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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 456
 
Location: SW MO | Hey guys and girls. Just for fun- how many of you have a horse that has no maintenance or light maintenance? I really have been through the ringer on horses the past few years; so here is the million dollar question: Are there any horses out there who don't need crazy maintenance all the time? |
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 Miss Laundry Misshap
Posts: 5271
| Majorly depends on what you call maintenance. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 575
| Nateracer - 2017-02-27 11:54 AM
Majorly depends on what you call maintenance.
Agree. I have to keep up on one particular supplement, and Adequan. But that to me is light maintenance. |
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 Expert
Posts: 5290
| Nateracer - 2017-02-27 10:54 AM
Majorly depends on what you call maintenance.
Agree , when I think no maintenance I think of a horse that just gets fed hay, maybe grain, and kept in shape to run. I think things like Adequan, or Legend just to help joints while competing is considered light. I might even throw in hocks done 1-2 x a year as light. Anything above that is maintenance. Having said that, I have 1 with zero maintenance, and one with extremely light ( hocks 1x a year). |
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Expert
Posts: 2531
Location: WI | It's hard to define no maintenance, light maintenance, and crazy maintenance. I can tell you I've never had a no maintenance horse! |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| All I have are young horses, during the winter they are on nothing.
During the summer I have them on daily Lubrysin nothing else. |
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 It's not my fault I'm perfect
Posts: 13739
Location: Where the long tails flow, ND | My 25 year old. He just got Legend for the first time last year, he's been running since he was 6 with me and the past few years I handed him over to cousins to lightly compete. This will be the first year he isn't hauled consistently, but only for my leadliner <3. Obviously he has been on joint supplements etc., as a preventative but he's never been injected or lame.
They don't make them like him anymore! |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 456
Location: SW MO | I would say for me injecting is my maintenance. Chiro, Teeth, supplements, etc I don't generally count that. I have had some that needed injected every 3 months in more than 3 joints. That is a little excessive to me |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 456
Location: SW MO | It kills me when I read for sale ads, people want to advertise horses as "no maintenance" or never been injected. Meanwhile I'm sitting here like, "Is that possible? Or have I just had lemon horses for the past 5 years" |
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 Serious Snap Trapper
Posts: 4275
Location: In The Snow, AZ | I have one that is basically no maintainance. I keep her tummy full. Keep her legged up. And she's a happy girl. Never been lame. Never been injured. She actually seems to only be improving and seems to love her job. She's one of the few horses I've had that sees a halter and comes over to stick her face in it. She gets chiropractic work from time to time. No injections. Feed thru joint supplement and ulcer prevent with her THE MM. That's about as far as I've had to go with her. |
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 Expert
Posts: 2128
| Mine. Hes 8. Just gets teeth done, shoes, and alfalfa, wormed. Although I am planning to take him soon to see if he will need injections. |
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Married to a Louie Lover
Posts: 3303
| We have 6 who get no extras other than a good feed program and regular vet/dental etc. No injections.
I am trying my 2 on Platinum but I consider that more of a ration balancer/vit/mineral. The same 2 also get semi-regular chiro work.
The other 4 are rope horses and general pasture/sale barn/young horses getting wet saddle blankets.
I feel pretty lucky and hope I didn't just jinx myself. |
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 Not Afraid to Work
Posts: 4717
| A good family friend has two mod 20's barrel horses, one still competes with younger kids and one retired 2 years ago but neither one have been injected. They are fed a 12% mix from the local mill and free choice grass hay. Both 1d/2d horses. Had regular care, teeth, farrier and vacs. One has always been barefoot, the other I cant say for sure.
I know another mare who wasn't injected until recently, she is 27. She ran barefoot mostly but did shoe her if hauled a lot.
My gelding requires a lot of maintenance but mostly just harder work for me. He has KS and terrible front leg conformation. Corrective shoes is the only cost really. He gets exercised 5-6x per week on longlines, neck stretcher or martingale. Massages if he gets tight but that's only like 2-3x a year max. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 460
| My gelding is almost (what I consider) 0 maintenance =] He gets his shots once a year...thats the only vet call I've ever had to make for him. No injections or anything. But he is on a couple weight supplements, but nothing super spendy =] The only reason I wouldn't consider him ZERO maintenance, is that he loses front shoes like no other horse I've seen haha |
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 Good Grief!
Posts: 6343
Location: Cap'n Joan Rotgut.....alberta | Hahahahahahaha now thats funny....;)M |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 788
| I really have come to realize that the more you want to take care of your horse, the more "maintenance" you will have on them. |
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 Take a Picture
Posts: 12838
| I consider teeth and shoeing the most important things you can do for your horse. I have my horses shod every 4 weeks an teeth done every 6 months to one year depending on the age of the horse. I guess most people would not consider that maintenance but I do. |
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 Georgia Peach
Posts: 8338
Location: Georgia |
I have a 22 year old that has never had an single injection. He still competes and loves his job. I also have a 19 year old that has only had her coffins injected once about a year ago. She has been running barrels since she was a 4 year old. I know that counts as "maintenance" but at 19 years old, thats still pretty impressive lol. |
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 Texas Taco
Posts: 7499
Location: Bandera, TX | 
Mine are the worst.... a continous state of disarray at my barn. 2 pasture ornaments, one of them is 26 so yes she gets some feel-good stuff, the other is only 10, so she is the only one who gets nothing.
My three so called "riding horses" keep having issues. Usually only two of them are useable at any time.... As of yesterday all three are sort of back to riding.... but I won't count my chickens yet.... it's depressing. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 456
Location: SW MO | The only reason I don't consider teeth and shoeing maintenance is because I feel like that is something that is a given with caring for a horse; that is just my opinion. For me, that is just part of the basic care any horse needs. Not something extra, that falls into maintenance. Nutrition/teeth/shoes is not something that is extra for me. |
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 I'm Cooler Offline
Posts: 6387
Location: Pacific Northwest | My mare is relatively low maintenance. 17 years old, no injections. Can be ulcer prone, but on her current feed regime of beet pulp & alfalfa pellets and SmartGut Ultra they stay away. Doesn't wear shoes.
However, if I want her to truly perform at her best, she needs a little extra. She has an old injury in her neck that causes soreness. I do daily massages and stretches with her, and I get her worked on pretty regularly if I'm running her. I put her BOT and PHT products on her regularly, and if we have been warming up on crappy ground I will pack her feet with Magic Cushion. |
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Member
Posts: 28
| As others have said, depends what you consider maintenance. To me teeth, normal shoes or trims, and worming are basic care, not maintenance. All of my heard, from prospects to pro horses only see a vet for coggins and health papers (for travel purposes). I don't inject anything, they don't get ulcers, don't use pre-race things, ect. They are however on the Simply Equine program which creates a custom herbal blend for that specific horse's needs. I consider them low maintenance, because they have all been on the program long enough we are just doing prevention and it is very minimal. |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 422
Location: Fort Bragg North Carolina | I have |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 509
| at what level are these horses competing and how many runs a month |
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 Balance Beam and more...
Posts: 11493
Location: 31 lengths farms | Had two...but I'm not sure that they were low or no maintenance or I was just dumb enough to not realize they needed more. My little HS rodeo mare I trimmed myself until I got a job my Junior year in HS and had her shod, fronts only. She lived to be 33. Other than feed, feet, teeth and vaccines, and those I think I started only again, when I got a job in HS, she would have been 17 at the time as was I. Then my bay mare, and I'm 99% sure she was just too tough to say Ouch. She fractured her hock her 12 year old year, the two patty shaped bones in the left hock. Then at 22 she slapped at the neighbors horse thru hogwire, 170+ stitches later she looked like a patchwork quilt on her right front, back running 2 months later. She was also Impressive bred, found out she was N/H , never fed her a special diet, only found out that she was N/H when she was 18. I was thinking of breeding her, someone mentioned HYPP to me. Took her off the breeding program to say the least but figured we had gotten that far with not special diet, good clean hay and lots of riding, wasnt' going to change anything then. She never did have an issue. The only maintenance required was the egg bar shoes while she recovered from the fractured hock, and the casting material while the degloved leg healed.
The 3 I have now have taught me a lot about what my others didn't get... |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 595
Location: North Dakota | Maybe one day I will have one of those 'no maintenance' horses. Both of mine have had their fair share of issues over the years. |
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Expert
Posts: 1561
Location: North of where I want to be | My 17 yr old is fairly low maint. no injections, no therapy...chiro once or twice a year. He gets the AE Detox on his feed and all the pasture time he can stand.....he stays pretty happy......BUT as life would have it I just bought an ulcer riddled, hi anxiety mess of a horse that has to have corrective showing do to an old injury and is likely going to make me broke trying to fix his issues. |
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 World 4D Champ
Posts: 28264
Location: PA | SmokinGirlie - 2017-02-27 2:03 PM My 25 year old. He just got Legend for the first time last year, he's been running since he was 6 with me and the past few years I handed him over to cousins to lightly compete. This will be the first year he isn't hauled consistently, but only for my leadliner <3. Obviously he has been on joint supplements etc., as a preventative but he's never been injected or lame.
They don't make them like him anymore!
That's how Willie is. He's 22 this year. Never been injected, never been lame, no joint supplements, etc. Pretty much hay, grain and rode....and im just now starting to leg him back up for this years season. |
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  Ms. Marine
Posts: 4627
Location: Texas | Neither of my mares have needed anything aside from the normal... floating, trimming, vaccines, occasional chiro. I keep them in shape and they're sound and happy. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 898
Location: Idaho | Nateracer - 2017-02-28 10:54 AM
Majorly depends on what you call maintenance.
Agreed.
Mine right now gets all the regular: Teeth floated, chiropractor when he needs it, feet done every 8 weeks, regularly dewormed and is due for his spring shots. I do feed him some grain and also 4 oz of Formula 1 Noni blue label, he is going on 6 this year and he doesn't have any soundness issues at this time. But the Noni helps keep his head on straight, joints lubricated and his body conditioned while he's on a grass pasture.
Edited by DashNDustem 2017-02-28 9:34 AM
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 Born not Made
Posts: 2931
Location: North Dakota | Mzbradford - 2017-02-27 12:51 PM Hey guys and girls. Just for fun- how many of you have a horse that has no maintenance?
I do not understand the question.
(I thought horses like that were unicorns!!)
Maybe I just have bad luck.....
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 I don't want to screw up!
Posts: 3881
Location: North Dakota -> Colorado | r_beau - 2017-02-28 10:55 AM Mzbradford - 2017-02-27 12:51 PM Hey guys and girls. Just for fun- how many of you have a horse that has no maintenance? I do not understand the question.
(I thought horses like that were unicorns!!)
Maybe I just have bad luck.....
HAHA! I agree, I have yet to find one that when hauling consistently that didn't need some form of maintenence (Chiro, Accupuncture, Massage, Injections, or something of the like) to keep them feeling as good as always. I just expect it, they are an athlete. All the professional human athletes have maintenence done on them, why wouldnt the equine athlete? |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 456
Location: SW MO | I think maybe I have just ran into bad luck too. Like I stated above, I have yet to have one that did not need some injection. So I was curious if that really is out there. Now, all I have to do is find one  |
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 Extreme Veteran
Posts: 403
Location: Armuchee, GA, NW section of Ga | Out of 6, three are on some type of maintenance for different issues.
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1165
Location: California | I have a pony the doesn't require maintenance, that's about it. Lol. Like seriously if he "thinks" about food he gains 10 lbs! My coming 5yrs old has decided to join his mother in running up my vet bills and requiring maintenance, which is really just making sure he is on a very simple feed program with THE MM and add ins to that mix to keep his stomach happy. My mare on the other hand is currently a pasture puff because of her issues (she is perfectly happy with her life of course). |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 668
Location: Upstate New York | Both my horse's that I am currently running are maintenance free. One is 16 and laid back, the other is 13 and a tad high strung. Both get run every weekend from one day to 3 day runs with trail riding during the week. Hay, grain, vaccinations, worming and chiro once or twice a year. That's it. Never sick, never lame. Guess I've been lucky all these years. |
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Extreme Veteran
Posts: 520
| Not me!! I have two confirmed with pssm and one suspected waiting for test results. Mine are just for looking at in the pasture and feeding lots of expensive supplements. One is somewhat rideable, but coming back from an SI injury so its just been 20 minute rides at a walk and some trotting and dealing with stomach ulcers as well. The other two are pasture pets. Only horse on the farm right now that doesn't require maintenance is my husbands big ol appy draft mix. |
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| We have one that is 21 years old that we have owned since he was 6. He has never had a joint injection of any sort. Never been on any supplements either. We laughed once when the chiro looked at him and said "This horse doesn't need any work at all." He is one in a million! Of course, I have plenty others that make up for his lack of vet bills.....UGH! haha :) |
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Just for kicks- How many of you have horses without maintenance?