I think this sucks.
I too wonder if there is more to this story. Not that the OP is holding back on us, but that B has something going on that the OP and C do not know about.
I also find it weird that C had so much trouble finding a rig to go pick up some emergency re-home critters. I can totally see after the several extensions and then the last ‘tomorrow’ call being the straw that broke the camels back in the whole re-homing front.
The truck and trailer needing to be repaired doesn’t strike me as off.
Who knows how far this trip would be or the road conditions. Trailering on a good day is dangerous.
C was coming well before the “last day” B set.
What’s the problem there?
I agree, B may have an “if I can’t have them, no one will” mindset.
I have heard others say this. And as an additional thought, not knowing the parties: Perhaps B was feeling guilt about passing on three horses that she herself couldn’t/wouldn’t care for. Horses are not cheap, sh*t happens, lives change,etc. Transferring the burden to someone else is not necessarily a good personal solution to live with.
Was the whole thing weirdly handled - yes it certainly appears so. But IMO there is always more to the story, and I cant fault B for the euthanasia decision itself.
Edited to add: not that it maybe matters but C was a long trailer ride way - said she would leave in morning and be there late afternoon/evening. Then had a return trip. Big time commitment. So yes you want the truck and trailer working. And I know several people who have been or are waiting for parts to get vehicles fixed. That whole supply chain issue. So maybe she really does have her sh*t together…
The situation where she agreed to give them up but then reneged aside…
I’m pissed that anyone thinks that because an owner would rather guarantee that the end of life of her animals was with dignity - ie, euth - instead of giving them away to someone… that that somehow makes them selfish.
It makes them selfLESS.
It would be cheaper to give away the horse. Knowing that a troubled animal didn’t end up starving in a field is being a GOOD owner, not a bad one. “Hey, I’ll take Dobbins” person might not want Dobbins in a year. Then what? The original owner has no say over what happens at that point.
How asinine and short-sighted to say that someone taking the onus on themselves to ensure an end with dignity is a selfish person. Speaks more of them personally than the horse-owner, by FAR.
Truck AND trailer need work to be able to haul 3 minis, and the work was able to be done in a short frame of time…
Ehhhhhhh… sounds like C was procrastinating on getting necessary work done.
I think this does matter and explains the difficulty in getting a rig to use. It is easy to find someone to truck for you when it is a couple of hours of invested time and miles on their stuff. Not so easy when it is far away.
I guess I was confused because I thought C was the farrier for B so I assumed within a reasonable distance.
Okay but honest question if you’ve thoroughly vetted someone and they have the means and perhaps the discretion to euthanize if things go sideways …. With 3 healthy minis without a bunch of problems is that not thinking only you can care for something. Like some rescues do. Where they don’t believe anyone can care for or love something to their standards. I am that unicorn. I took in a friends horse who wanted to unload it on Craigslist or euthanize. He lived 7 more years. What he looked like when he came and what he became.
He was 35 years old when I euthanized him. He was having trouble getting up.
We’ve spoken before that you are an (amazing!!) rare case, as far as homes go.
But even you can get into a car accident and get killed. Then what?
Well then my husband or my daughter carries out my wishes. And cares for my dogs and my cats and my horses and if they can’t then theyre humanely euthanized. I understand your point I really do. I just wonder about the additional time these animals could have lived.
I guess the linchpin would be how much I trusted the person and their contingency plans.
And I don’t think a kind end is in and of itself is the wrong choice. I just weep for the potential of more good years. Perhaps it’s my bleeding heart. Without knowing all the parties and their background it’s really hard to say who is right or wrong. Maybe there’s no right or wrong. I don’t know
I hear what you’re saying. But without a friend with good contingency plans, what really are the “safe” options for the horse? They’re quite limited, unfortunately.
How many times on this board do we piss and moan when someone comes here and says “I gave (or sold) my horse to XYZ, and they have now 1) been mistreated, or 2) been sold, or 3) been given away”? And the response is always the same- unless you own them you have no control. Other than selling or giving a horse away, the choice is euthanasia.
Even the title of this post is annoying. How do you know it did not break this woman’s heart to put her gelding down, yet she saw it as the “right” thing to do??? What else is going on in this person’s world that they are experiencing huge life changes, such as selling their farm?
If the owner decided to use euthanasia, that was her choice. Did she go about handling it in a crappy way? Yes, but you also do not know what drove her to this decision. Would someone putting off picking animals for 10 days stop me from giving the animals to them? Potentially, as I would question their ability to get other things done as well.
Why can’t we offer a little grace to someone, who in the end, did right by their horses? She didn’t offer them for free on Craig’s List, she didn’t run them to a sale. She took care of them until she no longer could.
This is no different than a seller deciding not to sell to a perspective buyer, except there was more emotions involved.
ETA: If I were called by someone the day that was the deadline of when the horses were supposed to be picked up and telling them you would be there the next day, after the deadline, would have been more than enough to annoy me. The deadline was moved 3 times! This shows me someone is not ready to take these horses.
Plus, do you realize you inserted yourself into this woman’s life, without being asked? And she is then asked repeatedly to wait longer for them to be picked up?
And - it was MORE expensive for the owner to do it this way. She didn’t cheap out on them…
I agree with the poster who said if someone tells you to come get the horses, you do it that day. My truck has been in the shop for 3 weeks now (parts!), but I have the numbers handy for 2 different places to rent one and a friend I could borrow from if needed. Waiting 10 days after B showed she was acting a little irrational was the wrong move.
Still, I don’t feel like B was wrong. They were hers to do with what she wished. I am leaning towards there is more to this story, and that B ultimately sold them instead of giving them away. But, I would not fault her for euthanizing either.
That part stood out to me too. I don’t know exactly what I’d do in OP or Cs boots, but I can definitely understand the urge to do that, and in yhat situation I just might have. I can’t say B’s behavior would not warrant it.
I’ve had this discussion with those close to me, since I am unmarried and live alone. @ThreeWishes has as well. It doesn’t mean that I shouldn’t get more horses (I freakin messaged someone about a horse this very morning, knowing my barn is full, but the bloooooodlines omg and she has to foal out and wean before leaving anyway). Heck my job increases my chances of sudden departure from the breathing, but I still gotta live my life right 
Yeah this put me off. If you own horses, it is downright irresponsible to not have a rig that can be up and running in a short span of time (my probably elitist personal opinion, obvs), and was the part that bothered me reading the OP. If the truck and the trailer are so neglected that neither work? That is a yikes for me, as said. I can understand maybe the trailer sat and a mouse ate the wiring, but neither were able to get rolling in two weeks? To me that says (not knowing C obviously) that regular maintenance and checking-of-things gets pushed back - so how often does the farrier come out, the barn roof get looked at, teeth get done, etc etc. Again not knowing C. For all I know she has two other cars and never shows or goes anywhere so the truck and trailer sat for three years, though I find it odd because C has 4Hers who will use at least one of the minis? How does one do 4H without trailering?
Interesting situation and my first reaction was the same as cutter99’s, how many times on this board has the general consensus been it’s better to know exactly what is going to happen to your horse and euthanizing rather than send them out into the world and hope for the best. I am also of the opinion that is there is absolutely more to this story than what OP is aware of. Who knows what it is but I feel sure it’s not as black and white as depicted.
It’s sad but at the end of the day they were animals, they have no idea they could have had many more years ahead of them, they had a painless ending and as we all know, there are much worse fates than that to be had.
BTW OP, you were lucky B only told you to eff off and hung up. Had it been me, it would have been much, much worse. They were not your horses or C’s horses, and it was not your business to stick your nose in!
Especially when you basically describe this person as a friend of a friend!
Would YOU want someone calling YOU and telling YOU what to do with YOUR horses???
No??? I didn’t think so!
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