not lame, per se, but she isn’t the same and is finding the balance for grand prix appears extremely difficult for her. While I will not retire her from riding, I’m thinking I will retire from showing so that I can continue to work her but not in the level of collection that I would need for showing. In other words, she can do all the same stuff, and loves to do it, just in perhaps a PSG/I1 balance. By the same token, I will get a young horse and transition over (probably a two year old) in the next few years and slowly let her down.

For me, it’s how much she offers easily that makes the decision for me and how relaxed she stays when I put the pressure on for more.

[Scribbler]

We have stalls with small runouts and larger rings for attended turnout. I’ve certainly seen horses in their mid to late teens to early 20s having a grand old time ripping it up in turnout, buck and gallop. Alone or with a buddy who incites them, but more racing each other than any kind of hostile fighting.

Especially OTTB. They just live to run their whole lives.

[SuzieQNutter]

That sounds like my boy who suffers from separation anxiety when alone in a paddock. I wondered whether to put him into work as he would probably hurt himself in the paddock with all his cantering around. I figured at least he would keep himself fit. In the end we let him out of the paddock and he is happy with being able to go and visit the other horses when he wants. He is the one who is actually the bully. Sigh. He stopped the cantering with that.

The oldish tb we brought home who was overfed cantered for 3 days. Once off the grain he stopped.

Both will play with the youngster when he wants to play.

[exvet]

I retired the stinker pony this year at age 16. He had incurred some injuries playing with my (at the time coming 4 year old) gelding and threw me unexpectedly when I asked for the canter. It was clear he was painful. My farrier actually picked up on it before I did; but, I decided that it was time. He carried me through PSG and I asked far more of him than I ever expected he could give. He loves being a babysitter to babies and to the stallions. He has much fun and really enjoys being the cuddle bug with ‘his’ people. Now, having said that, I retired Ito, our swedish warmblood at age 24. His injuries had finally caught up with him and even hour long trail rides were starting to cause him discomfort. He foundered and was put down less than a year later. His aging hastened once he was retired; but, I do not regret the decision. We semi-retired our arab at age 25 and he died in his sleep at age 26 due to congestive heart failure. He was still pleasure riding at 25 but the heat was starting to get to him. He had been a lesson pony prior to that; but, never had a really ‘hard’ schedule. It was different with each one. I might at some point throw my leg back over the stinker if it appears that he can ever go back to trail riding but I don’t think that will happen. I have plenty of use for him for many years to come as a babysitter. Each situation/individual’s needs is/are different and I think you will know when it’s time.