St Nichols Abbey RIP

Alchemy

Alchemy

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Just read that Coolmore have had him put down, Sad but inevitable and maybe they should have done it a bit sooner perhaps?

RIP beautiful racehorse
 
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St Nicholas Abbey Regretfully St Nicholas Abbey has lost his brave battle after suffering a colic this morning. Surgery revealed a severe strangulating colon torsion that was unviable and he had to be euthanized on humane grounds. This is extremely unfortunate as St Nicholas Abbey had been in terrific form, the laminitis was resolving very well and the fracture had healed better than expected. Coolmore would like to thank the surgeons, the international experts and all the staff at Fethard Equine Hospital who gave him such excellent care 24/7. We would also like to thank the multitude of well-wishers for all the cards and messages of support for St Nicholas Abbey. He will be buried in the graveyard here at Coolmore.

He suffered another bout of colic which was not inevitable, until all vets have crystal balls as part of their equipment I cant see how they could have predicted this. Im just so sorry he didnt make it, poor boy.
 
So gutted to read this on their facebook, I thought he was out of the woods. Such a beautiful horse, I am so sorry for his carers at Coolmore and hospital. Devastating news for them, I'm so sorry.
 
I'm not sorry to hear this, at long last the horse is at peace. Let's face it the main reason he was put through so much was because he would have been worth a fortune at stud. I would never have put any of my horses through what he went through.
 
Mitchyden said:
I'm not sorry to hear this, at long last the horse is at peace. Let's face it the main reason he was put through so much was because he would have been worth a fortune at stud. I would never have put any of my horses through what he went through.
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Why do you think St Nicholas Abbey would have been worth a fortune at stud when he was a late maturing middle distance performer as opposed to a commercially viable miler that had most of its successes early on as a two and three year old? The type of racehorse that St Nicholas Abbey was is traditionally difficult to market as a sire and he would probably have appealed to the NH fraternity in the end, had he not produced very quickly some fast two year olds - which seems unlikely.

All that is subject to the qualification that he would have been able to cover naturally after recovering from his injury, which was never a given.

I'm sure all the horseowners whose horses have successfully recovered from grass sickness, or been treated for laminitis or severe colic, or who have Cushings, or DJD or arthritis or any of the myriad of other conditions which afflict horses, will bear your comments in mind.
 
Alchemy said:
Just read that Coolmore have had him put down, Sad but inevitable and maybe they should have done it a bit sooner perhaps?

RIP beautiful racehorse
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The horse was lost to colic. A problem that many of us will or have faced with our horses.

The worlds leading veterinary surgeons fought long and hard to repair the injury this horse sustained. Much will have been learnt by the vets which will be of use for the profession and other horses in the future. The horse was making positive progress as was indicated on the footage shown recently.

No doubt this thread, along with another current thread will be full of advice from the armchair vets and pony keepers on this forum who seem to be insistent that they are far more knowledgeable than the specialists involved in the care of the horse. Much has been spouted about the suffering and pain the horse has endured. Do you armchair vets honestly think the horse would be left without appropriate pain relief, infection prevention and correct comfort and nutrition.

I find some of the comments on this and the other thread to be uneducated at best and at worst an insult to the veterinary professionals involved, the owners of the horse and all those nurses and staff that cared for the horse.

The colt was brave and successful on the racecourse and had the most insidious equine decease not occurred he was making progress in his recovery from injury. Veterinary and human medicine improves and moves on all the time and so it needs to. It is a science that is best left to the dedicated experts.
 
Must admit the owners gave him every chance no money spared, he'd fought everything thrown at him, but as those of us that have lost a horse/pony through colic, sometimes you can't win and they did do the right thing by him.
 
Rip st Nicholas abbey. Don't know the ins and outs but I do have to say the piece ran recently on c4 racing made me feel like this fate isn't such a bad thing for the horse as he seemed pretty sad lying down most of the day etc. condolences to all involved with him, was a lovely horse.
 
Yes its very sad for all his connections but on a brighter note at least Coolmore have had the arrival of Frankel's first foal. As one life ends another one begins.
 
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Mitchyden said:
I'm not sorry to hear this, at long last the horse is at peace. Let's face it the main reason he was put through so much was because he would have been worth a fortune at stud. I would never have put any of my horses through what he went through.
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Rubbish.

He was Joseph's Breeder's cup winner, he was a horse that they all held dear. This wasn't about money given what he's cost them, the likelihood of his fertility after this may well be suspect, his ability to cover was a year or so at least down the line, from where he would have been probably unfashionable.

Make no mistake, everything that was learned in the surgery will benefit lots of horses in the future. Maybe even one of yours.

So sure, you wouldn't have done it to one of yours, but you would not have been able to afford it so that's a moot point.
 
He was a real racing favourite of mine. Loved how he raced at Chester and looked like he could've done another lap. I felt for him during the C4 documentary but still think his owners did the right thing giving him such a fighting chance. RIP handsome.
 
Caledonia said:
So sure, you wouldn't have done it to one of yours, but you would not have been able to afford it so that's a moot point.
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You have no idea whether I could afford it or not. I did in fact spend £13,000 on colic surgery for one of my horses. I have also had horses with stress related laminitis, a fractured cannon bone, a torn tendon to mention a few things. I have treated all of them with my own money as I do not pay insurance. But I know when to call it a day and much as I've loved them, I have let them go to a better place.
 
Mitchyden said:
You have no idea whether I could afford it or not. I did in fact spend £13,000 on colic surgery for one of my horses. I have also had horses with stress related laminitis, a fractured cannon bone, a torn tendon to mention a few things. I have treated all of them with my own money as I do not pay insurance. But I know when to call it a day and much as I've loved them, I have let them go to a better place.
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You said it was about loss of stallion fees. Which is absolute nonsense.

I'm delighted for you if you have as much money behind you to spend on groundbreaking equine veterinary treatment as Coolmore does. Forgive me if I don't believe you.

I get heartily sick of people slating these big organisations for trying to save horses, or when they euthanase them without putting them through surgery etc because the damage is too catastrophic. They are judged every time so always in a lose lose situation. But guess what - they know better than we do making assumptions from afar.

Sadly, they have had to call time - the vet team and the hospital and Ballydoyle/Coolmore are far better placed than you or I to know when the right time was to make that call. Any smug 'I know better..' or 'I know when to call it a day..' remarks are just out of order, irrelevant and extremely unfair.

What they did for the horse was their very best. And hopefully knowledge gained will maybe help other horses in the future.

I am devastated for everyone involved.
 
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