The Good News, the Bad and the Reprieve

Gleeful Imp

Gleeful Imp

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My 2 gorgeous retired horses (grey and coloured in my sig) have returned home after 3 years at retirement livery. I now see them every day again, and I know you lot understand when I try and describe the joy of them trotting over to me and just being able to play.

The bad news is my girlie went very lame just before bringing her home - 2 bute a day sorted her and 2 days later sound again, and we brought her home. After a week at home, badly lame again so vet. My fears are confirmed, significant deterioration in her fetlock (old injury, this was going to happen at some point just a question of when).

Long conversation with vet, it is now a case of seeing if we can get her through a last summer comfortably but then it will be time to let her go. All depended on whether she responded enough to the bute - after 3 days she showed little improvement on hard ground and I thought this was it. However today she is now very comfy on 2 a day so will keep close eye on her, particularly if we have a heatwave and concrete field.

So, a reprieve. How long - she will tell me.

The worst of it is though because these 2 are so married its not true, if one goes, they both do. So I am facing losing them both at the end of summer. It feels like someone has ripped my heart into shreds and stuffed it into my lungs.

There is no issue about not doing what is right for my girlie - she has been broken for 10 years now and I would happily keep them for another 10 but I wont see her suffer.

I cant bear to think of Thomas being left and having to go to a new retirement home by himself (cant be stabled), I know he would be incredibly stressed, vet strongly advises they go together, and TBH, feels right thing to do.

Jaffa cakes all round for reading this far!
 
What a heart wrenching story... I am so sorry to have read this, enjoy them both whilst they are home with you.. and what an unselfish owner you are to be thinking of them both that sadly we all face at some point.

Big hugs to you all....
 
What a shame. It's something we all have to do eventually. However, if your other one is happy and healthy then I wouldn't necessarily have him PTS at the same time. Although I understand they are very close, I do think horses understand (if they re given a chance to see the other one) and they don't actually stress as much as we think they will. We had 3 oldies at one point and our horse and donkey were inseparable. Sadly the donkey got very poorly (we think he suffered a stroke or similar) and we had to have him PTS. His companion actually did ok as we did have other horses and I did not notice that he was particularly distressed at all and he was a very stressy type. You may decide it is the best option for your two - obviously you know them best but all i am saying is you may not have to make the decisions for both of them.
 
We had my old boy and his long term companion put down together. They had been together for 15 years and stressed like nothing if separated for any reason, you could not even leave one in the stable and turn the other out as the one in the stable would go mad. For the last couple of years they even shared an specially extended stable. It was a slightly different situation as my friends old boy was blind and my boy was his protector and "guide pony". For the last 10 years it had just been the two of them together, there were horses in adjacent fields but we could not put anything else in with them as the blind boy would panic and my boy try to chase the other horses away from him constantly, which in an old, arthritic horse was not good. I feel your pain but you know your horses best and do what is best for them and know you have done the right thing by them both
 
An idea might be to source a companion now, turn it out in its own fenced off area so that they all get used to each other, then when your girl goes, your other horse will still have a companion. I'll give you a similar situation-two horses been together for 3 years pretty much constantly. One is to be sold, the other obviously will not, same situation essentially although these are not quite decrepit old boys, they might stress for a day and then adjust extremely well.
If you have two on the land now, it shouldn't be any differne thaving a different two.
Hope your girl makes it through the summer.
 
The problem is that Tom can't stay at the yard in winter, as due to his artritic knee, he can't be stabled and needs 24/7 turnout, which we don't have in winter. So I would need to move him to a retirement home, by himself, after losing my girlie. :(

I am also struggling to find somewhere where I could keep a close enough eye on him, as he has his health problems too.
 
How awful for you, I'm so sorry to read this as these kind of stories are just heart-breaking. Enjoy your last summer with them - they sound like really special horses.
 
I am so sorry to see this, especially when they both looked so well coming out of winter. I know exactly what you are going through, all I can say is, I know from experience that you know when it's the right time. Xx
 
Let them both go together. I did this several years ago, with my 2 homebred mares, aged 24 and 19. the oldest one had cushing disease and going down rapidly the youngest nothing wrong with her, but they had always been together from the time the youngest was born, and she wouldn't have coped without her big sister and I've never regretted it.
 
You have my sympathies, when my husbands horse was pts a couple of years ago my mare went to horse heaven with her. They were inseparable and my mare had terrible separation anxiety and was an anxious sort anyway. We did they best for them. Its not an easy decision but I believe we did the right thing by them both.
 
i hate reading things like this, makes me feel so sad. you are so brave to make that decision. we have a 32 year old pony at the yard where i keep my horse and while he is in brilliant condition and still gives lessons, he does have cushings and i know within the next few years i'll have to witness the day when his owner decides it's time. in a way it would be so much nicer if he would have a heart attack and drop dead while he gallops around the field after being turned out, but it's never that easy is it. x
 
First of all it is so good to hear someone putting the horses first. Secondly ((hugs))
It must be awful. Last summer we knew come autumn we would be saying goodbye to our beautiful boy. Sadly he went horrendously lame in July so that was that and we said goodbye sooner than planned. Awful and heartbreaking though it was, it was good to know he was safe and no longer in any pain. I cannot imagine how it must feel knowing you will lose two. My thoughts are with you. I hope you have a wonderful summer x
 
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