Cruel or not? sorry its a long one

Elle1085

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I'll try and keep this short and simple. Basically i used to work for some people looking after 3 ponies, 1 is now mine, 1 is out on loan and the other 1, a 14.2 JA 18yrs old has arthritis in both hocks. She was x-rayed bout 2 years ago and injected into hocks but vet said she'd never jump properly again. I left that job for one up the road with pro sjer and maybe 6 months later ponies followed, the mare in question was lame. She was re x-rayed and examined a few times vet said definately this time just a hack or broodmare (she doesn't hack and attempts to get her in foal failed).

She was moved somewhere cheaper to retire and then moved again then 5 weeks ago she came back to pro sjers yard to get some grass cos she was thin and still obviously stiff.

4 weeks on yo wants pony gone (she was meant to be there 2 weeks, hadn't been paid for etc) so owners came and took her to a friends (also previous owners of my horse).

Forward one week i was at a show today just caught the end of junior classes 1.10m open and who do i see going into the ring..... Arthritic mare who hasn't been worked for around a year. She did jump clear but she looked so stiff behind and it was indoors. The People spoke to me and asked if we'd seen her, my mum said we thought it was a bit cruel actually and the idiots said they'd bought her and the vet had looked at her and said she was fine so "i think i know more than you do"
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Is it just me or are these people crazy. I have stood with the pony while she was x-rayed and listened to the vet say several times she's finished. Plus i've been the one who's had to try and bring her back to work several times only to watch her then go lame again.

Sorry it's seriously long but i'm just so shocked at how people behave
 
awful i think,are they aware of her past history and the concerns.shes quite likely to try her best only to breakdown and be cast aside isnt she.it amazes me how many people who claim to be caring and knowledgable are so stupid and selfish
 
That does seem wrong... though you have to remember that no horse has perfect hocks. What for one vet is a "really bad hock", for another vet is "not too bad at all".

Obviously, in this case, you do know that the mare was seriously lame. But if you put yourself in their situation (assuming they DID get a vet out and told him/her what they wanted to do with said pony) they bought a pony that they wanted to jump, they do well jumping a round, and some strangers all of a sudden tell them it's cruel to jump that pony - when their vet told them it was fine... whom should the owners believe?

Do these new owners know of the pony's history???
 
I think the old owners are most at fault here for selling her on rather than giving her the retirement she deserves or PTS.

As Tasel says perhaps the new owners did have different vet advise, although they should have brought her properly into work before running her round showjumping.

Sad story...
 
what a heartbreaking story. that poor mare. could you try to find out who the new owners are and have a proper chat with them? like someone said, they were approached by a stranger and caught off guard so were defensive.
if they bought the pony to jump, they need to know.
if they bought the pony as a 'light hack' they also need to know what they are doing is wrong.

xx
 
The new owners know very well what's wrong with the pony they've known her as long as i have they just seem to think they know better and they've known me for about four years now. I also agree that she shouldn't have been sold and i'm very disappointed with the people for selling her but they aren't horse people at all they only see money unfortunately. If the pony was occasionally a bit stiff behind it wouldn't be such an issue but this is a pony who has bad arthritis in both hocks and there is no doubt about it, the vet who x-rayed her specialises in competition horses and said he hadn't seen hocks that bad for a while.
 
What a sad result for pony.The thing is they just might up injured themselvesriding a horse in pain.They will realise then that you had good intentions for horse and their safety.If you know the vet or practice would your old vet contact them.
 
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