I was actually mentally composing the exact same post. The Boy and I talked about it at lunch today and we had the immediate same reaction.
They tried.
Lots of horses don't even get that chance.
Their decision means they have more resources to try and save more horses.
That's the right thing to do, IMHO.
They didn't ship him. They tried to help him, and then gave him a humane euthanasia. They have other horses to look after.
Of course, that's coming from us. When we went to the kill auction with the plan to bring home a pony (and ended up with River), the caveat to our goodhearted plan was the coldhearted reality that if the pony (or the River) turned out to be too difficult or damaged or meanspirited to be saved -- we'd send them back to auction for their second chance, knowing full well where they'd end up, and try again. Our reasoning was that there are SO many horses and we can't save them all; and since we work to feed the animals, the animals need to be able to do their part to. We were willing to give something a chance, but we still needed it to be able to give back something of itself.
On the up side, we are never faced with feeling like we're inadequate horse owners when it comes to River, because we know exactly who had the second-highest bid. We *know* who would have got her if it weren't for us. But the reality is, that's the real alternate fate of EVERY horse out there. (Unless their name is Moorlands' Totilas, or something...)
Thank you. I know these people well and they really did try everything. And I knew the horse, and yes he was a difficult one, but he tried his heart out to be good for E_P. If it had been me, I would have retired the horse sooner, but that is a very personal decision, and I am notoriously twitchy about lameness.
And you might be surprised what might happen to Totilas if he's a failure at stud. (see story of TB great Exceller...)
Yeah, this all makes total sense. I have to admit--and it's hard to believe this now!--Mitzi went through a stage where she was so scared of everything that I wondered if she was actually loco. (I'm pretty sure she was never like that on her home farm, because it was change that freaked her out.)
I decided that I had to send her for training even if I wasn't going to keep her, because she'd have had no chance otherwise. I'd pretty much decided that if the problem was me I'd sell her, and if the problem was that she was nuts... I'd probably have kept her as a pet, but I could see someone making a different decision and it would have been a fair one.
And that was pretty much the point when I decided that, for all my faults, I was trying to do the best thing for the horse. Yoda was wrong--there is "try."
They tried.
Lots of horses don't even get that chance.
Their decision means they have more resources to try and save more horses.
That's the right thing to do, IMHO.
They didn't ship him. They tried to help him, and then gave him a humane euthanasia. They have other horses to look after.
Of course, that's coming from us. When we went to the kill auction with the plan to bring home a pony (and ended up with River), the caveat to our goodhearted plan was the coldhearted reality that if the pony (or the River) turned out to be too difficult or damaged or meanspirited to be saved -- we'd send them back to auction for their second chance, knowing full well where they'd end up, and try again. Our reasoning was that there are SO many horses and we can't save them all; and since we work to feed the animals, the animals need to be able to do their part to. We were willing to give something a chance, but we still needed it to be able to give back something of itself.
On the up side, we are never faced with feeling like we're inadequate horse owners when it comes to River, because we know exactly who had the second-highest bid. We *know* who would have got her if it weren't for us. But the reality is, that's the real alternate fate of EVERY horse out there. (Unless their name is Moorlands' Totilas, or something...)
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And you might be surprised what might happen to Totilas if he's a failure at stud. (see story of TB great Exceller...)
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I decided that I had to send her for training even if I wasn't going to keep her, because she'd have had no chance otherwise. I'd pretty much decided that if the problem was me I'd sell her, and if the problem was that she was nuts... I'd probably have kept her as a pet, but I could see someone making a different decision and it would have been a fair one.
And that was pretty much the point when I decided that, for all my faults, I was trying to do the best thing for the horse. Yoda was wrong--there is "try."
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