Lame forever....field or euthanasia?

P

purplekt1972

Well-Known Member
Joined
5 June 2009
Messages
125
Location
Newmarket
Visit site
Just wanting to know peoples views relating to lameness and euthanaisia. How do we as owners judge if a horse is happy to be lame in a field for the rest of his life or weather euthanaisia is best for them. Are we keeping them alive for us or for them> Has anyone had experience of this dilema. How do insurance companies deal with this issue.

Would be greatful for those of you who can maybe share your experiences with me, I know some of them will be painful....please feel free to message me

thanks
 
Thing is with a young horse, they have potentially 20 yrs to live in that field. Some horses can cope with that mentally, others just go nuts without a job and then just cause further injury to themselves.

I think if he is in pain then definitely pts - I would owe my horse more than a life of bute and pain. If he is field sound, then monitor to see if any degeneration/unhappiness and then reassess.

It is hard - especially when they are so young. He looks lovely by the way!
 
thank you, he is lovely! He is already showing signs of stress and it is only week 5 of no riding, he keeps looking at me as if to say "are we going for a ride now?" He is actually more lame than my 28 year old who still canters round the field occationally! He has a reassesment on 14th July but i need to prepare myself for all eventualities
 
Is there no way the condition could be managed for light hacking? (sorry don't know the situation)
Pain killers have down sides long term but may be outweighed if he has a shorter happy life.
Also like previous posts, depends on the horse - we had one, no way could he be a field ornament, but our old horse loved being one.
 
I am afraid I had to make the tough decision to PTS with a young horse (only 8) who was lame despite ops, recovery, etc. and who just would not settle in the field. He was constantly running around, going through fences, winding everyone else up...it was clear he was not happy
frown.gif


However, a lot of horses adjust very well and are very happy, so fingers crossed for you.
 
I have thought about the pain killer route but am unsure as to going that way too....surely it hurts for a reason, if you mask the pain he will just cause more damage to himself, and again am i doing it for me so i can light hack him or for him. Had just uped his work when all these symptoms started to show. Throughout the winter to keep him a happy nice boy had to work him about 1 1/2 to 2 hrs a day admitedly alot of it was hacking but still not quiet hacking. Things are just so confusing
 
A few years ago, my 7 yo went lame, I would have liked the chance to see if he would have been happy retired off out in the field with his friends, but sadly the damage was found to be too severe, so the vets said he would have to be pts.

Some would be happy, others would not, I think you have to go with the advice of your vet, and your horse will let you know too.

My thoughts are with you at such a difficult time.
 
if he is happy and you can controll the pain have him in the field if he is unhappy and in pain i am sorry the hard desicion is to come!
 
In my opinion if a horse has been made to come out of work yet is sound and on all 4 legs fine then leave them to keep going as a pet.
If a horse is going to be lame for the rest of its days and be on bute etc its kinder to let them go imho.
 
You are in exactly same position as me about 2 months ago.Ollie has front leg lameness but has been lame all over at some stage .I seriously considered pts which was devasting he is just turned 8 and tb.He has soft tissue injury in front leg but has been lame on and off for 3 years .Hes had his spavin operated on torn tendons all of which have been treated and he has come sound on all offending legs but one.The st injury might take years to repair even after treatment from vets.He is unsound but still happy to have trot occassional canter roll buck and leap about in his paddock.My paddock at livery yard is fine for horse in work but not for horse on retirement or grass turnout.I decided to put Ollie on project horse thinking that it would take me a year to find him good home.I want to give him a chance to recover and be a horse with company in big paddock .Saturday he is very sadly leaving for new pastures.I have found him a lovely home with a lady who wants to work with injured horse and treat with natural remedies homeopathic and massage tecniques to give him a chance.She works closely with rspca and has other rescues and will also work with her vet and mine to try and give Ollie a chance.She doesnt mind if he never comes sound for riding but will keep him for life as long as he is comfortable.I hope that gives you some hope please feel free to pm.If I had land or faciliteis he would have home for life but things have changed and we dont have resources. I have spent nearly £11000 trying to get him sound enough for hack and I wont ride lame horse .Hes happy and content in big field with plenty of grass so dr green is his medicine for time being.
 
re previous post .I used natural pain relief for Ollie boswellia but he seems so content that I have stopped giving it to him at the moment as his condition on field rest seems to be slowly improving. I dont want him to over extend himself out of his comfort zone.
 
It's not an easy decision to take, to have a horse PTS, Depending on ones personal circumstances there are several scenarios, those mentioned above and then there is the financial situation ....... in an ideal world with pain control' yes field retirement, but not everyone has the wherewithall to finnce this and lame retired young horses have habit of living for a very long time. If you want another horse but could not afford to keep it because of the financial burden of the permanently lame one a choice has to be made and to PTS would look sensible to me.
What ever you decide I most certainly would not judge you nor should you feel any sort of guilt, obviously you are giving this matter a great deal of thought.
 
If you can manage him, pain free, then field.

My first horse went lame was diagnosed with severe OCD's in both hocks. (TB raced as a 2yr old...) I decided to "retire" him from being ridden. My insurance company agreed loss of use and paid out for him. I managed to reduce his painkillers down to almost nothing and he settled quite happily to being a man of leisure. He had company and still came in at night during the winter. We managed a year like this when he slipped and severed a ligament. His fetlock just collapsed to the ground and my vet and I decided it was time to call it a day. We could have box rested him for 6 mths but with no guarantee of a good outcome. At that point I made the hardest decision. My vet was fantastic. We organised a day when he would come out, I didn't want him shot (it was too violent for such a lovely boy) so we agreed injection and cremation. I took him out to graze in hand with me one last time. My vet gave him a sedative so that he gently lay down and then, when I was ready, he gave him the final injection. My boy died with his head on my lap in his field. It was an incredibly peaceful moment and of course incredibly sad - 8 yrs on and the tears come back even now.

Its about quality of life at the end of the day and only you can be the judge of that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top