I’m not going to continue to argue for what I do with my horse. You don’t know her, me, or my program. Not that you’ll believe me, but I promise you that I’m not “patching her together.”
This thread is about other people and other horses. If you’d like to continue to discuss my horse and me, you are free to DM me.
How is it horses 30 plus years ago weren’t getting these injections, yet jumping just as high well into their teens? Just one example, look at Big Ben, a horse who competed at and won top level Grand Prix for a decade, around 8-18 years old in the 80s and 90s. Yes, there may have been off label medications and less testing back then, but why aren’t we seeing horses at top levels now being able to continue competition for that long with supposedly better vet care and general living conditions?
Adequan has been around since mid 1990s, Legend was FDA approved in 2005, for reference.
Maybe horses today are pushed harder, showing much more and not given the rest they need to heal. Just given them drugs to keep going instead of letting them have a big block of time off. I don’t know because I haven’t followed the careers of hunters and jumpers.
Sapphire came this/close to attending three consecutive Olympic Games over the course of twelve years, winning two gold medals in the process, as I recall.
HH Azur won at the top level for something like eight years straight before her recent retirement.
There are others as well. Those two were just the first that came to mind.
Gazelle retired at 17 as did Hello Sanctos, Quick Study etc. Romanov was 19, so was Tinka’s Serenade, I know there are many more that retire at 17 and 18. I also think the horses that are making it to 17,18, 19 have jumped at a lot more shows than they did back in the 90s.
Partially I think it’s a horsemanship thing, successful horses these days have made so much money for their riders and owners that they really want them to go out on top.
@anon6923113
Lol, this thread is really taking a detour now. I thought KH had sued SM for financial loss due to SM culpability in the Sacramento Winter Classics being cancelled. Hmmm…maybe not. Sami is a bully, in my opinion. Now, both parties are named as defendants, so must be in appeals or counter suit??
They certainly have the option to jump at a lot more different shows for a lot more prize money than the horses of 30 years ago. But some owners/riders/trainers elect to make good choices for their horse’s welfare.
It used to be that a $75,000 or $100,000 Grand Prix was a huge deal that would draw the cream of the crop. Now that might be the amount of prize money in the Grand Prix every week at a series of shows, and there might only be 20 competitors in the class on average.
And some of those riders might be organizing their schedule to do the Grand Prix and then run to the short stirrup ring in their whites to train a kid for that class. Or vice versa.
I don’t think it’s gone to trial yet. IANAL, but it seems like there were early rulings that were appealed. But the suit itself hasn’t gone to trial. They’ve done some case management. Who knows. Maybe it will settle out of court. That’s fairly common.
As many posters have stated we have horses going well into their teens with long careers. And there are so many more shows. The courses are much more technical where horses have to be allergic to wood. And the horses don’t get winters off. It’s 365 24/7 now.
I love when people trot out the good old days as an argument meanwhile some of their heroes were giving horses reserpine to win in the hunters but we just didn’t have a test for it as one of the many examples of “Oh in the good old days we didn’t drug horses.” I call BS
All the drug and abuse rules we have now came because people drugged and abused their horses. It’s an ever developing aspect of horse showing, but the list didn’t get that long just because. Some of it was ignorance and a lot of it was human ambition. We still have those things, but it is much less acceptable these days to ride a horse until it breaks and then ship it off to slaughter.
I remember when a great, incredibly knowledgeable horsewoman, extremely well respected, fought like a demon to get drug testing, back in the darkest of dark ages. Sadly, her people were using the 'liquid yellow longe line" themselves, without her knowledge.
And I’ll further suggest the (seeming) lack of older show horses is because no one is buying teenaged horses… heck, they think 14 is too old for a 1.10m horse 
But no doubt the 12-month long season, 12-week long circuits, and vanishing acreage all play a part in long-term sport horse soundness. I even question modern footing over sand, but sand doesn’t drain well and the show must go on.
I have the pleasure to know a great group of senior horses packing their 3rd-5th generation of young riders around right now (~ 2’6") and there is considerable thought, maintenance and expense undertaken to keep those horses comfortable. Most of it is shoeing… do you consider that a band-aid? There are certainly injections and bodywork— thoughtfully as each horse needs it. No one’s lining them up and throwing syringes at them like a dartboard hoping for a bullseye. And then, of course, there are the supplements and yeah, medication.
So at what point do you draw the line and toss the horse out as useless? They come out creaky and get a lot of walking, then loosen up and do an outstanding job for their kids. Kids who only have the pleasure of riding them because they come at a discount— the “maintenance free” version is 10x the money. If they suddenly start stopping, we listen. But otherwise they are, by all appearances, happy as clams getting loved on by kids and popping around the 2’6" twice a week and showing some weekends. They have jobs and because of that, they are safe. Perhaps a little rickety fresh out of the stall and possibly dead lame without that $400 farrier job, but safe.
The amount of imported 6-10 year olds I watch sell each year practically haunts me. Where are all the 6-10 year olds we sold 4 years ago? 5 years ago? 8 years ago? What are these horses doing and are they safe?
The whole “the horses have no voice” is defeated the second we throw a leg-over them and teach them not to immediately yeet us into the ground. They do have voices, and good horsemen listen. But there are not acres upon acres of green pastures for allllll of these horses to just retire to at the age of 16 on someone’s dime because taking extensive measures to keep them sound and comfortable is being perceived as abuse. Is it in their best interests? If the alternative is the pipeline then yes, yes it is.
Adequan was approved in 1989. Legend was approved in 1991.
Oh I agree. When the horse is consistently refusing fences, head bobbing lame (though slight), tail wringing and fussy in the bridle - that’s not a happy, sound packer. And some pros can’t see or accept that their horse is done.
I led an educational session with a local schooling barn that does day camps and such. I’ve scribed those kid’s dressage tests often and knew they might benefit from a bit of education to help them ride the geometry. It was fun and rewarding to see them improve their ability to ride a 20m circle or see the centerline more readily as they rode to it from the corner. Those horses are bored bored bored of Intro A & B, lol, and they are safe and sane and loved to pieces. Some of them get maintenance and every one of them come down c-line SOUND.
When professionals are throwing the kitchen sink at a horse and they still aren’t truly sound, then the professional isn’t doing the horse justice.
One of the things that really bothered me at Upperville this year was the number of unhappy horses I saw compete. The worst was the rated large pony division. I watched ~30 trips, and only 2 of the ponies went in to the ring happily and went forward to their fences. (Their trips scored in the 80s) The rest were ear pinning, tail switching, grumpy about their changes, dwelling at the in gate; pretty much shouting in horse that they were hurting and didn’t like their job. And I’m sure most of those ponies had some combo of Legend, Adequan, Previcoxx, custom shoeing, etc.
The quality of the riding wasn’t great either. I kept asking if I was watching the local division instead of the rated division. My sense was these kids were being propped up on expensive packers rather than being taught to ride.
Junior Hunters were better than the large ponies, with a better percentage of happy, forward horses, but still way too many cranky ones that didn’t like their job.
That this was happening in the main ring at one of the most prestigious shows on the East Coast is very, very sad.
lol, we bring a farrier in from 800 miles away for some (not all) of these guys. Good farriers are indeed hard to find.
And yeah, at least one of these older gentlemen was kicked out to pasture for 12 months and is now getting legged back up to enter the rotation. He’s going great and everyone is thrilled 
super fortunate to have that as an option though.
It’s the age-old problem in that there are always crappy people out there doing it wrong, making it hard for good people using similar tools to do it right.
My mother showed in her youth, which was quite a long time ago by now. The rule book back in her day was tiny. Hardly more than a pamphlet.
The rule book has grown to its current state over the years because they have to keep writing new rules as people figure out ways to break or skirt the old ones.
Her father, my grandfather, was the one who introduced the concept of designating the new rules as changes when the new rulebook came out each year, so that you did not have to do a line by line comparison with the old rulebook to see what had changed from the last one.
Our farrier comes from 500 miles away. I cannot tell you how lucky we are.
Different people and different disciplines have different perspectives on what a “sound” horse looks like.
One would hope at the FEI level, that the jog would result in unsound horses not actually making it into the show ring. But someone said earlier on this thread that even at the FEI level with jumpers, the jog isn’t necessarily exceptionally strict.
Seriously. He was originally our local farrier then moved out of state. We are extremely fortunate to have been able to maintain the relationship.
By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. You may also receive promotional emails from The Chronicle of the Horse. You can opt out at any time.
For Customers
Company
Terms of Use
