Losing horses, why it sucks

So, as you can tell from the title of this post, I'm trying to come to terms of losing a pony tomorrow. As most of us know, losing a horse/pony is like losing a family member. Even if it's not your horse, you still feel for the owner or rider. Even though the pony (her name is Kizzy), isn't mine, she holds a special place in my heart. When I first started riding horses, the trainer had me learn how to groom on Kizzy. I've help with her, like giving her baths, leading her around the round pin, grooming her, etc. I was never able to ride her because of she was already lame when I had first come to the barn, and that brings me to her feet. So as I had said above, yes, she had laminitis, and yes, it's very bad. She has been lame for the past three years, but it hasn't ever been this bad. Recently when the farrier had come by a few weeks ago, he had told my trainer that her feet were very bad and her weight was affecting it. So as of today, when a friend of mine at the barn had told me of this, we lead her out to the round pin to let her enjoy her last day. And the thing that probably made me realize the severity of her lameness, is when just leading her from her stall to the round pin took her an extreme amount of effort. She could only take a few steps without having to stop. Here are some photos I took of her today:







Our barn also had to put a horse down that belonged to the riding school, his name was AT. He had an enlarged heart, and had leaking valves.

So why does losing horses suck? Well, in this case with Kizzy, there was nothing more that we could do to keep her comfortable, and her condition + quality of life was going way down. In some cases, doing this is in the best option for the animal.

First off, HUGE HUGE Hugs for you, its never easy loosing a horse. Whether its known about or not.

Friend of mine just recently lost a horse to laminitis, his coffin bone had dropped and rotated. Nothing they could do. What made it worse, was they had only just got the horse back, after they sold him two years ago. :( When they had him pts, we all stood around sobbing.

I lost one of my horses a few months ago now. He had stomach cancer, and we didnt know about it. We thought it was ulcers, as we just couldnt keep weight on him, so new diet, and he started to look good, then he "suddenly" went down with what we thought was colic.

Vets came out and said nope, massive growth in his stomach, and now hes put weight on, the tumour has taken off, and has strangled his stomach. nothing we could do. He was pts in his favourite paddock, it destroyed us all.

that brought my whole farm to a stop, for a few days. No one could believe that our darling giraffe was gone, after all the hardwork and heartache....that loss broke my heart. I so very nearly gave up on horses altogether.

Once again, huge huge hugs, and feel free to chat with me whenever.

and yes putting a horse down is often the best thing to do if the quality of their life is going to become an issue. Good on your stables for making the call, its never easy.

So, so sorry to hear about beautiful little Kizzy. But I can assure you that this is the best thing for her. I know that's a weird thing to say and doesn't really help much now with the pain but she will be free from pain.

Like you said, losing a horse is like losing a family member. Growing up my family was part-owner in a pony breeding farm and we lost some wonderful ponies that will always hold a special place in my heart. Just like Kizzy will hold a special place in yours.

My trainer's horse died a while ago and it hurt so much. But I've come to terms with it and getting to know her new horse and being able to work with him helped a ton. I promise you that in time, it'll hurt less to think about her. We're all here for you and I hope that you feel better soon.

OMG! I am so sorry! Hugs! If you ever need to talk, PM me :)

Thank you guys so much for the support ♥ I'm sorry for the lose of your guy's horses, hugs for all of you