What can you tell me about "buting" long term?

I took alot of bute and I can tell ya from experience that it messes with your eyes. It dries them out and feels like there's a fan blowing at your eyes. You can't keep them lubricated.

Never hurt my stomach. Are we talking about horses or people

Did you try visine?

I'm so sorry it's been a bad experience for you. There are good, honest people and horses out there, honestly! I'm very sorry to hear your first horse buying experience (I think you said this was your first horse) has been a poor one. I don't know the extent of the horse's problems or how deep of a mess you are in, or how attached you are (I know I would be) but if you can gracefully cut your losses and start over somewhere else that might be for the best. If you love the horse and want to keep him you might want to find a different place to keep him and a vet that looks our for you and your horse's best interests. The guy(gal?) you bought the horse from sounds like a weasel.

Why? Did the vet give YOU this advice? This is your horse correct? Why even bother worrying about the bute if this did not come from the vet??? Did your vet give you the ok to ride?

Perhaps you need to tell us the whole story? You have owned the horse for 2 months and you started him on bute (barn owner and vets advice) because he fell and banged his knee on a Saturday and after a couple of days he showed no signs of lameness or swelling. You continued the bute and rode him once on the trails for 40 minutes. He did not limp when you rode him.
If you have owned him for two months and you think he has been buted all along to hide issues you were not told about you need to have a talk with the barn owner. If he hasnt been buted other than when you say simply stop giving the bute, have the vet out and discuss your concerns with him about continuing bute and even if he says it is okay, agree to disagree with him and tell the person whom is feeding to discontinue Bute and call in another vet for a second opinion.
Bottom line is..he is your horse and it is YOUR decision. If you have purchased a horse with problems because you are new to horses and have been taken advantage of you will need another vet to confirm your suspicions and back you up. Maybe a new vet will even talk to the barn owner if he finds something chronic. Maybe you are worried about nothing, maybe not, but you need to follow your gut.

I have never given my horse bute. She saw he was in pain and told her workers to give it to him. She knows that I am new to horses and took into her own hands to make decisions for him. After I found out that he had been buted, I contacted her to see what was going on. She was worried about him, but seemed confident that he just needed rest. Less than a week later, he's back to himself. I asked if the bute would be discontinued and she said, "no, I still want him to have a little bit." I asked if he had an underlying issue that she was concerned about and she said, "no, he's fine". It doesn't add up. If the horse is fine, why give him a small daily dose of bute? She said that I could ride, but to be careful and keep a close eye on him.

The vet has never told me anything. He came out to give all the horses vaccines, three days after the hard ride and banged knee incident. She told me that the vet took a look at his leg ( I wasn't there at this point) and that the swelling had gone away. Every day he continued to seem better and better.

Why bute? I will have to get to the bottom of this by having an independent vet come out this week. There is so much politics involved with me bringing another vet on the property that I will pay for it somehow. I'll either be asked to leave the ranch or it will no longer be pleasant for me to be there. I should have listened to my husband and leased for a longer time. I just HAD to have him and now here we are. :(

Maybe there is nothing really wrong with the horse. That would be a great thing. (Getting your own vet is still a GREAT idea, otherwise you will always have this hanging over you. Wondering if he's okay, or if he's not. If the old owner is dishonest, etc.)

The barn owner seems very controlling though. If you end up having to move your horse it might just be the best thing that has happened to you. You should be able to find a much better place to board with a supportive environment.

It should be fun. There should be people there that love horses and are happy to help. Happy to ride with you and help you learn, etc. Even if the horse is totally okay, it doesn't sound like a fun place to board.

I would take the horse off the Bute and see how he is...

As far as Buting long term, I would think that it depends on what long term is- a week or more AND the dosage. If he was given a loading dosage for the first couple of days(depending on weight) then a maintenance dose for a few days after, I would take him off of it, have him re-evaluated by another vet and take it from there.
Not sure why the barn owner is feeling the need to Bute him twice a day unless he has quite a bit of pain and swelling or maybe she is splitting the daily dose in two?
How big is the horse and how much is being given?

If I am reading this correctly, the barn owner is practicing veterinary medicine. I am assuming that this is without a license but for all I know, maybe your barn owner is also a veterinarian.

I would take the horse off of bute. If he is fine, I wouldn't worry about it.
If he is lame, then you need to get him checked again.

It will be for at least three weeks. I think she was giving a loading dose and then maintenance. It sounds like he was having the highest dose for his weight for the first few days and then tapered off to a very low dose. I believe that he is only getting one dose a day. He's about 15.1 and to guess on weight, I would say about 1200. Wish I knew how much he was getting, but I (the horse owner) have not been privy to this information.

Trailhorserider- You are right. I have to have some knowledge or I'm going to drive myself crazy with constantly questioning what the deal is. Maybe he is perfectly fine. Maybe he isn't. I have to know, is the bottom line. This place does coordinate rides together and they are very helpful. I love the other boarders and they have been so good to me. It's been a lot of fun and I have learned so much. It's just this crazy bute thing. She's not even charging me for it. The reason I originally posted was to find out if this is even remotely normal. I didn't want to ruffle feathers if it was. My gut said no, people on the forum say no, and I visited another ranch today that also did not think it was normal. Seems to be a common theme. I honestly just thought that she was a very helpful person and wanted to do what was best for the horse. Maybe she thinks that she is.