ScreenRecording_06-03-2025 18-37-56_1
2 Likes
A horse just isnât meant to be a tripod. Poor baby, as he gets olderâŠ
7 Likes
That video was heartbreaking to watch. Iâm guessing thatâs the opposite effect itâs meant to have. Iâm probably supposed to feel joy at that three-legged colt racing around as best he can.
But what I see is a devastating fracture waiting to happen.
10 Likes
This has made me cognizant of the need to rip the band aid off and euthanize early when the prognosis is so poor. I mean - how can you fix only having 3 legs??? I think the longer the tragedy moves on, the harder it is to make the decision to let the animal go. I know, this is easier said than done.
26 Likes
Yup. The rescue I volunteer at just had to euthanize a horse whose owners should have euthanized him when the injury originally happened. I donât know the exact details, but I do know that his fetlock was apparently rebuilt with a lot of metal and a lot of prayer because it was suspected at some point that the metal wasnât going to hold anymore and it was going to start coming out. And thatâs what happened four years later, putting the horse through more pain. Basically the original owners couldnât make the decision themselves, so they left it for someone else to do down the line. He was such a lovely, sweet horse and he didnât deserve this. And this foal doesnât deserve what is inevitably going to happen either.
I get that choosing to euthanize is hard, but it is so very often the kind, compassionate choice.
9 Likes
I thought the foal looked pretty good and competent cantering around. Then he just about fell trying to stop, and walking looks extremely awkward. I wouldnât be at all surprised if he gets motoring one day and crashes when that one leg collapses as he tries to stop. 
11 Likes
Unfortunately metal hardware tends to come out over time. My cousin had some hardware in her ankle and had to have repeat surgeries later on, as the screws came loose.
Iâm sure the owner of that horse wanted to save it if they invested in surgery and metal implants. Thatâs not something to undertake lightly.
Thatâs a fair point. And I think if the owners had kept the horse or had been more involved in his retirement, Iâd be a lot kinder to them. But they pretty much immediately turned him over to a rescue and relied on the local jockey club to fund his retirement.
Thatâs just ghastly, poor animal. I couldnât bring myself to âlikeâ this post. 
4 Likes
Sort of a related story, a Chincoteague foal was born without a hoof on one leg, and has been adopted by a veterinarian to raise.
That is atrocious, what are these vets thinking?
7 Likes
Arenât these ones supposed to be wild, or close to it? What happened to letting nature do what nature does?
3 Likes
A subset of the âwildâ horse photograph groups will organize a campaign of harassment aimed at the park and individual employees. They do it all the time. Itâs lucrative and a lot of their followers are nuts.
The ponies are actually owned by the Chincoteague Volunteer Fire Dept, so they are responsible for their care.
9 Likes
Like @2bayboys said, the horses on that side of the island are owned by the fire department and the fire department does provide vet care if an issue is found before nature does its thing.
The other side of the island the horses are wild and let nature do what nature does.
3 Likes
I had no idea there were two sides of the island with different rules. The more you know!
11 Likes
Chincoteague in Chincoteague, VA - owned by the fire deparment and only viewable by certain platforms along hiking trails. No visitor access to their grazing areas. The horses are swam across the channel and auctioned once per year.
Assateague, Assateague, MD - the horses are âwildâ but are VERY friendly with the campers/hikers and have been known to roam through campsites looking for snacks, whether or not the humans are present in that particular campsite - and yep, all kinds of rules about âdonât feed or engage with the equinesâ.
All the wild ponies are on Assateague Island, but the ones who participate in the swim are on the southern end of the Island (the part that is Virginia) which does not have much public access. They swim across the channel to Chincoteague on Penning Day.
The ones in the Maryland part of the island are hard to avoid, at least in my experiences camping there. You have to pack your food better than you would in bear country as they are into EVERYTHING. And they werenât phased by my dog at all.
3 Likes
People are weird about the âwild horsesâ in all sorts of places. There was an incident of a BLM stallion who was in horrific condition, unable to move well, starving to death, and the BLM euthanized him with a bullet and people lost their minds.
The wild horses in North Carolina are monitored and do get vet intervention, although I was not impressed with their body scale when I was there a few weeks ago.
4 Likes
The VA ones are also coggins tested at the roundups, while the MD herd is believed to carry EIA.
3 Likes
