I’m so sorry you’re in such a difficult position. If he’s at all uncomfortable, I would spare him being hauled home. Sending hugs.
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I’m so sorry - it’s a tough decision.
This is a blunt question, but if you take him home and euthanize him there, can you make the arrangements to have him buried or taken away immediately? If you have him euthanized at the clinic, will they take care of the body once the necropsy is done? Sorry, but having just dealt with this issue (and not being able to get anyone locally to return calls on digging a large grave), it’s topmost in my mind at the moment.
If it were me, I would be tempted to let the clinic euthanize him now. I had a horse with somewhat similar symptoms several years ago (we never were able to diagnose him) and he unfortunately went down one day and required an emergency euthanasia. In the interest of his comfort, I’d seriously consider letting the clinic handle it.
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So sorry. If you’ve made the decision based on all the factors, I’d not bring him home. Horses can be brutal when they perceive weakness amongst a herd member. They may or may not welcome him back easily and happily for a last day.
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I would straight up ask the vet what his prognosis is. Set a dollar limit for when to say when. You’re already in quite a bit farther than many would be willing or able to go and have given him a more than a good chance.
Unfortunately it’s an economical decision to an emotional question and the answer is always difficult. I am very sorry you are going through this.
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I wouldn’t try to bring him home. I’d have the vets keep him as comfortable as possible there at the clinic. Then say your good-byes and let him be free of pain.
I am so sorry you’re faced with this, the most difficult and heartbreaking decision we face as horse owners. You’ve been an excellent Horse Mom. 
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Sending you hugs and prayers at this difficult time. I’m so very sorry. 
Unless it’s too late, have you considered steroids for the inflammation? That’s the only thing that turned my boy around.
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It’s not too late & we started that yesterday. Today he has cow pie poop! 
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My boy was on 28 tabs of pred twice a day for 2 months before we could reduce the dose. It saved his life.
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Jingles for your boy!!!
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A horse at the barn I ride at went in for a colic that turned out to be a rare infection in their digestive tract. The vets did a series of fecal transplants and this horse fully recovered. They thought they were going to lose this horse, it was a close call. Some of your symptoms sound similar from my outside perspective.
If this hasn’t been discussed, maybe worth an ask?
Good luck and jingles for you and your horse!
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Thanks for the feedback/advice. They have done at least 2 rounds of the fecal transplant. As of yesterday the steroids were helping as his muddy diarrhea had gotten back to cow pie.
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Just curious how soon did you see results? His poop is better cow pie & sometimes looser but today found out he’s refusing grain. Today is day 3 of steroids. In the 4 weeks this has been going on we’ve had some false hope (2-3 days back to cow pie, eating grain, eating hay like normal, etc) then back to before or worse.
Also any issues with steroids? Any side effects? He’s not started under saddle yet question will he be able to fully recover & be a normal horse?
A month. Maybe 10 weeks - my boy was BAD. Zero side effects or issues with the steroids - how much are you giving? He recovered, is back to his gorgeous self, and we are doing super work under saddle with no lasting problems, and no joke - he actively tried to die for almost a year before we went to steroids.
I think I saw manure changes after a few weeks. I certainly saw a brighter, happier horse.
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I did 14 days of fecal transplant - did not make a difference. I am confident it was because he was so inflamed that wouldn’t have solved the problem.
Did I already ask? Did you check stomach fluid for bacteria? That was our problem.
Hoping for a good update.
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Checking in - how is he doing?
Waiting for an update today. Started steroids 5 days ago. Poop changed to cow pie for 3 days then Wednesday night had some diarrhea.
Vet told me we’d see results in 2-3 days. In the 5 weeks of this diarrhea situation we’ve seen this before - going back to cow pie then back to diarrhea. There hasn’t been normal poop for 5 weeks. He still won’t eat grain which was one of the first signs 5 weeks ago.
Need to ask the vet if it’s working or not. I’m concerned. As I’ve spent about $12k on this I’m at my max. He’s still there as we’ve had snow & icy conditions since Saturday.
If it’s IBD what I have read it can go away for good after treatment, can come back, might no go away.
Right now his vitals are good as they’ve gotten his hydration & electrolytes in line & protein levels back. I just don’t want him to slide backwards & suffer.
Thanks for all the support <3
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First off, so sorry you’re going through all of this. You are a good horse owner no matter what you decide.
Second, I had an allegedly IBD dog on whom I also went well into five figures. She turned out to have stomach cancer. I ultimately let her go a day too late. If I were in your shoes, I would likely euth at the clinic and necropsy, and even if it was IBD with no cancer I would feel no guilt, because that’s a hard management story… but I suspect you will, in fact, find malignant neoplastia.
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Thanks for the reply and comments. As he is doing “better” cow pie poop for 5 days now (longest ever) and appetite is back for hay (not grain yet) I am brining him home tomorrow. As moving forward is not expensive, just inconvenient, I am going to see how he does. Yes, it could be something more (cancer) but I need to give him a chance - hell I’ve spent this much so far might as well spend the little money for steroids and see… If he does go backwards it will be a quick vet call and pts before he is slides down hill too fast. Yes, a necropsy would tell me exactly what happened and could be educational for the vet but at this point he deserves a fighting chance. They say Mustangs are hardy and I have not heard of other ones with these issues so fingers crossed it was just something that got his GI a mess and now he’s on the mend. I will update as we move forward.
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