Probably in the wrong place but just so upset about my mare :(

Teheeeee. I received another jibe tonight along the lines of I should stop dieting him now, and granted he is thinner than in those photos but he is still fat. SO, I responded 'he's still too fat, but I suppose at least he's not as obese as some of the horses up here and he's going the right way'.
HA!
 
You go girl! When he is looking even slimmer, and looking even more fab, they will be sooo jealous. I'm sure some people say things like that on purpose because they can't be arsed to do anything about slimming theirs down.

I'm on a mission too, a couple of friends and I are off to Holkham beach in Sept with our horses, I'm so determined to get him looking amazing and fit, I think I've become obsessed!! and slightly bitchy !
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Well I think you are very cruel because you appear to have the poor lad in a PINK headcollar
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Seriously, he looks very well but a little overweight in those pics, so if he has lost a bit more I would say you are pretty well near ideal weight with him. Regarding his crest, sometimes they can be almost impossible to shift. Our little cushings pony who is positively ribby, has a crest on her like a bull - don't think its ever going to shift.
Sparkle looks to have been an absolute darling, no wonder you all miss her so much.
 
Hi Carrie. I followed your story re this mare......so sad this happened but I remember at the time I read how it came over what a caring and loving horse owner you are......exactly the kind of person we would all love to find when we sell our horses on.

I think you are just grieving and part of that is the what ifs etc....its normal and takes time to sort out in our heads.

Poor vet......fancy him going to aparty to chill out and he is set upon by this novice expert who just wouldn't let it go....what sort of a person would hound the vet at a party anyway?.and something that was absolutely none of her business!.and then comes to tell you all about it?.....I would avoid her like the plague!
 
Im so sorry for you, but having read your posts I really believe you did the right thing. I have seen a dying horse whose owner was too upset to put her down until the bitter end and it was not pretty for anyone, you did the right thing and you know that really.

xxxx
 
Ah, my computer just loaded up the photos. The look in your mare's eyes tells me you did the right thing. Having had first hand experience of this situation (fortunately not my horse) this brings tears to my eyes again.

Your gelding is beautiful and I do think you are doing the right thing in keeping his weight under control.
 
Carrie,

Just so you don't feel so alone....on 25/06/08 at 2pm I had to have my 17yr old TB PTS due to chronic laminitis. I feel EXACTLY the same as you : the guilt is unbearable at times. Sometimes I can justify it & other times I feel like I murdered my best friend.

My boy looked the picture of health but was lame & stressed with the box rest & I had to make a decision for his long term future. It was the hardest decision I have ever made..& something I have to live with for the rest of my life.

I categorically said I was giving up horses forever but my wonderful vet would not hear of it....he said to me on the day that he wished there were more owners who made tough decisions earlier, rather than wait for the horse to be in agony just to justify having them PTS in their own minds.

It has taken me weeks to look at a picture of Woody & I'm not sure of how I will feel having to go back to the stables....I am taking it one day at a time.....
 
I'm really sorry to read this it truely is heartbreaking however, I hope you can remember the good times and at least take comfort in the fact her period of suffering wasn't that of the many horses which goes on for years and years. Some horse "owners" try to keep their horses alive despite the fact they are suffering beyond all belief, I think you did your best and it wasn't to be. Your vet should learn to keep his gob shut though....does client confidentiality relate to vets as in other professions?
 
Carrie, reading your story has brought back dreadful memories of a very upsetting time in my life too, and even though I managed to save our little girl, the thought of what could have happened, and what I felt whilst we were living the nightmare of laminitis, are still incredibly vivid.

You did your best for Sparkle and you made a decision based on what you knew, what you were seeing, and what you were being told. The decision was the right one. You came to this decision rationally and with the best will - it doesn't matter what anyone says now, there's no point in going over "what ifs" - remember it was the right decision for you and your horse.

My decision was somewhat different; no 2 cases of laminitis are ever the same. I was over here in Canada and someone was looking after my pony whilst we were gone. The pony had been perfectly fine when we left, however 8 days later the carer called and said the pony had gone down with full blown acute laminitis in all 4 feet. I made arrangements for her to take the pony be stabled at a local competition yard and had the vet come out to treat her. The following day, the lady called me and said that the pony had collapsed on the way to the stables and that she was going to have her put to sleep! I immediately called my vet and told him I was relieving her of her care of my pony and that she most certainly did NOT have power of attorney to have my pony put to sleep. I told him I was going to book flights back to the UK and to keep her comfortable, but alive, till we returned to say our final farewells to her. Having used my vet for 15 years at the time, he agreed that this was most definitely the best course of action. I immediately telephoned a good friend of mine who had dealt with laminitis before and asked her to take over until we could return the following day.

We arrived home and I was up at the stables at about midday. My friend met me there and told me she had taken the pony off all medication that morning, so that I could see her for what she was, rather than what the medication was doing to her (for that I am ETERNALLY grateful, because had she not, I truly believe my pony would have been put to sleep within the day). I had booked the vet to come and put her to sleep at 2pm. When I first went in to see my pony, her eyes were dead; she was not there
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. At about 1pm I took my little daughter up to say goodbye to the pony. The moment my daughter walked into the stable, the pony whickered to her and slowly shuffled over to her. The pony laid her head in my 7 year olds arms, and it was at that point that I decided we were going to fight tooth and nail to save her. The vet came as arranged, checked her over, agreed that it was worth the fight and onwards we went. The long and short of it is, she survived. We flew her out to Canada in December of 2004 and here she lives a happy and contented life and the dreaded laminitis never returned.

So you see, decisions like this are ALWAYS the right ones. It would have been the right decision to put my pony to sleep had I not seen her once the medication was starting to wear off; and it was also the right decision to try to keep her alive.

I don't know if you read the saying in another post recently but it is one I agree with; "better a month too soon, than a day too late".
 
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