Horsey money saving hints? (merged)

inneed

Anyone know where I can get cheap tickets to Your Horse Live? I've been promissing myself I will go for the past few years now, and still haven't made it!

Tae_Lia_2

Bringing up the mudfever topic again, heard that the baby cream Sudocrem works great on it, and cos its greasy also provides a barrier. Anyone tried it and can confirm this?

orlao

Tae_Lia wrote: »

Bringing up the mudfever topic again, heard that the baby cream Sudocrem works great on it, and cos its greasy also provides a barrier. Anyone tried it and can confirm this?

Sudocream especially mixed with purple spray works best as a preventive or at the very first sign of mudfever when the heels are pink rather than scabby. Once the scabs have formed (softening them first as otherwise you are liable to have a very sore horse)you need to remove them to deal with the underlying bacteria which are anerobic so if you just slathered on a cream that blocks air getting to the sores helps the bacteria thrive......

IME pig oil and sulpher works best both as a preventive and treatment, the oil softens the scabs making them easy to remove and the sulphur seems to get rid of the MF. I don't know about any other barrier creams cos I haven't used them but Nettex Barrier Cream worked as a preventive and at £10ish seems dearer than sudocream but it's only applied once a week so one tub lasted my pony from November to about late March/early April so not bad value IMHO.

According to people on the yard who have used nappy cream, only Sudocream will do the job....own brands don't work and it should be applied daily!

HTH

Petal_3

Hi all

Very interesting reading! I last had a horse (Welsh Arab) when I was 15 (now 46!!) and desperate for another. Sadly my boy had osteodystrophia and was put to sleep - I only had him for about 10 months. Anyhow, I have been offered an ex racer (only raced once, fell and had tendon damage just over a year ago) The tendons have been fired (the horse is in Ireland) - am I mad to even consider it? A friend of a friend owns it and is "giving it away" - bar the transport from Ireland.

My gut says don't touch it - my heart says I want it!

~x~

trudij

NO, I dont think you are mad at all - ex racehorses are some of the most easy to deal with horses on the planet. They arent MSE though - though they are perfectly capable of being barefoot and living out all year round, most need to come in and have shoes.
If your gut is telling you no, youd be daft to not listen carefully to it htough - at least think things through very very carefully....

Have a look at www.exracers.co.uk and you will meet lots of other mental ex-racer owners.

The only reservation Id have is that if you havent had horses for a long time,when did you last ride? There are a lot of exracers on the sale forums,chiefly because people dont realise how much work and care they need, and that you have to be more than capable to ride them - they arent all nutters by any stretch of the imagination, but they arent your local riding school pony either....

veyr very good luck, whatever you decide - let us know!!!! (Pm me if you want to, im quite involved with ex-racers,so can possibly help if youd like any!!)

~Chameleon~

Is it still legal to fire them over in Ireland? I know it's been banned here since around 1991, I think. I guess what you really need to ask yourself is whether you'd be as happy to have this horse as a field ornament if it doesn't come sound enough to work properly again

Petal_3

Thanks for your replies.

You've just confirmed what I've been thinking really. The trainer in Ireland says he's a great horse etc etc. He's been rested for just over a year and he reckons he'll be great for hacking/jumping. The injury bothers me and on the flip side the fact that he's practically free makes it very tempting - but as you say could end up an expensive field ornament! I would soooo love to get back into it all again. My OH even says he would love me to have one

Thanks for the link to the website - I'll have a look. It's scary for me to contemplate any animal with any injury as when I lost my boy way back then I was devestated He was the great love of my life and I still think/dream about him often The thought of having to go through anything like that again is too awful to think about.

I last rode this time last year....did a 2 day trail in Wales with free-rein. It was wonderful...completely fell in love with my horse, Minstrel, and thoroughly enjoyed it. 6 hrs riding the first day - 4 hours the next - it was gruelling to say the least :eek: 1 or 2 hour local hacks don't quite hit the spot.

Oh.....what to do??????

Maybe I should look at doing a share or something to begin with.....not good at sharing though!

orlao

Petal

I think you've answered your own question;) . If you still wanted to consider him could you get a full vetting done in Ireland? cos TBH I would take with a LARGE pinch of salt anything the trainer says as with the greatest of respect he isn't unbiased is he?
Also, tendon injuries are a curse.....you only truly know if the tendon is healed when you bring the horse back into work ( unless you pay out for very expensive scans)....and you wouldn't be able to insure for vet bills for that condition! How much would transport from Ireland be including passport, vet checks etc?

If you are a half decent rider there are loads of horses available for loan or share...have a look online or better still your local tack shop should have a notice board...but if it's 30 years since you've had a horse you might want to research very carefully the ever rising costs of horse ownership first:eek:

Chameleon

Firing is illegal in Ireland....but sadly the law is rarely enforced:mad: It's both ineffective and extremely painful for the amimal IME

Petal_3

Hi again

The trainer knew that I know the owner so I would have hoped that he was being reasonably honest. Have been researching ex racehorses all day - potentially a lot of work. Part of me is so desperate to get involved again that a "free" horse is soooo tempting and another part of it is I'm not sure what will happen to the horse if it proves a pain to offload. I know there are rehoming/retraining centres here but I don't know about Ireland....must be I s'pose. I've also been looking at the cost - which isn't too much of an issue - it's really time constraints.

I dunno....what am I doing here? Being a saddo....wanting to talk horses with horsey people and pretending that I will be able to own one!! That's what! If there's any way in the world that I can....I will!

BTW,It's 30 years since I owned one but I've always ridden on and off over the years. Think I'll enquire about sharing.

Thanks for letting me ramble girls;)

~x~

Petal_3

and....I knew that firing was illegal in this country but I didn't know it was illegal in Ireland too!

I agree.....awful!