Horse was purchased this past winter and has been sound for less than 30 days since. Vet found chips in a front leg and has said that removing may make things worse as there are just so many chips. Horse is young and playful but lame. Typically a 2/5 at a trot in hand but has days where looks sound in turnout. Prognosis as confirmed by several vets is that things will get worse and it is only a matter of when not if.
Personally I cannot afford lifelong care on this horse as well as my other. I am in no way looking to rehome this horse as I could never live with myself if something bad happened. Same issues with a free lease/ companion type thing. Horse is not a candidate for pasture board - stomping at flies makes things worse, heavy sweater/ gets hot easily, gets cold easily/ doesn’t grow much of a coat in winter, and needs hard feed to keep weight on.
I have been thinking about euthanasia for a while. I find solace in knowning that there would be a guarantee that this horse was loved until the end and did not suffer. On the other hand I feel like I am robbing a young animal of its life and taking the “easy” way out.
Quality of life has to be considered. Horses live in the moment. Euthanasia is by no means the worst fate. A dignified ending is a gift we can give when no other reasonable options exist.
Bone chips are painful. It’s not like a mechanical limitation in movement range that shows as lameness. Chips hurt! And they hurt because they are damaging the joint structures.
You know this. To put it in context - you do not have to keep a horse who is living in pain until the person driving past his field at 70mph thinks he should be euthanized.
It is in our power as horse owners to recognize when it’s never going to get better, and euthanize before the horse is enduring a life of pain.
Personally I would give him some little time to be a horse, and graze with his buddies and then euthanize. Age is not important when the horse is in pain.
(((Hugs))) to you. Even when it is right euthanasia is hard to do.
Time to be blunt with yourself. I’ll show you how.
-
How is it that you “can’t afford to support a horse for a lifetime” but can, it would seem, support one otherwise? Does this mean you have a budget for, say, 10 years of riding and then, no matter what, the horse turns back into a pumpkin and you quit? Or does this mean that you don’t want to write checks for an unsound horse for the next 20+ years?
-
I would not want to do that. I would euthanize. I would do that partly because of the amount of time involved “spending money for nothing.”
See? That’s blunt, but I am very frank with myself and I know who I am/what my values are. And that allows me to make tough decisions, with all the consequences involved. Those probably will include other people who disagree with my decision. But I don’t lie to myself about the difference between won’t/can’t and want/need. If I do that and, some day, want to come clean with myself, I’m going to feel enormous guilt. So I do the hard soul-searching ahead of time.
And I always do PPE exams as part of my hedge against having to do that Option 2, which I’d still do.
Good luck with whatever you decide. And it would make sense to me if you did that in private and never told folks you know will be nay-sayers what you chose and why. Unless they want to feed your horse for the next 20 years (and do that as well as you would), it’s none of their business.
I euthanized a horse shortly after his seventh birthday. He had a medley of issues, including neurological, that just weren’t going to get better. I figure I at least tried to fix him, gave him a chance and a decent life and even had some good riding months. And he’s not running around with pedal osteitis in a hard, hilly field, which he would probably still be doing if I hadn’t bought him. Not fun though.
Thank you all.
MVP - It is both can’t and won’t. This horse was supposed to be a sales horse but had a mysterious accident (supposedly did it in the stall but vet said it was impossible) about a month or two after purchase which caused the chips as best as we can tell. I had planned to sell or at least be able to lease this horse which I no longer see as as possible/ responsible to the horse. I can afford care on the other horse for life as she was my first horse and was bought with the intent to keep for life. She is also sound and could be thrown in a pasture, leased etc should I have financial issues. I do not want to put out between $500-1000 a month for the rest of this horse’s life for it to be moderately uncomfortable (not completely as it still plays in turnout) as that would financially limit me in several ways (buying house, new car, riding/ showing other horse). The horse has a wonderful personality and is liked by barn staff and those that meet it.
I guess I also worry that others will say that it was the wrong choice. I have never had to make this decision before (in any context nor have I seen it happen) and I will not wait until it is obvious that it is time as I don’t believe that is fair either.
I’ve always heard of the chips are less than 2cm in diameter the prognosis for recovery is quite good, bigger than that and your odds start to decline. I just had a mare make a full recovery with chip removal here in Wellington. Some of the best sport horse vets around- possible option for you?
If he hit the stall wall hard enough to chip bones, you would have noticed he’d had a bad accident and hurt himself . More likely they occurred over time in his past not a single, dramatic incident.
Feeling bad about ending a life of pain is misplaced. 2/5 is never going to allow him to enjoy things horses enjoy, he’s just going to hurt.
AppaloosaDressage - There are at least 4 small ones inside the joint and one VERY large one on the front. I have spoken with several vets all who say chance of coming sound post surgery would be around 10-20% and there is a much larger chance that the horse would be worse after as they would have to debride bone and disrupt/ possibly remove cartiledge to remove them all. Unfortunately 10-20% chance of slight improvement is not something I am willing to bet $2500+ and months of stall rest.
Findeight - There was a large wound (since healed) however I believe it was caused by getting kicked in the pasture but the BO (who I no longer board with) said they didn’t see anything.
I understand the need to ask about this and try to find validation from your peers, but it’s your decision and you know what is best.
You don’t need to tell anyone, much less explain your self. Haters gonna hate… Don’t bother.
It’s about the horse and you alone.
I would euthanize.
10-20% chance is essentially NO chance. I put a horse through surgery decades ago with a 60% chance - and it was unsuccessful (at UC Davis, with one of the top name surgeons in the region). And even he said (AFTER the fact:confused:) that 60% chance is very low odds for putting a horse through surgery.
Euthanisia is not cruel, it is not irresponsible. Do the right thing, let the horse go peacefully. Don’t kick yourself about it…
This 100%
This, I have a hard decision ahead, but have come to realize that it is my burden to bear. It will come down to what I feel best with in the situation, and it really doesn’t matter who agrees and disagrees…my responsibility, my burden. Vet is on side with whatever I choose, I have the summer to think, which is a long time…
Sounds to me like you know what you want to do… but you want everyone else to agree, too. That is unlikely to happen. All you need is the agreement of a vet and a few good horsemen whom you respect. I wouldn’t discuss this with anyone else.
I only posted about being blunt (and then how to protect oneself from the fact that lots of others won’t like that) because I am tired of people lying about the constraints they are under so that they can “have their cake and eat it, too.” That is to say, they’ll have their money, their freedom and a bit o acreage on the moral high ground that others who sacrifice that time and money (paid toward their long-retired horse) don’t get to enjoy.
I will say that most of us, myself included, spend lots of time and money on the first euthanasia candidate before we actually choose euthanasia. But here’s the thing: it’s all going to end the same way on that one very, very bad day, so just how long to put that off is a personal choice (assuming the horse isn’t suffering badly). And all this means that for some of us, the decision will come quicker the second time. Since you’re not in that spot, it’s going to take you some soul-searching to make your decision. Take the time you need (as the horse’s quality of life allows), keep showing up for him to make sure he feels cared for, and create your own “short list” of people whose approval you’d like. Everyone else is irrelevant.
There are far worse fates for a horse than death, and it sounds like he would likely end up experiencing them if he were sold. My personal rule is always that I will let them be as long as they can live in the field and still enjoy being a horse. Of course, I am blessed to be able to keep mine at home so I don’t need to worry about board or any other heavy expenses. It’s so tough to let go of one so young, but if he can’t enjoy life as a horse or you can’t afford to keep holding on to him, euthanasia is the most humane option. Hugs to you, it’s such A hard road.
I find for myself, I feel better about these situations if I take money completely out of the equation.
Even if you were rich, or if this horse was owned by a very rich friend who was willing to do whatever she had to for the horse, then what would you think about euthanizing? I think I would feel a-ok about it, whether it was mine or my friend’s, because the horse has a terrible prognosis and is not very comfortable now. I suppose you could give him a few months if you want, with the knowledge that euthanasia is what will be happening and the horse WILL get worse and with no expectations of the horse getting better.
You cannot support every unuseable horse that comes your way for the rest of their lives. If you sell or give him away, there is a good chance he will end up on a truck to the slaughterhouse at some point. In the wild, he would be taken down by predators. Euthanasia is the kind answer for him, but truly the most difficult answer for you. We all have to make that decision at some point if we have enough horses come through our lives.
I mean everybody has put their two cents in already but just in case it helps; animals don’t understand the concept of time, they only know the now so personally I would give him a few days to weeks depending on what you need emotionally to feel okay and then put him to sleep. There are far worse fates than going out peacefully, and I’ve seen a lot of animals suffer needlessly because people didn’t want to seem like they were giving up on them, and they all had to get put to sleep eventually anyways. But you’re going to have to make the decision you feel is right.
Best of luck with your decisions, I know it’s always hard to make.
I’m going through something similar (putting a young horse down.) I’m probably not the best for advice at the moment but I feel for you.
I do feel strongly about not rehoming horses that aren’t sound/have issues and are at risk. I do agree with your thinking as far as knowing he met an end with love rather than getting into the wrong hands.
​​​Hugs to you. I’m so sorry, I know it’s a crappy place to be.
OP is this the 6yo OTTB you posted about before?
