When is it time to just bite the bullet and let go?

[0ttb]

I've been a complete wreck for the last couple hours...

I've had trouble placing my mare in a new home for the past couple of months. She went to a sale barn in February, and came back to me unsold and lame (and her feet hadn't been done in 4 months with front shoes) in June. I spent most of June working with my vet and farrier to get her comfortable again, and we seemed to be making progress- she was comfortable at the walk and looked 99.9% at the trot and canter. I even found her a home with two little girls to love on her. But then that fell through due to the family's finance problems, so I called a few therapuetic riding centers to see if they would be interested. The day before some therapuetic barn people are supossed to come, I get a call from my barn that my mare threw both of her front shoes and was dead lame. My farrier came out and put them back on yesterday, but he said that every time he his hammer hit her foot she tried to pull away. At this point, he thinks that it's something more serious like a concussion injury/fracture. My vet's coming up today to look at her, and I have a really bad feeling in the pit of my stomach.

The good news is that the therapuetic riding people loved my mare's temperment (they met her at least) and asked me to call them when she's sound... but if she doesn't get better, when is it time to bite the bullet and... say goodbye? Everyone at my barn seems to think that this is my only option, and I can't think about it without crying. I understand that it's not fair to let animals live in pain, but how much pain is tolerable to be put out to pasture? I love this mare so much and I just want to do what's best for her.

[mustangtrailrider]

You may be jumping the bullet too soon. We would need more info: Age, Breed, Height, History, etc, before we could be able to make that kind of call.

Personally, if I have exhauseted all options, I don't hesitate to euthanize one. They do not know death is coming. We do. We are the ones that have a problem with death. I do not like to see one in pain. I do not like to see one suffer. I would euthanize way too soon before way too late. If there is a chance at recovery, you know your mare best.

But without specifics, we can only speculate. Does she look tired and ready to quit? or Does she still love life? If she loves life, I would give her a chance to recover, unless your situation isn't able to do that.

Not enough specifics.

[JCS]

I would definitely wait to see what the vet says. It may be something as simple as an abscess or bruising from when her shoes were off. Or it may be something that can be managed with corrective shoeing, pads, or medication. Definitely have a frank talk with your vet about what the options are. It doesn't sound to me she's at the end of the road yet!

[Zu Zu]

IMHO wait - give her a chance to recover - the therapeutic sp? group will want and most probably need her "help" with their program. Jingling for her quick recovery AO AO AO Always Optimistic - She does not sound like it is time * I agree with JCS. Keep us updated - and most of all GOOD LUCK !

[0ttb]

Sorry mustangtrailrider, my question was more of the;

I understand that it's not fair to let animals live in pain, but how much pain is tolerable to be put out to pasture?

But I'll elaborate nonetheless! My mare is 11, an appendix, and I've had her since March of 08. We evented together and did hunters, but in October of 08 she had a really bad shoeing where the farrier cut off all of her back heel, (it was so short that her frog was leaving a distinct mark in her hoofprints) and one of her windpuffs expanded. She was sound afterward, but in January 09 I decided to have it drained and xrayed because she started rushing to jumps and I couldn't tell if it was pain related, so we xrayed it and my vet found a tiny bone chip and warned me that while she was sound at the time, she would probably develop arthritis in the future and jumping/competing would quicken that process. So my mare went to the sale barn where I bought her, and about a month into being there she apparently started having problems. I think it started with her hocks being injected. She was also getting muscle relaxers (...not sure what exactly she was getting here?) and had acupuncture done, but she apparently just kept coming up lame. I was never directly informed of this, (always through my BO who's friends with the sale barn BO) I was an idiot for not going down to check on her myself. Fastforwarding to June, my mare was deemed unsellable and brought back to my boarding barn. Her feet were 4 months overgrown with front shoes and she was dead lame. As I said in my first post, I worked with my farrier and my vet to get her comfortable again. I wasn't there when my vet came out to look at her in the beginning of June, but my mom said that he was appalled by her condition (because he literally looked at her 3 weeks before she went to the sale barn 5 months ago) and had never seen a horse go so far down hill in that time period. So my mare's had corrective shoeing and her windpuff's been drained, and at the end of June/beginning of July my vet came up again and we put her on the lunge line and she looked sooo sooo much better. She was ridden very lightly in summer camp a week after that (just walk and some trot) and was still a little off, and then the other day she throws both of her shoes and was dead lame. She's not a very animated horse to begin with so she wasn't acting any differently from her normal behavior (she usually just stands in her stall half asleep- she loves being inside) but I did notice that she kept nudging her canon bone with her nose- the one that was giving her issues. She perked right up though when I gave her a handful of sweetfeed (with a hidden bute tablet).

Thanks for your replies and support. I think I've just been so stressed because the people at my barn were making it sound like there was no hope. I've also been really upset about it because I thought that I had unattached myself from her emotionally, and I was very very wrong.

I'm meeting the vet in an hour, I'll let you guys know how it goes.

[Equine Studies]

I am in a similar situation as you are-I bought a mare in March to event and keep my two year old company until I get her going. She will never event-I found out about after I bought her when I tracked down a previous owner. I decided to keep her as she is a great companion and is sound enough to flat, and is a blast to ride.

However, I just found out this morning she has allergies-likely to dust and mold in the hay. Square bales are not an option at this farm, and if I move barns I can only afford one horse-which will be my homebred two year old. So, if the meds don't work, what will become of this mare? She's hot (therefore not for a beginner rider), spooky (can't trail ride), broke her left hind splint five years ago and not 100% sound on that hock (scar tissue rubs on suspensory), not 100% sound on the right either (slightly arthritic), didn't catch when a previous owner tried to breed her twice, terrified of being in a stall (from the year stall rest after the break). Hard to rehome a horse like that.............if I had my own farm it wouldn't be an issue, but I board out.

My point of all this is that physically and mentally my mare is likely to end up in a bad situation-yours if she becomes sound or even sound-ish for therapeutic riding has far more of a chance than mine. Could be a lot of things happening with those front feet right now (from trauma from the shoes ripping off-how did she lose both?, to an abcess, to bruising, to concussion founder from being without shoes, to navicular to a zillion other things).

If you have the time and money to work on her for a few months to see if she comes up sound, I would wait and see. I know where my mare will end up eventually if I give her away (too many free horses out there without issues, much less with the issues mine has) so my gut is telling me to euthanize her and save her the suffering I know she'll have, maybe not right away, but at some point. Anyway, good luck with your mare, see what the vet says, and keep us posted on what happens.

[luvmywalkers]

Ottb, sending you a PM.

[Posting Trot]

My personal opinion is that if you just got her back last month (June) and she was dead lame then because no one had been attending to her feet, then you are a little premature in thinking of euthanizing her.

I understand that you feel that, through no fault of your own, the horse is very lame now and may stay somewhat off perpetually. But really what you seem to have is an acute situation here, caused by acute neglect.

You might have to give the mare a least a few shoeing cycles before you even know whether she will recover.

And I'll say that if she really had not been done in 4 months, it is no wonder that she was so tender about having her feet done. That should hardly come as a revelation to either you as her owner or the farrier.

Not trying to be snarky here, but IMHO you (and your barnmates) simply are not giving the horse a chance.

Good luck.

[spotmenow]

My mare has navicular syndrome and came back to me after 3 years with some farrier-induced issues; I had both x-rayed and nothing is broken/fractured. She couldn't tolerate the blow of the hammer, either, so I buted her up, we took our time and got the shoes on.

She is now barefoot so that the hoof (and internal tissues) can expand again. She is on a joint supplement, Pain-X, 20,000 mg MSM and still isn't 100% sound but is certainly comfortable enough while her feet re-shape themselves. I wouldn't call for the shotgun yet, just some good professionals.

[mustangtrailrider]

Ottb,

My apologies. I didn't see that comment/question. I just went through a situation with my gelding. He got kicked and came up terribly lame. I was panicking. Had the vet out. I was prepared to euth him. I hate seeing him in pain. He was not getting better.

Long story short, he is fine now. He is sound and will be brought back to work in the fall.

Good luck with your mare and let us know how it goes.

Jingling for your mare.

MTR

[0ttb]

Thanks for the replies everyone. I just got back from the barn...

My poor mare couldn't put any weight on her hoof when I took her out of her stall for the vet, and after he put the hoof tester on he decided that we should x-ray it to check for a fracture. So after he took off her front shoe, he started digging around in her hoof looking for a possible abscess, and sure enough he found one! A really big, nasty one. I was close to tears I was so happy.

And about her not getting her feet done- my family was assuming that that was being included in the invoice for the sale barn each month- which was not happening. We never got any phone calls about a farrier needing to come out either. :no: Not going back there again...

And I'm sorry if I came off as trigger happy- the people at my barn really convinced me she probably had a bad fracture, and they took turns telling me that I would probably have to put her down. Hearing it for the first time wasn't exactly pleasant, but consistantly hearing it got my nerves up. Way up.

Thanks for the support though! I really appreciate it. Hopefully she'll make a speedy recovery and be running around again in a week or two. And thank you for the stories too. Again, I was wondering what the line was between putting a horse down for moral reasons or copping out was. Obviously COTHers value and respect their animals enough to make the best possible decisions. ;)

[mustangtrailrider]

Ottb, That is great news! Now you can breath a sigh of relief. Keep your chin up. She will get there with a little more time.

MTR

[luvmywalkers]

Great news! :winkgrin:

[caballus]

And I'm sorry if I came off as trigger happy- the people at my barn really convinced me she probably had a bad fracture, and they took turns telling me that I would probably have to put her down. Hearing it for the first time wasn't exactly pleasant, but consistantly hearing it got my nerves up. Way up.

Thanks for the support though! I really appreciate it. Hopefully she'll make a speedy recovery and be running around again in a week or two. And thank you for the stories too. Again, I was wondering what the line was between putting a horse down for moral reasons or copping out was. Obviously COTHers value and respect their animals enough to make the best possible decisions. ;)Ottb ... try to always listen to your horse. They are the ones that will 'tell us' when they need to go. All animals do if we're paying attention. I am happy that it was *just* an abscess. Sometimes people just like to get toted along on the bandwagon ... I'm sorry you had to go through that.

[Bogie]

What a relief for you :D.

A bad abscess definitely makes you think the worst.

[JackSprats Mom]

A bad abscess definitely makes you think the worst.

I thought my horse had broken his leg with his last abscess, he had his hind leg hiked up, sweating, wouldn't place any weight, was lying down...I seriously thought that was the end of him! Till I woke my vet up at midnight and he said its most likely an abscess relax *phew*