Just got some super discouraging news about one of my horses...

[Peaches Lee]

Quote:
I have heard that a lot of Vet Schools will euthanize the horse moments after arrival so the students may be able to get experience with euthing and be able to examine the body.

 

[carolinagirl58]

Quote:
I have heard that a lot of Vet Schools will euthanize the horse moments after arrival so the students may be able to get experience with euthing and be able to examine the body.

But if bufforp89 is considering euthansia for her anyway, would this be such a bad thing? It saves bufforp89 the expense and stress of handling the euthanasia herself, and it might help some vet students learn more about the process. At least then the horse's death would not be a total loss.

 

[Avalon1984]

In the end I think you will know in your heart what is best for her. My mare is a retired lesson horse and was perfect before she started to become blind. I am now her sole handler because I don’t want anybody to get hurt if she spooks on noises or things. It is a lot more work for me and I know that in the end I will need to have her euthanized. I talked to my vet about it and I will have her put down in our pasture amongst her friends and on her favorite hill when the time comes. This way she wouldn’t have to endure a trailer ride to a strange new place and new people with everything that she knew as “home” being gone before she passes on. I could never do that to her, but that’s just me. I wish you the best in the process and much strength.

 

[danischi24]

Quote:
I have heard that a lot of Vet Schools will euthanize the horse moments after arrival so the students may be able to get experience with euthing and be able to examine the body.

Yeah, I had to do this in school & it was very educational & has stayed with me ever since. The horse we used had a broken hip. He was put down very humanely & we were very respectful with his body & grateful to be able to see things in real life instead of just books & models.

 

[Chicky-dees]

UGH! HAte it when these things happen and hate the decisions that have to be made. Never had a blind horse in my 22+ yrs of horse ownership, but have had to make those terrible decisions time and again. I had a beautiful gelding that went lame from a hereditary disease by the time he was 10. He was the best baby/kid raiser I had for my kiddos, and also the best buggy horse I ever had. I got him when he was a yearling, trained him myself, and loved him until the end. He was best friends with my older horse who at 25, was losing the battle with old age. I had decided that when it was time for one of them to go, the other would go with him. My older horse lost the luster in his eyes and I made the humane decision to end it. I buried them 10 foot deep in the middle of my garden.

My experience with blind horses (through two friends who chose to manage them for a few years - both horses met a bad fate, sadly) dealt with a lot of upkeep issues including wrecks with fences, separation anxiety from buddy horses, weight loss due to stress, colic and ulcers due to stress and both admitted their horse's quality of life was very poor prior to euthanasia. One horse severed a leg while panicking trying to get to a buddy horse she thought was on the other side of a fence (but wasn't) and the other developed infections in the eye due to equine recurrent uveitis and had to have one eye removed, and when the other became as bad as the first, the owner chose euthanasia. The mare was in horrible pain over the last year until she could finally be allowed to cross the rainbow bridge.

Ultimately, it is your decision. You shouldn't feel guilty about choosing euthanasia or for continuing to try to manage her with her blindness. If you choose the latter, just make sure you do the best you possibly can with what resources you have, and then in the end you'll be able to rest easier. The guilt of having to make a decision like this eats at our hearts and souls and in the end, you can only be comforted by the fact you did the best you could do.

 

[Peaches Lee]

Quote:
I have heard that a lot of Vet Schools will euthanize the horse moments after arrival so the students may be able to get experience with euthing and be able to examine the body.

But if bufforp89 is considering euthansia for her anyway, would this be such a bad thing? It saves bufforp89 the expense and stress of handling the euthanasia herself, and it might help some vet students learn more about the process. At least then the horse's death would not be a total loss.

I just wanted to let the OP know what I've heard goes on when you donate to a vet school, so she doesn't have false hope that the horse is going to live happily ever after once the horse is dropped off (maybe some Vet Schools are different, but I'm not sure) Loading a blind horse that is nervous onto a trailer and taking her to a new place to be euth'd will probably have it's own set of stressors too. I'm sure the OP is weighing heavily on this and I truly feel for her in this tough situation.

 

[HighNDryFarm]

The bottom line is that YOU get to make the decision on quality of life, or lack of it. I only have my blind mare because she's doing well. She's easy to handle, isn't a danger to me or herself. If she was, I would give her the respect to let her go. Although, I have to admit that I did have a mare that needed to be put down but I swore I could save her....until one night I went to give her meds and she refused them and I heard her say "I'm done"....I let her go to the Rainbow Bridge that weekend.

Follow your gut...

 

[redhen]

Quote:
I have heard that a lot of Vet Schools will euthanize the horse moments after arrival so the students may be able to get experience with euthing and be able to examine the body.

But if bufforp89 is considering euthansia for her anyway, would this be such a bad thing? It saves bufforp89 the expense and stress of handling the euthanasia herself, and it might help some vet students learn more about the process. At least then the horse's death would not be a total loss.

This would be what i would do. IF the horse is to be put down RIGHT away...