Rocky the 3 legged foal has finally been euthanised!

[AintNobodyHereButUsChickens]

Only a year too late. Not sure if anyone in here follows the page but about a year ago at a Rocking R Ranch and Rescue in America, a 3 legged foal was born and they kept him alive until yesterday. He caused a lot of controversy online, people saying he should’ve been put down at birth and people on the other side saying he was a ‘miracle from god’ and was clearly happy, loving life and you couldn’t prove he was in pain 🙄 which, true, but horses are NOT meant to have 3 legs, because they carry the majority of their weight on their front legs and to have only one leg at the front puts a huge amount of strain on his bones and muscles!

Horse anatomy

For which part?

The fact the horse was in pain and suffering, or the fact he was used for content to help increase donations?

I want to know what evidence you have that the horse was in pain. Did you go and see him? Did you talk to the professionals that were working with him?

And if he was a cash cow why has he been put to sleep now? Kinda invalidates your theory.

Horses spend most of their time standing, and the majority of their weight is supported by their front legs. Considering the strain on his body it's obvious that he must have been in pain.

As for the money. He was used for content for a year longer than he should have been alive. The humane thing to do would have been to put him to sleep sortly after he was born, but they prologed his life so they could share his "journey" and help keep the donations coming in.

As for why he's been put to sleep now. I assume it's because it was becoming harder to hide just how deformed he was, and also the older and bigger he gets the more risk he is to himself and other animals / people around him.

The fact his other front leg is not growing at a sufficient rate so the back end is significantly higher, putting even more weight and pressure on the one foreleg is evidence enough. Anyone with even basic understanding of a horse’s mechanics will see this. They are already front heavy and with the disparity between front and rear height here, even with 2 front legs that would be an issue.

Regarding daily welfare:

If a horse only has three legs, how do you pick out its hooves or trim them?
How would you treat thrush?
How could you poultice if the horse gets a hoof abscess?

It is so obvious that this poor foal was doomed to suffering and pain right from the start. Euthanasia at birth was the only way to prevent this. It would have been the moral thing to do.

I have all the empathy in the world for the poor foal. The people making money from his suffering? No, none for them.

I unfortunately came across 'Seven the premature QH foal' while looking for information on Rocky. Another case of a selfish human being not doing the right thing, as this foal should also have been euthanised at birth. It is heartbreaking that euthanasia was the kindest option. But that is the truth, it was the kindest option for the horse. Just the less lucrative one for the people...

He didn’t have a good quality of life though, right from day 1. Did you even read the OP where the very basic of why this wasn’t ok was explained?

I have just read that TheHateUGive followed the story of Seven.

It actually worries me greatly that the people making money from these hopeless sob stories are normalising suffering and keeping animals alive (when it is clear that it is actually a dead loss) as being acceptable. The emotional and manipulative language from the now deleted post on this thread was horrific.

As horse owners, or indeed as pet owners, knowing when to euthanise is an essential part of ownership.

Regarding the comment about disabled humans upthread. That poster will hopefully listen to what I say here. I am disabled due to a serious accident that left me an incomplete paraplegic. I have experienced pain and suffering. I can't recover as spinal cord injuries are not something that can be fixed. I have had double figures of surgeries and still need more. I will not let my animals suffer like this ever. If a horse can't 'be a horse' and it is in pain with no hope of recovery, then euthanasia is what is best for the horse. The dead don't suffer.

How many of the people on here who are saying how awful it is have horses? I don't mean people who ride at a stables but actually have horses that they are responsible for 24/7?

@AintNobodyHereButUsChickens how many do you have?

I currently have our last remaining pony who is 33 , have owned continually for over 45 years ,anyone we buy stays with us to death .

Yes, had horses all my life. The people who don’t think it’s cruel will be the ones with no real experience or understanding of horses

I only own three horses currently. One, I have owned for 20 years, the others are younger (teens) but I bought them from their breeders as youngsters.

I have also held horses (both mine and not mine) while they were euthanised and this has involved different methods of euthanasia.

Plus, having had youngsters, it is clear how both Rocky and Seven do not act like a normal youngster at all. In fact, the difference is incredibly stark and bloody heartbreaking.

Does anyone on here remember the American racehorse Barbaro and the huge (but doomed) efforts to save him after his injury?

I don’t have any. I’m hideously allergic (and poor) but I’ve loved horses since I could walk, so instead of riding and owning them, I’ve thrown myself into learning everything I could about them so I know absolutely loads about horses, even if I can’t get close to one in person. I don’t need to own or ride horses to know how wrong it was to keep Rocky and Seven alive.

Why are you asking? Do you think only those who own horses should be allowed to comment on the situation? Because there are plenty of horse owners who will tell you that keeping Rocky alive was cruel.

Unfortunately, there are plenty of examples of people owning animals, including horses, who allow them to suffer. Owning an animal doesn't make you an expert.

If you watch Eyesopenwideawake's video, the four horses are filmed walking and trotting. They go over some uneven terrain and around trees too.

Think about a horse with three legs or one with underdeveloped joints due to being premature. Could they move so easily? Could they cope with that terrain?

Eyes also appears to be conflating horses with normal development who develop issues and injuries later in life with congenital, developmental issues. The first, you have to consider the prognosis, the potential for recovery and the suffering while the horse recovers (if that is an option). The second, there isn't any hope for recovery. It is a different situation.

I don't have enough knowledge of this situation but I know that with the foal I followed, people had opinions but he was under veterinary care and those experts didn't agree that he had no quality of life until he didn't.

The foal I followed was born at 286 days iirc and basically didnt have properly formed knees due to his prematurity. People made similar comments about his mobility and pain levels.

It is utterly grim.

You have vets taking money and essentially experimenting on these foals. The owners or 'rescue' get lots of clicks and donations. People who want an 'uplifting story' to follow all watch the updates fuelling the whole thing.

It is all built on a foundation of suffering. These poor, poor foals.

You followed Katie someone and her foal 7 and think that means a 3 legged foal has a quality of life?

Seven had an awful quality of life. If someone thinks that he represents what a reasonable quality of life for a foal is, then the bar is so low it is on the ground!

Seven was a Quarter Horse. Here are some normal QH foals playing in their fields in the US. Remember that Seven had to be trailered across the veterinary facility from one building to another as he couldn't walk that far.

And these things are happening in the US where animal welfare maybe isn’t the same. Don’t think you’d get reputable vets in the uk encouraging any of this!

I don't think it's always one way or the other and I think people who are there in person and hopefully vets are best placed to assess.