I'm in central Hungary. If you want to know where, get a map of the country, draw loads of lines from side to side, in diffent places, crossing in the middle....My house is where the lines cross!
Out here, working horses are ANCIENT at 12! 'Hobby' horses work into their teens. Youngsters are ridden at rising 3, but driven by the age of 2 in most places. No-one believes my Welsh D is 22 and I still ride and compete him!
To find a horse in it's 20's is very rare, usually a much loved and well-cared for family member. Our friend's stallion was 29 when he died. He was very famous, valuable, and VERY well looked after!
Helathcare depends on the vet! Our vet is fantastic, he's from Budapest, and has access to the Equine Hospital facilities, which include operating theatres, etc. He is excellent at diagnosis, he can spot a lameness which no-one else can, and I trust him totally with my horses.
The local vets leave a LOT to be desired. Of the ones I've actually used, one is very good with colic, and I would use him in an absolute emergency. One is OK when he's sober, and one is terrified of horses! (He had to give an IV injection, daren't do it, hid behind my trailer and let ME inject the horse!!!
Between the half-dozen local vets, they mis-diagonsed and incorrectly medicated my friend's horse to the point where when my decent vet got to see it, it was too late and the horse was PTS. The local vets had REALLY done a bad job! My vet said if he had seen the horse immediately, he could have solved the problem and cured it in one visit. Sad.
It depends on the finances of the owners here, really. Most horses in rural homes work. If they get COPD/ROAR or tendon injuries for example, they are sent for meat and 'replaced' with a healthy horse. Most times, it is totally beyond the finances of owners to 'mend' ill or injured horses, when meat money is so good, and there's a HUGE surplus of horses.
Thinking about feed and nutrition is 'old fashioned' and people usually use what's available - lucerne, corn, wheat, oats, sugarbeet, watermelons, bread..... etc!
Obviously you CAN go to the saddlery in Budapest and buy the equivalent of Baileys type feeds. We have a regular delivery from a feed supplier of mixes and pellets, and supplement our horses' feeds with oats.
It's still quite old fashioned in thinking and care in the rural places. Obviously, if you have a good vet (or have the SENSE to have a good vet) then it's much the same as the UK. The same drugs are available. We have ours vaccinated every year. (Many people have never heard of horse vaccines!)
The 'wealthy' owners treat their horses much as people in the UK do - some horses even have.....Turnout rugs!!
There's not a 'cruelty' problem....just re-wind the clock in the UK back 50 - 100 years, and think about working horses' lives and care back then. Think about what feed would be available in the countryside all that time ago. Think about horses pulling farm carts, and how long they would have stayed sound and able to work....It gives an idea how horses live in the rural parts of Hungary.
Hungary will catch up eventually, but let's say that veteran show classes here would include horses WELL UNDER 15!!
I hope this has been interesting. If you want any more info, please PM me, always happy to chat!
