CB Sport Horses said:
If he's 25, arthritic and limping surely it might be best to retire him from showing and just keep him gently hacking out while he still can? Doping him up to continue showing isn't going to help in the long run.

Mediterranean said:
What about just retiring him? Obviously consult a vet and figure out if there's anything you can do to help ease his pain, but only do so with the purpose of granting him peace and not because you'd like to ride him again. If he's in pain when he's in work then perhaps it's time to let him retire, or only do hacks/trail rides and very light stuff instead of showing.

I mean, I don't know your horse or how he'd cope with being retired. As I've had old horses in the past who didn't like being in retirement and I ended up having to bring them back into work (usually blood types who'd been in intense competition for most of their lives). So I don't know if you've considered retiring him or not, but he's 25, has arthritis (which could maybe be causing the lameness?) and goes lame in work. I think you should retire him.

It's not uncommon for old horses to go lame in work. Especially ones with arthritis.

Yellowtail Ranch said:

Mediterranean said:
What about just retiring him? Obviously consult a vet and figure out if there's anything you can do to help ease his pain, but only do so with the purpose of granting him peace and not because you'd like to ride him again. If he's in pain when he's in work then perhaps it's time to let him retire, or only do hacks/trail rides and very light stuff instead of showing.

I mean, I don't know your horse or how he'd cope with being retired. As I've had old horses in the past who didn't like being in retirement and I ended up having to bring them back into work (usually blood types who'd been in intense competition for most of their lives). So I don't know if you've considered retiring him or not, but he's 25, has arthritis (which could maybe be causing the lameness?) and goes lame in work. I think you should retire him.

It's not uncommon for old horses to go lame in work. Especially ones with arthritis.

He is pretty much already retired. I mean, yes, we take him to a show every now and then if we think he can handle it and even then it's just the on-the-rail or trail classes. Plus, if I'm not lightly rising him every other day, he gets so stiff it hurts him worse.