Thunder Gulch Dead ..

[findeight]

Mentioned this on another thread…many long time horsemen prefer to let them go when they start having problems getting around due to chronic pain or trouble rising unassisted, require constant meds, repeated choke, colic or infection from wearing or missing teeth or trouble holding weight. It’s also hard to realize what they feel as their senses are failing, The ribby appearance noted in TG is not normal in a healthy senior with everything still working. No doubt there was a cause and no doubt it’s their business, not ours, specifically to avoid having to defend their decision to cyber doubters and accusers demanding proof. In the old days end of life decisions were accepted as part of the journey of horse owning and managing and privacy was respected.

We tend to wrap up our memories in animals who saw us through a good part of our lives and see through those memory tinted rose colored glasses. Not really through the eyes and feelings of an aging animal that doesn’t understand why they don’t hear and see so well, may not taste things well and hurt all the time or get the unpleasant, scary vet visits.

Far as life span, if as many lived as long as some seem to think they do, the Equine insurance companies would continue to mine that market for fat profits instead of stop offering anything but minimal, capped coverage, if that, in late teens. They have statistics to back up that decision.

Mines 27 and starting the slide. I won’t wait until it lies dying in pain at an inconvenient location and time or starts getting ribby. That would be for my memories with the horse, not the horses best interests. No owner or manager needs to defend that decision.

[Pronzini]

@Maythehorsebewithme

If I recall correctly,I remember reading American Pharaoh was first turned out next to Thunder Gulch, so that the quieter older TG would keep the younger guy a bit more settled. This sounds like TG was maintained in a top-rate environment, not shuttled off to a less than stellar part of the farm.

There is no “less than stellar” part of Ashford. It is an amazing farm.

I’m confident that the decision made for Thunder Gulch was well considered and a kindness. He was really beloved by the owners of the farm and the staff.

And that’s all they need to share IMO.

[Dani]

I agree with the others, 26 is a good age. I had a TB recently pass at only 18. She was relatively healthy, had been underweight, but was coming back nicely. No soundness issues, full of energy and life. Pulled her up one day from the pasture, she had a little trickle of blood from her nose. Took her to the vet and she had a tooth that could have been going bad. Got antibiotics and went home with a clean bill of health otherwise. Pulled her off the trailer and she was gone in under half an hour. Massive aortic hemorrhage in to the abdomen. Nothing to do with her tooth. No warning. Called the vet and she was shocked as her vitals looked great and heart sounded good while we were at the clinic. Some people consider 18 old. She lived a pretty good life, but wasn’t meant to last beyond 18 I guess.

[merrygoround]

Up until a very few years ago fewer horses survived into their mid twenties. Twenty six is a generous life span. Ponies tend to live longer.

[RPM]

Actually Thunder Gulch was 25, not 26, when he died.

[skydy]

@Brigid

Yet AGAIN another ‘pensioned’ stallion dies of ‘due to the infirmities of old age.’
Really? He was only 26! MANY horses go on to live LONG lives!
WHY have so many of these pensioned-but-not-VERY-old-stallions being euthanized?
I guess I’m missing something here, having personally known some riding horses from same person/farm that lived to be: 35, 29, 36, 30.5.
https://www.bloodhorse.com/horse-rac…der-gulch-dies

Yes, you are definitely “missing something” here. Perhaps you have personally known “someone else’s riding horses”
that lived past 26. You have obviously never kept a horse (let alone a breeding stallion) from a young age until death.

Why are you yelling in capital letters as if there is some stallion killing conspiracy? Most everyone who has kept horses long term has had to put a horse down due either to acute illness or “old age” . Some horses are OK as doddering oldsters, when they can be kept out of pain. Others are temperamentally unsuited to restrictions and suffer terribly.

Your uninformed insinuations are an affront to the stallion handlers and veterinarians that are dedicated to the well being of these animals as well as to their owners. Why not ask a few questions instead of going off the deep end about a subject you are not familiar with?

I’ve “personally” known a horse that lived to be 36.

I’ve also had to put one of mine down at 18.

[Pronzini]

@RPM

Actually Thunder Gulch was 25, not 26, when he died.

No by TB convention, he was 26–doesn’t matter what actual day he was born.

[Brigid]

@skydy

Yes, you are definitely “missing something” here. Perhaps you have personally known “someone else’s riding horses”
that lived past 26. You have obviously never kept a horse (let alone a breeding stallion) from a young age until death.

Why are you yelling in capital letters as if there is some stallion killing conspiracy? Most everyone who has kept horses long term has had to put a horse down due either to acute illness or “old age” . Some horses are OK as doddering oldsters, when they can be kept out of pain. Others are temperamentally unsuited to restrictions and suffer terribly.

Your uninformed insinuations are an affront to the stallion handlers and veterinarians that are dedicated to the well being of these animals as well as to their owners. Why not ask a few questions instead of going off the deep end about a subject you are not familiar with?

I’ve “personally” known a horse that lived to be 36.

I’ve also had to put one of mine down at 18.

I am sorry I was mistaken about this; I didn’t consider the wear & tear on a breeding stallion.
Also I apologize for “yelling.”
I can’t seem to get through my head that caps = yelling on internet, not “emphasis,” which is what I’ve always used it for.
Again, very sorry about blundering yet again.
Guess maybe I should just read and shut up?

[Toblersmom]

@skydy

Others are temperamentally unsuited to restrictions and suffer terribly.

Just wanted to highlight this point because I think it gets lost all too often. One oldie may be just fine hobbling about with restricted range of motion due to arthritis, and medication may be enough to keep the pain tolerable. Another may have the exact same condition to what appears to be the exact same degree on x-rays, and be horribly stressed by the lack of mobility or in clear pain that medications don’t control adequately. One oldie may sometimes have a hard time getting back up after laying down, and be perfectly content to lie there and wait for a little assistance. Another may go into a flailing, hysterical panic when that happens, beating himself up and exhausting himself in the process of trying.

Not that this specific problem (regarding stalling) is likely to be an issue in a racehorse, but some years ago I was in Northern California and there was a back-and-forth in one of the local equine trade magazine things about a Big Name pensioned QH stallion. Somebody had written a letter to the editor after visiting the farm and given a tour, and expressed their horror that this living legend was being treated shabbily. He was in a smallish dry-lot paddock with a run-in shed. Letter writer wanted him to be in a box stall with grassy pasture turnout. Stallion owner responded that he had been born, raised and kept as a working ranch horse and box stalls made him anxious. He had insufficient teeth left to chew, so when he had been out on pasture he had several episodes of choke. He was lively enough he’d still try to run fence lines in a bigger paddock, but arthritic enough that he would suffer terribly afterward, so they kept him in a smaller area. Then the letters started coming in about how if he was that badly off he should be put down, etc. The owners were doing their best by their old man, who they clearly knew better than any of the railbirds writing letters, and they still couldn’t please everybody.

[Pronzini]

Years ago, I was privileged to visit a farm in Kentucky that had a number of famous geriatric retirees among its stallion ranks. These horses were never shown to the general public but because a friend of mine had a personal connection with one, he talked us in for a visit. I recall distinctly having to leave the camera in the office. I soon found out why. If the average stallion in Big Farm Kentucky is primped and buffed like the expensive movie stars they are, these horses were like old guys in bathrobes watching football on the couch. They were perfectly happy–hell there were 4 of them in their 30s- but if they didn’t like their manes combed, it didn’t happen. If they didn’t want a bath, that was good too. None of them got their whiskers trimmed and I don’t think any of them had seen clippers in about a decade. They just got to hang out and be in a quiet remote corner of the farm.

But these were well known horses and if a picture of someone’s idol wearing a beard like a goat made it to the Internet, I can imagine the carrying on.

[skydy]

@Brigid

I am sorry I was mistaken about this; I didn’t consider the wear & tear on a breeding stallion.
Also I apologize for “yelling.”
I can’t seem to get through my head that caps = yelling on internet, not “emphasis,” which is what I’ve always used it for.
Again, very sorry about blundering yet again.
Guess maybe I should just read and shut up?

No, you don’t need to shut up. You are obviously upset that some well known race horses have been euthanized at what you consider an early age.

If you phrase your concerns about these stallions being put down so they don’t come off as accusations of disregard for the lives of horses, against people about whom you know nothing, you will learn that most breeding stallions are very well loved and cared for.

You will feel better knowing that these horses are cared for by excellent horse people and thus will not insult the people who have, in many cases, cared for those horses for decades and know when the horse is suffering. They are heartbroken to see their horse’s health deteriorate, just as any one of us is when we have an old horse that we have loved come to the end of their life.

If you are worried it’s fine to ask, just don’t accuse right off the bat.

[Brigid]

@skydy

No, you don’t need to shut up. You are obviously upset that some well known race horses have been euthanized at what you consider an early age.

If you phrase your concerns about these stallions being put down so they don’t come off as accusations of disregard for the lives of horses, against people about whom you know nothing, you will learn that most breeding stallions are very well loved and cared for.

You will feel better knowing that these horses are cared for by excellent horse people and thus will not insult the people who have, in many cases, cared for those horses for decades and know when the horse is suffering. They are heartbroken to see their horse’s health deteriorate, just as any one of us is when we have an old horse that we have loved come to the end of their life.

If you are worried it’s fine to ask, just don’t accuse right off the bat.

Thank you.