Something I wish I hadn't seen

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Halfstep

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I was at the vets today and while chatting to one of the practice partners he showed me one of the horses they had in. I wish he hadn't. Lovely TB mare, really pretty. Completely shattered front leg. They had pinned it etc, but poor mare still couldn't really stand on it. Apparently the owners want to try to save her so they could breed from her. I glanced in at her as I was leaving to see her down, with a horrible glazed look in her eyes.

Why, why, why would anyone want to put a horse through such a thing - she will never be even field sound, maybe will be able to hobble around at best.
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Poor little girl.
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This 'must save at any cost' attitude really annoys me. There is a time when it is best to let a horse - or any animal - go.
 
Its heart breaking when things like that happen. I nearly came to blows with my old boss over a similar situation, I haven't yet forgiven him for the fact the poor animal died on its own just after new year.

I think that some people have far to much money and not enough sense
 
It broke my heart. I suppose she must have a fantastic pedigree and they want to breed from her, but the idea of putting the weight of a foal on that shattered leg makes my skin crawl. Poor, poor girl.
 
we had a mare in when i was in my final year who'd completely severed the back of her front leg so had no support left. she was in foal, so they put the leg in cast so she could walk, but she then got cast sores. in the end she was on bucketloads of morphine to keep her reasonably pain free. we couldn't see how she'd make it to term and induced foals just dont live. in the end she got so bad, they had to induce the foal and put her down. needless to say the foal died as well - induced foals dont live, esp morphine addicted ones. we had massive issues with putting her through all that in the hope they'd get a live foal. i know she was only a couple of months off foaling, but her injury was so horrific that they should just have sacrificed the foal for her wellbeing.
 
IMO the vets should not have operated, vets have a responsibility towards the animals in their care, hard as it may be sometimes. Poor mare
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i dont think most people know that horses have most weight supported on their fromt leg, and horses cant use crutches!!

back legs that are broken can ocassionally be saved, but i dont think its fair on the horse - its like the person thinks about themselves more than the welfare of the horse! they dont understand that animals dont have access to the standard of facilities that humans do!
 
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Some vets do refuse to do such cases, others need the money either because they are greedy or they use it to do pro-bono work on animals that really could be saved to have a excelent quality of life

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can someone explain what pro bono means? I have seen the term used before on HHO and have been wondering what it means.
 
hmm i understand where your coming from, but a girl at the yard has a horse and he fractured all his front leg, at first everyone thought she was crueler keeping him alive, but now hes made a full recovery and is even back into work.


It was a nasty fracture also!
 
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I suppose she must have a fantastic pedigree and they want to breed from her, but the idea of putting the weight of a foal on that shattered leg makes my skin crawl. Poor, poor girl.

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That is so sad...but if these people have a stupid amount of money wouldnt they be able to do an embryo transfer??

This is a Q as im not really read up on it!!
 
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I suppose she must have a fantastic pedigree and they want to breed from her, but the idea of putting the weight of a foal on that shattered leg makes my skin crawl. Poor, poor girl.

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That is so sad...but if these people have a stupid amount of money wouldnt they be able to do an embryo transfer??

This is a Q as im not really read up on it!!

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They still have to get her pregnant and then flush out (sort of!) the embryo at about a week. I would certainly be better than making her carry to term. However, if they want to breed a TB, it has to be a live cover and ET is not allowed.
 
Well my mare fractured her long pastern, they screwed it back together, nine months box rest, lots of tlc and I was riding her within the year. She went on to win Riding Horse Classes and gave birth to two lovely foals, one of which became a National Champion. All this happened in 1991 - this is her in the last year (the grey on the left) a healthy, happy near 30 year old - should I not have given her the chance?
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I also feel that there is a "must save" at all costs mind set, which I find distateful and unpleasant.

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I agree with you
 
I can see both views here but I feel if there is a chance the horse could live a comfortable live after then it's worth doing. I also think in order for veterinary science to be able to improve and move forwards it is also a learning curve. Years ago any horse with a broken leg would be destroyed automatically. Nowadays, due to probably tonnes of experimental ways of treatment, a fractured leg isn't an automatic case for euthanasia and many horses return to full work. The same applies to stem cell treament for tendon injuries. That seems to be used so regularly now but is a very new treatment in the big scheme of things but is proving succesful in many cases.

I would hope a vet would be able to realise when/if a horse was suffering to weigh up whether whatever treament they were carrying out was worth it.

There are many who have posted on here about injuries their horse have had and frankly I believe without the dedication of vets trying out new treatments/drugs etc many of these people's horses would have been PTS straight away.
 
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Well my mare fractured her long pastern, they screwed it back together, nine months box rest, lots of tlc and I was riding her within the year. She went on to win Riding Horse Classes and gave birth to two lovely foals, one of which became a National Champion. All this happened in 1991 - this is her in the last year (the grey on the left) a healthy, happy near 30 year old - should I not have given her the chance?
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I wouldnt have done if it was one of my horses. I just wouldnt be able to subject one of my horses to 9 months in a stable. They live out 24/7 and i know they would be dreadfully unhappy and stressed out being stabled for nine months and i just wouldnt put them through it.
 
Its hard I know. Some horses are resilient and fight through. What upset me about this mare was her look of blankness. Of course there is a chance she *could* be pasture sound eventually, otherwise they would not have operated. But equally even that is in doubt, and personally I would feel very uncomfortable about putting a horse through the extensive box rest, surgery, drugs, etc that will be necessary. Not to mention the very possible complications of laminitis in the other front leg......
 
Knew a horse that broke its leg, was put on boxrest for 9months, came sound and upto full work, but had to be shot 6months into work as it was dangerous, its head had just been completely ruined by the months on drugs and on boxrest.
On the other end of the spectrum, I also knew a hors ethat broke its leg as a youngster, had a couple fo months in and then was thrown out for it to heal itself. She was backed successfully as a sound 4yr old and sold to be a normal horse as she had no ill effects.

Depends on the severity of the injury and the type of horse tbh. Anything like a broken leg that had a shaky prognosis and involved my horse being on boxrest for 9mnths would mean he would be PTS am afraid. For my particular horse it just wouldnt work.

Halfstep, agree with you, from what you have said re. the mars injuries, I would have had it PTS too
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Well my mare fractured her long pastern, they screwed it back together, nine months box rest, lots of tlc and I was riding her within the year. She went on to win Riding Horse Classes and gave birth to two lovely foals, one of which became a National Champion. All this happened in 1991 - this is her in the last year (the grey on the left) a healthy, happy near 30 year old - should I not have given her the chance?
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I wouldnt have done if it was one of my horses. I just wouldnt be able to subject one of my horses to 9 months in a stable. They live out 24/7 and i know they would be dreadfully unhappy and stressed out being stabled for nine months and i just wouldnt put them through it.

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Well I do not regret it for a moment, and, as she was a horse who loved her stable, she coped brilliantly, as long as her haynet was filled. I know that not all horses would have coped as well as she did and her attitude was what made it all possible, if she had not been so good about it, I do admit I would have had to reasses the situation.

Must now pop out and tell the old girl that she should not have had the last 18 plus years of happy life and that I was wrong to give her the opportunity to have those champion foals. Oh and while I am at it, I will tell her that she will have to give up her head honcho place too, she obviously should not have been given that chance either.
 
I guess it does depend on the horse. I would try with mine if that happened but then he's of the personality that he would probably cope fairly well and, if i thought his quality of life was a severely affected then i would do what was for the best. However, obviously would depend on individual circumstances and maybe age of horse.

Maybe I am soft but I feel I'd owe it to the horse and I also think you can tell when a horse decides enough is enough too.
 
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