With horse medicine and veterinary procedures constantly developing, our equine friends can look forward to living longer than ever before. However, that prolonged lifespan means the owner's responsibilities have become more complicated.
And when you’ve given your trusty companion love and care throughout their working life, you’ll want to continue that into retirement.
So, here’s a guide to help assess when it’s the right time to retire your horse and what your options are.
Most owners consider retirement when the horse has become incapable of their previous activity. Either through old age and/or diminishing capabilities and particularly where there is on-going lameness that is unresolvable.
However, many cases are not so clear cut. The lameness might come and go; the horse might have occasional behavioural issues; or the owner might be finding it difficult to meet the financial costs of a continued working life.
On one hand, you won’t want to miss out on potentially years of riding life together but on the other you don’t want to over-ride a horse and create further problems. The decision will ultimately come down to individual owners after discussion with vets, farriers, trainers or other horse care professionals.
If you come to the conclusion it’s the end of your horse’s working life, what options are there? In order to maintain your horse’s health and happiness in their final years you’ll need to find a level of activity and socialisation that will suit both you and them.
When considering this you’ll need to take your horse’s individual needs into account. For example, do they love being ridden? Will they enjoy the challenge of working even if they’ve some aches and pains? Are they still happy to be transported about? If so, you could keep riding them for a little longer but bear in mind sometimes the mind is willing when the body is not!
There are many different options for retirement or semi-retirement. Some possibilities include:
If you decide to retire your horse then be aware it can be difficult to change your mind at a later date.
After all, once a body stops its athletic routine, it’s more difficult to get started again. So, before you make the decision, ask yourself the following questions:
A horse in retirement can cost almost as much as one in work as they still need worming, hoof care, appropriate feed and shelter, veterinary care and some equipment. While lower activity levels mean you might reduce their feed and there might be less need for some costs (in particular riding equipment) the care bill will still be substantial. For example, you’ll still need horse insurance and horse trailer insurance.
The level of care and attention your horse needs is still high whether they’re retired or not. Indeed, during the winter a retired horse will need just as much attention through frequent visits, grooming or handling. And if your horse is turned out with other horses will you be able to keep an eye out for problems? Sometimes older horses can be pushed around or bullied by younger, more dominant field companions.
If you retire your horse can you afford to maintain another to ride or are you happy borrowing someone else’s during your horse’s years of retirement? You need to be honest with yourself whether this is the case. If it isn’t, then you might have to consider other options.
If your answer to any of these questions is ‘no’ then you might need to consider alternatives. Rehoming could be worth looking into depending on your reasons for retirement. However as the Blue Cross advises, sometimes this isn’t in the best interests of a horse or a realistic option.
Difficult as it is to consider, if rehoming or retirement isn’t right for your horse then putting a horse down might be the kindest option in the long term. Always seek your vet’s guidance before taking this route.
As your faithful steed gets older, thinking about their future life can be stressful. The dedicated team at Equesure is aware of these pressures and will work to find you the most appropriate insurance cover for your changing needs.
With over 60 years of experience in the specialist equine insurance market, we can find horse trailer insurance cover to suit any budget. Policies arranged through Equesure can include the following:
Get a quote from Equesure today.
Policy benefits and features offered may very between insurance schemes or cover selected and are subject to underwriting criteria. Information contained within this article is accurate at the time of publishing but may be subject to change.
Once again I threw Arlo in at the deep end, affiliating him purely for the Arena UK second round show, and once again he pulled it out the bag. How lucky am I to have such a wonderful little horse? We haven’t really competed this year. I don’t really compete over the winter, and also my horsebox was away for repairs up until the beginning of June, so I had no transport even if I’d wanted to.
With the dry ground we don’t seem to be having much luck with shoes, as little madam managed to pull both her front shoes off within 12 hours the other day! We entered the arena with two shoes on for a schooling session and left it with one missing (took about an hour to find it). Then that afternoon, as I went to put some hoof ointment on, I looked down and had to double take, thinking I was looking at the wrong hoof. But, no, the other shoe was missing too.
After having a long wait and some lunch at the onsite café, it was time to get ready for the Joan Wolfe Overall Supreme Shetland Pony Championship. I got changed out of my usual showing outfit into black trousers and a maroon top with white spots, as you are expected to be a bit more “bling” in the evening.
We were all set to go for our next outing, and were super excited. That was until I heard the dreaded clunk of a loose shoe! I checked it over, praying it wasn’t too loose, but, nope, it was going to need a refit.