To question why Valegro has been put to sleep?

[PoopaScoopa1]

He was only 23, and Uthopia only 24... was it just that they weren't making the owner money anymore?

It's making me so angry because every article I've read just says that as they aged their health issues increased but what health issues? Why isn't there any information on what was wrong? And yes I know he has said the two horses were partners and did everything together blah blah, but it just seems such a waste of lives. These two could potentially have had another 10 years to live out their lives enjoying just being horses? But I guess if think you'll have to keep paying money to keep an aging horse healthy when you can't get anything from them anymore may as well just get rid, eh?

Argh.

You're going to have to explain a bit more, OP.

Who knows what their health conditions were and it doesn't concern you. They lived together and neither would have done well without the other. Carl did his best for them both and should be lauded for putting them first. It would have absolutely fuck all to do with money and to say so is incredibly insulting to Carl.

It could be anything, I believe Valegro had tripped and ? Had arthritis
You don’t wait until they’re crippled and in agony or until an emergency, you let an animal go when they’re only going to go downhill before the pain
23 and 24 are good ages for big competition horses

Imagine thinking you know better than Carl Hester and his vets 🙄

Maybe one of them had an injury, or colic, or cancer, maybe they both had raging arthritis from years and years of dressage. We can speculate all day long but we’ll never know unless we’re told and it really is non of our business so I wouldn’t hold your breath.

It's none of our business. For any animal, it's about quality of life rather than long life; for large competition horses, they were a good age. I'm sure it was an incredibly hard decision to make and will have been made with the best intentions for the horses.

I don’t know what their health issues were, but it’s not at all uncommon to PTS long term pair bonded horses at the same time.

It’s very difficult for them to adjust to the loss of their companion especially in old age with health issues.

At 23 and 24, both of them would have long since stopped making money and as horses who were started young and ridden at that level, they likely had much more joint pain and wear and tear than the average horse that just hacks.

I don’t think it’s an unusual thing to do and probably quite a compassionate decision, though I don’t know anything about these horses specifically.

23 and 24 isn’t a bad age for a big horse , I’ve lost one at 22, another at 23 and our oldest horse was 27 when she was PTS and many people would have done her quicker as she had multiple health issues including an oesophageal stricture . Ponies tend to last longer ours is 33 and looking good . I’ve no idea what was wrong with these two but Carl Hester did say they had increasing health issues and I really doubt it was a money issue as they could easily have found them a retirement home .

This.

It's making me so angry because every article I've read just says that as they aged their health issues increased but what health issues? Why isn't there any information on what was wrong?

Do you really expect every article to give a full medical history? They're reporting what they've been told. The owner is under no obligation to make any statement at all!

YABU to assume everyone knows what the hell you're on about!

having read other people's posts I now have a fair idea.

but no idea why you think you know better than the owner.

Next time you start a thread, consider providing some information & context.

Soundness issues i imagine.
Early 20s for a very hard working, top athlete horse is very good going.
Its about quality of life and im sure Carl, the vets and their owners didn't make the decision lightly

I lost one of mine in an emergency and it was horrific.
in hindsight I should have had my other pts at the same time as they had spent 19 years together and she’s just not the same pony as she was. She misses him dreadfully even though I found her a new companion. I just couldn’t face it in that awful moment - but would have undoubtedly been kinder to her (she’s currently 27, absolutely ok, but just …. Sad 😢)

I’ll post the tribute Carl did as it’s beautiful

Sleep well Blueberry and Uti, two of the greatest horses of our generation.

It is with immense sadness that we have said goodbye to Valegro and Uthopia and without question, this is a loss that just feels hard to comprehend.

Trying to write a tribute to these two horses feels harder than I imagined. The yard just doesn’t feel the same without them, there’s an emptiness in the air.

Valegro and Uthopia did more than win medals and write history, they gave our sport a golden era. They both showed that greatness can be gentle, sensitive and harmonious and they made a nation proud and inspired so many.

Being part of their journey will always remain one of my proudest achievements and the whole team and myself are deeply grateful for the joy they gave to us at home but also to their fans around the world.

Their entire lives ran in parallel; they travelled to the shows side by side, lived in neighbouring stables, grazed in the same fields and retired together. Their bond and companionship were absolute.

As life as old boys advanced, so too did the health challenges, so allowing them to leave this world together was the final act of loyalty and dignity I felt I could give them, honouring a partnership that had never been separated in life.

They leave behind a huge void, and the yard has changed forever and so have we. They were our family and I will love and miss them always. The impact they had will remain but sadly, we don’t get to keep horses forever.
We only get to carry what they leave inside us. And these two left us so much.

Carl x

It's a good age for warmbloods who have had a physically hard career. It's no one's business what was physically wrong with them. The owners presumably supported by their vets made a decision in the best interests of both horses.

Carl was on record some time ago saying Valegro had sore feet and Uthophia didn’t have any teeth left. They were not pets or horses who had been used as happy hacker with some light competition work. They were both ultimate athletics and worked very hard doing movements that likely caused arthritis.

Despite your misunderstanding about their life expectancy, a Dutch Warmblood horse typically lives to be early twenties.

Horses are herd animals and it’s an act of kindness to let two retired companions die at the same time. Horses don’t know about the future, they only know how they feel in that moment.

Well that would explain it if one became no longer field sound and the other no teeth and therefore likely struggling with weight and/or high colic risk. I had an old one with hardly any teeth and it gets to the point where it's not fair to try and keep them going. I wish I'd had put her down sooner. As it was I ended up sat in the mud cradling her head because she had colic with the vet on speed dial begging them to get to me asap and end it. Far better if they were both borderline to let them go together in a controlled fashion.

I’m so sorry.

As the saying goes, better a day too soon than a day too late.

Quite a few high level performance including Olympic horses end up in less than stellar places in their old age for various reasons, its hugely sad but at least they had a lovely home and each other until the end.

This.
There's one helluva an agenda behind the OPs post but I can't think why.

I think they had wanted them to go together as they were very attached so I assume one was struggling in some way and they let them both go so one wasn't left without their best friend
It's a very sad day tbh. I do feel they were both very young to go but maybe they hadn't want to see them struggle

I think they were both struggling and if you have two retired horses, who are bonded through two decades of being together, when you know the slightly healthier of the two is still not going to live long, the kindest thing is to let them go together.

Yes, this.

Hopefully it’s purely ignorance but it comes across as malicious.

OP you are so far into unreasonable it’s astounding. It is absolutely none of any of our business what those health issues were. I am not blind to the issues surrounding CH and CDJ, but to insinuate that PTS for two mid-20s boys who have lived and loved life together is financially motivated because they were no longer useful is a disgrace. I put a perfectly healthy 21 year old to sleep. He was the absolute love of my life. I was his third love. His first had been my old boy lost to cancer. His second, the mare that took the old boy’s place. When she started to show signs of cancer aged only 12 I knew she wouldn’t tolerate treatment. They went together side by side heads in buckets in the autumn sun before winter took hold. My six year old could have had 12 months in prison - sorry box rest - with no guarantee of recovery. He too fell asleep in the sunshine, the grass he was chewing still in his mouth where he laid down. There are worse fates in life than a good death and the only humane response right now is to let those who loved Uti and Blueberry grieve them in peace.

Nothing to add to PP posts except to say how sad I was to read Carl's post. They were great great horses and obviously much loved by those who cared for them and also the horsey public. There is a lot wrong with the world of dressage and I am increasingly disillusioned by it, however this doesn't take from their legacy. I'll never forget watching them at the 2012 Olympics.