The inconvenient heart horse

Okay, that’s fricking hilarious. I lost my “real” account somewhere around a decade ago with an email change. I have been AltersAreUs for literally 10 years now and I’ve been active on this board the entire time. But hey, you nurse whatever tin-foil hat idea you need to in order to do you.

Turns out, thinking that putting down healthy animals is immoral is NOT a fringe opinion!

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LOL. Ok I just saw this because I usually have this user on ignore but this is pretty funny. @AltersAreUs I guess we were thinking a little too alike! :rofl::joy:

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I know, right?!?! And “keep replying to” when I literally (before now for the pedantic amoungst us) replied to you once in this entire thread and if we’ve interacted before, I don’t remember it.

But hey, since we’re the same person, can I come ride your, I mean, our, I mean my horses cause both of mine are out of commission for one reason or another and I’m missing my saddle time desperately … it’s probably what’s making me acerbic!

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Any time friend! We live in Colorado btw. I guess you already knew that since we’re the same person and all though! :grin:

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Dammit, I am firmly and very publicly in New England. Not only do I not get to be you but I also still have no ridable horse :sob: :rofl:

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Or maybe that’s just what we want them to think! We’ve curated separate, seemingly different CotH accounts for years all for this moment to argue the radical belief that…

checks notes

“It’s bad to euthanize a perfectly healthy horse.”

Man, we’re good!

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Yup. The more I think about it, this makes sense. I think I read up-thread they had exams and health certs done so they were good to go. If I were B and “giving” minis to C, I would not bother with all that unless there was law (which I am not up on) saying I had to. I just hand her the minis and sign them over. I think she planned on selling all along and C was a back-up plan if sale fell through.

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This situation as it is told is incredibly sad. I agree with others and wonder if there is a part that we and the OP aren’t aware of. I would be loathe to pass judgment on the owner of those horses or even the associated parties unless those details came to light.

That being said I am firmly in the camp that an early death is a blessed kindness. I used to be horrified when I was younger when people put down seemingly healthy animals… but who are we kidding? These are horses. They are expensive. There is no such thing as a “perfectly healthy” horse. As they creep into their teens, they require maintenance – and we live in an age where monthly horse keeping approaches the cost of a monthly mortgage. I don’t envy anyone in the unpalatable position of weighing quality of life against longevity of life. I will say that minis in their late teens are not typically “perfectly healthy” in my experience - if they don’t have hoof and teeth problems they tend to be PPID or cushingoid.

I have owned many rescued horses over the years, working with local rescues here to foster out horses in bad situations… one is even still in my family’s front yard some 20 years later. We love him but he’s exactly the type of horse that would end up in a bad situation. If something were to happen to us, he is to be put asleep. Yes, we love him and he is a wonderful boy - but he is older (20s), he has a ton of maintenance needs, and he has needs that cannot be met in an average boarding barn. I think this is a kindness and not a cruelty to put him to sleep versus have him eek out a few more years untreated and/or unhappy.

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Great discussion about rescues.

Thanks for all the thoughts and input - the terms “inconvenience” and the fact that the minis were “inconvenient” were used by B repeatedly before all this began to unfold - and through all the plans. Her words, not ours. I would like to think that the minis were not PTS - but I doubt that a buyer materialized in the space of a few hours on Monday evening. C would have been happy that the minis found a good home if that was the case (and B would know that)… so why cut a good friend off?

There is a huge chunk missing here, I agree. I do not know what caused the sudden change of heart (and plans) in just a few hours. It is hard to understand why things went from thanks and gratitude and excitement that the horses would be loved by 4Hers and B might even come to the 4H show at the fair to watch them… to… this is when they are being PTS and I am never speaking to you again. With nothing in the middle of that.

The BO where B is boarding her last mini (she also hosts shows, clinics and has shown with B & C) says they are gone based on her conversations with B and Mr. B - as I mentioned. She reached out to us - we did not contact her (so no “stalking” involved - just concerned friends communicating). B told her they were PTS and it was too hard to watch or help. I can understand that part as I have often been the one who has helped with friends animals when they had to be euthanized. But yes, I have frustration and dismay that it happened despite the happy plans that were made. The BO said Mr. B’s claim to her (B was not around) that it was all rainbows and sunshine and the minis found a happy home for big $$$$$… was awkward and stilted and obviously a CYA thing - in her opinion. He did not know that they had already talked about the minis being PTS.

The BO knows them well… and is also very sad about the final solution. She is also very concerned about B. The Bs are moving into a new house as a nice upgrade… no financial issues were involved. They have entertained offers on the little farm for amazing money (B shared that) and will be just fine. So yes, the horses had to move at some point … and there were happy options and soft landings for them being planned and carried out.

ETA: @beowulf… these teenaged minis apparently had no hoof or teeth issues at this point. No signs of Cushings or IR. They would also be in the hands of caring people experienced in treating and managing such issues if/when they occur.

I do understand and agree that an early death can be a blessed kindness in some cases… but this was not really one of those situations.

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The very fact we are all so invested in this thread shows this is very unusual behavior for horse owners, and horrifying.

Just because the couple are financially stable after selling the farm, does not mean there are no mental illness or spousal abuse issues. The interpersonal drama and then the abrupt decision are red flags. B has been living on her own farm for a while, correct, not at a boarding barn? A lot of diminishing function can go unnoticed when people have their own property and a spouse to cover for them. Likewise, so can an emotionally abusive relationship.

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There’s no overlap between the IPs or other user information of the Equkelly and AltersAreUs accounts, so that line of discussion can be dropped.

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LOL, I think we got this.
Thank you for checking it out for sure though.
I wish I could buy you a beer, you guys have certainly earned it this past week.

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The fact that B’s husband told BO a radically different version of events than B did points to something going on that the OP, C, the BO have no way of knowing about.

Maybe B’s husband is violent & there was a new incident that made her change her mind about placing the horses in a home in which their whereabouts were known to him. Maybe he sold them or sent them to auction without her permission. Maybe B is experiencing a significant mental or physical health problem that they’re not ready to be open about to outsiders. Frankly, the sudden turn from “Here are my beloved horses” to “Don’t you dare darken my doorstep” is consistent with the behavioral changes displayed by the two people I’ve known with what turned out to be the earliest stages of dementia. Maybe she’s evil & he concocted a story & hustled the horses out of there. Maybe they’re entering the Witness Protection program. Maybe the horses were seized by authorities for some reason. Maybe they’re both just douche canoes. And so on. Nobody but B and (perhaps) her husband has any way of knowing the whole story.

Perhaps I missed something in one of the updates – was anyone a direct witness to the euthanasia of the horses? Do we know for certain they’re no longer alive? Even then there still could be something going on in B’s life that the OP & C are not privy to.

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I hesitated to weigh in on this, but - given the recent conversations we’ve had on this board about the general unavailability of vets right now, I have to question whether B could have scheduled a non-emergency euthanasia for 3 ponies so quickly.

My vets are always on call for an emergency, but this would take coordination and planning. Either B has an amazingly accommodating vet, or the appointment was planned in advance (and B never planned to give the ponies to C) - or the story is a total fabrication and the horses were not euthed by the vet at all.

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there are other means of euthanizing an animal though.

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I’m leaning towards that B either never planned on giving the horses away, and scheduled the euthanasia weeks ago, or she gave the horses to someone else.

I’m hoping (and slightly leaning towards) number 2. That’s because vets are real humans and I could tell you that of all the vets I’ve used, I could think of 2 vets that would willingly euth a healthy horse. All the others definitely would have refused. One of them I actually know of was in a similar situation and she arranged another client to come get the horse.

Now, there is one other option that I hope didn’t happen. Some hunts will buy your horses from you and put them down with a bullet. Then feed the meat to the hounds. It’s usually not much money at all, really pocket change, and it’s usually targeted for old horses who need to be put down and not young healthy ones. But that is a possibility.

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I think the reason there is such fascination with this topic is that the more information we get, the less things make sense (I’m not saying anyone is lying, btw, just that the information we’re getting thirdhand is so odd).

Mr. and Ms. B have a farm, have three minis they have apparently invested enough care in to keep alive for many years and shown, even to the point of getting colic surgery for the youngest horse. They sell their farm to downsize for a good price, in a planned and organized fashion. Still, Ms. B, like a Mafia don, refers to the minis as an “inconvenience” and doesn’t use connections or her barn owner boarding her other horse to find them a place in a meaningful fashion, until she finally makes an agreement with Ms. C to give them away for free.

This is something of a process, as Ms. C gets trailer repaired and functional again, but Ms. B raises no objections. Then, she refuses entry to Ms. C at the last minute. She tells her BO (according to the BO) that the minis were put down, while Mr. B says they were sold for a good price. She is still keeping her other horse boarded there.

In short, despite still being in horses, and despite being given a relatively easy out regarding her three on-property horses, she behaves in a manner that seems to be the most expensive and offensive way possible to burn bridges in a community that she seems to have every reason to keep.

The only possible way this might make sense to me is if the minis were sold for a high price (which she did not expect), and she was concerned Ms. C would come after them, claiming there was a verbal contract “selling” them to her. Even if Ms. C wouldn’t do that, maybe she might be afraid of losing money from the sale, and the husband was telling the truth.

Or maybe the animals had more health problems than she let on (I too am a little suspicious of any horse being “perfectly healthy,” I must confess).

Anyway, if there are any new updates, keep us posted.

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This is the part that gets me about this story. I don’t know of many vets in my area that would agree to do this if the minis were as healthy as stated to be. And I certainly have a hard time believing B found a vet to do an appointment that quickly when C was still planning to come. It’s all very odd and frankly a bit unbelievable. Not saying OP has made anything up, it’s just a very strange story all the way around.

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Which is why, in my post, I said ‘euthed by the vet.’ It’s possible that they were shot, sent on a semi to Mexico, etc.

It’s also possible that they went nowhere, and are still on that property.

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I’m voting for the Witness Protection Program. You almost caused a coffee-on-the-computer screen event :rofl:

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