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Deciding when to retire

Dressage
#21

My first horse was a trail horse and one that needed a job. We just dialed back on the rides length and intensity as he let me know what he was happy doing on any given day. I rode him regularly right up to the end.

​​​My last horse retired from competition at 12. He had a fixed, inoperable bone chip in his hock. We had to do a lot of stifle strength exercises as he used his stifles to compensate for the bad hock. In his second last summer it was becoming too much unpleasant work and I decided that was enough. Even if it meant hastening his end. I wanted him happy.

He was the sort of horse that could be content living out in his field and coming in for food and grooming. Riding slipped away gradually. I had other horses to ride seriously, and it was okay if I only had him out for a hack 3-4 times a month. He enjoyed regular grooming, and was content.

The older of the two I have now has some health issues that preclude that sort of field retirement. When I stop riding him he will go quickly. But I will listen when he tells me he’s had enough. Even if it hastens his end.

I think it is less a step than a gradual slope as you find yourself doing less demanding things over time. And both of you are okay with that. :slight_smile:

#22

I find it strange people think teenage horses don’t play in the pasture with their buddies any more.

My horse’s herd leader and main playmate was euthanized over a year ago at >20 y/o. I noticed after that horse was gone, mine was much more sedate in turnout and spent more time up at the gate. My now 15 y/o is thrilled there’s a new 5 y/o in his herd who wants to play - they’ve been destroying a fly mask every day and I watched them play with a jolly ball for 10 minutes a few weekends ago.

I would say maybe take 4-6 weeks of no schooling but doing other things as the horse will tolerate - trail rides or going for in-hand walks, trail obstacles in the arena, learning tricks, hacking w/t/c in the arena, etc. Then put him back to work and see if there’s a difference in how his attitude is and how long it lasts. He might need to step down to fewer schools per week with more/different activities to replace some of them.

Also, if he’s hard on himself in general, you might need to spend more time/days stretching and doing strengthening exercises (cavaletti, hills, belly lifts) to keep the topline supple and strong.

3 Likes
#23

Has he always done the bowing thing?

My mare was doing that when she had ulcers. She put on a lot of topline quickly once the ulcers were treated.

#24

It’s been a recent stretch - he has always done it at times in his bend - once he learned carrot stretches, he realized they feel good and would make a production of doing them in front of me. :lol:

He had ulcers in the past - very distinct symptoms with him, so I’m fairly positive that is not currently a problem.

I forgot someone had asked about him laying out - he has always (since coming off the track, from what I’ve told) been fond of sunbathing. He sleeps comfortably standing up, too, but given the choice he has always done two naps flat out looking dead on the ground. In the summer, that’s typically sometime around 5am and around 9am, then he stays in the shade until dark, and his play is mostly at night. In the winter time, he does mid-morning and mid-afternoon naps, and plays late afternoon before dinner time. He’s a creature of habit, and that hasn’t really changed with age. :smiley:

1 Like
#25

I think you know your horse well. That said, I have some advice and an observation.

Observation, first: Just show up and watch him, as you already are. Notice all you can about his body, attitude and behavior.

For example, I don’t like to see that “downward dog” pose in a horse, and really not when it’s new. I make up that they are trying to fix a lower back/SI issue. But. meh, I notice, I palpate and I do what I think I can to fix it.

Which brings me to my piece of advice:

Don’t look for a line that means “retirement”. Rather, go back to what we all should have been doing with dressage, all of the time: Treat it as a form of physical therapy. Ideally, we always ride and train so as to help the horse develop or maintain the body he has, in the best shape it can be, for the longest period of time. With any horse I have, I ride and do work on the ground with this PT goal in mind. So rather than thinking about retiring, ask yourself what you can do-- turn out, lunging with some kind of effort to have him use his topline, not just going around in a circle, ponying, trail riding, cavalletti, riding however, rolling (I’m a big fan of rolling… “poor man’s chiropractic”)-- as his PT session for that day.

If you do it this way, the “retirement” issue changes form a bit. I think older, well-trained horses are in the “use it or lose it” stage of life, and they have been taught to like the attention of training. So give him what he needs for mind and body, as they are now.

Oh, and ask him WTF his plan is for helping himself out. Who runs into a tree sideways and calls it good? Eye roll.

4 Likes
#26

The answer to that question is a horse in pain. Eg. Horses with colic. They will walk into trees, sheds or whatever to try to get rid of the pain.

It is not as cold over here probably than where you are. Ours play more on cold mornings to warm up or during rain. Sigh. Overfed and underworked bored horses will play as well.

#27

I retired my Morgan mare at around age 25 or so. She had sesamoiditis, and once she got to the point where the work seemed to be making her worse rather than keeping her limber I called an end to it. This was a horse who would’ve run her heart out on a broken leg so attitude never played into the decision. As soon as I was on her back she was always “How far, and can we go fast?” She lived until the age of 34, and until the day she died was always perky and happy despite her significant pain issues (she was on NSAIDs), which is why I didn’t pull the plug sooner.

My heart horse, Boomer, I retired from PSG a couple of years ago as he was being plagued by tendon and ligament injuries. One tendon injury in 2015, brought him back from that to have injure the check ligament in the same leg the next spring. Brought him back from that, we were having lessons with a BNT last year and then a tendon in the other leg went. And he was diagnosed with Cushings. So I brought him home. I have done a little bit with him this year, he’s pretty good in trot, but canter doesn’t look like it used to you. He is happy to work, or he is happy not to work. He is the kind of guy who makes the best of whatever situation he is in, and he still gets all sorts of attention and treats (don’t tell him there is Prascend in his nightly treat) so he still feels like he is the best horse in the world. Which he is. :lol:

I believe in keeping them in work at a level they are happy working at as long as it is beneficial to them, so I agree with those who have advised a work reduction as opposed to stopping altogether.

#28

OK, but that sounds extreme and, I think, you’d see other signs of pain before that.

I thought the OP said this horse played hard and was accident prone. So my post assumed that and was in jest.

1 Like
#29

Yes. Most of his injuries have been when I was around, and he was running while watching me - and forgot to pay attention.

This time no people - but there may have been cattle, or he was goofing off with his neighbor and not looking where he was going kind of ridiculousness.

He’s also completely NOT stoic. Which I think is why we have seen a few problems recently - he doesn’t hide them. (As opposed to my mare who hid an abscess last year until it broke through in three places. That was nuts.) Given he clearly has something bothering him but it was also no signs of an emergency, his appointment is tomorrow to get checked out. I am suspecting SI type issues - and he injured it 8 years ago, so the stretching to me was saying likely tightness around that area from then, and working seemed to help loosen him up more. So it’s even possible there was misalignment before and it got worse and that’s why now it’s hurting. We’ll see what the chiro says tomorrow, because that’s who it seems is the right person to visit based on how he’s presenting. If that isn’t a useful appointment, we start going toward the lovely pricey option of imaging to try to find it, unless a surprise abscess pops out and all the body stuff was just hiding hoof pain. It’s not his normal presentation of hoof discomfort, though - there’s a long history there of major efforts to help reshape his hooves with vet and timmer/farrier consultations, etc. I’ve always felt that the hooves were the most likely reason for retirement for him - when they don’t want him working on them anymore.

1 Like
#30

netg, you write like someone who knows this horse well and are a helluva horsewoman. I would believe your powers of diagnosis and judgment with him. I mean, you know him inside and out, but more important, you clearly pay a great deal of attention to every aspect of this horse, including his history.

2 Likes
#31

I don’t believe in completely retiring a horse as long as he can be comfortable. Tricks, ground driving, walking trail rides, something to keep him interested.

I agree he’s lucky to have an “active” owner. Get some massage. Try acupuncture. And instead of treating for ulcers, add some pro/pre-biotics to his diet. You may be surprised.

1 Like
#32

I retired my “heart horse” at age 25. He was trained to Intermediare-1 (me, not so much) and taught me a hell of a lot. He was on weekly Adequan ,daily previcoxx, and had his hocks injected twice a year, and for many years this kept him happy and working well. I gradually reduced his work days to 3 a week, and no more super collected movement, and for a long time that he was fine with that. At 25, he started having more days where he wasn’t so happy to work, or felt NQR to me, even though he wasn’t visibly off, and the vet found nothing specific.
I didn’t think it was fair to expect him to do correct work when ridden less than 3 days a week, and plunking along on his forehand wasn’t going to do him any good.
So, even though the signs were subtle, I knew I had done all I could to keep him sound, and if he wasn’t happy, he deserved a good retirement. Fortunately, I can afford to give him that.
And you know, of all the horses in my barn, this guy, now 29, is the only one that routinely gallops to the pasture gate when it’s lunchtime, and on occasion stands and rears and paws the air, just for the hell of it. He is happy, I see him every day I’m at the barn, and I think it was the right thing to do.
You will know also, if you are sure you have managed any physical issues as best you can, and changed or restricted his work, for a few months or longer, and he is still not happy. Trust that you know your horse.

2 Likes
#33

My OTTB is 23 and still in work, and is still enjoying his work. On Wednesday, we were popping over small jumps and he was having a blast. He had a suspensory strain a few years ago that’s now maintained with corrective shoeing, he gets daily previcox, and a monthly shot of Pentosin. He also gets a massage once a month.

Looking at him, no one believes he’s 23, and the vet says he’s looking and feeling so good because he is still working.

#34

There is an argument for working this horse hard enough that he doesn’t have so much “extra” to get rid of out in the field. I wouldn’t mind hearing about him taking a nap in turnout instead of crucifying himself on a tree with his antics. Of course the extra work load might just lead to a fitter horse and MORE antics. When they have a fun personality like that it’s hard to say.
I wouldn’t retire a horse like this until reasonable therapies were not keeping him comfortable. Does he get massage? Made a world of difference in my 6yo, so I imagine it could be a game changer for him at 16.

#35

Hopefully the chiro found something yesterday. I think you know him well, and only you can make the call. Also, it’s okay to retire him if neither of you are enjoying it anymore.

I retired my 9 yo QH gelding earlier this month. We’re calling it 6 months of turnout to see if it helps, but my money is on it not. I spent Feb-Jun pursuing diagnostics and treatments to resolve a high LF lameness that is most obvious at the walk and jog. All indications (blocks, body work, etc) point to it being due to his cervical arthritis and some major scar tissue we found in his shoulder when we ultrasounded the bursa / joint.

I rode him 2 weeks ago and at the end of the ride decided that we were done. He’d be happy to go to work every day if he could, but I just can’t continue fighting an uphill battle to soundness, or spending every ride worrying that today is the day his shoulder drop / knee buckle will happen at something faster than a walk and we’ll both go down. Also, while he doesn’t have a head bob and the LF looks better when you push him to a bigger trot, I can feel it as a tick in the rhythm and I think that even if it doesn’t hurt him with every step, it’s at least a bit disconcerting to him.

So far he’s pretty sure that retirement and the full day pasture turnout he was denied the last 4 months is the best thing ever. And who knows, maybe in the spring he’ll look better.

In the meantime, I’m casually horse shopping, riding my road bike, and gardening.

** to be clear, he always has 24/7 turnout to his 20x80 paddock, we just weren’t given him pasture access while we chased it.

#36

I agree. OP did not make clear which she meant: retiring from active competition or retiring -retiring. If the former, my experience has been to retire horses when they cannot do what they had been easily able to do. I do not want to drag that last, final soundness and ease of movement from them. If you do, then they will not have a quality retirement.
I think that seeing a crippled horse who has been living on pain pills just to compete, but who is in pain when taken off them but asked to keep going, is very sad. Retire him when he is sound enough to enjoy life when he is not medicated.

NB: This does not mean that a horse who is 100% when on bute should necessarily be retired completely. But if he is not a happy camper, then don’t squeeze the lemon dry.

PS: horses are communal animals. He needs a friend: pony, goat, mini donkey etc.

2 Likes
#37

So update from hours spent on diagnostics: We think he was tying up on Tuesday. That’s taken care of, as well as the part of the cause we can control (Mg deficiency and extra electrolytes for now, we can’t stop heat). Soft soles remain due to wet weather. Using the recommended products (a spray provided to us plus packing with Magic Cushion), testing the new hay shipment to see if there are any changes in the nutrition of it which raise flags as an adjustment needed in his diet to help hooves. By Sunday morning, he was airborn in his pen, ears forward and cuddling. In his case, sure sign he feels better.

The vet has said that while overall his hooves look good, his soles simply are going to be an issue. Trims and shoeing are the best we have to compensate for that, and we’re adding hardening products to help him through rainy season. If this doesn’t do it, we’ll discuss bringing in additional footing and managing drainage for him specifically (he had a puddle for about 12 hours this weekend then his pen was dry - already pretty good footing there. For his mental health, locking him indoors only would be a very last resort.

Thanks everyone who shared your experiences - we’ll see how the possible helping solutions we have work for him. It may be that he doesn’t work at all through rainy season, I baby his hooves carefully, and we only work when it’s dry (this is the desert -that is most of the year!) Or, the solutions we have or some additional adjustments keep him comfortable and he can keep working. He’s VERY dramatic, so I’m sure he’ll let us know. :slight_smile:

ETA:

And just for more fun, when I showed up on Saturday morning, my mare’s knee was twice as large as it should be, with a nice hoofprint on it. She’s miserable not actually in a herd, and she instigates… so sometimes someone lands a hoof. Ugh. She’s sound on it, and we’re monitoring carefully, treating it with antibiotic ointment, hosing, lots of walking to reduce swelling, etc.

1 Like
#38

Some sound reasoning posted above, but for what it’s worth I am facing a similar decision with my 23 year old thoroughbred. He raced hard in graded stakes races for 6 years and went into dressage training off the track, then suffered an acute injury that retired him from any “real” competitive discipline.

He’s spent the last 11 years with me as my trail mount and enjoys his work. He’s one of the few horses I know who got excited to see his saddle come out of the tack room, but while joint support supplements and anti-inflammatory medicines are in use now, I have noticed that the most significant change has been in the recovery times post-ride. While a three or four hour ride a few years back would require only a day or two to bounce back from, the last big ride we went on took a lot out of him and he wasn’t “quite right” for over a week.

I suppose my advice to you would be to just go with your gut with your guy, you have a lot going for you in such a close bond and that you really know how to read him. I think this, above all else, is what will tell you it’s time.

Another thing to consider is perhaps not total retirement, but perhaps a more low-key job like going from dressage to trail walking or just shortening the ride lengths and allowing for more recovery time in between. Further consideration toward joint support and recovery supplementation may give you back his bounce, ask your vet about previcox.

For my guy, I have scaled back from trailering to off-property rides and mainly just do what I call “mailbox” runs, which are just over three miles round trip down the side of the road in our local area at an easy walk. I’ve switched to a plush weight-distributing bareback pad and forgone treed saddles and started him in long lines for when the time comes that he can no longer bear weight, but will still want to “go for his walk”. His vet is overall very happy with his health and says that there is no reason he won’t live into his forties barring catastrophe (knock on wood). I believe you and I are similar in that the goal is their happiness and well-being, and not our personal riding goals.

Best of luck to you.

#39

That’s how I decided to retire my Morgan mare, once she started to be too sore the day after a ride we called an end to riding.

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