We have an old backhoe, my hubs has buried many neighborhood dogs, and horses, helped pull horses (live) out of dugouts, deer (dead) out of dugouts and never once has charged for it.
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I’m not sure why you dragged up a long dead thread for this, but that’s nice of you.
Not everyone has that available. Most probably don’t.
Getting a guy out with a backhoe is expensive for many.
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Whoops sorry. I thought it was last month. My bad
After talking to some vets as a horse professional I believe part of the offerings of surgery and other crazy expensive treatments is not from a place to make money, but more because life here has gotten so litigious that they are worried if they make the call to euthanize and owner will change their mind and sue.
Not to say this was the case with you 33 yr old. And yes, I believe surgery at that point is crazy. But I have heard and witnessed interactions where the “life at any cost” owner prolongs the horses suffering. In my case it was a client with a horse whose DDFT had contracted so much it had pushed his coffin joint through the front of his hoof. 10’s of thousands dollars later the horse was euthanized after surgery and countless experimental shoeing techniques. Not one of the vets, surgeons or farriers would tell the owner the horse was suffering. I stepped in as the trainer with the hard facts.
The local vet who was managing the case told me the the horse should be euthanized, but he had to wait for the owner to request it for fear of being sued.
Again, not what happened with your horse. But I feel there is a movement for newer vets to not offer that final act of kindness.
My current vet team knows me very well. So if I have a colic at the farm I will call with vitals, and felt out say, this is not a surgical candidate, nor is ti something that will come down to the clinic for fluids. But they are an exception.
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