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Member
Posts: 5
| I am fighting myself here... 11 years ago I got this mare, my first horse of my own. She has been right there beside me through parents divorce, breakups, school drama, everything! And has even toted my 3 year old son around since he could sit up. She is something special to the family. She is in her late 20's. Last winter she got pretty poor. Teeth had been done (What teeth she does have) and she is UTD on all shots and dewormed like it is a life or death ritual. I put her on pasture this summer, and she filled out a little but nothing like I had hoped for. I will try to attach pictures. I am fighting myself though. We are predicted to have a rough ole winter this year. Lots of snow, ice, etc. Which is hard on anything especially old bones. I would just like unbiased opinions other than from my family who is obviously Team Keep Her Alive And Prolong Amanda's Anxiety. They are also not horse people. They don't understand the risks you run when you have to feed so much grain to keep one up, and the severity of arthritis. I guess what I am asking here, is what would you do? Try to keep her comfortable through winter or let her go with some dignity before winter? Thank you guys. |
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 Life Saver
Posts: 10477
 
Location: MT | I'm running into the same situation with my oldie. We've decided to put him down before winter hits, probably in a month or so. I hate making that decision but I hate watching him suffer more. I think it's best to let them go when they still have some dignity and you have time to prepare for it, instead of it being an emergency situation. Winter up here is much too hard to expect him to go through in the condition he is in now. Sending my hugs, it's not an easy decision to make.
Also, just a suggestion...it would be a lot easier to read your post if you changed the color to something darker. |
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 Expert
Posts: 1304
| I think that I would probably let them go before winter hit if they weren't doing well and the winter was predicted to be rough. I know it would be hard but I also think it would be a more peaceful process to do it earlier when prepared then do it later when they're suffering and it's kind of sudden if that makes sense? I know it won't be an easy decision, prayers for you. You know your horse and I'd trust your gut   |
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Go Get Em!
Posts: 13503
 
Location: OH. IO | Oh My,I cannot read that green writing at all. But just from what i can see,you have my prayers in this difficult time.Its never easy to make the decision, but we are the one responsible ,and i send my prayers. |
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 Thread Killer
Posts: 7545
| We are planning the same thing for my old guy as well. He is 22 but has been in steady decline since he turned 20. Vet said he's not in agony, but our collective concern is him falling down, breaking something, and having to be put down in the dead of winter.
He's been "in the family" for 12 years. I'll be ****ed if he suffers because I "just couldn't do it". |
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 Coyote Country Queen
Posts: 5666
| It's hard to make the decision, and I think only you are going to know your horse and what will be best for her. Our oldies (25 and 26) made it through the winter okay, but the flies and heat this summer took its toll. They are looking much better now, but we still have it on our minds that it might be their time. We've decided that if they start looking or acting poor we'll make the call, but as long as they are enjoying life they can stand out in the pasture, they've earned their retirement. |
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 I Don't Brag
Posts: 6960
| I am facing the same choices. My now 29 year old mare lost a lot of weight during the drought a couple of years ago...the heat was just hard on her. Now we are facing another hard Northern winter. She looks fabulous now, finally got some weight back on her. She still runs and bucks. But I have watched her struggle to get up after rolling, spinning around on her butt and making attempt after attempt until she hauls herself up. Her eyesight is also failing but my colt takes good care of her, making sure she comes up to the barn in the dark.
This morning I discovered a large booger on her elbow and she was quite touchy when I cleaned and medicated it. It breaks my heart, and I want to give her every bit of life she can enjoy, but I don't want her to suffer either, to make me feel better. Also, trimming her feet becomes a bigger struggle each time. She tries her heart out to stand and co-operate but the arthritis makes it hard on everyone.
How can I possibly make the decision when it is time? She took care of me for many years on crappy rodeo ground and I owe her no less in her retirement. |
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Expert
Posts: 1432
| I hve a 25 yr old mare also.. That we raised and raised several generations before her.. She's also the mother to one of my main horses I've been running for the last 12 years (I retired him this year). Anyway, so far she's doing great and I hope she winters well.. I've started feeding her extra getting her ready for winter. I dread the day I hve to make the decision to send her to Heaven.. |
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  Northern Chocolate Queen
Posts: 16576
Location: ND | I'm in the same spot with my 24 yr old retired broodmare. She wintered ok last year but can't eat hay anymore, so she has to be on a bunch of feed and blanketed. Even with all the feed she gets she's still hungry. She's also got a bad shoulder so worrying about her going down on the ice makes me crazy. She's had a wonderful summer, when the grass got green she filled out and looked young again. I'll be putting her down this fall. The decision breaks my heart every day as I don't want to say goodbye, but I know it's right for her. |
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The Advice Guru
Posts: 6419
| I look at are they still enjoying life?
If so I will tend to their needs.
If i cannot keep them comfortable, then it is time to call the vet.
With comfort, I look at the physician issues, can they be managed you say arthritis, so do you have the horse on any meds such as previcoxx? I also look at feed, can they still eat, what can I do to make it easier for them? I had one for her last summer she was eating 25 lbs of soaked alfalfa pellets twice a day plus fine chop three times a day, she was happy, content, and alert till the end, she was 26.
I also believe the philosophy that any horse can break a leg, so this alone doesn't determine if I euthanize or not.
You are the only one who can make the decision
Just remember snow, and ice can be dealt with. |
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 My Heart Be Happy
Posts: 9159
Location: Arkansas | rodeoveteran - 2015-08-26 7:34 PM
I am facing the same choices. My now 29 year old mare lost a lot of weight during the drought a couple of years ago...the heat was just hard on her. Now we are facing another hard Northern winter. She looks fabulous now, finally got some weight back on her. She still runs and bucks. But I have watched her struggle to get up after rolling, spinning around on her butt and making attempt after attempt until she hauls herself up. Her eyesight is also failing but my colt takes good care of her, making sure she comes up to the barn in the dark.
This morning I discovered a large booger on her elbow and she was quite touchy when I cleaned and medicated it. It breaks my heart, and I want to give her every bit of life she can enjoy, but I don't want her to suffer either, to make me feel better. Also, trimming her feet becomes a bigger struggle each time. She tries her heart out to stand and co-operate but the arthritis makes it hard on everyone.
How can I possibly make the decision when it is time? She took care of me for many years on crappy rodeo ground and I owe her no less in her retirement.
Every one of these touches my heart and brings tears to my eyes . . . I have a 36 year old gelding, and he creaks like "an old house" as my son's gf says. He was my first horse after my wreck and he is the reason I have 5 now. The old man is my heart, but I know I have to be strong when the time comes. I dread it, and I'm scared that I won't make the right decision at the right time. I don't want him to suffer for my selfishness, yet I don't want to take one day too early from him. He bucks and kicks and is the first one at the stalls to eat, but I've started worrying about the winter just like y'all have. I just pray that I will know when the time is right. I've never lost a horse, but I feel like with my cats and dogs I've done right by them---like they somehow let me know that they were tired and "ready", if that makes sense. I would love to see some pictures of everyone's oldies to see how Dan compares as far as his weight, etc. Everyone that sees him can't believe he's that old and says he looks great, but I feel I walk a tight rope between keeping him trim enough to help his arthritis or him being too thin. . . (I'm tech challenged and don't know how to do pics.) |
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 Worst.Housekeeper.EVER.
Location: Missouri | Mine is 30-something and looks terrible.
But, she always drops weight worse in the summer than winter.
My hope is to have a barn built before the worst of winter so I can keep her up and on free-choice feed because she can no longer eat grass or hay.
Really stinks to be in this situation...
I'm so sorry you're there too. |
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 Elite Veteran
Posts: 1062
Location: Probably On the Road to the Next Barrel Race! | My friend put down her 32 year old horse last week. No horse was ever better cared for, but he looked horrible all of the time, even with great green pasture all summer. Four weeks ago he started with diarrhea, was treated with antibiotics, then probiotics...to no avail, I guess his systems were just shutting down. He lost about 100 to 150 lbs in 3 weeks. Finally he could barely walk, so she put him down. He had been her first horse, and yes, he had been there for her thru many teenage tragedies in life. Personally, when they start looking like a living skeleton, and they are costing you a couple hundred dollars a month to barely maintain a semblence of their former life, I say let them go home. I think people too often keep their horses alive for themselves, not because the horse is having a quality life. Only you can know what is right for you, but you asked for an unbiased opinion outside your family, so here it is...do not allow her to suffer. Winter here in TX is not so bad, but if you live up North..I don't think so. Prayers for you. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1079
| I too am in a situation like this. I have a 23 yo that has suffered for 10+ years with severe heaves. It's to the point he has to get 10 days of 20cc (that is a LOT of thick meds) to get over a breathing flare up. When he flares up he loses condition like right now - he won't eat or drink when he can't breathe. His medicine seems to be losing it's effectiveness and I struggle with poking him all the time. I don't know when to say enough is enough though because he bounces back and does great. But when he's bad, he's really bad.
At what point are we doing these things for ourselves? I really struggle with this with him. |
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 Warmblood with Wings
Posts: 27846
Location: Florida.. | star1218 - 2015-08-27 10:09 AM I too am in a situation like this. I have a 23 yo that has suffered for 10+ years with severe heaves. It's to the point he has to get 10 days of 20cc (that is a LOT of thick meds) to get over a breathing flare up. When he flares up he loses condition like right now - he won't eat or drink when he can't breathe. His medicine seems to be losing it's effectiveness and I struggle with poking him all the time. I don't know when to say enough is enough though because he bounces back and does great. But when he's bad, he's really bad.
At what point are we doing these things for ourselves? I really struggle with this with him.
My one mare didnt have heaves but copd. I understand the pain you feel.. having problems breathing is horrible to watch.. I also had to give her a massive amount of Dex.. after 4 months of her going back and forth and numerous Equine UF trips and stays and of Feeling great to feeling bad and losing weight suddenly I had to make the decision.. she let me know one day she was giving up the fight. But There were many days of what should I do.. Id make the decision and walk out and shed be happily grazing.. then the next night shed be miserable..
I have a mare now on MSM that seems to help her slight heaves.. shes 30 yrs old.. at this point shes happy and eats and maintaining weight but this helped her alot with inflammation.. shes not on Dex though.. prayers for your difficult road.. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1079
| Bibliafarm - 2015-08-27 9:28 AM star1218 - 2015-08-27 10:09 AM I too am in a situation like this. I have a 23 yo that has suffered for 10+ years with severe heaves. It's to the point he has to get 10 days of 20cc (that is a LOT of thick meds) to get over a breathing flare up. When he flares up he loses condition like right now - he won't eat or drink when he can't breathe. His medicine seems to be losing it's effectiveness and I struggle with poking him all the time. I don't know when to say enough is enough though because he bounces back and does great. But when he's bad, he's really bad.
At what point are we doing these things for ourselves? I really struggle with this with him. My one mare didnt have heaves but copd. I understand the pain you feel.. having problems breathing is horrible to watch.. I also had to give her a massive amount of Dex.. after 4 months of her going back and forth and numerous Equine UF trips and stays and of Feeling great to feeling bad and losing weight suddenly I had to make the decision.. she let me know one day she was giving up the fight. But There were many days of what should I do.. Id make the decision and walk out and shed be happily grazing.. then the next night shed be miserable..
I have a mare now on MSM that seems to help her slight heaves.. shes 30 yrs old.. at this point shes happy and eats and maintaining weight but this helped her alot with inflammation.. shes not on Dex though.. prayers for your difficult road..
Yes, thank you. I guess I use the words Heaves and COPD interchangeably but he has also had an allergy panel and 6 months of antigen shots in hopes that would limit his reaction to whatever it is that triggers him. All it really did was kind of reset his response to his normal medicine (mixture of pen and dex) He's been on everything from ventipulmin to powder supplements, etc etc etc over the years but nothing else works for him now. The time between flare ups seems to always be shorter and shorter and I HATE having to give him so many shots and it would be one thing if it was a thin medicine, but 20cc of pen based ... awful. AWFUL. When he is flared up I can see every rib on an exhale and he just has to use every muscle to inhale.. i hate it. But a few days of shots and he's OK. :/
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 Can You Hear Me Now?
Location: When you hit the middle of nowhere .. Keep driving | I have one I am going to say goodbye to this fall as well. She's always had her ups and downs during the winter but was happy. This year even on green pasture she just looks tired. It will break my heat she's my dopey faced gray and I love her to pieces but I can't see her suffer.
My boarder has a couple 26 year old's that are coming close to their time too. The gelding will likely be put to sleep the same time my mare does, her mare we may give her another year (she's still got lots of p*ss and vinegar left) but I notice she's harder to get weight on too now, and I as the barn owner am dreading the winter with her already but it's not my choice. She's got pasture, hay and grain and still not where I like them. |
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 Experienced Mouse Trapper
Posts: 3106
Location: North Dakota | As an animal owner-we have the responsibility of doing what is right and hard......preferrably before you have to....digging holes in wintertime is not desireable, unless you have other means of disposing of your horse. Sorry you're going through this...it stinks, but is part of your responsibility, plus I always feel it is better they die in a calm, comfortable way, rather than some struggling scared manner when the time comes that it "has" to be done. |
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Good Ole Boys just Fine with Me
Posts: 2869
Location: SE Missouri | We made that decision this spring on a mare. It sucked BUT I am ok with our decision and I know it was the right thing to do. We could have nursed her along for a few more years but I don't think that was fair to her!
My dad is close to the same decision with our paint stud.. That's gonna be hard. I think he could do it any day but I sure hope he does it before winter. (my avatar). At some point you've done all you can do and Father Time wins. The financial burden does play a part also. I'm all about keeping them comfortable but I think the mounting cost to hold on to them helps bring into perspective the need to Figure out who you are benefiting? I guess I've already resigned myself on Patriot that it's so close that I'm almost over it. He's been great to us and I hope we do right by him when it's time. Gonna miss him.
Prayers for you during this time. |
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Elite Veteran
Posts: 1079
| abrooks - 2015-08-27 11:38 AM We made that decision this spring on a mare. It sucked BUT I am ok with our decision and I know it was the right thing to do. We could have nursed her along for a few more years but I don't think that was fair to her! My dad is close to the same decision with our paint stud.. That's gonna be hard. I think he could do it any day but I sure hope he does it before winter. (my avatar). At some point you've done all you can do and Father Time wins. The financial burden does play a part also. I'm all about keeping them comfortable but I think the mounting cost to hold on to them helps bring into perspective the need to Figure out who you are benefiting? I guess I've already resigned myself on Patriot that it's so close that I'm almost over it. He's been great to us and I hope we do right by him when it's time. Gonna miss him. Prayers for you during this time.
This is what I think about too. But then I wonder if that is a "right" reason to put one down. Everything comes into play I suppose, but in my mind it's hard to make that decision when it isn't critical...
This thread came at a good time for me. Hugs to the OP. |
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