Horse basics

[Anonymous Poster]

I read the following statement in a recent post (horse help): "Unfortunately, it fell at the ditch and broke its leg (real bad) and they had to put it down."

Does "put down" mean it was killed? If so, why? Aren't horses expensive, so wouldn't it be worth the cost of getting a vet and repairing the leg?

My 5 year old twins are getting interested in horses and I know nothing about them, except that everyone says they're expensive. Just how expensive are they? I wouldn't need anything spectacular. I have 6 acres, 1 acre of it wooded and about 1 acre of it is the house and yard, so is 4 acres enough for 2 horses? I live in Indiana where there are a lot of horses so they're must be something good about owning them, but they sure seem like they would be expensive and time consuming to own. But, if my kids really take an interest I'm not opposed to getting some, since it would be a good way to keep them out of trouble!

 

[cowboydoc]

Danny,
First of all put down does mean put to sleep. Couple reason for this. One is that horses are poor healers in the leg and depending on where the break is the horse may never recover even with surgery. ie you wouldn't be able to ride them. They could maybe hobble around but wouldn't be rideable. Second vet surgery, like people surgery, is very expensive. You're probably looking at a minimum of 5k just for the operation and then you're looking at another 1-5k for post treatment and it's a gamble whether the horse will ever be useful again.

Now to your second question yes horses are and aren't expensive. As to the intial cost of a horse you can buy a yugo or you can buy a mercedes. You can buy a non-papered grade horse for anywhere from $500-$1500 but don't expect much. To get a good papered horse that is well trained and your kids aren't going to get hurt on, but isn't specialty trained look to spend $2-5k. If it's an older horse a little less. Now comes the real cost!!!! First of all they need to either be shod or have their hooves trimmed every 6-8 weeks. About $20 for a trim and $40 for a shoe job. Next you have to worm them every two months, about $10. Then you have to give them yearly vaccinations, about $50. Then figure miscellaneous vet bills for floating teeth, minor accidents, etc. about $100 a year minimum. You may not need them for five years and then you need them and have a $500 bill. Then you're talking saddles, brushes, bridles, stalls, etc. Just for tack you're looking at a minimum of $1000. Then consider fencing, barns, horse trailers, well that can be many thousands. Next you have to figure feeding the critter. At a minimum you will probably spend $50-75 a month. I raise my own hay and get bulk feed and the least I can feed a horse for is $35 a month. So add it all up and yes it's an expensive ordeal. Is it worth it, hell yes!!!!! /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[cowboydoc]

PS
If they like it it's an excellent way to keep them out of trouble. Shows, rodeos, and just the time of taking care of a horse is enough to not have any free time to get into trouble!!

 

[cowboydoc]

Sorry forgot to answer about pasture. It all depends on your pasture. If it's lush pasture, full of grass, no bare spots, no weeds then you should be able to get by on 4 acres with two horses for about 5 months of the year. The other seven you will have to feed hay and grain. If you're riding them alot you will also need to supplement with grain as well as pasture. Usually you can turn them out around the latter part of april here in the midwest and then by october the pastures quit growing much. If you don't supplement feed them they will eat the pasture down to nothing and you will lose alot of it the next year. I always like to figure having my pasture about 4". I rotate pastures so it stays in good shape. I can tell you alot more about that later if you decide to take the plunge.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Thanks for the info. The roughly $1000/year for food and misc doesn't sound too bad, but the up front cost of a few thousand would really hurt at this time since I don't have a barn or fences on my property. The grass is lush (it's about 4' tall now!), so it would probably be pretty good. But, we'll have to wait a while I guess. We're still fairly new here (3 years) so as we get to know the neighbors better maybe the kids can board some horses at the neighbors if they really take an interest.

 

[ERNIEB]

<font color=blue>If so, why? Aren't horses expensive, so wouldn't it be worth the cost of getting a vet and repairing the leg?</font color=blue>
I'd like to respond to this. As a horse racing fan, it's one I often hear. Some race horses, active or retired are the most expensive animals in the world. If they can be saved, they will be. But often the damage is such that the horse would have to be immoblized for weeks. With a horse thats just impossible.
Usually, as soon as they start to wake up from the anesthesia, they start thrashing around, kicking, and end up making the injury worse.
A good example was the great filly Ruffian. Ruffian won every race she ran in exept her last, a match race with Foolish Pleasure, that years Derby winner. In that race She broke down. Five Vets worked for 12 hours to put her shattered leg back together. As soon as she woke up, she broke the cast and made her leg worse than before. She had to be put to sleep. That was in 75, and Vet Science has made strides since then, they are still dealing with a dumb horse.
To end on a happier note. The only living Triple Crown winner is Seattle Slew who is geting on in age. He recently had surgery, and seems to have come thru in good form. Hopefully he'll be with us for a couple of more years.



Ernie

 

[Billc]

Rich, a couple of questions for you.

My wife has had horses since she was 8. She is the expert in our family. However, because of all the magazines she gets and I read, I'm getting dangerious...I know just enough to think that I know something.

Question is about worming. Went to a meeting a few months back. One of the speakers spoke about Quest. He said for worming all you need is to give Quest 4 times a year. We just got back from Equitanna in Louisville. There, I sat in on one of Monty Roberts siminars. He was doing his now famous round pen work. During his show he also said all a rancher needs is Quest. You'll never guess who one of his sponsers is.

I've always been taught to rotate. My vet, Dr. Tafft, who is excellent and lots of gray hair, said that giving only one wormer is stupid. I went to a couple of worming classes at Equitanna, they said the same thing.

I agree with rotating between Benzimdazoles, Macrocyclic Lactones (which Quest and Zimecterin are), and Pyrimidine (that takes tape worms)....see, I told you I know enough to think I know something /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif.

What products do you use to worm and how often are they used?

As always, thanks for any help.

Bill Cook

 

[cowboydoc]

Bill,
Rotate, rotate, rotate! It's called acquired immunity. If a species, whether parasite or human, is exposed enough to a particular deadly force over time there will be members of that species that develop an immunity to the force. This can happen either from genetics in the original organism or through only the fittest breeding, or from getting enough of the force to develop an immunity but not killing the being, similiar to a vaccine. That is why it is so important to always follow the recommended label directions. So by rotating and giving the correct amounts you prevent the parasite from developing this resistance. No matter what they say no one wormer controls every class of parasites. By rotating you also get more of a clean kill. Although there has been no resistance to date for ivermectrin all of the geneticists that I've talked to say it's only a matter of time. Plus there are some things that ivermectrin doesn't control that the quest, moxidectin does. Anyway to make a long story short here's what I do. I use either moxidectin, Quest or imvermectin, called Zimectrin, Ivermectrin, etc. and then the next 8 weeks I'll use a benzimidazoles, look on labels or I'll use pyrantel salts and then the next 8 weeks back to moxidectin or ivermectrin. MAKE sure you control bots though, imverctrin or moxidectin, when the temp. stays above freezing. That's when the bots come back out, especially on pasture. I make sure and worm my horses with ivermectrin first thing in the spring and late in the fall.

Also you can control exposure by rotating pastures every two weeks, life cycle of most parasites, and keeping stalls clean.

That's what I do and it works very well for me.

 

[Billc]

Thanks much Rich, I'll keep rotating.

The sun is just up over the rise; we're headed out for a 4 hour ride through town and back, getting the horses ready for the 4th of July parade.

Thanks, again.

Bill Cook

 

[cowboydoc]

Glad to help Bill. Wish I was joining you on that ride. I've got a 12 hour day ahead working on the barn /w3tcompact/icons/frown.gif