How to: Retire your equine athlete

A sensitive subject to many people, especially if you're like me and feel the best place for your horse is in your own barn where you can keep an eye on him 24/7 and ride him until his last days... I wanted to write this article specifically for those of you that may be struggling with the thought of sending your senior horse to pasture, give you some ideas from my experience and share some things I did/do to help the transition go smoothly.

Just to state before i get too in to it, I am not at all saying there is one correct path you should take with your senior equestrian because lets be real, it depends on the character of the horse, what type of area/barn you base at, how your financial situation is etc. So I'm simply writing this about my experience and hopefully will answer a lot of the questions many of you have been asking me!

There's nothing like green grass, trees and rolling hills for your old equine partner to enjoy in his/her golden years

Something I see a lot of people do is they take their top show horse at the end of their last show season, make a big party, even find one of the nicest fields to put them to pasture and then boom... they open the gates to the giant rolling hill field and off the horse goes. ​Many horses may be totally ok with this and maybe even used to going out in a big field

for long periods of time but in my experience, I've seen way too many horses go through that and result in injuries, colics and at the very worst, death. I know i sound extreme but I have actually seen this happened with other horse-owners' horses which is partly why the thought of retiring my horse is so stressful!.

So i recommend to first understand and evaluate your horse, determine his character and then think what might be the best type of retirement situation for his personality. In my experience, I've had 2 character categories of horses and some that are a mix of both so I've had to experiment to see what each horse preferred.

The Horse's Character:

The Nervous-Nelly
This horse was great in the ring! Just enough "positive tension" to perform the best piaffes, or perhaps give you that extra quick spin in the jump off but left alone in a turnout for more than an hour is gameover. 

Retirement solution: This horse may not totally be on board with the whole living in a field year round with a herd situation. Of course, I want to stress that this horse may be this tense simply because of horse show life and if the time is taken to decrease workload, decrease grain, and teach him how to turn out you might find the horse learns to really enjoy the pasture way of life. However, some horses just aren't one for the unlimited grass and space. ​I've had really good luck and experience finding these horses a home where they can still have a job but be spoiled, can go at their own aging pace and still have access to a field to turn out.

Always the best piaffes but all that power never did well just being turned out. He lived the best retirement being turned out for hours and still being ridden on trails by our friend

Most of you know that when we're not traveling to shows to compete we have our base in Wellington, FL. Florida is certainly the winter capital of the world with some of the best weather from December to May but it's summers are brutal and not for the weak, so having this character horse at my barn wasn't going to make him feel like he was in his well-deserved retirement home. I've been fortunate enough for these kinds of horses to be able to find friends in the horse world or family members to take them into their next chapter in life. These horses transitioned into a job that was a lot more low key, like going on trails or being the spoiled horse of an older lady looking to have fun and enjoy riding or even the horse that all the kids groomed at the riding club. They lived in places where the weather was good, they had access to monitored field time and were able to age gracefully while still feeling like the King or Queen they always were. 

One thing I noticed with these horses is that sometimes, you'll have a nervous-nelly that after a few years of living in this lower-key life they are actually more open to the idea of being turned out with herd full time because they were able to learn how to live a slower pace life. The few times this has happened worked out really nice and the horses were able to transition to field horses. Nevertheless, the ones that still couldn't be in the big spacious fields lived a great, long, happy life in this retirement until their late 20s and even 30s! ​

Sarabago (NZ Sporthorse) was an eventer that became my young rider showjumping horse. She retired where my parents worked and turned out all day but was still groomed but kids who came for lessons and camps

Cost: $-$$
This retirement solution could vary greatly depending if you sell your horse to someone that would like to have him in his retirement stage, if you donate your horse to a reputable program or if you end up having to pay something to have him at a barn where they can care for him, exercises him and turn him out daily. The priciest option is the latter, though it wont be as much as what you probably pay in show season, but you have complete say on what the horse does and how much interaction you'd like to have. The donation option can be tax deductible depending on where you donate and most of the time you are able to stay in touch with the program and visit your horse whenever you like. Sometimes, however, you may be responsible for the cost of shoeing and deworming etc though this is rare. Finally the selling option most likely wont result in a profit on the horse but it will take a lot of costs of your shoulders and you know that the person who has your horse is treating him like his/her own baby.

The Laidback-Luke
This horse isn't necessarily your lazy chill dude, this horse could still be the firecracker in the ring that you can turn on and off and know you're going to get a stellar performance. However, this horse appreciates turn out time, is rather food orientated and is smart and level headed enough to understand situations. He was the horse that never acted irrationally, he was the horse that loved life whether that be going all out in training or grazing for hours by the ring.
​
​Retirement solution: This horse may already enjoy being turned out daily during his show career and be very okay with the idea of being turnout in a big green pasture. Now, even if you do turn this horse out daily for a couple hours at your barn remember that being turned out for several hours in acre large barns may be the dream but remember that these horses still may prefer a type of program to get the best transition. 

A rocket in the ring, he loved grazing, eating and time in a turnout to decompress his brain

Of course if you have a horse that can straight off the trailer be turned out into an acre large herd than great! Thats awesome and that horse is going to love his retirement!

In my experience, the laidback-luke's of the horse world truly do enjoy the large pasture retirement life. Finding a nice place in either your town or in a state that has great weather year round with safe and lush turnouts would be my go to. In fact for Trivi, we chose a wonderful barn in Lexington, Kentucky called Stone Columns Stable at Elmendorf that has boarding, stabling, rehab and retirement services and offers a transition program for show horses to make sure they happily and safely transition into retirement life. The weather is kind year round, the grass is the best in the world (Kentucky Blue Grass is in a league of its own!) and the people who own and run the barn are wonderful horse people who are very involved with the retired horses daily. 

Most of the time with these horses, you should take your time getting him used to the idea of being turned out for hours and then introduce him to a herd or pasture buddy. At Stone Columns Stables, they really listen to the horses and let them dictate how long they'd like to be turned out for each day with eventually the horses being able to be happily left out for the whole day. They also start the horses in a smaller size field on their old and as they feel ready, will move them to a bigger field and then eventually introduce them to a herd and make sure it is a safe and happy environment. Horses are herd animals, and though most of them spend majority of their time in stalls on their own, their natural instinct will always be there and they will feel at home and safe in a herd when turned out.

Turned out in Florida (Small size paddock)

Turned out in Kentucky (Medium size field)

Cost: $-$$$
Depending on the barn and location, the cost of a "herd retirement" can vary however most of the time this is your least expensive option because very little is needed for the horses. At Stone Columns Stable, their rates are reasonable and made sense to us especially because of the services they provided for the retired horses. They check on the turned out horses daily, they give them a small amount of grain twice a day, they bring them in for anything need like feet trimming, deworming etc (at owners cost) and they always have staff available daily. When choosing where your horse will retire, make sure you do your homework about who runs the place, how often they are checked out, etc. It brings peace of mind to someone like me that is used to always seeing my horses.

Things to consider:

Some things i would like to mention to consider is that a lot of competition horses can't go from show season to turnout over night. Not only is transitioning them from small turnout to large pasture important to take the time to do, there are a few other things to think about.

• Shoes- your horse has most likely lived in very nice metal shoes for years while training and showing but you might decide to pull the hind shoes off for his retirement or all shoes off if he's going out with a herd year round. Before pulling the shoes, make sure your horse's feet are in healthy, strong condition so you're not stuck nursing an abscess or bad case of thrush which can both be very painful for your horse. Perhaps adding a hoof specific supplement can help prepare him or applying a hoof hardener before you pull shoes for a couple weeks and for a couple weeks after. 
• Exercise- chances are, you have decided to retire your horse because of an injury, old age or a drop in performance which may mean his exercise loads is much less already than when in show season. For what ever reason it is you are retiring your horse, make sure your slowly decrease his workload gradually each day so that he has a better chance of remaining calm in the turn out and avoiding injuries. It's a good idea to decrease the grain he gets in sync with the decrease in work load so that it isn't a big shock or change for the horse.
• Grass- Its very tempting to want your retired horse to graze all day upon arriving at your new retirement home. Something to consider though is what type of grass your horse is used to eating at home. Unless your horse is retiring in the same state, chances are the grass where he is retiring is a much better, richer, higher nutrient quality than what your horse is used to digesting. Try to monitor how much grass time you horse has initially and then increase from there. It shouldn't take long for your horse to adjust, this is just a nice precaution to take to ensure your horse is comfortable and maintains good gut health. 
• Skin conditions- before we send our horses out to their retirement, we make sure they are in top condition. This is very important when it comes to skin condition. When a horse goes out to enjoy life in a field, it can quickly become very unenjoyable if they have any skin irritations, cuts, sores or summer sores. This is also why I have my retired horse at places where either myself or the staff are able to check on them daily in case they have or develop any skin issues or cuts (which lets be honest, happens a lot with horses). If you can't send your horse off in perfect condition, let the caregivers know at the farm of any issues and any issues your horse is prone to so that everyone can have the best experience. 

Hopefully some of what I shared will help make the experience more pleasant when you're at a crossroad and not sure what path to take when its time for your old equine partner to retire! Don't hesitate to give me a shout on Instagram or contact me if you have any questions!

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