My 17 Arab has significantly slowed down this year. His former owner competed before me (age5-7) and I’ve owned him since then. He’s done 3 limited distance rides w/ me a year for the past 10 years, no racing. Lots of trail riding mixed in w/long slow distance. This horse has always been go-go, but I’ve noticed a big
slowdown this year. Tomorrow my vet is coming out to do a full work up but if we don’t find anything wrong then what? She suggested a new plasma injection that is given yearly to horses that are seeing joint changes. I’ve been giving him polyglycon injections and he’s due for that. Teeth are great,wormed regularly,
some white line in one foot we are treating w/penicillin. He is on a multi-vitamin,smart digest ultra and biotin for his feet.Good shoeing and 24 hour turnout if he chooses. It’s been hot so sometimes he’s in his stall under the fans.
I know everyone is faced with this at one point in their lives, here I am. If my excellent vet cannot find anything wrong, do I keep trying different injections so I can continue to ride 5 hours a week
at my faster pace? Do I semi-retire him and get on once a week for a walking ride. My heart is heavy because this horse and I have done a lot together and I can’t believe I might have to start over. I feel like I’d rather retire him then keep trying to push him to keep up, it’s not fair to him to tear him down. I just thought we would grow old together!! Sorry for the novel 
Awwwwww, I’m there with you. My 19 year old trail buddy, who’s been under me since he was 6…well, I knighted him as an official pasture ornament earlier this year. I still pony him up to an hour, but he’ll never carry someone again. I have friends with sound , eager horses in their thirties…it’s different for every individual.
Kudos to you for not pushing your old friend. You’ll find the right amount of riding for him, and you’ll do right by him. He’s a lucky horse.
I’d probably semi retire him. I’d keep him fit enough to pull out for leisurely trail rides with friends and to play around on, but I’d probably retire him from the distance stuff.
My 25yo is finally officially 100% probably won’t ever be ridden again retired this year. She was jumping 4ft last winter with no maintenance issues. A couple months ago she came up mystery lame though and here we are. Its not looking like it will get any better and there’s a possibility she will get worse as we go into winter. Vet said its pretty much just wait and see. At her age he said just let her do what makes her happy (she does NOT do well on individual turnout/stall rest for more than a couple days) and if it winds up causing further damage at least she’ll go out happy. She’s not one its worth doing injections and a whole bunch of diagnostics to pinpoint the specific issue. She is NOT a fan of being poked and prodded and its just not worth the fight at 25. At 10 with the probability of recovery, I would have made her suck it up and deal with it. At 25 with almost zero chance of things getting better, its not worth it. She doesn’t act like she’s in pain, but she does very noticeably gimp around now. She eats fine and seems perfectly happy though, so we’ll just see how things go.
UPDATE: Vet came out today and we decided to do a 10 day course of gastroguard
and give him previcox on the days that we ride. During the epm test he definitely
pulled off on one side. We sent a blood sample in for testing and we should know in a week. I’m a little freaked out but I know there are some good treatments for Epm that exist. Thank you also for the private messages people have sent(you know who you are), I really appreciate the support! I’m so grateful to have this resource available.
Ooh, now, that’s piqued my interest! Thank you, AR! My vet suggests Previcoxx be started 3 days before a big ride and maintained for a couple days afterward. She seems to feel that it took the two to three days before the ride to reach its full effect. (She also is happy to put horses on it long-term). I would be grateful to hear others’ opinions on this, just out of curiosity; I always like the “less is more” approach, when possible.
Has he been tested for Lyme disease. It can have a wide variety of symptoms. I have treated one horse for it and I contracted Erhlichiosis which has different sypmtoms. A good friend lost two different horses over the past 5 years to Lyme and another tick borne disease. The last horse was being treated for Lyme but had a second illness at the same time, undiagnosed until too late and he was lost due to renal failure.
Anyway, early symptoms of Lyme disease seems to be not quite right (NQR).If he hasn’t been tested I suggest you not wait for the vet to think of it.
[QUOTE=chicamuxen1;7249380]
Has he been tested for Lyme disease. It can have a wide variety of symptoms. I have treated one horse for it and I contracted Erhlichiosis which has different sypmtoms. A good friend lost two different horses over the past 5 years to Lyme and another tick borne disease. The last horse was being treated for Lyme but had a second illness at the same time, undiagnosed until too late and he was lost due to renal failure.
Anyway, early symptoms of Lyme disease seems to be not quite right (NQR).If he hasn’t been tested I suggest you not wait for the vet to think of it.[/QUOTE]
Agree with this if you are in a Lyme-endemic area. My 20 YO has slowed down and been a bit dull, but only in the last several weeks. That is really his only symptom–vet was out yesterday. Presuming Lyme (will know in a couple of days) because we are in a hot-spot. Good luck with him!
Cushings?
[QUOTE=Snowdenfarm;7249512]
Cushings?[/QUOTE]
I discussed the Lyme possibility w/my vet but she is dubious, we are in south Florida. I’ve started the gastroguard and am just awaiting the results of the epm test. He trots briskly on the lunge line, no lame steps , just not the fire breathing arab eating up the trail.
It does exist in florida but is far less studied then Lyme disease in dogs and humans. It is in fact an under reported disease. When my horse had it he was never lame but his pulse recovery was poor at two rides which clued me in.
When I had Erlichiosis I had to bully my doctor into testing me, had to send her a link to a page at NIH to get her educated about tick borne diseases. She had a full range of tests done then and was embarrassed when I was positive to the one test. Anyway it was just a thought and it probably isn’t what is wrong with your horse. However, it is frequently non-diagnosed for quite some time.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/IN/IN49200.pdf
chicamuxen
Yes, pursue a definitive Dx. 17 is not old for a purebred Arabian. Heck, some of them can compete well into their 30s.
Regarding the WLD. Penicillin IM will do nothing for it. There is not enough blood flow to the area (hoof wall) for systemic antibiotics to be of much use. Your farrier needs to debride the infected area until all margins are clean or you’ll be fighting WLD forever. If he/she doesn’t understand that, you need a new farrier.
Use your horse for a trail horse and get another horse.
Endurance is a tough sport. We do not want to compete a horse who is not doing well. Sometimes, it is just time to retire. Just a fact. It happens to all of us.
I have a friend who is riding an unpapered gelding, arab, and he is very old. They will tell you when it is time. The alternative is to go to a ride, compete and be pulled. And/or compete and something terrible go wrong.
JME it is really tough to retire a horse, but sometimes you just have to. Get one on the back burner so you can still compete. And when the older horse is better maybe do a lower distance with him. Maybe he is just not up to endurance, but would do fine in LD.
Unfortunately we all have to start over at sometime in our horse lives. You can buy the PERFECT weanling raise it until 5 yrs old and by that time you know you do NOT have a prospect, the horse doesn’t want to do endurance, or can’t due to some physically limitation. I have had that happen. We all at one time or another have had that happen. You can do the same with a 5 yr old new to you, and the same thing can happen. You can have a high mileage horse, and something can happen. It just sadly happens. Maybe this is a sign, it is time for a new prospect?
You will grow old together, just not on the competition endurance trails. You can still trail ride him and love him. It is a hard decision. But, it happens. Sorry. I have been in your exact spot, several times. And, so have others.
There are people (like me in a few years) who will be looking for a tried and true type for occasional, but regular trail riding, mostly at the walk or gentle trot. The experienced care and gentle work would suit a gentleman like yours.
You could enjoy him vicariously through regular emails, etc. My17.00 hh mare
is a lot of horse as I get older and a long way up and (worse) getting off.
My farrier has debrided the hoof and we are squirting penicillin up in the cavity. I’ve also pulled the shoes and done cleantrax soakings and white lightning as well.
We had the wettest summer on record since the 1930s! I may send him to ocala next summer, at least they have hills/better drainage.
White lightning gel is great to put on just before shoes are put back on. If unshod you can apply it everyday without the time requirement/inconvenience of soaking.
[QUOTE=Stacie;7271929]
White lightning gel is great to put on just before shoes are put back on. If unshod you can apply it everyday without the time requirement/inconvenience of soaking.[/QUOTE]
He does have front shoes which are a necessity for him-he is pancake/cupcake. The epm test came up negative and we pulled blood this week to check for anything else.We started on polyglycon and he seems to be perkier. Redid lameness and hoof testers- nothing. Good quality hay,senior feed, smartpack w/vitamins, ultra digest, and biotin for his feet. 24 turnout w/stall
door open so he can hang out in his stall under his fan if he wants to or get out of the rain.I’m taking him camping this weekend with a pleasure-riding group, so it will be interesting to see if he gets out in front of everyone and canters like last year lol.
