Let’s do another one of those tests…
Mar 04 2010
You know how I sometimes like for you to show pictures to your non-horsey friends and significant others to see if they can tell if something is wrong with a horse? Try it with this one. I’m curious to hear the results. I think this is tougher than the typical 1 body condition score horse I ask you to do this with, but I still think it’s a really obvious example!
“TIER & Falconridge Equine Rescue are working together to help this mare. We have named her Sugar Bear.
3-2-10 Late in the evening, we received information about a QH mare, approximately 14 years old that was injured and lying down. We need your help!
Original listing on Craigslist:
Free Approx 14 year old , Mare.. my ex-boyfriend left this horse with me and I don’t know alot about them.. she is lame and underwieght. I have been feeding her 2 flakes of hay in morning, afternoon and night to try to help her weight issue, cause I feel bad for her, I took her to my sisters house to put her in a stall to be out of the rain. My sister told me to try and have her rescued or put down, I don’t want her put down.. please help this mare..
After phone calls by TIER & FalconRidge, we got the following information:
Mare had been with a horse trader (ex-boyfriend)…mare was ridden in the sand at the riverbottom and the horse was sound…but came back SHAKING and has been lying down a lot since. Off on the front and back leg swollen so sounds like she pulled or injured something in the sand she said. She’s very thin. This woman who has had her for 4 days now (sister to the gal who rode her in the sand in the riverbottom) said the mare will get up to eat, but thats it! Of course a vet has not been called since this occurred 4 days ago.
We are making arrangements for the mare to initially go to TIER. She has been christened “Sugar Bear”. The vet has been contacted and once he has evaluated her, we will know more about what we are dealing with. If a chiropractor is needed, Dr. Don Moore will be contacted. Once we have more information about her condition and she has stabilized (depending on vet recommendation) she will then go to Falconridge Equine Rescue.
We need your help! We are in need of emergency funds to pay the vet, purchase medications, chiropractor (if needed), feed, etc. & eventual transport to Falconridge, etc. This mare has been suffering for days and days! We were told that she was being given 1 scoop of bute per day. That is equivalent to 1 bute tablet…..not near enough for an injury that causes a horse to lie down frequently. Horses do not lie down that much or that often unless they are in great pain!”
Oh, and of course, TIER and Falcon Ridge could always use donations for this mare’s vet expenses. They’re good rescues and will do the best they can for her!
And if you’re looking to adopt, I don’t believe anyone has closed the deal on Angel Acres’ cutie-pie Tango yet…
159 comments to “Let’s do another one of those tests…”
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Poor girl
. I’m glad she is heading to a rescue, hopefully they can figure out what’s going on with her.
I haven’t been privy to anyone boarding a lame horse with no vet care (thanks to private barns with 2 or 3 boarders, mostly). But, my older mare came up limping a little once, and I asked the BO just to turn her out in one of the smaller paddocks without company (definitely wasn’t a hassle) for I think it was three days until the vet could come up. Every day I went there to check on her, she was turned back out in the field with all the others. Infuriating! I even put buckets and hay out the night before so she could just lead her out about 15 steps to the small paddock, and the BO just couldn’t get it through her head that anything was wrong. It ended up just being some arthritis troubles, but I didn’t want my 18 year old mare being whalloped on by the other horses if she couldn’t get away fast enough (and didn’t want her straining anything further).
I can’t tell you how many times people have said “Oh he’s fine” about my horse when he wasn’t fine and was unsound. It’s unfortunate that rookies aren’t the only ones who ignore a horse who is in obvious discomfort.
I was at a trail ride where a young girl was riding an emaciated pony double and then complaining because she was too slow! Called her lazy! I told her that if she would feed her more she probably wouldn’t be so “lazy” she didn’t know what I was talking about.
Posting this again:
Someone just sent me this thread from the Barrel Horse World forum. You have to be a member to see the awful pictures but it is easy and quick to become a member. Seems that there was an ad on craigslist that a “buyer†responded to…this is what she found: minis with slipper feet, emaciated horses nursing foals, lice, rainrot and dead horses just lying in the field and barns. The place is at :7680 88th st. Howard City Mi. 49329
Link to michigan horse chat thread: http://michiganhorsechat.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=generalchat&action=display&thread=5485
Link to Barrel Horse World thread: http://forums.barrelhorseworld.com/forum/forums/thread-view.asp?tid=294573&start=1
Link to Pictures: http://community.webshots.com/album/576914327XBmIla
I’ll check it out – thanks!
Those poor minis’ feet are painful to look at. I just don’t get it. How can people just stand around (the owners and others not the person taking the pics for documentation) as if there isn’t a thing wrong in the world? I wish it were legal to keep minis in a residential/suburbian back yard. We have plenty of room in our yard for a mini or two.
What a horrible situation…and once again AC wont do a damn thing…wonderful!!!
I’ve been following this story on MHC (michigan horse chat) http://michiganhorsechat.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=generalchat&action=display&thread=5485&page=6. Local AC doesn’t seem to want to do anything , even though there are dead horses on the property and 3 complaints on this address in the past 6 months. The owners said something about taking all these horses to the local auction to dump them on good friday, we all know where these horses will end up! Someone needs to light a fire under AC’s ass!!! Fugs you seem to have the power to do this, please look into this and try to help these poor horses in Howell mi.
They would be doing that poor girl a great service if they would help her out of this world. Her poor legs…it is probably a good thing she isn’t any fatter!
wow the first thing i said when i saw this picture was OMG look at those knees!!! poor thing she has got to be in alot of pain….call the damn vet people, quit being stupid….if their kids had knees like that (or something similar) im sure they would take them to the doctor, why is a horse any different?!??!!? poor thing
When I look at this mare, I just see pain…everywhere…
I agree, these are the cases that get me to the core. Without a complete vet eval, I would be totally ignorant to render an opinion on whether or not she should be put down but if this is as good as it gets for her, let her go. What a bunch of idiots that let her get this way.
I look forward to the update on her…whatever that may be.
I hope the mare gets good care. I’m confused, though–why were they riding the mare at all when it was perfectly obvious she was severely underweight, even if she didn’t appear lame before the ride? On the other hand, while I wish they’d have gotten help for the mare earlier, at least it’s only been 4 days and not weeks or months of hell before they realized they were in over their heads and the mare needed help.
I have boarded my horses for the last 10+ years at large boarding facilities. I guess I’ve been lucky, because for the most part, my fellow boarders are more likely to freak out over nothing than to let lameness go unnoticed or uncared for. Riders are asking people on the ground all the time, “Does she look lame?” “Does he look a little off to you?” 9 times out of 10, I can’t see anything wrong, but I always appreciate the concern, and I also appreciate it when somebody takes the time out to tell me my horse is off, because sometimes you just can’t feel it (especially on my very large TWH gelding who is smooth as silk–even when he’s dead lame).
After 10 years of boarding, I finally have a place of my own and will be moving my horses shortly. I can’t say that my neighbors are the greatest of horse people (although they think they are), so I fear what I’ll be seeing soon. And I’m hoping to have the guts to point it out to them in as pleasant a way as possible (although I haven’t yet spoken to my hoarder neighbors who are, of course, a “rescue” that never fails to breed every mare that walks through the door… and then a stock trailer shows up, hauls off all the mutt, wormy-bellied babies, and they ever so magically disappear. I’ve only been there a few months, but I’m pretty sure I’m onto their little operation. When I pointed out to another neighbor that I’m pretty sure every one of those sad-looking babies is heading for a bad end, she was quite shocked. I’m not sure what she thought was happening. Plus, it just can’t be normal to lose 16 of your 15 rescues about 6 months after you supposedly rescued them. To be fair, that last comment is based solely on hearsay, so I guess I’ll soon be seeing for myself what they do, and I’m scared).
Exactly – she did not lose all that weight in a week of being hurt, although some of it is dehydration and being tucked up in pain. She’s still thin to start with.
I showed my dad, and he was all like, “Is that a reeree pony? Looks like something’s wrong with him but I can’t place it. Maybe it’s cuz he’s a reeree. Is that why he’s on fugly horse of the day? Cuz he’s a ReeRee Pony? Because Prince Charming Pony wouldn’t be on the blog.”
I laughed so freaking hard! xD
That is hilarious. What exactly is a “ReeRee Pony?”
My husband once bought a BRAND NEW $6000 ATV for his business. A friend asked if he could borrow it to take for a little ride. Dummy husband couldn’t say no. When we got it back, the 300+ pound man had ridden the life out of it up the river all weekend. He had flattened (destroyed) one tire, bent the rear axle ( we could see marks where he tried to straighten it with a sledhammer!), and there was 4 inches of mud covering everything inside it, the motor and all. He brought it back and innocently acted like nothing had happened. It was “show room” new when he borrowed it, and it came back like he’d used it in mud bog racing. My point is, there are many people who think things like this, including the hard use of an animal, is perfectly acceptable. I once saw a group of riders from a certain stable racing on the gravel roads while we were waiting for a parade we were riding in to start. You could see the poor horses hobbling along on too short barefoot feet as they frantically were trying to pull over to the thin stripe of grass on the side of the road. The idiots racing back and forth up and down the road, seats flying out of their saddles and elbows up by their chins, they brought no hay or water for their horses when they were tied up to their trailers. One rider had a healthy horse which was shod, the others all were riding skeltons on crippled up barefeet and no one seemed to notice as they hooted and hollared racing among themselves…and this was a riding club!
Sounds like the bay has sole bruises, road founder, or tendon issues from hard work without proper conditioning. Shame on them! I hope her rider’s butt hurts ten times more than the mare’s legs/feet do.
I agree with your analogy to people using up whatever they have–be it animate or inanimate (I have often said I wouldn’t let a person ride my horse because he’d use it like a motorcycle… although, to be fair, many people treat their motorcycles exceptionally well). However, I have to point out that barefoot does not equal abuse. Indeed, some would say shoes may. If the horses were underfed and not properly trimmed and lame on the riding surface… that would, indeed, equal abuse in my mind. If, on the other hand (like my horses), they are conditioned and have beautiful feet that are trimmed well and just don’t require shoes, then I would disagree.
I think the point there was that a shod horse would be more likely to tolerate the gravel – not that they should be racing on it either.
Sophie,
I know that barefoot in general does not equal neglect, (heck, I have a whole barn full of barefoots), but when the horse is pracatically going down it’s knee at every step in front and crouching behind – the poor thing doesn’t need to be racing on gravel roads, and if they won’t stop, then they should at least put shoes on it to try of offer it some protection. Of course, a couple of the riders were riding with blankets over their horses to try to hid the thinness, but you could see under and around the blankets and see the bones jutting out everywhere.
EVery single barn I have been to and that is 5 barns in as many years has this problem–and it is not because people don’t have the money! I finally have them at home now .One horse used to come back from being trail ridden where who could no longer put his head up–kept it down almost touching the ground in obvious pain–”"” oh he’s fine he’ll work that kink out”….this happened repeatedly, another barn ($750.00 month) wanted to stay on schedule with the lessons. When I arrived for my lesson, my horse was obviously sick–runny nose, cough, very depressed looking–I took her temp and she had a fever…. I did not want to ride her and I was called a “wussy” & wimp. —-needless to say I did not have a lesson that day but let my horse rest. I have seen horse 3 legged lame and just stuck in a stall to wait it out….I have seen horses at clinics obviously lame and lying down and the owner just says ” see how relaxed he is?” …people in horse world are often delusional!
Those LEGS! Whenever I see pictures of messed up horse legs or hooves, it makes my skin crawl. I just can’t fathom someone thinking it would be OK to climb on the back of a horse that’s A) that skinny and B) that obviously painful/lame
This was my husband’s response: “Well, its skinny.. it looks like a dude hunched over, its back is all hunched up. Is that it?”
Just wanted to add another nod to Falcon Ridge and TIER. I have been on both properties, and donate to TIER when I can. These folks know what they’re doing, and your money will be wisely spent. This poor mare couldn’t be in better hands now.
There’s one at my barn – lame, ill-mannered, built like a kid’s origami project. He’s seen a farrier maybe twice in the past year, and gets vet care only because the barn owner sets it up and invoices the horse’s owner. The horse’s owner is totally clueless. I’d have added farrier charges to the board bill if I were the barn manager. Failing that, they’d get the heave-ho.
When a horse comes back from a creek ride shaking and puffy-legged I’d look for a snakebite.
Still sifting through yesterday’s comments… saw this article, linked from CNN on CA Animal Abuse Registry: http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1969346,00.html?hpt=T2
Exactly what I thought were the problems with the animal abuse registry proposal-
I agree it needs to be done but there has to be another way to do this and holy crap that is a pretty expensive website !
I don’t know…. I mean, it may seem really obvious to horsepeople (or perhaps most people blessed with some common sense) that this horse needed some serious help, but…
To this girl’s credit, she did SOMETHING about it. I don’t think everyone realizes that it is not normal for horses to lie down much. Cats and dogs lay down a lot. She moved the horse to a stall to be “out of the rain”, fed it, and offered to give the horse away. She did much more for that horse than a lot of the asshat loonies that are featured on this blog, especially considering the animal doesn’t even belong to her (so she says, anyways.) She didn’t let it lay there or starve it for weeks or months on end.
But gosh, that poor mare. Her legs look MESSED UP.
I’m not so hard on her as I am the asshole x-boyfriend. He knew he f’ed up the horse…and did nothing but dump it with a girl who wasn’t a horseperson?
Yesterday my daughter, who lives out of town, called and told me she saw a horse laying flat out on its side and asked me if she should go tell the owners there is something wrong with their horse. I asked her if it was sunny, she lives in KY and it has been cold and snowy there, and she said that it was sunny. I asked her how long the horse was laying there and she said about 10 minutes. I told her that didn’t seem completely unreasonable and sonetimes they will sun bathe but if it continued to lay there than she should probably go and tell the owners. Mind you, this is a person who was not raised around horses but does have a lot of common sense. Some people however, don’t.
I do applaud the girl that posted it on Craigslist and she should have called the vet but she may not have any money. At least the horse is getting help now and all because she posted to ad. I just spent over $350 to get a colt palpated for gelding and my other colt had a swollen tear duct, and those things are minor.
Too funny. I worked for many years at an Arabian farm owned by a wonderful lady who lived on the property, as did her sisters. Almost every sunny day we would get a phone call from one of the sisters because the yearlings (or broodies, or two-year olds) were ALL laying flat out. It was very cute that they were so diligent and concerned about their horses and we always sent someone out to do a TPR “just to be safe”.
Poor, poor thing! After looking at the pictures I am thinking this mare has been hobbled. The cuts on her fetlocks don’t appear as rubs from laying down ( might be just the image as I see it). I have never used hobbles, don’t think they are safe for horses, and don’t think many people realize horses do not like being that confined. I compare hobbles to an equine version of a straight jacket. With that said, I am thinking she was hobbled by some dumb ass cowboy/girl and she was not introduced to them in the right manner (if there is a right way). Looks like she may have (more like probably) fallen while hobbled and then struggled. I can imagine a horse getting pretty injured from such a mishap (if you chose to call it that) with things like pulled muscles, joint damage and back injury, etc… and God only knows how long that (struggle) may have gone on. How does she walk? If she can at all I would be amazed.
I don’t board my horses any more, not because of the lame issue. It has everything to do with the spoiled brat issue. Barns that I have been to were of the prima dona type or the other end of the scale…whoop ass cowboys. I didn’t stay at either ones for long. I like doing my own thing.
That’s not a bad theory. That could cause a lot of general body-soreness too. This mare looks like EVERYTHING hurts.
I have no objection to hobbling done correctly, but if the horse is not *trained* to be hobbled, then it can cause all kinds of problems. Or if the hobbles aren’t lined properly or are worn. That could definitely be marks from worn out hobbles.
Very probable theory. The first thing that I thought when I read the story was “I’m confused. I don’t get it. What happened to the mare?. Riding in a sandy creek didn’t seem to make sense as a cause for her condition.
I rode the Norco trail system once and the sand is extremely deep. Tendon and ligament damage and/or tying up could easily happen in deep sand on an unconditioned horse.
Oh, my, oh, my… the poor girl. There are too many things wrong to list. The very first thing I did when we got my gelding out (he didn’t look much different that she does) was to GO TO THE VETS. We didn’t even go home first. We called the vet and he met us at the office. 9 months later, he is happy, on a ‘regular’ diet of hay/grain, farrier, worming, vetting, etc. People truly suck. Even if you aren’t a horse person, watch something on tv to see how real horses move and look and then compare. You can’t help but see something is wrong.
I asked a friend , he said. The horse looks like every middle aged man at the gym when a girl goes by. Sucking in their stomachs. LMAO it’s true and if you stop to talk to them , they cant say much back because they have to exhale.
Wow, everything is wrong with this. Poor baby, .
The first barn I boarded had some…interesting philosophies on lameness. First, a horse was fine up until the point where he’s dead lame (in my books). Meaning, VERY obvious head-bobbing and resting the hoof whenever possible. Second, if the horse was lame in the trot, it was perfectly acceptable to walk or canter, because the walk’s too slow for any harm to be done and the canter had a moment of suspension that “made it okay.” Third, don’t worry about the lesson horse that bobs its head, drags its toes, and trips every ten strides. He’s old. That’s just how he moves.
Now I’m the complete opposite. If I get on and something doesn’t feel right and I can rule out stiffness, I’m on the ground immediately. I watch for tiny signs and don’t ignore them. Some call me psychotic, I say careful!
I grew up in pretty much that barn. It’s why I say I know what’s wrong, I was taught it all wrong FIRST and had to learn the hard way and because I worked for better people who yelled at me and whipped me into shape!
Oh, and my 8 year old just said “She’s too skinny, her knees look funny and she looks sucked in on her gut” She also said “The lead rope shouldn’t be laying around LOL”
So yeah pretty much anyone should have been able to see this
EIGHT. Are you all reading that? An EIGHT year old saw what was wrong here.
My nine year old walked by…said “that horse needs to go to the vet.”
You know, years ago I boarded with a the Most Stupid Woman Alive (MSWA). She was a busy, chatty yuppy type, well meaning but never listened to a damn thing anyone said. She showed up at the barn with a hauler and a horse, she was a “drop in” and wanted to board her horse there. She hadn’t called ahead, she didn’t even know if there was room for her horse but she showed up anyway.
The little mare was supposedly a TB (small, small, fine mare) who had come from a “rescue” (what rescue sells a horse to woman who hasn’t lined up board and knows NOTHING about horses? MSWA was told that the mare “might be pregnant” (wouldn’t a rescue check?) and was sweet as pie. Well, she may have been sweet as pie but she was DEAD LAME with ringbone, clearly had a belly on her and a deep sway back. Supposedly the rescue had disclosed the ringbone but also told MSWA that it wasn’t a big deal and she’d probably still be sound. MSWA assumed pregnancy, did not have a vet check. She also assumed that the mare was sound and got some cowboy to show her how to chase the poor thing around a roundpen; which she did over and over and OVER again.
Several people at the barn told her repeatedly that her horse wasn’t sound and shouldn’t be worked (least of all pregnant and on a small circle) but she never listened and never had a vet out.
Months later, no baby horse, still a huge belly, she finally gets the vet out to preg check. Mare is not pregnant but the sway back is still severe. MSWA does not ask about chronic lameness or the fact that every time she puts a saddle on the poor mare, the mare freaks out and dumps her. (Her back was a MESS.) So what’s the answer? Ride in circles, bareback of course. She asked me to ride her once because I had more experience than her. I’m also quite a bit heavier. I said something along the lines of “Honey, no one should be riding that horse. Not me, not you, not your cowboy friend. Put her down or retire her, for god’s sake but don’t torture her.”
The only reason the BO didn’t ask her to leave was because we were all so terrified of what would happen to the mare if she didn’t have the support of what little knowledge we were able to give her. One day, she left an 11 year old in charge of her horse who turned her mare out with a pony mare that was in heat (without permission, it was not her paddock) and her mare got a sound kicking all to whatnot and her legs cut up on the fence. She tried to get the BO to pay her vet bill; BO said NO WAY since MSWA clearly, and with witnesses told the 11 year old she was in charge (so so stupid) and she had no business in that paddock.
Last I heard, she was still riding the mare bareback in circles in someone’s back yard nattering on about how if she could just find the ride technique, she’d be able to put a saddle on the mare and ride for real. UGH.
Poor mare. She must be in terrible pain, but damn, she’s a tough old broad to even be able to get up and eat! I hope they can do something for her, to at least get her comfortable and pasture sound so she can be a pasture potato for a long time. But as someone else already said, it may be more humane in the long run to put her down. I’d sure like to sit on her former owner’s back and run him/her up and down the sand all day and see how they like it — and I am NOT a lightweight!
I think they should put the poor mare down at this point. It’s just so sad. She’s probably a sweet horse.
Poor mare! I have never seen a horse so tucked up in pain, and I have seen some pretty nasty injuries and colic cases in the horse camps. I really hope she can pull through, and if not I hope she goes quietly. She deserves a chance though, she obviously has a lot of fight in her.
We have been lucky enough to not have too much stupidity in our barn, just one dumb bitch that “rescued” a TB that was nothing but a rack of bones. (The free horse was all she could afford to purchase) He was 17.2 hh and maybe weighed 800 lbs. Instead of getting vet care, since that would COST MONEY she bought a shitty $50 saddle and started riding the horse. Barn owner went ape shit on her and threw her out but she didn’t have anywhere to take the horse so she just abandoned him their. Now he weighs about 1200 lbs and packs around the under 10 yo kids for walk/trot lessons (mild arthritis so nothing more that that).
The absolute worst thing I have ever seen though was a friend’s neighbor that bought a horse off of him. This guy starved the horse, along with a mare and foal he bought at Sugarcreek. He hid them in a back pasture so no one could see, but my friend got suspicious and went to check on the horses while he was at work. Mare and foal were dead in the back pasture, and Bo was standing next to a llama, both near death. He took Beau back and brought the llama to his barn also. Neighbor threw a fit, showed up at my friend’s house in true redneck style with a shotgun demanding his animals back (pretty scary, I was there). Long story short, big fist fight, police called, charges filed on both sides. Police went to the guys house and it was so bad children’s services were called in (kids were as thin as the animals and his wife was sporting one hell of a shiner). About a month later friend got a call from the wife one day while husband was at work, turns out the black bear the guy had in a cage no one new about (starving also) had gotten out and went after the kids. Friend went over, shot the bear, neighbor gets home from work, shows up at my friend’s house, big fist fight, cops get called, you can see where this is going…Well my friend still has Beau (the horse it all started over) and the llama. The neighbor isn’t a neighbor anymore, last we heard he was in prison for aggrevated assault and domestic violence. Big suprise, huh?
That story just illustrates why so many of us wish you had to have a license to have children. Ugh!
BTW- My buddy Dave, the one that took the horse back he sold to his neighbor along with the llama, kicked that guy’s ass both times he showed up at the property. It was nice seeing him do what so many of us fantasize about.
Tell Dave I like him.
Dave is freakin’ AWESOME. Never afraid to speak up for an animal, makes big money but lives frugally (upper 6 figures but doesn’t even have city water) and puts everything towards his horses. And I have never met anyone so in tune with the horse. He is what all the Natural Horsemanship wannabes wish they were. One time at a horse camp he was watching about 8 horses graze in a field. He pointed one out and told me to find her owner because she was colicking. I didn’t see anything wrong with the horse, it just looked like she was grazing. It took me half an hour to find the owner and when I got back the horse was up and down, rolling and biting her sides. She had gas colic. He could see it just watching her graze from a distance. He is also the best trainer I have ever seen. Never mad, never loses his temper, just calm and steady. You can SEE the respect the horses have for him. Never fear, just pure respect. I wish everyone (myself included) had his way with horses. There would be a lot less abuse out there. AND his favorite mount is the best trained stallion I have ever met. Won’t even nicker at a mare and is always the sanest horse on the trail. (Drop dead gorgeous and conformationally correct too with an extensive show record, although Dave stopped breeding him when the market went in the crapper. The only sign of good ole boy mentality from Dave is he just can’t bear the thought of having him cut.)
Um, how old is Dave, and is he married??
Mid-fifties and very single. A little too old for me, I’m only 31. Looks kinda like Jack Palance and laments about finding a good cowgirl to ride with and settle down. If I was a little older and if he dated younger women I’d snap him up in a heartbeat. You just don’t find men with his character in the dating pool.
What drives me crazy is when a horse is injured or lame and the owners do call the vet and then don’t follow the vet’s advice. Boarders took horses away from barn A and went to barn B for cheap pasture board ($75.00 per month). One of their horses got barbed wire wrapped around leg and tore the snot out of right hind. Owners bring horses back to barn A, BO goes out way to prepare a large stall for injured horse, owners call vet on Friday evening of holiday weekend when vet had planned to go out of town, vet comes, vet treats wound and tells owner best course of treatment. Next owners go online and find “miracle” treatment and go against vet’s advice and spray whatever on wound. You will never guess what happened next? The wound got worse and owners call vet back out. Happily the vet tore them a new one. Owners ended up spending hundreds, maybe thousands, made recovery time longer and possibly made horse lame/unsound for life. ARRGH!! *head desk*
That drives me crazy too. If you think you know better than the vet then where is your damn degree to prove it? And if you think your vet is wrong, get a second opinion, don’t try to treat the animal yourself. You wouldn’t treat yourself for cancer if you didn’t like your doctor recommending chemotherapy. I actually saw a guy try to treat rainrot with bacon grease one time. He didn’t believe the vet when he told him it has caused by an organism and swore up and down it was dry skin.
This post is just bringing back a flood of memories about idiotic behavior I have seen over the years…as I’m sure it is for many others.
Yes, but sometimes a concerned owner’s research can help the situation. My arab colt fractured his pelvis when he was 19 months old… complete fracture of the ilium, some displacement from swelling but not misaligned. We couldn’t get a picture and the vet couldn’t tell exactly where the fracture is except to say that if it wasn’t in the joint, it was about as close as it could get. He had no idea whether the acetebulum was involved. He’d had a warmblood in similarly affected the week before who had not made it. Well, I couldn’t look into those bright, curious, still alert and happy eyes and see them close forever… so I opted to keep him alive if I could. I spent many nights on the ‘net (couldn’t sleep anyway) researching anything that could help. I finally came up with a concoction and, a week after the injury, my boy came home from the vet. The next day I started him on this recipe. Two weeks later… three weeks to the day… he walked across his stall, fully weight supporting on all four legs, to greet me as I walked in the stall. It took me another two weeks to convince the vet that there was actually some change to see in him worth coming out for. I think in the end he came just to shut me up… and if it hadn’t been for the softstall flooring he probably would have broke his jaw it hit the ground so hard as he watched my colt trot (well, some ugly movement resembling one) across the stall and pop his front end off the ground in front of me. He took my recipe… lol.
I have since continued with osteopathic treatments… which the vets in the area range from skeptical to hate it on… and he runs, plays, rears, kicks, and generally is starting to look pretty damn good. I can see all the issues… but many cant. And they’re getting harder and harder to spot if you arent a) an expert and b) know what you’re looking for.
This is the most recent video… and there’s been another osteopath visit and a good bit of improvement since then:
http://www.youtube.com/user/Alcahim?feature=mhw4#p/a/u/1/-bHCoDbEMoU
Granted, the owners should have consulted their vet before buying something they were unfamiliar with (I did check to see if anything I added to his feed would hurt him) but at least they cared. There’s a lot more who don’t care.
BTW… on this horse… the far rear leg looks like she’s holding it much the way Ali did after he broke his pelvis.. out and turned a bit. The protruding backbone could also be from her hunching up. I’m not sure how or why, but I know that Ali, who is well fed and cared for, when I went to see him at the vet’s a couple of days after his accident had a spine that protruded much like that… made him look skinny, and he’s never been skinny like that a day in his life. He also held his but tucked kind of under like that and, when he was standing, would kind of curve his body… he wouldn’t stand with his spine straight. I suspect that stance made him hurt less. Ali’s hind end is angled like that too… was far more so when it was fresh, but is coming back with pelvic adjustments.
I’m really a beginner. I’ve never owned my own horse, I’ve just ridden livery horses and lesson horses. Here is what I noticed.
She looks underweight. Her left rear pastern is puffy. Bowed tendon? Her legs in general look “crinkly” to me. Bulge-y and weird. I don’t know how else to say it.
I didn’t notice the hunched up back, which indicates pain, until it was pointed out. This is one of the reasons I am glad I don’t own a horse. I do not yet know enough about them to own one. I don’t want to inflict my ignorance of horses on a horse.
I hope this cute mare can be brought back to a pain-free life as a pasture pet, or for light riding with people who know what they’re doing. If not, though I hate to say it, I hope she is released from her pain forever . It’s a good sign that she is eating.
What is wrong with this horse besides awful conformation?
She is in pain and dehyrated.
This mare’s picture bothered me for a bit until finally I recalled what this strongly reminded me of and that was an old lesson horse I had who was under very light riding and careful management due to “tying up” issues. Azoturia (aka “monday morning disease” from the draft horse days). Severe pathology of large muscle groups, heavily muscled horses particularly prone. My gelding was Arab x and not heavily muscled but still had it. Well managed after the first acute attack in my gelding’s case with something called EquuSE-E which was a supplement containing selenium and vit. e. Tying up doesn’t always happen to muscles in the haunch area but can occur with shoulders too. But it sure looks like this mare is severely tied up and I wonder if they have checked her urine which in this pathology turns dark because there is muscle being destroyed (and blood products) and excreted by the kidneys. I’m not a vet so anyone interested in this disease needs to head for the horse dot com’s online library for further details.
The holistic products made to alleviate human pressure sores are also things that work well in horses. Even cutting donuts from moleskin and holding in place with vetwrap affords relief. Pressure sores are excruciatingly painful so some analgesic should be obtained from the vet to address the pain management issue.
If my horse the first thing I would do is a full blood panel along with some really, really diligent nursing and finding a feed program for re-feeding that isn’t going to overwhelm the mare’s system and lead to worse issues.
Yeah, I looked at that and thought, she’s tied up!
It can happen when they are under stress at a show, or a horse that goes through a lot of hard exercise when they are unaccustomed to it. Some horses are more prone to it than others. From what I understand they build up a chemical in their muscles like lactic acid, similar to a person having sore muscles but all over their body, and it is VERY painful.
As far as horror stories, this just reminds me how a lot of people with backyard horses, especially here in So Cal where the space is limited, will keep them in their small backyard corrals for months. Sometimes these backyards aren’t much bigger than stalls, but the owners think that’s enough turnout and exercise. Then the people will suddenly decide to go on a trail ride all day, and wonder why their horses end up lame and injured!
My friend the trainer, used to work at The Public Stable From Hell, and has tons of horror stories. Just last week, she brought up one, where a horse had been stabled for 6 months and one day the owner shows up to turn it out in the arena! My friend recommended wrapping the legs, which the owner told her to MYOB. The horse bowed a tendon right then and there. The owner told everyone to mind their own business, she knew how to treat it, and wouldn’t call a vet, or even give pain meds! Some of the other people got together, though, and got a vet.
I hope they reported her. Failing to obtain vet care is an offense in most places!
Wanted to add, boarding barns godawful places and sometimes people who THINK they know something about a horse being compromised really don’t but if they are having giant hissy fit even in the face of the horse owner’s own vet telling them back off buckwheat there’s not a whole lot the knowledgeable horse owner can do but comply with the troublemaker’s wishes. In my case my event horse had sarcoids on one ear. After relentless criticisms evolving into screaming and tantrums and threats of turning me in to AC for “cruelty” because (on the vet’s advice, actually three different vets’ advice) we were trying to treat without surgery which ALWAYS makes sarcoids MUCH MUCH worse) I was opposed to surgical removal, I finally gave in and the horse underwent surgery. As predicted by all three vets who had all three told this troublemaking boarder the facts, yes, the sarcoids rapidly came back with a vengeance ending up leading to eventual euthanasia of my eventer. Thank heaven I will hopefully never have to be in a boarding situation but if I am so help me I’ll hire a team of lawyers and thugs to protect me and my horse if ever threatened and berated like that again.
Someone who won’t amit the horse is lame. Oh, do I ever. Big old WB, flash horse, but not a brilliant mover. Owner had owned the horse since it was 3. By 9, I kept noticing it was NQR. I’d mentioned “unevenness” to owner many times over the years, but NO, HE’s FINE!!! And he’d go to dressage shows, get okay scores – low 60sat training, then 1st level. Owner afraid to push horse – he’d rear if REALLY asked to go on the bit and get engaged. I rode him once while owner was on vacation and found, to my surprise, that he went on the bit fairly easily, but he would not stay engaged through transitions, and if you insisted on maintain a connection, he’d rear…even slammed me into the arena fence which, fortunately, was of quite flexible boards. Owner would not push him to that point and ride through it. Anyhoo…..I was rehabbing a serious injury to MY horse and was out letting him graze while Owner riding WB. Tactfully (that’s me, tactful), I said, “Does he feel a little uneven to you?” Wonder of wonders, owner says yes. Well, they have a show set for upcoming weekend. I usually braid horse for owner ($$). Guess you won’t need a braid job. Oh, I’ll bute him tonight and we’ll see how he is on Friday (This is Weds). Ummm…so on Friday, I get call, oh he’s fine, braid him Sunday AM. Uh….Okay. Off to the show they go. And come back almost immediately… judge rang Owner out for lameness. Finally takes him to clinic. Basically, road founder…all those years pounding around on forehand (BIG horse) because he resisted learning to carry from behind and owner would not insist. After a few months of gradually corrective shoeing, probably 90% sound with elaborate pads and trimming. About six months later, gradually becoming lamer again…appointment with clinic scheduled…then something else cropped up…. and five days later he died of unrelated causes, in his mid-teens. Very sad.
At least you got him some help and he was more comfortable after that! Good job, even if he didn’t have a happily ever after ending.
Poor thing, looks miserable. I was at a place with a couple of dummies. The guys horse flipped over backwards at the tie rack and looked similar to this afterwards. Refused to even give bute, boarders offered to share theirs, much less have the vet out. Well, the horse was medicated, the owner just never knew. Luckily, was ok afterwards but it took a few days of mincing steps and pained expression. Another, Trainer cantering horse in small circles asking “Is he off” In unison, several others said “YES!” continues for another 20 min. When the vet came out next day it was a 6 mo lay off with tranquilizers. Dumb asses. Hope this poor mare is better.
My completely non-horsey guy said “I can see her ribs, and there’s something wrong with her back end…and her front end…The whole thing just looks wrong.” If he saw her move I’m sure he’d be calling out a vet too!
Okay- Mare looks like a horse that has been sored. I not saying she was, I am just saying that is the same general body posture a sored TWH adopts– so that means mare is extremely uncomfortable and sore all four legs or hooves. She probably tried to “rest” front legs by leaning on the rear ones– and now they are sore, too. She is thin, too.
From the Fugly post, I’m assuming she is now in the hands of rescue group and receiving care. I would not put her down just because she is hurting. I would get vet opinion. This may be strains and sprains and muscle soreness from just standing around, and then having the stew ridden out of her by careless, clueless and/or uncaring person.
I do agree with another previous poster that some people just don’t take care of things or animals they borrow that don’t belong to them. I never “lend” horses without being there the whole time to see they are treated well.
As for seeing horses who were in need of vet care and were not getting it– well I showed flatshod walkers and during the shows we shared the stall areas with the big lick horses– many of whom could not pass the DQP to get into the ring to show—- the term used to decribe their posture was “standing in a bucket” –need I say more?
Also had to board for two years at two different public barns about 10 years ago– I saw all kinds of stupidity — including people who were not giving horses enough to eat, horses with severe saddle sores whose owners tried to treat them themselves while still trying to ride them on the weekends, and lame horses who were not seen by any vet and ridden lame. Any attempt to suggest that their horse was “off” would be met by icy stares or snippy answers laced with curse words. There were several western pleasure show horses there that spent 24/7 with their heads tied down in their stalls and lights on to keep winter hair at bay — AND no blankets even when temps were in the 20s. A horse with ring bone whose owner insisted that her vet said that riding him lightly would “help” the ring bone. Another couple who would take their horses on overnight trail rides about once or twice a month– never rode them any other time– and then not want to call the vet when they were “tying-up” in their stalls the Mondays after these marathon rides.
After a really sweet mare in the stall next to my horse colicked, and died because her owner insisted that there was nothing wrong with her, even though she was showing all the classic colic signs, and would not call the vet– this was the third horse that died there of colic within the year and a half I boarded there, I moved to another barn that turned out to be even worse.
At this “new barn”, were several “amateur” walking horses “trainers” who were always painting some foul mixture or another on their horses’ front pasterns and riding them with logging chains, more western pleasure people with horses heads tied down in the stalls. More weekend trail riders who over rode their horses, came back late on Sundays and literally put them away wet — with sweat that is.
One big turn-out pasture that flooded and stayed partially submerged for weeks at a time. A boarder with a gelding that would savage any other gelding put out with him– he was only supposed to go out T and TH afternoons and nights– but owner would “forget” to bring him in– and there were several Wednesday morning “bloodbath” kick and bite fests as a result. Most owners would not call the vet to treat these injuries. One little gelding limped around on a broken leg for two days after one of thse attacks, before BO went out and shot him dead in the pasture.
AND the BO handled non-paying boarders by tying their horses out to a trailer until they could pay or come to get them. AND he told all the rest of us boarders that if he caught any of us giving them feed or water — our horses would be out there, too.
One time, five horses were tied out there without food or water for three days and nights in July. When a couple of us tried to report him to the sheriff’s office — no animal control office in that county–they demanded our names. When we would not give them, we we were told “then MYOB.” Next day BO wrote on the white board that he would give a free month’s rent to anyone who would give him the names of the people who tried to turn him for cruelty. Turns out BO was an auxillary sheriff’s deputy and a member of the sheriff’s mounted posse.
Needless to say, I could not wait until I could leave– the six months I spent there made me think that maybe people ought to have to pass a test to get a license own a horse.
“AND the BO handled non-paying boarders by tying their horses out to a trailer until they could pay or come to get them. AND he told all the rest of us boarders that if he caught any of us giving them feed or water — our horses would be out there, too.”
FLAT OUT illegal…just FYI, if you ever see anyone do that, call animal control. You can NOT, as a boarding stable operator, withhold a normal amount of food or water because of an unpaid bill. You are NOT allowed to.
I regularly visit a barn where several horses are lame, but the barn owner tells the owners they are fine and even encourages the owners to ride them. Even the vet sorts of beats around the bush when he is called in for a lameness exam and doesn’t tell it like it is. You see, all services go THROUGH THE BARN. Apparently, the barn owner doesn’t want to loose any revenue if the horse gets retired. Also, the barn’s vet vets out all the horses that clients buy from the barn (no joke) resulting in several clients who bought horses that were already lame. It’s really creepy — I would never have believed it if I hadn’t seen it myself.
I have totally seen a vet vet-check lame horses as sound for his drinking buddy. Vets are not saints. There are crooked vets just like crooked anything else.
You think that’s creepy, I have one for ya: I know someone who boards some horses at a barn where people are not allowed to bring any “outside” horses in without the resident trainer’s “approval”, and then if that rare approval is granted, the sale has to be done through that trainer…so, even though she boards horses and works there, she is out of luck if she sees something from outside the barn that she wants to buy. Why she puts up with this is beyond my understanding.
Required reading for more creepiness: “Hot Blood” and “Shattered Sense of Innocence”…textbook creepiness courtesy of the horse world.
Dear Jay,
How cute that you think all rescues , even well known ones do any checks, background vet , pregnancy or otherwise. I hate to burst your bublle but well no they dont care, they got the money for the horse, look like heroes and can now move on to their next victims er umm horse and adopters
I have people asking us to pick up a horse because the original rescue has been called several times about horses that haven’t worked out , yeah, they aren’t going to come get the horses its been months no response.
Rescues are not what you think in a lot of cases.
Nope and that is why you have to check them out! Never fall for a pretty web site. SEE the rescue and what you are donating to, in person.
It looks like she could have tied up to me. She could still be in pain from that as well.
The old place I boarded my pony had one of these… this woman had a TB mare who was in her upper teens. The horse had something really f*ed up going on in her hind end, and whatever it was, it wasn’t just a temporary thing, because I think I knew the horse for about 2 or 3 years and the problem was always there. The horse was always off in the back – I mean, obviously so. Under saddle, the hind end problems were obvious – the horse would fish tail, wouldn’t hold one of her leads (the chick was always careening around jump courses on the wrong lead) and was choppy back there and just had overall obvious signs in her movements aside from visibly limping. I rode the horse a few times (the chick was always offering rides on her and I agreed at her urging a handful of times) and it felt BAD, I mean, wonky as heck back there. It wasn’t subtle – anyone who’s ever ridden a sound horse would have felt the wrongness in an instant. The horse was an absolute saint with a heart of gold and she just tried and tried and wanted to please more than any horse I’ve ever met – she put up with all of it without complaint. The chick would ride her with spurs and a pelham and chain and would just fire this mare up and make her run. She jumped her 3′, and this chick was a BAD rider – no release, no 2 point – she’d sit on this mares back in the air and catch her in the mouth over every jump. When *I* sat on this horse, she was quiet as can be – seriously should have been going in a snaffle, and for a while she loaned the mare out for lessons and the horse was beginner safe. This woman was friends with my friend, and one time we were going to trailer out for a lesson with an eventing trainer, and this chick decided she’d go with us and bring her mare. The trainer right away exclaimed “your mare is lame!” and the chick was it total complete denial about it – swore she wasn’t lame. Trainer said “is she always like this?” and we whispered “yeah, she is” while the chick kept denying that anything was wrong. Chick would also claim that she knew all there was to know about that mare and they didn’t need lessons because she already knew how to ride her perfectly.
People (like my friend, who was friends with this chick) would say stuff, but it fell on deaf ears. So people just gave up saying stuff. I don’t agree with the people who actually agreed to use the mare for lessons… I would have said no. And I regret ever riding the poor thing. Sweet horse. After I left that barn I saw the horse on craigslist – the chick was trying to find someone to lease her as a 3′ jumper and advertised that she had “beautiful movement”. Lame movement.
The lady wasn’t just bad about her horse… bad about her kids, too. She did some terrifying, alarming, irresponsible things with her kids, and couldn’t see any of that as wrong either, no matter how much people (myself included), tried to reason with her. Like leaving her kids IN HER CAR, in the SUMMER, while she rode! And that car wasn’t running, people – there was no a/c going. The kids were in there by themselves (often crying) – a baby and a 3 y/o – because she couldn’t find a babysitter (because she had teen pregnancies and didn’t have a steady job and a loser husband she later divorced, and she was always unable to pay her board on her horse, heck, she was barely paying her mortgage or her own groceries, so of course she decides to breed the saint of a mare, but the vet tells her it’s not a good idea, so she buys ANOTHER mare, already pregnant, (thank God, that foal died) but then she had this second horse she couldn’t afford that wasn’t broke and trainer of the year here said she could re-train her (OTTB) and sell her, but surprise surprise, she can’t train for sh*t so OTTB mare can’t be ridden above a trot because she takes off galloping). And then my friend said she went to her house once and the whole house smelled like urine and was filthy with bugs and those poor kids were living in that filth.
Well, I went off on a rant. Sorry! But YIKES, that woman… that poor horse… and you could argue with this lady til you were blue in the face to try to get her to understand, and she’d just deny it. She had a picture in her mind that all was well and there was no changing it.
Sheesh, you should have called CPS – bet that would have resulted in a better life for both the kids and the horse! What a nut. Why are all the crazy ones fertile?
The crazies are all fertile because it never occurs to them not to reproduce. It has been my experience that if you tell people that you don’t want children they think you’re selfish. Well guess what? I am selfish and am not prepared to make all the sacrifices necessary to being a good parent. Some people may think that is horrible but at least no one is calling CPS on me.
It’s called “knowing yourself” and a lot of people fail at it miserably. My reasons are the same as yours. I don’t want to drag a ball and chain around after me that you can’t leave at home alone.
The BO where I once boarded would lock her screaming, crying children in the car as well. Didn’t matter what the weather was like. Later, they built a sort of shack and filled it with toys and locked them inside. There was seriously no doorknob inside and a lock outside. They locked a toddler and a 5 year old in there for hours at at a time. You could hear them crying and pounding on the door nearly the whole time.
I went to remove a stick from her horse’s tail once, and the whole thing came off in my hand.. like, bone, skin, hair. It just slid off like a shoe revealing a raw, pink nub. I FREAKED out and called her, and she didn’t seem worried at all. I admit, it is a little hard to grasp but if someone told me, “your horses tail just fell off” I’d at LEAST come look at it. She eventually got a vet out when the stump got infected looking, and he said the horse probably got kicked and had its tail broken, which cut off blood supply and the tail just died…
Holy CRAP. About all of that.
I just do not get why people who do not want to care for children have them. It is not that damn difficult to avoid having them.
Well, I could go on about the “why” of the wrong people having babies… they think they’ll get unconditional love from them; they think it will keep a relationship together; they think they have a right to be a mother; the babydaddy is one of those guys who thinks that siring children makes him a Big Man; etc etc etc. There are other reasons, but the bottom line is that these children are seen as desirable *objects.* When the result of obtaining one of these “status symbols” doesn’t work out as planned, the poor kids are given the smallest amount of care that the mother’s conscience will allow.
The same thing happens to critters. Being a “rescue” makes you a “good” person; giving up because you can’t handle it is a real blow to your pride, so… We all know the rest.
Pride trumps conscience. Why not? We’ve been being taught for the past 50 years that “guilt” is a bad feeling imposed by someone else’s oppressive ideas. “I’m OK, you’re OK.” Conscience to the wastebasket; whatever I want is just fine. Standing up for the right thing makes you unpopular. Etc, etc, etc…
Oops, ranting again.
Ruthie, regretting her hippy days, because some things just aren’t groovy.
Because society at large, co-workers and even people’s own families tell them there is something wrong with NOT having kids. This happens all the time. I don’t want kids and never did want kids, and even to this day I have people telling me “it’s not too late, you know” or “you’ll never know till you had them just how much you are missing”. Have a DIL that had her first two kids after 37, and another DIL who had two past 40. Of course they say “well, the doctor said it was okay” and my response is “I hope he is willing to foot the bill for a Down’s baby then” and “I hope that so-and-so who is pressuring you to have one pressures you just as much to care for and pay for them when they are here”. I hear people say all the time that they love them but wish they had never had them. Well, why the hell be so easily influenced to begin with?
Word to society: my body, my choice. I’m not sterile, I’m not single, and I’m not terminally ill…I don’t like kids and I don’t want them, and I am perfectly content to own the “selfish” moniker you brand me with behind my back when I tell you this.
The money I save on diapers, baby clothes, toys and private schools because our public schools are broken goes to fund my horse hobby and my toys, like my LQ trailer and a decent truck to pull it with that doesn’t have any suffocating, heat-stroking kids or animals inside. I am not out trying to stuff a post-partum self into designer clothes that teenagers shouldn’t even wear while the baby’s diaper stays dirty. I can go out without stuffing my kid somewhere because it wasn’t important to me what people thought before I had one, and then have to cover it up because I have to try and keep up with the Joneses afterward despite nobody wanting to take them for awhile. So to those parents who just had to follow the crowd blindly, and have to stuff those kids *somewhere* to help keep up appearances: when you have to leave early from the restaurant, where I am sitting there giving you a dirty look because your kids screaming are out of control because no one takes the time with them that they should, those same kids you HAD to have because someone wanted grandchildren or whatever but then no one wanted to take the time for them afterward, know that I will enjoy my meal very much after you are out the door and while I feel bad for the kids, I don’t feel one bit bad for you and no, I am not jealously staring because I don’t have any. I am thinking you are a sheep who continues to have head-in-ass syndrome and can only hope that someone in my position in life, who actually does like kids, will mentor your kid before they wind up in jail or dead. And shame on the society who continues to push for this despite the fact that we have few, if any, people anymore who need kids to help run a family farm and we are not (currently) in a World War. It just simply doesn’t make any sense.
Hey, I’m happily childfree like you…NOTHING wrong with it.
It’s a choice and if you love kids and want to care for them, choose parenthood. If you love horses and want to care for them, choose horse ownership. If you don’t want any responsibilities, get your tubes tied and don’t own animals!
A-FRIGGIN-MEN! Best rant EVER! I am on a constant guilt trip from my large Catholic family to settle down, get married and start popping out kids like a human pez dispenser. My age is constantly thrown in my face along with the fact that I have failed the human race my not having a baby on my hip and one more swinging from the teat. I have all the maternal instinct of a wolf spider and would NOT be doing society any favors by reproducing, it is my choice and they will never convince me otherwise. My money goes to my furry family and if they want grandkids, nieces and nephews from me they will have to settle for the dog and the fuglies. I’d rather clean up a steaming pile of dog crap than change a diaper any day! I respect their right to reproduce, wish they would respect my right not to.
It’s off-topic, but, since other people have brought it up, I don’t have kids. Never wanted them. Even when I was a kid my “babies” were stuffed animals, not dolls. Yeah, people are always asking if we have kids, and seem surprised when we say we don’t, so we started stealing a line from Jane Curtain in “Third Rock from the Sun” We say, “No, we can’t have children,” wait for the inevitable sympathetic response, then add “Because we hate them” some people think it’s funny
. I have a friend who once described another person to me as, “One of those selfish people who never wanted kids.” (Did she forget who she was talking to)? So, I said, “You mean like me?” You never heard someone back-pedal so fast. For the record, I’ve heard a lot of reasons for having children, and every damn one of them was just as selfish as any reason for not having them.
Brilliant rant. You’re my hero for the night. I want to print this, laminate it, and hang it up or at least keep in my purse and hand it to the next person that says the word “baby” to me.
PM, LOL, can I copy your post and send it to my mother and other family members? I’ve gotten so much crap all my life for choosing to not have kids, the stories I could tell…Thank God menopause is (hopefully) on its way, maybe they will finally shut up.
It’s not that I don’t like kids, I do–I enjoy my role as auntie, teacher, coach, step-grandma, to the kids in my life. I think I am more benefit to them in this role, than if I had become one more burned-out parent who is constantly begging other people to take their kids and give them a break.
Related to another point you made–Day after day on this blog, we lament neglected animals and often in the same breath we lament the barefoot helmetless toddlers stacked on their skinny backs. We label the owners/parents hillbillies, lazy, ignorant, reckless, negligent—but the core of their attitude may be how you described:
Babydaddy considers his kids as a sign of virility–babymommy is fulfilling her destiny to provide grandkids, or prove she’s a grownup, everything is all about them and the kids are just ego objects. Just like hoarders, just like people who get a certain breed of horse or dog as an extension of their ego. Then the novelty wears off, the reality sets in, and they either neglect those in their care or go begging for money/help/free babysitting.
That’s a perfect analogy, and right on target. I see all of it as failed attempts to live vicariously through something else (a pet, a child) because you yourself did not accomplish anything you can feel proud of. Look at those freaky-ass pageant moms on those reality shows. They don’t care if the kid is crying, she has to go out and make them proud because clearly they can’t make THEMSELVES proud with their OWN accomplishments. Sad.
OMG AMEN!! A thousand times.
Ya’know I’ve never been a border, But I’ve ridden at some barns. What most do, especially a couple where the BO had 2 kids (5 and
was outfit a stall as a play pen. A older kid (like 8th grade) would do their homework in there and watch the younger ones for a dollar or two an hour. My favorite girl actually paid her board this way until she was 15 and got a job at a feed store.
I take it that most barns don’t work like this. Clearly I’m underexposed to the crap of society.
Poor deprived you, that you don’t get to see crappy people at the barn!
Common sense just isn’t common anymore, and here is an example of how it was applied in a simple way. Now how hard is that?! Society has truly lost its marbles because more people can’t come up with this sort of solution!
Awww poor honey! How terrible! I am very blessed to be at the barn I am at now. There are only 4 other boarders there and 2 of them live on the farm. The woman who owns it is amazing! When my STB came with a bowed tendon she was out there every day checking his leg for me and watching him! They are so helpful and wonderful there! I cant imagine having anywhere else for him to be! I am way less worried about him. I wish every place was like where I am at. I wish she would do rescue because she would be amazing at it! She really cares and sometimes thats hard to find. So that brings up a question…..How do you change the way someone thinks about horses? There are some people i would love to try to change with the way they treat their horses, but how do you get someone to change that? Im sure if we had the answer we wouldnt have these issues like Sugar Bear. My thoughts and prayers are with her. What a special girl she is!
Your comment about barn owners and other people at barns struck a nerve…years ago I boarded at a place that was owned by a woman who was a previous rider and horse owner, had owned horses for many years. I had my horses scheduled to be shoed that day and upon arriving at the barn, I noticed that my one horse appeared terribly off while the shoer was working on him…he was stiff, lethargic, just hanging his head there and sweating. I asked the shoer if he thought something looked wrong and they said no, he’s just hot.
I didn’t like the way he looked, asked the other shoer’s opinion. Same thing. I ran up to the house and got the barn owner to come out, thinking she had seen enough horses in her life and could tell me. She didn’t see ANYTHING wrong with him! So now I’m starting to panic, I KNOW there is something wrong with him, I’m just not sure what, I was thinking he was colicking so I ran and called the vet to have him out for an emergency call. I had never seen a horse so stiff, so I’m also thinking tetanus.
Vet comes out, but while he is enroute I notice my horse is peeing brown urine. Very bad. Vet comes out and starts some meds…turns out he had azoturia syndrome, or tying up. THEN it comes out that when the shoer found him out in the field, they found him lying down, made him get up and brought him up and shoed him anyway! The other horses were running around, he was lying down when they arrived, and they still did this thinking nothing was wrong.
My vet said I was very lucky to trust that instinct that was pushing the panic button inside my head, because if he had gone much longer without help, he very likely could have died, his bloodwork was that bad. He wound up with six weeks off and a fairly full recovery, except I had to watch for recurring episodes but I did have meds on hand if they occured after that.
The moral of the story here is, when you have that panic alarm going off in your head, LISTEN to it. You are your horse’s best and first response to what health care he should get, as you are your own, no matter what the naysayers and looky-loos say. The worst thing that will happen is your vet will think you are nuts and you will have a bill for their time. I have had to get snarky and insistent with vets too, believe me…no one wants to get called out in the middle of the night out of their bed. But I have also had the same say I was right to call…I am a frugal person who does not call the vet to kiss a horse’s boo-boos. But I have learned to trust my instinct with my horses, because thus far it has not been wrong and has stood up against the judgement of people who I have thought were fonts of knowledge in several cases besides this one. But anybody can make this mistake…know your animal enough to know when something is definitely wrong.
As far as the horse in the picture goes, yes, she looks very ill. Just looking at her though, and remembering what it was like to be a newbie myself, I don’t know if they could tell the difference in the legs. To me the lying down constantly would have been an alarm bell, even when I was an ignorant kid, but then I read Black Beauty cover to cover many times, thinking then at the age of 8 and living as a city slicker that I was tapping into a great source of horsey knowledge!
“The moral of the story here is, when you have that panic alarm going off in your head, LISTEN to it”
Absolutely. So you might blow $200 on an unnecessary vet call. You might also save the horse’s life. It’s a risk you should take when you hear that little voice!
Do we know what exactly is wrong with her? She’s standing exactly how one of my BO’s prize mares (like seriously, this mare was an amazing jumper, was advancing very quickly in national rankings) was when she fractured her pelvis in a pasture accident. The least-painful standing position for her was with her head way down, and if there was hay or grass there, she ate, I guess because she figured as long as her face was there… She didn’t lay down that much, though… she’d tried a couple of times and had gotten cast. Finally one time she was progressing in her healing and decided to lay down again, but she went down and they just couldn’t get her up, so they had her euthanized.
Do they have a video of her walking?
The knees don’t bother me as much as the hind end, those (the knees) could just be conformation-related (a pasture puff I’m looking to “adopt” is way more over at the knees).
PS- I’m still learning here, so if you see something I don’t, please enlighten me!
I am waiting to learn more.
Well, the bad news is that she is older with that much damage– I’m not sure how much healing she will be capable of. Second bad news is that she appears to be a big mare, and with a frame that says ‘halter’. She looks like a relative to my mare.
Good news is that possibly the injuries we are seeing are recent, so it might be really amazing what a set of whirlpool boots and deep shavings could do for this mare. She’s bright eyed, and while she is thin, she doesn’t have the coat that a horse who has been starved for years would have.
My vote is for a best case scenario– hyperextended hocks and knees from being worked in deep wet sand (and probably run in it, since anyone stupid enough to ride their horse in heavy going is also stupid enough to ask them to run in it.) How well she heals up is just a guess– her knees have to straighten, or she won’t be able to rest standing up, and over time she will have issues from that.
Of course I’m not a vet, but I know of one top barrel horse who got ‘stuck’ coming out of third, and flipped end over end. Both his knees were hyper-extended, and it took several weeks of soaks and treatments, and maintenance with Legend and direct joint injections for him to return to barrels once again. It’s my best guess– let me know what the vets diagnose.
Oh, and regarding her tucked up appearance. It might be from pain, but it may also be from her lower weight, coupled with the tension of rocking back off her front legs– not saying she isn’t hurting (that’s a given) but her eye is calm and her nose is smooth in the photo– I don’t think she’s a candidate for euthanasia just yet.
I still board at the same place as a guy who won’t admit when his horse needs to see a vet. He used to have two horses and now he’s down to one. He is the type of person who will go a week without riding and then hop and and gallop and jump to the extreme. Needless to say, Horse #1 comes up lame after one of these rides. He doesn’t care and keeps riding the horse. Someone convinces him to lay off on the jumping and galloping and eventually the horse starts to get sound again. As soon as that happens, back he goes to the jumping and galloping and the horse goes lame again. This repeated several times until he started to insist that the horse was just being a jerk and faking the lameness. He refused to call the vet because that would be a waste of money (and this guy is rich, too). The horse started to stop at the jumps (because he was in pain), so he got whipped for that. He got so mad at the (lame) horse that the horse ended up covered from head to toe in sweat in the middle of a Canadian winter. He then proceeded to put the horse outside, naked, covered in sweat from head to toe in the middle of a Canadian winter, as punishment for stopping at the jumps. I arrived at the barn and saw the poor horse outside, brought him in and put a cooler on him, but the horse died two days later of a stress colic. It took me hours to convince him that he needed to call the vet to have the horse put down. The asshat owner didn’t learn a thing. I made sure that the last person the poor horse ever saw was myself, not him.
Ugh, that’s awful. But the barn owner should have put an end to that crap. Ultimately, if you own the barn, it’s your property and you’re within your rights to demand basically humane treatment.
Oh, if the barn owner hasn’t stepped in multiple times it would have been even worse. The jerk doesn’t want his horses fed or watered if they’ve been “bad”. The sad thing is, no one ever wants to kick the guy out because they feel bad for the horse(s) and are worried about what will happen to the remaining horse if he goes elsewhere.
I’m having a version of this problem right now. My horse is lame. It took 4 vet visits to figure out what was wrong (chronically inflamed suspensory, and horse will be having surgery next week. She has an 80% of full recovery.) She doesn’t want to do anything that will “load” the left hind, which is the problem leg. Also, because this horse has arthritis, I was spending 20-30 minutes walking her before asking for anything more, so she was warmed up enough that when I did ask for more, she’d do it and look *almost* sound. The lameness is pretty subtle and there were days I could feel something wrong, but no one else could see it. This horse is also a real stoic as is typical for Morgans; she will not take a bad step until something is really hurting. (See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DGH6ibNKEQ for how she looked when I first thought she was lame. She’s dragging her left hind toe.)
Anyway, now my BO is telling me to get a second opinion when I take the horse to the surgery clinic. BO does not believe the horse is lame. I’m also getting people telling me I should just rest the horse for a while, or use some or another alternative treatment or homeopathic remedy. And people are criticizing me for taking the horse to an equine hospital one hour further away than the one most people use, when the one we are going to happens to be the clinic that developed the surgery for her particular problem. The vet, who is a VERY good lameness vet, recommended by the BO ironically enough, specifically told me that rest rarely helps for this particular condition. The horse is insured but has a claim open for the lameness, and if I wait on the surgery, the insurance company probably won’t pay for it. (Horse insurance often does not cover “pre-existing conditions.”) It’s driving me nuts to be second-guessed so much!
People are always going to flap their mouths. Kudos to you for (a) FEELING the problem and (b) getting the best care available.
Riders who notice mild lameness rarely have to deal with crippling lameness.
I took my TWH to 4 vets and each had a different theory about her lameness (plus one that said she wasn’t lame). It took a couple of years but now she’s sound most of the time. She still locks her stifles every once in a while but it’s no longer a chronic problem and the chronic hock lameness it caused is gone. Surgery was discussed at one point but we went the HA injection route and it eventually worked.
As a general rule I go along with the vet’s recommendations since they are vets and I’m not. I’m glad in this case I consulted several vets because most of them were clearly wrong, but now that the original vet is practicing again I have gone back to him because he is really an excellent vet. Lameness is just tricky.
In my case, the crazy non-vet advice I got to ride the hell out of my lame mare turned out to be correct and probably would have solved the problem in the long run, but never would I ever ride a dead-lame horse.
I had to look at the video several times before I saw the lameness. You’re right, it’s subtle! Especially since the dragging toe is covered by the snow. I finally saw that the right hind hoof was landing harder, and a little faster, than in a normal walk. Deduction: pain in the other leg.
Good for you for sticking to your guns. May the surgery go well.
Ruthie
Has any sort of pelvic/hip fracture been ruled out? I just thought I would add this because we are just coming out of winter and I did know a filly who slipped and fractured her pelvis. Wondered if this might be contributing to the problem because her symptoms were similar.
They are x-raying today. I should hear something soon!
Cathy,
This is only slightly related, but I found it when I was looking up “bowed tendon” on Google. I admit I am unfamiliar with horses (but trying to learn more) but this just looks awful to me:
http://www.horsesanctuary.com/calisto.htm
Is this really something a horse can live with? If I saw that kind of deformation in another animal I was more familiar with, and knew it needed pain meds every day, I would seriously consider euthanasia. Should this horse have been kept up with pain meds and special diet, or should he have been allowed to go peacefully?
Well, apparently he died in 2003 but I would have euthed him earlier than that. If they won’t eat, that is a particularly good sign they are in too much pain to try to save. One reason I never argued with the efforts to save Barbaro is that he was bright, perky and super interested in food. That told me they were managing his pain well.
Also, I find it very odd they refer to Calisto’s former home as “loving” after that home dumped him at a rescue after he got hurt. Clearly they have a very different definition of “loving” than I do.
Yes, and apparently the “loving” family did not donate money for the horse’s care either, because the rescue is begging for $$. I am so fed up with these Wendy Hsue types who don’t take responsibility for their own horses. They should have euthed him, or if their vet opined that he could have recovered to a reasonable degree, THEY should have paid for it and for his retirement. Shame on the rescue, too, for letting him suffer with no prospect for a recovery, and for wasting resources. With the money they spent on his vet bills, they could have given an old horse a home, maybe saved one from slaughter. But I suppose these dramatic pictures and stories bring in the bucks better than the humdrum day-to-day care of reasonably-healthy horses. I’m NOT saying starving or mistreated horses should not be rehabbed. But if the expenses will be too much and the outcome will not be good, why??? And why are they letting people (loving families who would presumably not send their horse to auction but euthanize it if push came to shove) drop off their horses instead of telling the people to do the right thing and care for their own animals? Sheesh.
Yeah, I get fed up with all of that too. But a lot of it results from people being euthanasia-phobic, which I’ve talked about a lot. A humane death is NOT a bad outcome for a horse. Bashing rescues that euth after a reasonable period of time, or when the horse will simply need too much expensive care, is NOT a good way to encourage responsible money management.
Hear hear. That is just CRAZY.
Not only is it amazing she can eat, it’s actually pretty dangerous — with all the pain-tension she’s got, her gut could easily shut down — and then you have a colic on top of whatever horrible strains and sprains she’s suffering from.
How can anyone look at that horse and not know it needs help NOW?
I have been blessed apparently to be at barns where most people do the right thing in the right time frame. The one time it wasn’t happening, I called the vet, called the owner, and when the vet appeared, said I would pay the bill if the owner would not because it ‘was the right thing’ and suddenly it WAS the right thing according to the owner. I would have paid the bill and considered it a donation for good karma.
Update on the $20 Arabian mare from a few weeks ago.
Thanks to the kindness of a very nice lady who gave me the current addresses of past owners, I was able to get in touch with one of the mare’s previous owners — the ones who owned her for the largest part of her life. She was their beloved horse – their first, and they’ve sent me photos of her in happier times, which were very fun to get!
She has ended up being a really easy keeper. After the first week of all the hay she wanted, along with Equine Senior, there was such a noticeable difference in her topline. She still has a ways to go (and she’ll always be a bit swaybacked!), but it was good to learn that her teeth are fine, in spite of being 25!
She had been taking up a stall I desperately needed, and so a few days ago my husband agreed to take a former high dollar older roping horse who was about to be put down as he needed some rest and the owner (asshat) didn’t have room to lay him off and was getting another horse. We brought him home and pulled his shoes — the most horrendous shoeing job I’ve ever seen — and he was immediately MUCH more comfortable. I think a few months of turnout and correct trimming will do him a world of good.
ANYWAY — the old girl is just a pleasure to have around, so much personality and really so appreciative of every meal. So her and the old guy just got turned out together on our hay farm, in an extra field that has too many lumps and bumps to cut hay in. They get along famously and were buddies instantly! And they plodded off side by side into the sunset!
SO cool. We would, of course, love to see pictures!
YAY! I’m so glad I was able to help and even more glad that you were able to get in contact with her previous owners. I bet they’re glad she’s got a great home now.
I agree with Fugly, We’d love to see pictures!
As I was reading through the comments…I thought I wonder how that older arabian is doing. And low and behold there was your comment with an update! Thank you for letting us know how she is doing. I have a 29 year old arabian mare, who will live the rest of her days here with us. She is not retired, but would surely just die if we didn’t ride her! She is amazing and would not trade her for all the money in the world.
Thank you again for the update!
Years ago I was renting a barn and house with my, then, boyfriend and a fellow eventer who we didn’t know well. She kept her horse with us and we literally watched her bow his tendon. She was eventing at intermediate level and she had apparently never had a lame horse in her life. She was also deeply into scientology. I don’t know if that was why she never listened to anyone but her horse was a little off one day. My boyfriend and I looked at the leg and knew there was trouble, heat, a pulse, but not real lame. Classic tendon trouble. She wouldn’t listen to us because he wasn’t very lame. She gave him a day or two off, hacked him a little, then a little dressage. We kept telling her to stop. There was still heat, maybe a little pulse. So, of course, she took him out and galloped him. Blew the tendon. It was a grade 3 lesion that then needed surgery. She left a while later. Dunno what happened to the horse.
Then a few years ago I tried to help a neighbor with her two (you love this) quarter horse tennessee walker crosses. They were both three at the time. She said they were out of the same mare. Um, ok. The gelding had foundered as a two-year old. But apparently he was okay. So when I went to see her horses–she had seven. They all were so fat, they looked pregnant. I tried to explain to her that this was not good. She had this idea that vets were only there to take your money and that show people were snobby (that would be me.) Since I was new to the neighborhood I wanted to be nice. Well, I did a lot of work with her and her horses at a discounted rate. I tried to educate her, tried to get it across to her that fat was not good. The gelding foundered again a little. She never called the vet. This lady had read a lot of stuff on the internet and knew a zillion ways to save money around the barn but never read anything about laminitis! I eventually made my exit. Later at a neighborhood get together I asked a neighbor vet to talk to her and I think she hooked up with her. I hope she is caring for her horses better but I am not sure.
Having talked to lots and lots of people of all knowledge levels about horses, I would say a non-horse person wouldn’t see anything wrong with that horse. They don’t really know what horses are supposed to look like. They also don’t know a trot from a canter and wouldn’t know a lame horse if it landed on them. People will get the craziest notions in their head just because someone from their past told them something stupid and they just take it to heart and they won’t listen to you even though you have been working with horses for years–because you are not an insider in their life–yet. It is an endless battle. I don’t think you should ever pass up the opportunity to try to educate someone if you can. In order to do so, I think you have to learn to be diplomatic. Oh, fun.
Poor baby, I know a lot of folks are saying put her down, and I agree in general principle, but I really, really hope that such a trouper can be saved and allowed to be pain free. Horses are the most amazing animals, and are capable of the most amazing recuperation.
Some people, honestly, I think you can tell so much about a person from how they treat animals. This guy is a jerk. His girlfriend is clueless but at least not cruel. The idiot who rode her in deep sand while clearly underweight, is inconsiderate and selfish – and should be flogged.
Maybe the best punishment for animal abuse is if we bring back the stocks. A little public humiliation and rotten vegetation could be instructive.
Why get them if you aren’t going to care about them? I will never understand…
OT, but humorous – I found this on Craigslist as a response to someone who called out the crazy price for a PROSPECT!
http://anchorage.craigslist.org/grd/1619216481.html
“Don’t be rediculous, the market for horse flesh is UP not down, and it’s not Small, we don’t have the availability of a lot of homegrown quality flesh, so many horses are shipped in for brood stock, etc… so the Value’s reflect an “import” market… You used to be able to ship a horse up for $1000 or under, now that price is $1500 to nearly double depending on who you hire.
So my horses’ Value is much higher than that of a compareable horse in the Lower 48…Why?
$550 a ton for hay raised MY horses value
$3.30 for a gallon of gas to pick up my hay raised the value of my horse
$17.00 for a bag of grain raised the value of my horse
150% rise in electricity for my barn and tank heater raised the value of my horse
the mill rate going up 13% raised the value of my barn, which raised the value of my horse
When wormer increased by $1.50 a tube, the value of my horse went up
When the vet charged me more for shots and an additional fuel sur charge to give him shots, the value of my horse went up
When my farrier went from charging $25 for a trim and $50 for shoes, to $45 for a trim and $90 for shoes… My horses Value went up.
I guess all you buyers out there should be glad that ALL horses didn’t go up by the same percentage as the neccessities to keep them?
An old cowboy once said… “the cheepest thing you’ll ever do with a horse, is BUY it”
I am not going to sell my horse cheep to a cheep-scate who won’t care for it properly.
If you want to pay an old nag price, BUY AN OLD NAG!”
I posted this reply – and got FLAMED, but…it was worth it
“I just want to say that everything you said raised the value of your horse actually just raised the cost of keeping it. As a horse owner in Alaska, I sympathize, but the reality is that the value is what the buying market is willing to pay, not what it costs you to keep. As far as shipping costs, I can ship up a fully-made cutting/reining champion for the same cost as a prospect (disregarding purchase price), so why pay that much for a prospect? I am not saying your horse is overpriced, I haven’t seen it, I am just saying that none of what you listed is actually anything I would consider when purchasing a horse *edited to add: except that those things are what is keeping me from buying a second horse! I hope you find a great home for your prospect.”
Although, I am grateful that they aren’t willing to dump it to someone who isn’t prepared to pay for the basics!
*off to prep my trailer for a summer shopping trip*
Not to sound crass… but hello? When the cost of gas went up, did that increase the value of your car???
When the cost of an oil change went up, did THAT increase the value of your car???
Hmmm, I see that there may be fluctuations in what sellers sell their “products” for, due to the transportation costs (I’ve been that far north, and the cost of food, etc. in a restaurant is quite a bit higher… (but funny enough, you actually seemed to GET more on your plate), and a can of Coke cost approximately 1.25 – 1.5 times more… Anyway, when he was talking about the cost of hay / grain / shoeing / etc. I just had to laugh. Because when the cost of gas / oil went through the roof in Canada, you couldn’t GIVE your big trucks / gas guzzlers away!! I suspect the same would happen in the horse market, non??
Boarding horses just plan sucks. I have boarded horses, and I am in the process of farming out all the boarders I have now to other peoples’ farms. It is just too much of a PIA on a daily basis.
One woman we have here is a Dead Beat Owner (DBO). She brought her horse her 300 pounds underweight and told me he didn’t need any extra food. He runs through fences, paces, breaks wheelbarrows at feeding time, and is out of control. He craves attention, and his behavior is better when he gets it, but DBO has exercised him only twice in the last year. DBO has not paid for a hoof trim since last summer. I’ve had to have the farrier out and pay to have his feet done. Last summer he was ill and a lot of his hair fell out. He had scabs all over his neck and head. DBO would not come out to see him. I sent photos of the horse. DBO comes by months later and wants to know why we cut his mane (it fell out – if she could find the time to visit her horse more than once every other month she would realize he needs better care from her). Currently he has a seriously swollen leg. It has been like this since Thanksgiving. DBO isn’t concerned; husband reminds her that it has happened before after he has been pacing excessively. DBO vaguely remembers the problem and says it will get better with regular exercise, yet she hasn’t laid a hand on him for at least 4 months.
To add insult to injury, DBO asks me to find someone to work with her horse since she doesn’t want to do it. I spend dozens of hours trying to find compentent people to come out and care for her horse. DBO now isn’t writing full board checks since she thinks if someone is riding her horse she should get a boarding discount. Oh, did I mention she doesn’t own any tack for the horse?
End of rant. If any of you are thinking about boarding horses, think twice (or maybe even three times).
Good luck!!!!
I’d be really careful in a situation like this. Even though it’s not your horse, it’s on your property, you are being paid (partially) to care for it, and you are ultimately responsible for it’s health. If it were me, I would give her 30-days notice to get out. Again with me, if we didn’t think leaving was the answer, she’d need to sign a new contract effective immediately stipulating the standards of care and payment I expect. Also, I would give her a 3-day notice to obtain veterinary care at her expense or I would involve the authorities responsible for overseeing the humane care of horses in my area. Be prepared to follow through on your threats and if you involve animal control be prepared to be held responsible for the failure to provide veterinary treatment. If the horse is being ridden it sounds like it’s not all that bad, but since you mention it, it must need attention.
Contracts are a beautiful thing and make boarding a generally pleasant experience. People need to know precisely what they are getting into, what is expected from them in terms of behavior and care, and what will happen if they do not follow the required protocol.
Great advice! We’ve already given her notice to move her horse. It is doubtful that she is looking for a new place. We have a contract that covers most of things we could foresee happening with boarders. However, there is nothing in there about how to get rid of horse and owner if they refuse to leave. We found out a couple weeks ago that the same horse boarded up the street from us several years back; the BO there didn’t like the horse or the owner so they moved.
According to the owner’s husband, the horse’s leg is swollen because of the constant twisting involved while he paces at the fence (they are turned out 24 hours a day – he is much worse in a stall). Supposedly the leg will improve with exercise and normal movement (i.e. not pacing, no tight turns). The point is, she should be exercising her own horse and not expecting someone else to do it. If my horse’s leg looked like his I’d have my vet out immediately.
In hind site, I should have had animal control out the day he arrived looking like a walking skeleton. I was more concerned about making him comfortable and healthy again. He looks great now, by the way, except for the leg. The only thing I can do now is wish him luck at this next barn, and the one after that…
I used to board at a farm where a “rescuer” boarded her dozen+ horses in one big field. Mind you, she was afraid to ride, and I think afraid of horses in general. Anyway, two in particular just broke my heart, a horribly foundered belgian and a gelding whose knee had been broken at some point and healed at a painful-looking bent-sideways angle. In the two years we were there at the same time, she never once had the belgian’s feet done, because “he didn’t like it,” but at the same time wouldn’t give him any pain meds either. They were turned out in a herd with a bunch of other horses that routinely beat them up. The worst was watching them hobble from the shed to the water trough on the ice in winter. She also had a pen full of minis, complete with four studs (father and sons) and their bred mothers (wonder who sired what), To my knowledge she’s still there, and so are the horses.
With regards to Sugar Bear, I once knew a horse that had been permanently lamed by his previous idiot owners, who thought it was ok to run the horse up and down mountain trails for hours after he’s just sat in a field for six months. Sometime in the middle of it all he tied-up, but they forced him and his poor siezed muscles to keep moving. He was never ridable again. I can only imagine the pain that would cause, with muscle fibers tearing. Perhaps something similar happened to this mare.
That sounds highly possible.
People are assholes. Ugh.
I boarded at a large stable that generally took very good care of the horses there. But there was one woman…
She had this OLD (possibly) horse that had back legs soo bad… his rear fetlocks dragged on the ground.. her solution.. wrapping them.. and some hocus pocus holistic crap.. now some is good.. this stuff. NOT SO MUCH…
He was thin, and she started wrapping his front legs to help support the back ones…He was never out of the stall unless simply turned loose with a watchful eye as he tottered over to some fresh grass.
Finally, either some one demanded that he be put down, or he just gave up and died… some 2-3 yrs after I had first seen him, and he had been that way for a long time…
And no one called the humane society on her….ever…
Now my @$$ hat of a brother… and his wife have a 8 yr old ( I think) breedstock paint mare who recently got a bowed tendon.. “no big deal ” says my brother, who still doesn’t know a cantle from a pommel on a saddle…
She is out in their small pasture running around, probably not on any pain meds…
This relative that I have to claim.. at least half… different dad…. asks me to borrow some money to buy a saddle, they got a package deal for 3 saddles, and a lot of other stuff..
I get an email saying, wow nice saddle, I will ship on monday…ON saturday
On sunday I get an email showing me a similar saddle near me for sale, a link..
I ask.. why did you send me this link..
Well , turns out they tried out MY saddle.. oh and now love it.. so um… here is a cheap synthetic saddle OR a crappy pair of boots (they don’t know my shoe size, or tree size or seat size for a saddle -although wifey poo did tell me the tree and seat size of the saddle I was SUPPOSED TO GET)……
So then i get one of those links that a “friend” can find on an online catalog… basically with a note from dear red neck bubba.. (yes my brother.. god for a divorce from HIM)…well here is a newer saddle of the one we would have sent you, but we bought these saddles to re-sell them.. (and your wifey poo falls in love with it?? how you gonna re-sell anything if she falls in love with them all???).. you feel cheated and betrayed.. how do you think we would feel selling it to you for so cheap…. UH..happy that I lent you the money to get the damn thing.. happy that I have helped you alot with saddles and tack…
End of story, they will probably have a lame mare who will look like that poor horse with the bent fetlock from a bowed tendon, I got my money back on the saddle…
And they are soo red neck.. they named their kid after the wife’s horse…
I at least like Indiana Jones.. he was named for the dog…
A few years ago i was boarding my mare at this barn that had a girl and her pony there. for several days in a row i noticerd that the pony was really stiff and didn’t want to walk around at all. when i asked the owner (girls mother) why he was so stiff she told me that when she went out “riding” (more like running across a plowed field) the pony tripped and fell. the girl showed me how the fall had broke her saddle in two places and her bridle was also broken. when asked if she was going to call the vet she told me that te pony was old and that she was not going to ride him anymore, so if he was hurt it was okay because if she wasn’t riding him it wouldnt cause him anymore pain. a few days later the pony pasted away. i felt bad that i couldnt do anything for him. but i was only 15 at the time and was worried about being aske to leave the barn. i see the girl that rode the pony around now and then, her mom had bought her a new horse and i fear that something terrible will happen to this oe as well.
Oh yes.. I thought of one and only one person when that I read that question. I board with a girl who’s horse is CLEARLY navicular! His feet grow upright like stilts, he is very short strided, you can tell he’s in pain. She rides him hard, and the next day he can’t harldy walk. Last time she took him to a gaming playday, after the bute wore off the show officials wouldn’t allow her do do anymore classes after seeing he’s clearly lame. He had x-rays done and the vets have said he looks to be navicular and she still denies it… “He’s getting better”.. No, he has better days, but I’ve never seen him move 100% sound, ever. They dump hundreds of dollars into selenuim, MSM, and Glucosamine supplements that have no effect on him. They won’t stick with one farrier long enough to see any good results with him and its frustrating to watch him buck and toss his head, all the while she says “Oh he’s just a brat” everyone else can see he’s in pain.. so sad.
sorry for the spelling mistakes… got caught in the moment.
Wow, after reading all these horror stories about boarding barns I feel really lucky. Most of the places I’ve kept my horse have been very nice, small and friendly and for the most part everyone took very good care of their horses.
Having said that I will tell about my one bad experience. It was on a military base. I actually boarded there twice. The first time it wasn’t so bad b/c there were only 4-5 geldings in one pasture together and they had plenty of food. The second time I boarded there the number of horses in the pasture had gone up to about 7-10 but they had not increased the amount of hay enough to accommodate that many extra horses (IMO). I was told that the “powers that be” (not sure who they were) dictated how often they could put hay bales (the big round bales) out in the field. It was something like they couldn’t put a new bale of hay in the field until there was less than an inch (or some measurement) of hay on the ground and there was only ever one big round bale of hay out at a time for 7-10 horses. I don’t know how many times I would come out and there would be no hay in the pasture at all at feeding time right after all the barn staff had gone home for the day. (I’m sorry I don’t count the inch or so of hay that is left after a round bale has been devoured.) My horse at the time was very low in the herd ranking so you can imagine how he fared. It took me about two weeks to get him out of there. A few weeks before I left someone had brought in a much older Saddlebred or NSH that they had bought. He came in all nice and shiny and really beautiful and I swear you could literally watch him lose weight by the day. I don’t know what became of him but I hope some changes were made before he got too bad. (And these were the boarder horses, the ones that had it really bad were the rental horses.) There are a few other stories I could tell but I’m a little nervous to say much more. And before someone says something about not reporting… well it was run by the government, that makes it complicated. Supposedly (and this part is hearsay) someone did contact AC in the area (in regards to the rental horses) but they were told that AC didn’t have any jurisdiction on a military base. We did make complaints and there were some changes but definitely not enough/fast enough to make a difference for me.
Just think the government could be running your health care too…
As my friend says, when the goverment shows that it can take good care of Social Security, we will think about giving it another pet!
LOLOL!! Amen to that!
I seriously wonder if this poor mare has advanced DSLD/ESPA. Her conformation and symptoms mentioned are pretty classic: bowed front legs, straightened hindquarters, severe muscle wasting along the back, swollen right rear pastern, mention of lameness and swelling front and rear, trembling after riding, lying down a lot. Not all D/E horses have dropped fetlocks, there’s an upright version. In advanced stages of this body-wide connective tissue breakdown, horses often look emaciated and have a lot of pain. I hope the rescue that has her will have her checked out by a vet familiar with Dr. Mero’s diagnostic protocol. Very sad case, whatever the cause.
There are supplements that can help some horses stabilize and improve. They aren’t expensive and might be worth it for the rescue to check out if she does have D/E. http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/DSLD-equine/ and http://dsldequine.info for more information on Dr. Eleanor Kellon’s experimental treatment.
I can’t believe no one’s mentioned DSLD-ESPA. This mare looks extremely symptomatic. Facebookers, check the Facebook page for DSLD – ESPA at http://www.facebook.com/?sk=messages&tid=1293486349710#!/pages/DSLD-ESPA-A-Disease-of-Horses-Information-and-Support/92408628511?ref=ts. There are photos and loads of links. There’s a Yahoo group for information, as well as aweb page at http://dsldequine.info. She looks like a classic case and the vet report supports it as well. Poor girl!
I have been thinking about getting a horse this summer/fall and was also going to move to suburbia so planed on boarding a horse. I’m seriously rethinking boarding a horse after hearing all these stories. Yeah I think I will just keep the hour commute to work stay on our 2.5 acres wait another year to get a horse, put up some new fencing, re-roof the barn and build a one or two stalls. Urgh I can’t believe some of the stories! How scary! I think I would trust my non-horsey fiancee (he is a huge animal lover) with the care of any future horses rather than anyone of those boarding barns above. Makes me want to pull my hair out! *palm2face* (I use a laptop and I don’t have a desk right now so I will bang my head on the desk when I get home)
Don’t be so discouraged. I have been at approximately 7-10 different barns over the years, all that offered boarding. Some were mainly lesson barns, some were boarding only. Some of these barns I worked at, some I took lessons only at, some I boarded at, some I leased at.
I would say only 2 or 3 of those barns were bad and only 1 was really bad. If you do your homework you can probably find a great boarding barn. In the end, you are responsible for your horse’s care and you can make a decent boarding facility work for you. You call the vet, you call the farrier, you check up on a regular basis to make sure your horse’s weight is good. You call the shots on riding or not riding. Look for good fencing, well cared for horse’s, good feed and hay, clean stalls and fresh water. If you’ve found a facility with those things – chances are it’s a good boarding place.
To give you a good boarding story, to offset some of the horror stories:
I implicitly trust my BO. I can go three months without visiting my horse and I KNOW that when I stop by she’ll be fat and sassy, that her feet will have been done, that if it is shot season she will have gotten her shots, I know she is wormed monthly and I know she gets branned, oiled and pysliummed (spelling?) on a regulat basis. I have know the BO for over 15 years. If your horse gets hurt and needs surgery, she will haul him down to the Equine Hospital in Gainesville. If your horse dies she will cry like it was her own horse that died.
If you check out the boarding barn and facilities, and check on your horse often, there are some definite advantages to boarding. I love that I can go on vacation or do something on weekends and not worry about twice daily feedings. I also love that I have a big (by the standards of my area) 3/4 acre paddock for my two horses, and fabulous well-built fences and gates– everything is designed for horses and well built. The cost of that infrastructure is pretty high, and the price of real estate in a great close-to-town location is more than I can afford. The place I board is so close to my house that I can spend time with my horses every day and in addition, I can swing by and look at them often.
The other thing is buying your own feed. When I bought my mares, a groom asked me if I would be boarding them. When I said yes, he said, “Be sure and keep an eye on how they feed them. These Thoroughbreds eat a lot.” How true were those words! I quickly discovered the BO wasn’t feeding my horses enough, so I bought my own extra hay to supplement. Eventually we changed our arrangement so that I buy my own hay, which is great. The hired hands feed them my alfalfa twice a day, and I feed them grass hay in big tubs so they always have something. I also don’t trust the auto-waterers and keep a big tub of water. That way, my horses can drink deeply with their heads down, I can sort of monitor what they are drinking, and if there is a malfunction with the plumbing, they have a back-up system. I think this is really important, especially in hot-weather areas.
I’m ashamed to admit that I have ridden a lame horse. It was an old TB lesson horse, and the trainer, who talked a very good talk, insisted that she was just stiff and arthritic. We’re talking very lame but the trainer said she was fine, the horse was just old. She was ridden 4-5 times a week in lessons, and supposedly once she was ridden she would warm up. She did warm up with riding. But even her ‘warmed up’ movement still qualified as lame, and she should never have been ridden. I was young and naive, and that is my very insufficient excuse. I stayed there for a few months before I regained my sanity and stopped riding there. I will never understand why this trainer insisted on using the horse for lessons. She even said she had taken this horse to multiple local dressage shows. I will never forgive myself for riding that saint of a horse, who must have been in a lot of pain.
However, that situation has dramatically shaped my knowledge of horses and horse health. I was looking for a half lease on CL, and I found what seemed to be a great situation. $200 a month for a half lease, she had multiple horses available, and you could work off some of the fee with barn work. When I went to the facility, it looked really good. It was her private barn. It was clean and organized, and the barn was amazing for being a barn built on her land (ie her house was right next to it). The pastures were clean and the horses in them looked in good shape and healthy. Then she introduced me to the horses currently in the barn. One was an extreme swayback. I was very surprised when I learned the horse was only 6. Now, I know some of the literature says swaybacks are fine to ride, but this horse’s swayback was so extreme I did not feel comfortable with anyone riding her. To top if off, she was underweight. Not drastically, but enough to be put off of work until she gained some weight.
The worst shock of all came when she introduced me to the chestnut 4 year old. Holy crap. Beautiful horse, about 16.3, and lucky if he was a 2 on the body condition scale. I was completely aghast. Sweet horse, and she fed him a flake of hay in front of me because his was empty. But she only had one bale of hay sitting in the barn, and it was half gone. There were 6 horses in that barn. Every barn I’ve been to had several easily accessible, as we all know horses go through a lot of hay. Looking back on it, it was very weird she just had the half bale there.
She turned him out to “watch him run”. He was a gorgeous horse, but completely underweight. His spine was massively protruding. Worst of all, you could see his very pointy hip bones. While I’m a fan of your blog fugly, I’ve never actually seen a massively underweight horse in person. I don’t like confrontation, but this was not something I could ignore. I brought up his weight. Her response? “Oh, he’s just in an awkward stage right now. He’s growing.” Well, maybe he would be growing if he had some damn food! I understand horses are gawky and awkward when they are growing, but this was not awkward and gawky. This was I need some darn groceries!
Worst of all, just that weekend the woman had gone out riding that weekend. On the massively underweight chestnut. She was just completely oblivious. Needless to say, I got the heck out of there and called animal control. I never found out what happened to her. I haven’t heard of any arrests in that area, but I really hope someone made her wisen up. This woman had a handful of boarders. Yet that horse was still starving.
I really need to write about “thin because it’s growing” and “too thin.” I’ll do that soon!
Last spring I was looking at a neighbor’s horse and commented to her that she appeared to have lost weight over the winter. The neighbor said, “Oh, she is just having a growth spurt.” The horse was a 5 year old quarter horse. I don’t think their deworming program was what is should have been since the horse was infested with worms when they got her. They dewormed her once and thought that was good. Their manure pile was disgusting with larvae/worms crawling all over it.
I gave the picture the non-horsey test and asked my husband if there was anything wrong with her. Yes we’ve always had horses but all he can tell you is that they have 4 legs and are very expensive to keep. He also equates beauty with a shiny coat (no matter how ugly under the shine) so this mare had it stacked against her because the sun is shining and giving the impression of a glossy coat. His response – “There’s something wrong with her knees. I don’t think she’d be nice to ride because her back sticks up. She’s skinny, right? She’d be better if she was fat.” So yeah, anybody should be able to tell something’s wrong with her.
People who can’t come to terms with their lame horses drive me crazy! I’m fortunate to be at a barn where several vets board with a very attentive barn owner and instructors who won’t hesitate to stop their lesson to go to another ring and yank somebody off their horse if they can see it’s lame. But through other barns I’ve been at and while horse shopping, the line I heard waaaay too many times was “He just does that”. He just does that? He’s lame, dumbass!
My guess is that this is an insulin resistant horse.
Hi guys, I’ve taken riding lessons on and off for a total of 3 years (spread over 30 years), and had a horse short-term that I rode around Costa Rica on. I’ve gone on riding holidays in the UK and Belize, have gone to horse training seminars, ridden a couple classes in small local shows, and belonged to a horse book of the month club. I’ve also read every single post in Fugly’s history…
AndI would never have guessed there was anything at all wrong with the mare in the picture if the intro hadn’t made it clear that there was. Having always had slim, athletic dogs (
, I also thought the mare looked like a nice weight.
You asked us to show our non-horsey spouses about the photo. I’m not “totally” inexperienced with horses, and I couldn’t see any problem. Regarding lying down, this is a sign of relaxation and general contentedness in dogs, cats, sheep, cows, ducks, etc. Horses are just about the only exception, and a non-horse person would never guess this was a problem. So if the woman had only had a PHOTO of the horse, I wouldn’t blame her for not noticing a problem.
The thing I object to is that she didn’t just have a photo to work with. She could see the horse walking (limping), and knew the horse had likely had an accident on the sand… and she STILL hadn’t called a vet. In a situation like that, she should have called a vet immediately. If she couldn’t afford one, she should have called Animal Control.
OMG look at that left hind pastern! Either bad angle or really swollen, poor girl. Her front legs are also a complete mess. Then the back and weight issue as mentioned. I shall have to have one of my non-horse friends look at her and point out what’s wrong.
As for personal experience, there is a girl at the barn who as two QH mares. A few months ago one of them scraped her knee. Which was no big deal until it became infected with a greenish brown puss all down her leg. This girl didn’t call a vet at all and, since she gives lessons quite often, used this mare for 3+ hours a LESSON, with about 5 to 6 lessons in the week. She refused to call a vet to take care of the knee (this girl even does her own feet and never floats teeth) and eventually (like 2 months after it happened) the BO called the vet and PAID FOR IT HIMSELF (fee to go out there and the cost of the mares medicine, which was a few penicilin shots to be administered x needle on x day and an ointment for the knee) because he was getting quite worried about this mares knee. And yes she still uses this mare (who’s only 7/8) and her 4/5 year old mare in lessons that still last that amount of time.
Interesting topic!
The mare looks terrible, any update?
I used to board at a very nice, little barn. There was a pretty old horse (about 27 years old). He was not only thin, he was emaciated. Every time I saw him standing in the field, his front legs were pushed forward.
I talked to the stable owners but they said that he was just old and otherwise ok. Yeah, right… So I talked to the owner, a woman about my age. She told me that he stood like this because of an old injury. She clearly loved him and didn´t want to see that he´d be better of pts. In my opion, he just wasn´t fed enough. He was kept apart from the other horses so that he could eat all day. But he was only fed a little bit of grain and hay. I then talked to two people (owner of riding equipment shops who she knew pretty well) and they talked to her as well. Didn´t help. She even rode him although he stumbled several times and fell down with her! He ran because of pain and she told me that he just loooved hacking out. I told her that he was in pain but she didn´t want to hear it. She also had an old dog that looked terrible. The stable was next to a well-visited walking path but NO ONE said anything.
After leaving the stable, I talked to a friend who is a vet for the government that checks abuse charges. I´ll see her tomorrow and ask her about it but I heard that the horse has (finally) passed away.
I felt so sorry for him. He should have had a peaceful death a looong time ago.
Before that, I boarded at a friend´s barn, very nice, pretty expensive. There was a teenage girl who had inherited the horse she used to lease. He was a gentle and very nice old warmblod. He was stiff but otherwise ok. She rode him every day because she wanted to compete in dressage! One day, we heard her screaming and ran to her. She had tied his head down and he had fallen down! My trainer just screamed at her and we got him up again. They were several times when he couldn´t get up in the morning and had to be helped. The stable owner always told us when we lead him to stay away from him in case he fell down. It ended terribly. Two other geldings chased him into the fence and beat him. He was pulled out and euthanised at once.
Even before that, we had a teenage girl who had a standardbred and also wanted to compete in dressage. After an unsuccessful show, a woman from our stable followed her and caught her when she beat him up. I met her several years ago. She has a very expensive warmblood stalltion now… Don´t know what happened to the standardbred…
In my opinion, abuse is often connected to ignorance or lack of knowledge.
I hope I will be always strong enough to help these horses!
Lots of greetings from Germany, I love your blog!!!!
This definitely looks like DSLD to me.
http://dsldequine.info/
PS:
This is what my 24 years old Fjord looks like. (on the right)
On the left is my (almost) 2 years old Shetland pony, he was gelded two days ago but the picture was take about 1 month ago.
Fugly, when I was a teenager, I used to ride at a place that sounds very similar to the first place that you rode at. A little run down, a little unsafe, a little . . . umm . . . lacking . . . in what you might call “qualities that a good riding school should possess”? There was this mare there who I never really rode, but everyone said was cold backed, her knees used to buckle and she would almost fall if you did the girth up to quickly. At an in-house schooling show she was assigned to me for one of the classes and when I mounted, her knees buckled and I thought she was going to fall over. After she caught her balance she just stood there trembling and I quickly dismounted and withdrew from the class. The barn owner was really angry with me, I think because it made her look bad infront of the judge she had brought in. She said that if I had walked her around a bit, she would have been fine. I don’t know if that was true, but I’m still, years later, very happy with my decision.
OT but just wanted to share: sometimes horses lay down and relax. One of my broodmares (and her babies) like to scare the crap out of me with this move. I expect that the horses will hop up when you approach them but Penny and her get are all just “oh hey…I’m in the middle of a nap.” Mean while I’m kinda wigging out ’cause they are still down. And letting me do crap like pet them. As soon as I get a hand full of grain…they hop right up. My Stud (Penny’s Boy, PB for short) even does this. never fails to incite a small panic attack.
And yesterday I discovered that one of my mares does not understand the theory of hotwire (which I use not hot, for grazing areas) ate herself under it. I came out for the 30 min check-up, looked and there was only one horse there. Lightning was eating the neighbors grass. Good thing she is more concerned with food and scratches than freedom. Walked out and got her, everything was fine until Hatty realized that lightning had wandered. Hatty quite annoyed with her. LOL when everything was over.
I know someone who for a couple of years now, just refuses to treat her horse’s navicular. She got the vet out had xrays etc. Vet said can only be ridden in an indoor, lightly if ever, needs as much turnout as possible, and do go on medication. Basically to retire the horse. I think she would of been comfortable if the owner just put her on field board and had her on maintenance bute. The owner bought all the medicines, and tried them for about 3 weeks. Turnout was not increased, and the owner continued to ride the horse. When owner saw no improvement the mare was taken off the medicines. Owner claimed that the horse obviously didn’t have navicular, even though there was several witnesses who heard the vet and saw the swiss cheese xrays. So this poor horse has been lame for a good 4/5 years now, and the owner will still occasionally ride it, still attempts to jump and trail ride it, and just can’t understand why the horse is lame. If you try to bring up the “Well didn’t the vet say she has navicular” The owner just denies it. Even got a second opinion who said the SAME thing, and still denies it. Within the past 6 months I’ve heard said owner talking about getting the vet out again to see if they could figure it out.
HELLO!!! I just want to give the owner a V8 punch and say your horse needs to retire! I’ve said this in so many words and the owner’s response is “I don’t have the money to afford or lease another horse, so she’s just going to have to do for now”
Let the head bashing begin…
The horse looks quite thin to me, but that’s all I’d noticed- maybe if it was a video or in real life I might have noticed more. If I saw it in a different context I’d assume I was worrying too much about the weight and it was probably normal.
This is the opinion of a total non-horsey person who is scared of them, by the way. I’m hoping that this blog will help with the “visceral terror” thing.
Oh, and if an animal- any animal- didn’t get up except to eat, for FOUR DAYS, I would be freaking out. I’d call everyone with any kind of knowledge that I knew on the first day to make sure it wasn’t normal, and the vet would be out very soon.
Just a question about the mare shown in the picture, what would her body score be? I am trying to fatten someone else’s horse up that is almost like that mare but not quite as bad, such as his backbone isn’t sticking up quite as much. I am really hoping that the gal will get rid of him to someone that knows what they are doing with horses. Mine are such fatty’s compared to him that I decided to do something about it and get this boy fattened up. The owner moved about an hour away and had someone taking care of him but they were doing even a worse job then she did. The Sheriff was called on him and someone else stepped up and started trying to feed him, but that guy has started a new job and is getting lenient about it. Don’t know the breed he is but he’s really tall and leggy so assuming he’s a racing breed of some type, which learned from this blog are a little higher maintenance than non-racing types…usually
I’m totally not a horse person. XD Of course I knew there was a problem since the photo was on your blog… my first reaction was ‘she looks awfully tucked up’. It didn’t occur to me that the horse was in pain until I read the description of the problems. >_< I just don't know horse body language. Now, show me a cat in pain and I'll be able to spot it.
I asked my totally non-horsey significant other (he’s only ever seen a horse from 30 feet away!) what he thought – he said “That horse is really (expletive) up! Why is it standing like that and why is it’s chest so huge compared to the rest of it’s body? It’s looks really sick and skinny. I’d be really scared if that were my horse.” So yeah… even a guy who has no interest in horses can see there is something wrong!
BTW this is my first post and I have read every entry for the past few years. I LOVE this blog and have learned so much!!
I had my horse agisted (you’d call it boarded) at a ‘top class’ facility near where I live. If you wanted your horse paddocked for the day, you’d simply tick a box on the blackboard on the front of your stable and it would be done.
Came up one evening, horse is still in stable. Note on blackboard- didn’t paddock horse, was lame. Was signed by the owner of the place.
LAME was an understatement- he wasn’t weight bearing on one of his feet. I’d never received a phone call, a text, nothing. He’d been like that for hours. I rang the vet ASAP, worried he’d fractured something.
As horses do of course, they get slightly better just before the vet arrives! To this day we STILL don’t know what caused the lameness (suspect a deep abcess, farrier did find a hole eventually). But jeebus…. It was that day I realised the owner REALLY only cared about money, not the horses. Like you asked in your post, he would be one of the ones who couldn’t care less if your horse was lame and you didn’t get the vet. As long as you paid him on time every fortnight.
Whilst the place was considered ‘safe’ for horses, the environment just plain sucked, horses weren’t happy, and a lot of the girls there of course- were bitchy. (My horse has colicked once in his life- while he was there. The place has a reputation for it).
The owner pissed me off more and more every week….
By the time I left I was so sick of his attitude, I did a naughty and left my stable dirty for him. He sent me a bill of $130 for cleaning it!!!! LMAO. DEFINITELY all about the money…. Needless to say I never paid, and whilst I know I’ll never be welcome there again, I’ve actually turned down a lease offer on my horse because I knew he’d be agisted there!
Where I am now I’m basically on my own. The facilities, well, there are none. But the owner is a lovely bloke who does his best to keep an eye out on things for me, and I KNOW that if something went seriously wrong- he’d call me straight away.
After taking a 2nd look, I’m wondering if this mare Sugar Bear could have DSLD. It is hard to get a good look at the pasterns. Perhaps the rescues taking her in will consider looking at DSLD as a possibility. I had a mare that was confirmed positive for DSLD via necropsy– she looked and stood a lot like this mare is doing. DSLD has been found in several breeds including QHs. Just a thought.
A lot of people have said this on their facebook page. I have to look and see if there has been an update since the vet saw her again.
I hate DSLD. Horrible condition. Right up there with EPM for things-you-hope-it’s-not.
3 months ago, I decided to board my mare at a facility instead of keeping her at home. We had a colt and 2 seniors at home, so were free-feeding hay. My mare lives on wind and water and had gained a LOT of weight. It was separate her, move her to a boarding facility, or watch her founder.
I moved her to a boarding facility. In the last 3 months, she has lost 200lbs…but still has about 100lbs more to go.
On your note of boarding at a place that would not allow a horse to be lame, without the owner seeking vet care…I thought i’d share my story. My barn owner is very much like yours, obviously, Fugs.
The other day, I came to the barn to ride and the barn owner pulled me aside. She said that she didn’t mean to offend me, but her concern was MY horse. She felt that my horse should be more fit by now, and that I wasn’t riding her enough. She said that I paid her to look after my horse, and my options were to ride at least 5 times per week, pay HER to ride my horse, or the unsaid third option….move your horse. Honestly…it made me have more respect for the woman than i’ve EVER had for another horse person. She cared more about my horse than about hurting my feelings or pissing off a boarder, and that’s the way it SHOULD be.
So, my horse’s work schedule has been ramped up, and the barn owner has been WONDERFUL about helping me stay focussed with suggesting activities under saddle to help my mare gain more flexibility, improve her lateral work, and be more forward. My horse and I have seen amazing returns, and it would not have happened without this amazing woman.
If anyone needs a barn in Northern British Columbia, Canada…I can recommend an excellent one.
bey_kasha@hotmail.com