Kick up the bum and some advice desperatly needed please. (long one)

[welsh_mare]

Also in NL.
About 8 weeks ago some of you were kind enough to send my horse vibes for a scan on his damaged tendon. Well yesterday he had his 2nd scan and it is not good.

He has damage to one of the main tendons running through his off hind hock, it will never be right and the best i can hope for is that i will be able to hack him out, (cue me blubbing my eyes out).

The vet is going to check him again in 4 weeks to see if he is sound by then, 1/10 at the moment. He did say he could try some more aggressive treatments eg, shock wave therapy, injections into the hock but as he said said he doesn't hold out much hope that they would work.

Now my boy is 5 years old, and will never be a hacking horse, terrified of traffic and unpredictable, so that's not an option. He is not a candidate for being a companion as every so often the urge takes him to try and kill one of his friends, and i mean serious damage was nearly done to my pony from my horse biteing him.

So now i think does that only leave 1 option PTS?. I don't want to make that decision for a 5 year old but on the other hand i would not be a responsible horse owner if i tried to sell him as a hack or companion, not only could he hurt someone or himself and i keep thinking where could he end up?.

I'm sorry about this but it's all going round and round in my head, and i need to get it straight. I hope all this makes sense as i have been crying my eyes out for the last 24 hours, this horse was to be my competion horse.

Big slice of chocolate cake and a massive glass of wine for anyone who got to the end of my ramblings.

 

[zsmm4]

So sorry to hear about this . All I can say is what I would do and I like to think I'd be brave and have him PTS as hes unsuitable as a companion andits not fair on him or potential further owners to sell him on. Sometimes doing the responsible thing is hard and difficult, but, hand on heart you have done the best thing possible in the circumstances. I speak from experience here. You could try the shock wave and injections if your pocket is deep enough.
Best Wishes and dont beat yourself up about it.

 

[kerilli]

from what you've said, very sadly i think you only have 1 option. if he is that lame, he can't be a competition horse, and since he is a dangerous hack and a bad field companion, then you have to do the right thing. it is always horribly sad when it is a young horse BUT doing the right thing is what's important. tons of sympathy to you, fwiw it is much worse before than after, afterwards there is sadness but also relief because no more agonizing, so if you'll take 1 bit of advice, do it v soon.

 

[AmyMay]

What an awful, awful situation for you. You must be in bits.

I agree, unless the vet says otherwise - it really doesn't sound as if he has much of a future........

 

[Patches]

Firstly may I send you a generous helping of (((hugs))).

What a terrible situation to find yourself in. I really sympathise.

If his only option is to come back as a light hack, and he is always going to be traffic phobic. I guess your options are painfully pointing to PTS. With him being unsuitable as a companion this really is the end of the line in terms of options for your poor boy.


Such a shame, I really feel for you.

 

[Jericho]

Afraid I would agree with others. My horse has just been retired at 12 due to navicular but he may be able to hack out in the future (which he loves) and he is a good companion. Faced with your situation with those two factors ruled out I would PTS sadly.

 

[Marchtime]

Huge hugs.
I have a similar horse - Jesper. He's not suitable as a companion as he is dangerous with others and he's a pretty useless hack. He retired this February aged 10yrs with collateral ligament damage. I fought long and hard from when he was 8yrs old to get him sound and rideable and finally gave up this February. He's now a hugely expensive pet.
In your position I'd probably pts. It's heartbreaking and hard but your horse is so young and doesn't sound like he'd have much of a life. The only reason Jesper is still with us is because he looks better than ever and the vets are hopeful he might return to work as a light dressage horse next spring, if not we'll be making some difficult decisions too.
I think you're being very responsible by not trying to pass him on to someone else.