Probably very very controversial.......... but OMG, why????

OMG Before I clicked on the link I didn't think it would as bad as that is. I can't see how that horse will ever have any quality of life.

OP, you are right, and IMO the poor animal should have been pts as a matter of urgency. As others have said the poor thing will now have spent far too long in utterly excrutiating pain, and horses are not humans who have the ability to reason, all they know is pain of now, and yet the poor animal will always remember its pain and suffering, so I agree on the face of this case it seems utterly wrong to have kept him suffering.

In my opinion horses should not be treated as humans, or even as pet dogs or cats that can be carried in around if they become imobile, and lose a leg. Horses are animals of flight and if a horse is rendered permanently incapable of his natural ability to flee (and by this I mean normal horse behaviour in a field) then that is the time to say goodbye. It is the kindest and most natural thing to do.
 
so, so sad. she'll be in a lot of pain for the rest of her life. People just don't have sense when they do things like this. The only hope for an outcome is that she does die very soon, or is pts to save "further suffering".
 
I genuinely can't understand why they are going ahead with this instead of putting it to sleep, on a purely economic argument the money spent giving this pony any "quality of life" could make a huge difference to a lot of other ponies, I doubt that it will ever be free from pain or discomfort..to me the kindest thing is PTS.

It drives me mad when owners of animals put their own emotional needs above those of the animal, how often have we seen a poor animal in discomfort with little prospect of recovery, and the phrase...Oh we couldn't bare to be without him! Whether its a desire to atone for allowing it to get to that state, or just sheer selfishness I dont know, but to me the kindest gift we can give the animals we care for is relief from pain and suffering.
 
if people truely care for a horse they will always put them first... would that horse honestly want to be in that much pain? no.

so if they truely care,. put her to sleep.
 
Very hard (for me) to say what is appropriate w/out having talked to the vets involved, including, sadly, the prospect of her being used to test experimental treatments on (with appropriate pain relief one would hope). The pictures don't look good though...

But then pictures of injuries /are/ shocking. I remember seeing a very badly burnt animal WHW (who I'm sure most of us think do a pretty good job most of the time) were caring for and wondering why anyone would put it through months of pain after it lost a huge percentage of its skin. But as far as I recall it went on to recover and live a relatively normal (and even useful!) life for years.

Emotions can work against animals in both directions... "must stop the pain" as well as "must keep it alive" can be harmful.
 
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I have a horse who had in infection in a broken leg - the infection went straight through the bone. I was told by the vet that the chances of recovery were slim. However we treated it as I wanted to try, and after months of box rest and rehab, I have a happy and sound horse. I think it is better to try and fail, than never to have tried at all.
 
Hmm, I am in split minds about this to be honest. I think this particular case maybe is too extreme and I think possibly the right option was to have the pony PTS. However, equine veterinary medicine wouldn't be where it was today without vets treating such cases. Some they will have success with some they will not but, as manye of you have said about horses you've known who have suffered and survived horrible injuries. Without the knowledge vets gained to treat them those too would surely have been cases to have the horse PTS?

It is a difficult one and whether it is morally right I do not know but it would seem the vets saw it as potentially being treatable so i guess it's hard to say they are totally wrong. I would assume the pain is being controlled and the charity and vets would be responsible enough to know when enough is enough.

If by some miracle the horse does make it and goes on to live a happy and healthy life what would people's opinions be then? Would you say how fantastoc the vets were or would you still say they shouldn't have wasted their time and money?
 
I do understand that lots of people would say PTS because of the pain the animal is in. But the overriding instinct of animals is, despite pain, to survive. It's the same with any animal - if your cat has a mouse and he's bleeding and obviously dying, does he give up, thinking the pain is too much? No, it carries on struggling.

I am very sure that if this horse could talk it would be asking to live, not asking to be put to sleep.
 
Dobby said:
I do understand that lots of people would say PTS because of the pain the animal is in. But the overriding instinct of animals is, despite pain, to survive. It's the same with any animal - if your cat has a mouse and he's bleeding and obviously dying, does he give up, thinking the pain is too much? No, it carries on struggling.

I am very sure that if this horse could talk it would be asking to live, not asking to be put to sleep.
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Maybe so, but did you not read the text to see what was wrong with it? If they can heal the flesh to cover the wound the joints will be unstable as there are no ligaments and tendons left - so it will be on three legs. It will be unlikely to be able to lie down and if it does it won't be able to get up.

It now has internal bleeding and blockages - it's innards are basically shutting down, from it's attitude in the photos it's will to live went some time ago. To me that horse is saying "For God's sake put me out of this misery"
 
yes, I think its ethically wrong on so many levels, the poor pony and as hanno says the money that could be used to help so many other equines. It does rather baffle that anyone could make the decision to treat in this case. I would also find it ethically unacceptable (and would pretty much surmise it not to be the case) that this pony was being of use in testing stem cell treatments in its current condition.
 
Fern said:
This was the horse that had the injury - photo even shows old bone that fell off when the new grew underneath. Quite a remarkable recovery .........

http://mhwf.websitetoolbox.com/post?id=2648269&trail=50
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But that was a flesh wound - no tendons and/or ligaments involved. Once the technical difficulties of persuading the flesh to repopulate and the skin to cover were over it was pretty much plain sailing. The horse in question here will be left with no tendons or ligaments - a very different outlook.
 
There's a big difference in the success of wound management between a fresh wound and one that has been neglected for some time.

Plenty of horses give themselves horrific wounds - but these are usually treated promptly and aggressively giving them the best chance of healing quickly. Plus prompt assessment of the extent of the damage allows rational decisions to be made about the chances of a functional recovery.

When a wound has been neglected for a long time and the blood supply is compromised, deep seated infection etc you are on to a losing battle.

Poor, poor horse. There's only one correct course of action for her in my mind.
 
jemima_too said:
But that was a flesh wound - no tendons and/or ligaments involved. Once the technical difficulties of persuading the flesh to repopulate and the skin to cover were over it was pretty much plain sailing. The horse in question here will be left with no tendons or ligaments - a very different outlook.
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That looks like much more than a flesh wound to me.
 
Fern said:
That looks like much more than a flesh wound to me.
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Yes, it looks horrendous but the tendons and ligaments are tucked away safe round the back, therefore it is just a flesh wound. The pony under discussion here is stated to have "no tendons supporting the joint" meaning that even if they could get the wound to heal over there the pony will be crippled.
 
I would've rescued the pony to......
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> with a bullet from a shotgun.....sorry, but what they are putting that animal through beggars belief. Think how many "healthier" animals could be put right with every chance of success with the money it's costing with that one......poor thing.
 
Interesting. My first thoughts were, put the poor little thing out of its misery. But then I showed my OH and he said he would be inclined to try to help it, purely so it wouldn't die thinking that life is one big hellhole and to show it that people can be kind and loving. I'm not convinced.
 
poor poor pony! I feel that a huge bucket of feed with a lot of cuddling as the needle goes in is the best they could do for this one. I really don't believe that the suffering it is going through will be worth it for the quality of life it will have IF it recovers. I hope it is on masses of bute to control the pain. I treated a young foal (with reiki) that had an horrific barbed wire injury, you could see from inside the top of it's hind inner thigh down to the hock where the skin had been torn, the owner had to roll him upside down, fill the wound with treated water and slosh it around before rolling him back to drain it and clear the mass of infection that had set in. The foal survived after a long hard battle but he had all the skin and muscle there to knit back, he will always have a slight limp. I really don't think it is fair to keep this poor baby alive.
 
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