Peaches Lee, the horses you took on were nothing like the one violetsky is talking about.
Sorry, violetsky, but based on what you have posted, not one decent horseperson would fail to see about a half a dozen red flags. It's got 'Rescuer' written all over it.
Sure you are to be commended for wanting to help - BUT. 'Helping' is the most difficult, complicated, and heartbreaking thing in the world that anyone can do. It is not easy, it is not cheap, and it is not something that is going to make one smile every day. Horses are not like dogs and cats. When their legs are damaged beyond a certain point, they must be euthenized - if you like I will show you the horrific suffering that results when people refuse to 'do the right thing' for a suffering horse.
You cannot come here and ask anyone here if there is 'hope' for this horse, because no matter how knowledgeable they are, they cannot answer your question. Because no one here can tell. Only an in person lameness expert veterinarian can tell that, and only if you allow him or her to do the necessary diagnostics, and that is going to be expensive. Xrays, ultrasounds, flexion tests, blood tests, this isn't a simple matter. They would also need all the animal's medical records and history of the injury.
Sure some rescues take horses and then don't get adequate care for them. SO? Does that make it right?
We got our pony out of a bad situation, we PAID for him, he wasn't even a freebie. His hooves were so deformed and mangled by repeated bouts of laminitis (something ELSE the horse you're considering is extremely vulnerable to), that we did not even think he would make it to his new home. Three years and about ten thousand dollars later, we have a permanent pet that will NEVER be able to be worked and whom I would NEVER let anyone else touch, let alone HAVE!
He will DIE HERE...hopefully of extreme old age, though so much damage has been done that we simply cherish every day and don't think about tomorrow. Whatever he needs, he gets, and that WILL include euthenasia on the day his quality of life deteriorates due to pain or inability to get around.
He MAY recover. He MAY. But we are not EXPECTING him to recover. We are operating as if he is a member of the family. I wouldn't kick my son out of the house if he was a parapalegic, either. He would also have someone to care for him and do whatever he needed, whatever that was, for the rest of his life.
I make career decisions, vacation decisions(we do not go on vacation together because we have learned by experience that we can't count on anyone to follow the detailed care instructions he requires), even make my own doctor and dentist appointments, with his needs in mind. I gave up a LOT of other things, to do this. It was an informed, and most importantly, an able decision.
Most people could not and should not be in such a situation. Most people cannot honestly say, 'I can provide better than someone else'.
Yes, frankly, I am financially well enough off that he will NEVER want for any treatment, care, ANYTHING.
Should money be the 'measure of an owner'? By God, YES. Horses are expensive animals. Their veterinary care is expensive. Most people cannot afford horses OR their veterinary care.
He can't be allowed to eat even one blade of grass, he will NEVER be able to go out in pasture, he requires special feed, special hay, special farriery work every six weeks, he must be prevented from being put under any stress, he required a special paddock and fencing, we even had an excavator prepare his paddock with special footing. We hope that a new Fructan vaccine will offer him some hope some day, and when the time comes, we will make a decision, NOT based on cost, as to whether he will get that vaccine every spring and fall.
I have fifty years of experience with horses. I worked at breeding farms for years. I have trained horses, cleaned stalls, worked for a vet, competed, and I STILL respect and listen to my veterinarian - and I work with a great one. Expensive, and worth it. And I knew fully well what I was getting into - unknowns, risks, possibilities. I had money set aside - 10 grand, as his 'special fund' for all the care he would need. That money is never used for anything else but him.
Only a very indepth veterinary exam by a lameness expert vet can yield useful information on which to make a decision. The decision is NOT 'will this horse be sellable in a year', or 'when can i show him' or anything like that - it will be 'is it fair to the animal to keep him alive' and 'is there anything we can do to improve his quality of life' and 'can I afford to do it'.
Money WILL be 'a factor'. A huge factor. SO WILL SUFFERING BE. Do you know how agonizing it is to remove proud flesh where it interferes with movement? Have you ever even seen a horse go through that agony? How about the necessary confinement for healing? Do you have that? Or will the vet be 'wrong' about confinement to allow healing, too, and the animal left to stumble and lurch around a field while other horses pick on him, his bandages get filthy and wet (causing infection and MORE proud flesh) and he falls and injures himself even more?
if I try to help I will be commiting animal cruelty so I will leave him to another fate
You are unfairly and in a very cruel and deeply personally insulting fashion, misrepresenting what I wrote. In addition, I am extremely upset by your implying that 'vets aren't always right' and 'having six thousand a year for care is not the measure of being a good owner'.
I find it deeply disturbing what that implies, that an owner without the means to get the proper treatment for a severely crippled, suffering animal, will 'wuv him all up' and he'll be fine. Routinely and out of hand disregarding veterinary advice because 'it might be wrong' is a lot more like not listening to what you don't want to hear than anything else.
You're so emotionally wrought up and defensive and 'la la la I can't hear you unless you say what I want to hea' about this animal that you don't even plan on keeping for more than a year!!
The fact is, vets very often ARE right, and when they are wrong, it is VERY often because the owner did not allow the vet to do a proper diagnostic with xrays and ultrasound and tests, and the vet is forced to simply guess based on a brief observation and hearing a few words about the animal!!
Most of the OTHER times vets are wrong, it's because the owner refused to bring in an appropriate vet for the given problem - a lameness expert for a mysterious lameness, usually is NOT sought, and a junior vet who mostly gives vaccines, is being asked to diagnose something he has no special experience or training in - AGAIN, without doing any tests, xrays or anything else usually!!!!
If you exclude THOSE incidents, vets, are, yes, occasionally 'wrong'. But they are extremely UN-likely to be 'wrong' about something as obvious and disturbing as what is wrong with THIS animal!!!
The MOST disturbing thing, OP, is that you appear to be completely unwilling to even entertain the possibility of putting this animal to sleep! I've BOUGHT horses that were suffering just so the vet could put them down on the spot!!!! Sometimes euthenasia is the only ETHICAL AND FAIR thing to be done for a horse!!!
Number one, if the owners really are ethical, they would not pass such a severely injured horse on to you - as more posters than I have already noted. They would 1.) care for it themselves lifelong, regardless of the cost, the animal would receive the care it needed! 2.) IF IT WERE MEDICALLY APPROPRIATE they would euthenize the horse.
Based on your description of the severity of the gait abnormality, euthenasia is the only fair option for this animal. What you are describing is a degree of disability that is NOT matching ANY standards of quality of life!!!
Could it get better with time or more treatment? That depends on what is wrong. If the owners are as good as you say, they have been providing all care necessary to help the horse recover - AND HE HAS NOT RECOVERED.
