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Veteran
Posts: 277
 
Location: North texas | i have this sweet older horse in his late teens that I rescued from a kill pen in Ok about 3-4 months ago hoping he could be a light trail horse for the kids. Poor guy has a very large hard calcified knee. He can only flex about 25-30 degrees without wanting to fall on you when I clean out his feet. Vet said it was just a very old injury and too far gone to do anything to help.
Sweet and quiet on the ground, but he unfortunately has a big motor and super sensitive to leg the few times I have tried to ride with a lot of anxiety that I am sure is mostly due to pain. Not a good candidate for a babysitter.
I board our horses and I had planned on keeping him at our inlaws ranch but the ground is hard and rocky and I worry about him going down with his limited range of motion in that knee. He can lay down and get up. Eats good. Bute seems to have very minimal affect. I think he just has a BIG heart and I am not sure if he is just in a lot of pain all the time? How do you know what is best for them? If he stills seems happy and moving around do you think he is okay as a pasture pet?
Edited by T'eeH 2016-01-28 10:37 PM
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 Veteran
Posts: 187
| I had my gelding put down in June that was 19 years old. He had pretty much been a pasture ornament since he was 4 when he was injured. He looked the best he had ever looked in his life but being heavier, he was having hard time getting around. I wanted to let him go while he looked good, and not go down hill again. He still ran and played every once in a while, but his gait was off and it was getting worse. It was a hard decision to make, but I felt at peace when it was said and done. |
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Expert
Posts: 3514
  
| Have you tried Previcox? Or there is,a product called Forefront Equine. It has Curicumen in it. Which is a anti inflammatory and pain reliever. Also Curost has a product called Pure that would help with the pain and inflamation. |
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | T'eeH - 2016-01-28 9:30 PM
i have this sweet older horse in his late teens that I rescued from a kill pen in Ok about 3-4 months ago hoping he could be a light trail horse for the kids. Poor guy has a very large hard calcified knee. He can only flex about 25-30 degrees without wanting to fall on you when I clean out his feet. Vet said it was just a very old injury and too far gone to do anything to help.
Sweet and quiet on the ground, but he unfortunately has a big motor and super sensitive to leg the few times I have tried to ride with a lot of anxiety that I am sure is mostly due to pain. Not a good candidate for a babysitter.
I board our horses and I had planned on keeping him at our inlaws ranch but the ground is hard and rocky and I worry about him going down with his limited range of motion in that knee. He can lay down and get up. Eats good. Bute seems to have very minimal affect. I think he just has a BIG heart and I am not sure if he is just in a lot of pain all the time? How do you know what is best for them? If he stills seems happy and moving around do you think he is okay as a pasture pet?
I truly feel like he will tell you when he's tired and done. . . As long as he seems happy and he's eating and bright eyed then I say let him be a pasture pet. My 37 year old has some aches and pains, but he's not ready to say goodbye yet. I can just tell. And like you I worry that he'll have trouble with certain ground or getting up and down. But he's doing fine. I give him Previcox when the days are cold for his arthritis and he gets Platinum CJ. I can't tell you how good he feels and how it makes my heart so happy to see him snake his head around and buck and carry on. Your heart will tell you when it's time. Until then let him enjoy being a horse and be at peace with the wonderful life you've given him. God bless you for saving him and offering him a safe place for his final home. |
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I just read the headlines
Posts: 4483
| I had a mare just like you are describing. Last winter she lost a lot of weight being out in the pasture. I brought her up to the house and got her weight back up. She was bright and happy. The thing was though that this knee couldn't bend very much. She could lift her leg only a few inches. She needed bute to be comfortable. It was muddy and very wet. I was scared she would get down and couldn't get back up, or it would get so she couldn't bend her leg at all. If she got down no one here would be able to put her down and we had no large animal vet within an hour of our house. So one bright sunny day I loaded her up and we drove to the vet so he put her down. She could barely lift her leg enough to step into the stock trailer that sits low to the ground. It was the hardest decision I have ever made and I still tear up thinking about her, but I just could not stand for something bad to happen to her and her suffer. I owed her better than that. It's a hard decision to make and I was crying so hard I almost turned back, but I know I was right. Just do what you think is right. You sound like a caring horse owner. |
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 Midget Lover
Location: Kentucky | I had a vet tell me that as long as an animal is still capable of doing their favorite thing - eating, running, playing, whatever - that their quality of life is still good. I found it a pretty good rule to go by. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1182
Location: Do I hear Banjos? | We will be putting down our old mare next Friday. She is in her late twenties and developed a bone spur after a snake bite a few years ago. Did what we could to keep her pain free in the pasture for the past couple of years. But now she has limited mobility in that joint...cannot bend that knee much at all like your guy. And although she gets around...we can tell that despite Previcox and other treatments...she is in chronic pain. The winter weather has made it worse.
This was a VERY tough decision as she is pasture mate to a 30+year old mule that loves her...and he may well go downhill without her. But it's not fair to keep her going...and as a wise Vet once told me...There are far worse things for an animal than a peaceful, humane end. We would rather let her go now...than find her down and unable to stand or unable to get to water etc. |
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 Cute Little Imp
Posts: 2747
Location: N Texas | Murphy - 2016-01-29 6:58 AM
I had a vet tell me that as long as an animal is still capable of doing their favorite thing - eating, running, playing, whatever - that their quality of life is still good. I found it a pretty good rule to go by.
Yep. When they get to where they either want to lay down all the time, or stay by themselves, or just act really depressed, then you know it's probably time. If he's still bright-eyed and social, I wouldn't even consider putting him down. You'll know if he's done. |
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  Northern Chocolate Queen
Posts: 16576
Location: ND | Trust your heart, you will know when it's time even if you don't fully want to accept it.
Last fall I put down both of my very special old broodmares before the weather got cold. They where 24 & 25 years old. The 24 yr old was in really bad shape. She was missing a lot of teeth & couldn't chew hay anymore, had a bad shoulder from an old injury that she was very sore on, and she had heaves. She did great when the grass was soft & green, she spent most of the summer fat as a tick & shiny as could be. But once the grass dried up, even with tons of feed 2x a day, the weight just melted off of her. The other mare had been attacked by a mountain lion over the summer & I almost lost her to that. She lost a ton of weight because of it & as hard as i tried I could not get her to look healthy again. She was a TX girl & hated our ND winters, even when she was in good condition if it was below 40 degrees she was shivering. For both of them the thought of putting them through another possibly brutal ND winter was worse than the thought of letting them go. The day my vet came to put them down was gorgeous, a warm sunny day with no wind. But that evening when he got here storm clouds where rolling in, after they where gone the wind started howling & there was a crazy gorgeous lightening show. I like to think that was my girls running & crashing through the Heavens! Caring for them was so much a part of my every day routine as they required a lot of pamering. There's days I still tear up doing chores, I miss both of their goofy quirks. But I know without a doubt in my mind that I made the right choice for them. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1079
| SaraJean - 2016-01-29 10:43 AM Trust your heart, you will know when it's time even if you don't fully want to accept it.
Last fall I put down both of my very special old broodmares before the weather got cold. They where 24 & 25 years old. The 24 yr old was in really bad shape. She was missing a lot of teeth & couldn't chew hay anymore, had a bad shoulder from an old injury that she was very sore on, and she had heaves. She did great when the grass was soft & green, she spent most of the summer fat as a tick & shiny as could be. But once the grass dried up, even with tons of feed 2x a day, the weight just melted off of her. The other mare had been attacked by a mountain lion over the summer & I almost lost her to that. She lost a ton of weight because of it & as hard as i tried I could not get her to look healthy again. She was a TX girl & hated our ND winters, even when she was in good condition if it was below 40 degrees she was shivering. For both of them the thought of putting them through another possibly brutal ND winter was worse than the thought of letting them go. The day my vet came to put them down was gorgeous, a warm sunny day with no wind. But that evening when he got here storm clouds where rolling in, after they where gone the wind started howling & there was a crazy gorgeous lightening show. I like to think that was my girls running & crashing through the Heavens! Caring for them was so much a part of my every day routine as they required a lot of pamering. There's days I still tear up doing chores, I miss both of their goofy quirks. But I know without a doubt in my mind that I made the right choice for them.
oof girl. this post made me have to hold back the tears at work. Sorry for your loss -- and everyone else's.
Everyone on this thread sounds like wonderful horse owners who are doing the very best for their horses.
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 A Somebody to Everybody
Posts: 41354
Location: Under The Big Sky Of Texas | They will tell you when its time, as long as hes eating drinking and hanging out with his buddys hes not ready.
And being a pasture pet , I'm betting he would be happy with that.  |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1100
Location: Southeastern Idaho | I am facing this same decision. 22 year old ex broodmare that has calcified knees from working as a futurity cutting horse when young. I have her turned out with the saddle horses in a 160 acre pasture with a round bale in the ring and loose mineral. So far she is keeping her weight really well (almost too well) and runs and plays with the others. She has been a great babysitter for the young horses and has that important job as long as she keeps her weight and doesn't seem to be in too much pain. Dreading the day I see changes. She is a sweetie. |
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 I Don't Brag
Posts: 6960
| I am facing this with my good, old rodeo mare. She is 30 this year. Had a tooth pulled last fall and despite dealing with an infection after for almost a month she is eating well and holding her weight. Arthritis makes it difficult to get up after laying down/rolling. I have had to help her up twice and the other night she was down when I went to do night chores. She had been down and struggling for awhile and when I touched her , she was cold and made no move at all. My heart sank, but while I was unbuckling a halter to put on her head to try and help her, she got up and staggered off, after a little walking she went right to her bucket and ate her entire meal (she often takes all day to clean her bucket in the 22 years I have owned her).
Besides the arthritis, she is losing her sight. As long as I keep others from harassing her, she gets around fine and seems to enjoy the company of my otherwise brat of a "colt"
I owe this mare, who took such good care of both of us throughout the yeas and I don't want to take one day away from her before she is ready, but I don't want her to suffer. She is tough and gritty (other things she had 30 feet of small intestine removed at age 15 and was placing at rodeos within 3 months), so what worries me is how much she endures without complaint. I KNOW that this crabby old mare got up FOR ME the other night and I don't want her enduring an unhappy life FOR ME.
As long as she eats and seems comfortable (with the help of joint shots and daily pain meds), and runs out to buck and kick and stand in the sun, I will keep fighting for her. Lord please let me know when it is time for real. |
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My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | GLP - 2016-01-29 6:40 AM
I had a mare just like you are describing. Last winter she lost a lot of weight being out in the pasture. I brought her up to the house and got her weight back up. She was bright and happy. The thing was though that this knee couldn't bend very much. She could lift her leg only a few inches. She needed bute to be comfortable. It was muddy and very wet. I was scared she would get down and couldn't get back up, or it would get so she couldn't bend her leg at all. If she got down no one here would be able to put her down and we had no large animal vet within an hour of our house. So one bright sunny day I loaded her up and we drove to the vet so he put her down. She could barely lift her leg enough to step into the stock trailer that sits low to the ground. It was the hardest decision I have ever made and I still tear up thinking about her, but I just could not stand for something bad to happen to her and her suffer. I owed her better than that. It's a hard decision to make and I was crying so hard I almost turned back, but I know I was right. Just do what you think is right. You sound like a caring horse owner.
Bless your heart. . . . |
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My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | SaraJean - 2016-01-29 10:43 AM
Trust your heart, you will know when it's time even if you don't fully want to accept it.
Last fall I put down both of my very special old broodmares before the weather got cold. They where 24 & 25 years old. The 24 yr old was in really bad shape. She was missing a lot of teeth & couldn't chew hay anymore, had a bad shoulder from an old injury that she was very sore on, and she had heaves. She did great when the grass was soft & green, she spent most of the summer fat as a tick & shiny as could be. But once the grass dried up, even with tons of feed 2x a day, the weight just melted off of her. The other mare had been attacked by a mountain lion over the summer & I almost lost her to that. She lost a ton of weight because of it & as hard as i tried I could not get her to look healthy again. She was a TX girl & hated our ND winters, even when she was in good condition if it was below 40 degrees she was shivering. For both of them the thought of putting them through another possibly brutal ND winter was worse than the thought of letting them go. The day my vet came to put them down was gorgeous, a warm sunny day with no wind. But that evening when he got here storm clouds where rolling in, after they where gone the wind started howling & there was a crazy gorgeous lightening show. I like to think that was my girls running & crashing through the Heavens! Caring for them was so much a part of my every day routine as they required a lot of pamering. There's days I still tear up doing chores, I miss both of their goofy quirks. But I know without a doubt in my mind that I made the right choice for them.
That absolutely gave me chills. . . . . What a wonderful way to picture their arrival at that final gate! |
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My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | rodeoveteran - 2016-01-29 2:23 PM
I am facing this with my good, old rodeo mare. She is 30 this year. Had a tooth pulled last fall and despite dealing with an infection after for almost a month she is eating well and holding her weight. Arthritis makes it difficult to get up after laying down/rolling. I have had to help her up twice and the other night she was down when I went to do night chores. She had been down and struggling for awhile and when I touched her , she was cold and made no move at all. My heart sank, but while I was unbuckling a halter to put on her head to try and help her, she got up and staggered off, after a little walking she went right to her bucket and ate her entire meal (she often takes all day to clean her bucket in the 22 years I have owned her).
Besides the arthritis, she is losing her sight. As long as I keep others from harassing her, she gets around fine and seems to enjoy the company of my otherwise brat of a "colt"
I owe this mare, who took such good care of both of us throughout the yeas and I don't want to take one day away from her before she is ready, but I don't want her to suffer. She is tough and gritty (other things she had 30 feet of small intestine removed at age 15 and was placing at rodeos within 3 months), so what worries me is how much she endures without complaint. I KNOW that this crabby old mare got up FOR ME the other night and I don't want her enduring an unhappy life FOR ME.
As long as she eats and seems comfortable (with the help of joint shots and daily pain meds), and runs out to buck and kick and stand in the sun, I will keep fighting for her. Lord please let me know when it is time for real.
Dear mercy this thread is breaking my heart, because I KNOW one day this is gonna be me wondering if I'm doing right by my babies. Like someone said, I don't want to take one single second off their life, but I also don't want to make them suffer any at all for my selfishness of being unable to do the right thing. . . . Many prayers to you wonderful mommas who have made the right decision or are facing making that decision. |
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Good Ole Boys just Fine with Me
Posts: 2869
Location: SE Missouri | Last spring we put our old mare down. She also had a huge calcified knee for years. She had days were she was still spunky and her weight had slipped a little but not bad. I did not want her to panick when she couldn't get up by herself, I didn't want her to lay there for hours. I had not started down the senior feed, daily medicine route yet. I don't know how to describe her but doing the pampering things wouldn't have been her deal. She was an Indepent little fart.
Like so many others the day of her appointment it was beautiful and sunny. We waited until the warms days and she had already plumped back up with all the new grass. She had just started to be less social in the pasture and I just thought it was getting close. We truly are at peace with our timing and if anything maybe held on a little too long. She was so gritty and tough and quirky on top of it. I see her shine though on her Lions Share of Fame filly often.
Prayers for you as you walk through this decision. |
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Quality of life? How do you decide??