I am struggling tonight. I just got the email last night that my much loved, wonky for most of his life, four year old gelding (Arnie) isn’t a candidate for arthrodesis surgery.
I brought him home as a 2 week old very sick orphan with severe infections in his knees and hocks and a temp of 104. Thought he would die, but he pulled through with intensive care and he has been an absolute joy. Last winter I noticed him moving “off” and his knees were pretty swollen. Rads of his knees were clean, we decided he may have fell on the ice and to give him some time. By summer he was very hip high, and vet said turn him out and let him grow. By fall, his movement was more off, and he was occasionally short striding on his left hind - grade 1 lameness left hind. New rads on his stifles were clean, I was told to work him and try to strengthen his back. Instead I turned him out for his 3 year old year. This winter he was noticeably short striding on his left hind. I took him up to Littleton Animal Hospital for answers. They diagnosed grade 3 on his left hind. Rads of his hocks showed significant osteoarthritis of the distal intertarsal joint on his left hock and minor on his right. His joints basically look like shark teeth on rads. We injected him (really tight in the space so limited use and no visible changes), did a course of Adequan (no change in movement) and tried a daily equiox.
It’s 4 months later. He’s 16.1, off on his hind left, and getting more and more unpredictable. My very sweet, run to meet you in the pasture, let you sit on him bareback and putz around in a halter in the arena boy is now pinning his ears almost constantly and needs to be watched when you are in the pen with him. I reached out to Littleton’s surgeon to see if he’s a candidate for surgery… he’s unhappy and hurting and pain meds aren’t helping. Her response was that because he has lysis (where the bone has been eaten away), his bone is too weak for drilling and he risks bone collapse. In addition, there appears to be additional arthritic changes in his proximal intertarsal joint and this is a difficult area with poor prognosis. His left hock is failing him, docs are pretty sure the infections he had as a baby contributed or caused this - but who knows. I’m heartbroken.
To make matters worse, Arnie’s best friend and pasture mate is my 21 year old gelding Sheriff. He also has arthritis, his in his hind pasterns and fetlocks and it’s severe enough you can see the bone growth on his pasterns. He’s on daily equioxx, does Adequan and SI injections to keep him comfortable, but he’s having more trouble getting up and his back is sore to the point that he’ll threaten to kick (but never would, he’s a gentleman) upon pressure on his back and hip…Sheriff has worked his entire life, and after taking my teenage kid to championships we retired him last year when he told us he was too sore to be ridden anymore (save ponying a kiddo around the pasture on occasion). I thought we’d have more time for him to get to just be a horse.
I am trying to gain peace with the idea that putting them down together is the best thing for both of them. They are my only horses on the property, and they are very bonded. Both have no chance of recovery, both need constant pain management, and that pain management isn’t keeping up with their needs. Putting Arnie down would leave Sheriff alone and he would absolutely panic, but putting my last two horses down seems so final. Starting over seems so daunting, but not having horses in my barn seems unthinkable. I’m absolutely gutted.
Attaching pics because it feels right. Thanks for letting me tell our story.
