Equine Cruelty

As a practicing veterinarian, we, as a whole, are often presented with animals that are neglected in some way or form. This can be a thin, underfed animal or even an animal that is overfed and experiencing health problems due to excessive weight. It all qualifies as neglect in my book to varying degrees. The economy has impacted everyone, especially animals. Their owners may be experiencing financial difficulties themselves, which often then manifest in the quality of care received by the pet or even the horse that once was a treasured family member. This past weekend, we received a call from our Sheriff's department requesting medical care for a neglected horse. The story we were told was that the owner was often out of town working and had put this horse in a stall for the past 6 months with little food or water. The story was confirmed by the neighbor that reported the incident. She had not seen the horse out on pasture in that time frame. The owner was no where to be found and the Sheriff seized the animal and brought him to our facility. This is what was presented to us.

As you can see, the poor horse was emaciated. He stood a little over 14 hh and weighed about 500 lbs wet. He was covered with dried manure, the mane and tail were matted and full of debris. You could visably see every bone in his body and his hooves were overgrown to the point of forming abscesses under the overlapping hoof wall. His spirit was depleted and overall he was weak, but yet seeking help. We admitted him, did some bloodwork, which indicated not only malnutrition but also severe muscle damage. We cleaned him up, trimmed the hooves and gave him a slow introduction to quality nutrition. The next morning, he was more perky but his spirit was still depleted. His walk was weak, but yet he had the energy to go outside and talk with other horses while nibbling some grass. The problem that developed quickly was that he would tire easily and would then lie down in his stall, but was unable to stand up. He was just physically too weak to even make more than one attempt to rise. We resorted to using an overhead hoist to aid his standing, which worked a couple of times with much effort on his end. After 48 hours in our care, he literally gave up on life. He had a good walk outside in the morning light, nibbled some grass, but then lied down in his stall and surrendered. Despite our efforts to help him get up, he physically and emotionally quit. In his eyes, you could see that his time had come and that he was "okay" with departing. I think it was most important to him to have had a couple of days in paradise, compared to his other living conditions. We let him go and helped him along. It is a real shame in today's day and age that this type of situation happens. There are no excuses in my book for this. It is also unfortunate that many of these cases go unprosecuted. In either case, I guess this poor gelding is finally at peace. Here is a picture of him after the bath and cleanup.