I want to bookmark this, because it seems that it’s a bit of a COTH tradition that whenever someone is struggling with the decision of if and when to euth, there’s always a poster who suggests it’s terrible to even consider, murder, etc., and the owner should spend every dollar and every conceivable resource to extend the animal’s life, whether they have good quality of life or not.
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What an excellent read.
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A really, really excellent article. Thanks for sharing.
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Very well said, agreed.
Also underlies the importance of preventative vitamin E. Unless your horse is out on green grass, always… please consider supplementing some vitamin E.
I have a working theory that a lot of the bad behaviour we see (the “winter” horse as opposed to the chill “summer” horse) is actually low grade vitamin E deficiency that is demonstrating as itchy skin, being overly sensitive and reactive. The couple friends who have supplemented with vitamin E (human gel caps, about 2-4K IUs per day) to boost back up got their summer horse back. Even in the middle of February.
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Wow. I clicked on this thread not knowing what it’d be about, but when my 16 year old horse started acting erratic, testing revealed acute Lyme and horrifically low vit E. Some breeds are more prone to issues as well, but I supplement all of mine now. And the horse is retired. I thought I’d get him back post Lyme and supplementation, but he kept having “flares” and ultimately bolted one day with no signs of stress during tacking up. With almost a year off work, he was round enough, the saddle slipped despite being tight, and I landed against a wall. I lived, still feel the pain, but never got on him again. He’s now 21 and doing well enough, but I have my horses at home, and will euthanize if his QoL dictates that, or he becomes dangerous.
