xDundryx
Well-Known Member
4 weeks ago today I dropped my lovely ex racehorse off at the RVC, the next day he was PTS and my heart broke into a thousand pieces. Ill try and keep it brief! In may I got on him after a few weeks off due to covid to have a quiet hack (he was always solid and reliable on the roads if a little spooky) and he had a massive reaction, reversing trying to go up and bucking (he wasnt adverse to an excited buck but for him it was an extreme reaction) I got off checked everything sprayed extra fly spray in case he had been bitten and tried again, no reaction but he had his neck flexed one way I worked on straightening him and working to loosen him up a bit and he appeared stiff when turning. I checked for signs of lami but there was nothing obvious, checked legs hooves everything but he had no heat or pain reactions. He was a pratt in the field so I thought he maybe had tweaked something doing somersaults given the ground was so hard. I kept an eye on him for a couple of days and he seemed back to normal. However 3 days after our ride he was tripping over his own feet and fell on his knees so I called the vet she was out within an hour and immediately pin pointed his ataxia to his neck and book portable xrays for the next day. These didnt look good so he was referred to the RVC for ct scans of his neck, back and a myelogram. He had an appointment 10 days later. In those 10 days I watched my beautiful horse become confused, uncoordinated and the light going out. His level of ataxia was still pretty low but we could see him changing daily. I drove 2 and a half hours slowly down to the RVC and said goodbye.
He had the scans the next day and they rang as soon as he was up from anaesthesia. The first words were 'it's not good news' he had arthritis and DJD in his neck fusion of 4 vertebrae and the others didnt look great. There was no room to medicate between the joints, they were amazed at how advanced the changes were given his symptoms. Hower he was only going to get worse and quickly. He was PTS that afternoon by the lovely team there.
He was dead within a month of the first signs of something 'not quite right'
I bought him straight from training 5 years ago and knew him inside out, sometimes others thought I was slightly neurotic getting a vet out for things but each time it was 'something' rather than nothing and needed attention. I'm so relieved I immediately knew sometimes was wrong and acted on it so he didnt have to suffer. A picture of the big doofus!
He had the scans the next day and they rang as soon as he was up from anaesthesia. The first words were 'it's not good news' he had arthritis and DJD in his neck fusion of 4 vertebrae and the others didnt look great. There was no room to medicate between the joints, they were amazed at how advanced the changes were given his symptoms. Hower he was only going to get worse and quickly. He was PTS that afternoon by the lovely team there.
He was dead within a month of the first signs of something 'not quite right'
I bought him straight from training 5 years ago and knew him inside out, sometimes others thought I was slightly neurotic getting a vet out for things but each time it was 'something' rather than nothing and needed attention. I'm so relieved I immediately knew sometimes was wrong and acted on it so he didnt have to suffer. A picture of the big doofus!
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echo the above, it was fortunate that you knew him well and spotted he was not well. though it must be an awful shock to the system to lose him so quickly.
