The impossible situation -- Dangerous Horse, and Humane Solution

[jennholly]

A year or so ago, I had a decision to either put my horse down, or send him to the vet school. I was so upset about this decision, I could not be there when the vet came to pick him up.

The girl that sent him off for me, well, she kinda “talks” to the animals. She told me that he was going to miss me, but that he was going to work at the university, that his job here was done, and he had another job he needed to go to.

I doubt he’s still alive now, but I hope that someone learned something from his complications.

I fully support your decision, and I know you tried for so long to help him.

[LMH]

Goodness so many replies…thank you all soooo much for your thoughts and advice.

This is the most difficult decision I have EVER had to deal with in my entire life-at least as far as horses go-

You all have been warm, kind and thoughtful…and even offered some ideas I had not considered that could, in a sense, put a positive turn on a devastating situation…

I can assure you I would NEVER auction him or sell for meat—if I decide to go forward with euthanasia, I will definitely find a place that could benefit from the loss with post mortem studies as some of you have suggested. I had not even thought of that but it does help.

I slept terrible last night and ever since he came back home-as I mentioned the frustration is that he CAN have moments of being “normal”—then without warning (although I do feel I am getting a bit quicker at reacting) he is the Tasmanian Devil.

Again so many thanks…I have so much to think about.

Life is too short to dance with ugly men

[hitchinmygetalong]

I just want to add that this thread should be put on the “required reading” list. Though we are all united in our love for these splendid animals, this is a sober reminder that they CAN be dangerous, and some of them cannot be saved.

LMH has done us all a great service by sharing this experience, and I for one feel a great deal of gratitude towards her.

“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning to sail my ship.”
-Louisa May Alcott

[Schoolmarm]

I honestly believe that ANY animal can be mentally ill. Heck! I have a cockatoo who went into mourniing when my last boyfriend left. The bird pulled all his feathers out for TWO YEARS! A saw a clown fish try to commit suicide when his anemone died. We had to shock him to get him to stop. If creatures like those can be deranged even temporarily, then there’s no reason to think a horse can’t be as well.

It’s incredibly sad that you have to go through this. I like the idea of sending him to a vet hospital for study, if there’s one nearby who will take him.

Here’s a story that might make you smile through the pain . . .

A dear friend of mine, an older man who was a caring horse owner, discovered that his wife had been having an affair. He discovered this when she brought home a trailer load of truly strange horses after a “buying trip” out west that involved a lot of motel bills, if you get my drift.

One horse turned out to be completely blind, and was euthanized immediately. One mare turned out to be pregnant by an unknown sire. He kept her. The third was a badly-wired gelding who spent his days running in circles and into the side of the barn for no apparent reason. He couldn’t be caught, ridden, or handled in any way.

My friend realized that the horse had to get gone quickly before he killed someone, so he offered him to another gentleman in exchange for simply trailering him off the farm. It took the new owner and two helpers 20 minutes to corner the animal and wrestle him into the trailer. The trailer door was closed, and the new owner pulled down the driveway.

A few minutes later, the doorbell rang. There stood the new owner. In the driveway behind him was what was left of the trailer, the horse fighting his two handlers nearby for all he was worth. The man told the errant wife, “He needs a shot before I can get him back in the trailer.” She called her husband, and they agreed to whatever the man wanted to do. The fellow walked to his truck, pulled out a shotgun, and shot the horse through the brain. He stuffed the carcass in the trailer and left.

The moral? Some horses just can’t be dealt with. Move on, and learn from this experience.

[CdnRider]

<BLOCKQUOTE class=“ip-ubbcode-quote”><font size="-1">quote:</font><HR>There are just too many nice horses out there <HR></BLOCKQUOTE>

I think that sums it up quite nicely.

[LMH]

Elli Baby

To answer your questions-no is he not like this because he is lame. He has been sound his whole life until about two months ago-he came up with a hitch in his getalong that comes and goes-he appeared to be getting weaker…this concern was really not the lameness itself other than the fact the his behavior prohibited a lameness evaluation to determine what was wrong with him.

A few other fascinating stories…

3 years ago, barn help was bent over scrubbing a pasture bucket… he was in the corner of the field. When he saw her he “attacked” her from behind, reared up and landed with both front feet in the middle of her back. He knocked her down in the mud by the bucket…she was briefly knocked out and her 9 month pregnant daughter had to pull her to safety.

I was trying to teach him to longe in a round pen. He would not back off me… I tried to shoo him…encourage with a whip (not beat mind you) and he became so angry that he reared struck and came down on my foot as he charged me with his teeth…because he landed on my foot and i went to back off him and fell backwards—thank goodness because he missed my face with his teeth by inches. He then trie to trample me when a friend jumped in the pen and got him off me.

I was going through his pasture to get a horse to ride one day…walked by him and petted him. He seemed fine. After I passed him he grabbed me by my hood, picked me up and slung me like a ragdoll.

Barn help had countless countless bruises from his bites-granted the man was older but IMHO should not be subjected to this.

I was picking his stall one night and tried to move him by bumping him over with the fork (easy again mind you), he turned faced off to me and boxed me in the corner of the stall…when I moved one way he would jump that way—think of a cat cornering a mouse…

If you worked with him with a longe whip and whipped it back and forth fast to keep him off you he would hunker down and watch the tail of the whip—he would catch the tail in his mouth then square off at you, squatting like a cat ready to pounce.

These are just the hilights of the last 3 years…pretty dang fascinating huh???

I sent him off the first time for 30 days-within 2 weeks of being home he was “back” to this behavior.

Second time to a cowboy for five months

Decided home was a better place so he would learn to deal in this environment…still no predictable behavior. had two or three trainers try with him over several months.

Sent off last time for five months again.

Truly an amazing list of events.

Life is too short to dance with ugly men

[LMH]

The decision

I was very hesitant to share my choice because I was/am so fearful of ridicule…however with so much warm support I will do so…

Also I don’t think it is healthy to hide my choice in that I thought about it-for 3 years now and hope that my decision may help someone else in my situation.

yesterday he was placed at a local veterinary school with the complete understanding that he is dangeous.

In this program the horse is put under and an intern is permitted to perform a “mock” surgery while students observe and learn. He is then not brought out of the surgery.

This surgery took place this afternoon.

The intern that performed surgery on my two year old to remove bone chips was able to practice a surgery that he will need once he is full practice. The students on the team that took care of my horse were able to observe.

If possible he will then be used in a post mortem study.

I feel this was the best choice in that he was able to contribute to the future well being of other horses.

Once I realized that some horse at some time in some place was likely used for the surgeon to learn the bone chip surgery performed on my young horse, I was able to find peace in this decision.

Resolute March 23, 1997-April 8, 2002. May he find the peace in his death that he could not find in his life.

Again heartfelt thanks.

Life is too short to dance with ugly men

[Melzy]

I agree with all the other posts saying to put this dangerous horse down. What is the point of him and you being miserable? You have done everything that you could for him and you should take pride in yourself. To me its a no brainer situation. Continue to be responsible and do the right thing before he has the chance to harm anyone. Both of you will be better off. I’m sorry you have to go through this.

[rescuemom]

LMH, I applaud your courage, not just in doing the right thing for your horse, but in posting about it. I’ve been through the same thing with a rescue horse this year. We’d done all we could do, given her time and patience and everything else we could think of. Nothing worked. Our vets refused to get near her. And we were exceedingly lucky that no one was seriously hurt while she was with us. Necropsy results gave us no information on why she was the way she was.

I’m sure this wasn’t an easy decision for you to make. But I think it is shows exemplary horsemanship that you handled the problem the way you did.

Just in case you need one: {hug}

[Sandbarhorse]

LMH,

I’m so sorry that you had to go through this! I’m certain that you did the right thing.

I too have seen only one horse that I would classify as “dangerous” and he was put down after severely injuring 3 professional horse trainers (and I don’t mean the type that puts an ad in the paper and says they’re a Pro.)

Thanks for sharing your experience and decision with us!! You have a lot of courage and the brains to keep a bad situation from becoming worse!

[mvoght]

Unfortunately, you have two choices. IMO

Put him down and have his carcass hauled off or buried.

Sell him at auction, less coggins to ensure he goes to the “meat man”…or get him to the plant yourself if that is your choice.

Then, do not post your choice to a public board, you will get flamed. You will get some support, but the flames will be there, telling you that you didn’t try enough, or didn’t do some alternative medicine, or this or that.

[system]

Simply wanted to add to what so many others have expressed. What an admirable, ethical decision you made. Resolute was fortunate to have an owner who was able to act so courageously and unselfishly in the face of an incredibly difficult situation.

[DMK]

LMH

I love horses. There are many horses whom I think are far better than people whom I have the displeasure to have known. But the bottom line is that than no horse is worth more than a human life, and if a horse endangers a human life in spite of every advance of training philosophy and medical technology, then we may have to accept that this is our failure, but so be it…

A University donation may be the best option available.

[I]"You can pretend to be serious; you can’t pretend to be witty. "

• Sacha Guitry (1885-1957) *[/I]

[InWhyCee]

LMH, you could have not have made a better decision in this case. Happy to see so many people agree, and I hope this thread is left up for a very long time to inspire others.

I lost my first horse to cancer. He spent several days at a state veterinary school before we brought him home for the last time. In retrospect, I wish I had the forsight to have donated him to the school, as you did with your horse.

---

“It is by no means the privilege of the rider to part with his horse solely by his own will.” – Alois Podhajsky

“Go on, Bill… This is no place for a pony.”

[Chanda]

I don’t know if I can or should ask this but- I was wondering how you got this horse? Did you know he was a problem horse or was it a surprize?

I am just curious because I have a very difficult horse too (not nearly as bad as yours). He was perfectly normal for the 4 months I leased him but once I brought him home he changed. It was weird.

Bowed tendon: 74 days down, minimum 16 days to go.

[lisa]

So I guess LMH is officially out of the Invisible Posters Clique.

Seriously, though, I know LMH and I know how well she cares for her horses. My heart goes out to her at what I know is a difficult time.

(lifting up my beer:) Here’s to Rezzy. He couldn’t have had a better life when he was here.

[Evalee_Hunter]

Retardation? Mental illness? Why not horses? What about cerebral palsy?

I have not personally met a horse like the one in this thread but I have certainly met some horses that didn’t seem to be “all there”.

Some friends of mine had a QH, a nice looking filly. Some days she seemed fine–a trainer rode her & said “she is just green”. But she wasn’t really rideable or trainable–she just never seemed from one day to the next to respond the same way. (This horse, like the one I wrote about previously, came from NH auction. Buyer beware.)

I have heard of a number of other horses like this.

Probably the best solution, if there is one, is to contribute the horse to a vet college (if one will take the horse). Just be sure he will not be sold on to the public, since that is what happens to some research horses once they are no longer used in research.

There have been threads on horses having panic attacks, which can also be very dangerous to horses & to humans.

[hitchinmygetalong]

Another vote for euthanasia.

I would not let this horse leave my property alive. Why? I would want to be absolutely sure he would not end up in some unsuspecting person’s hands. If he ended up seriously injuring someone, or even killing someone, I would never recover.

If you decide to donate him to a Veterinary College for post-mortem studies, go with the horse and be sure he is put down.

You have given this horse every chance, you have been a good and proper caretaker. Please don’t feel guilty for having to make this decision. You must do the right thing, and in my eyes there is only one way to go.

Good luck. Please let us know what you decide.

“I am not afraid of storms, for I am learning to sail my ship.”
-Louisa May Alcott