This was a unique combination of a whole lot of factors. You had a young, vigorous, healthy horse in absolutely fit condition. You had the very best research/teaching facility in the country for orthopedic injuries. And you had owners who could afford the very best care.
That does not happen very often.
I've unfortunately had to make the decision to put down animals who were ill or severely injured. It's a very difficult call to make, and there is always an argument that you waited too long -- or didn't wait long enough. You want to give the animal a fair chance to get better, but you don't want the animal to suffer unnecessarily. Unnecessarily being the key - transient pain, even severe pain, may be worth the ultimate result. That's true in almost any surgery.
With 20/20 hindsight you can argue either position til the cows come home (or die).
Both the owners and the vet were well aware of the emotional component and the wishing component - those are present in all cases, because vets wouldn't be in that job if they didn't empathize with animals (believe me, the money ain't it!)
But, again, I'm not going to sit behind a keyboard with imperfect information and try to second-guess the best orthopedic veterinary surgeon in the country or a couple of owners who obviously loved this horse.
Bingo, you got it!!:)
My point. My post was a rant that we cannot get anything but imperfect information. That was my point:). How can we make informed decisions with the information we get. I'm sure the owners, vets, everyone did the best they could, they had the best info. My point is they made it public, but I don't believe the public was privey to the same information. But since they WERE giving info, it should have been.
We need to raise a ruckus not about what was or was not done for the horse, but for what we were or were not told about what was going on.
Becky
Yeah,I agree, in the end it was their decision. I know it wasn’t easy.