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!

In your armchair opinion.

In Seven's case, the owner was using the vet's advice to make a decision at every point they got to.

In the vets opinion. I agree with the expert with much greater proximity than any of us here.

I’m an equine vet. I get why people (some on this thread) who have limited understanding of equine anatomy and physiology wouldn’t understand this. Usually the same people who get up in arms because horses are often euthanised for certain limb fractures. but yes I agree - horses are categorically not able to live on three legs, not just because of their shear size but also the anatomy of their hooves - their pedal bones are suspended in soft tissue (very unlike humans and most other mammals) and simply can’t cope with the additional strain. Supporting limb laminitis is inevitable.

@TheHateUGive You didn't speak to the vet yourself. Your opinion is still what you have classified as an 'armchair opinion'.

There's a good chance the vets suggested euthanasia, but that didn't exactly fit with the feel good miracle story that the rescue were trying to portray.

We will never know if those who cared for / treated Rocky disagreed with the decision to prolong the animal's life.

Right so we don't know.

In the case of Seven, she named the vets and I think you saw at least one of them. I think if they felt she was lying about what they said, they'd have spoke up and those videos wouldn't (still) exist.

Yes which is why I said if the vets think that, I think it.

It's incredibly helpful to have your insight and expertise on this.

In your opinion, would Rocky have been in pain from very early on in his life?

As there seem to be a few who believe it was all sunshine and rainbows, until it suddenly wasn't.

Do you know what the vets who treated this horse thought and why?

No I don’t, I’ve heard some heresay about it but only that.

I will say this though - it always has to be the owner’s decision. I have many times been put in the uncomfortable position of extending a horse’s life against my better judgement because the owner refused to PTS. So don’t assume that just because vets appeared to be going along with this decision that they agreed with it.

If they didnt agree, then I dont agree. That's what I said all along. I just don't think it's a call people can make online.

She more than named the vets in the case of Seven, he lived for many months in a first class equine university hospital in the US, the vets themselves made many videos and case study/educational type content with him around the interventions they were doing, which I don't think they'd have done if there was a suggestion of abuse or severe pain - it still wouldn't necessarily have been my choice as a horse owner to put him through all that, as I think they were probably chasing an increasingly small chance of him living a comfortable/ normal horse life outside the hospital environment, but I do think it's a different order of magnitude from Rocky where (a) likely he was in immediate pain (b) there was never a realistic chance of a recovery. At least with Seven he was genuinely unusual and therefore his life contributed to veterinary science development plus there was always a chance for him even if a small.
one, whereas I can't see what anyone has gained from Rocky other than perhaps the owner in terms of engagement...

I should think the pain began to set in fairly early on, once he started gaining in size. There would certainly have been a gradual decline. I also imagine there would have been some physiological distress as he was unable to keep up with his peers and exhibit normal foal behaviours.

I don’t know, I think the owners put out more than enough content online to enable a viewpoint. Although to be honest I didn’t need to see the videos - I’ve seen enough horses on three legs in real life to know that it never ends well.

Yes but people (online) were equally sure that he could never have any quality of life throughout all that time and was in pain.

So it is a kind of Schrodinger's opinion, and utterly worthless to the discussion.

Well I am not an equine vet...

You don't need to be an equine vet to see that it was wrong to keep those foals alive as long as they were.

I don't know why you appear so set on berating people who have experience with horses and then use that experience to come to an informed opinion.

I haven't berated anyone. I've just said I agree with the vets in both cases. Berating you would look something like casting aspersions on your character for having your opinion. I havent done anything like that. I just said that I agree with the vets in both cases.

How can you say you agree with vets when you don’t know what their opinion was?!

Why are you making stuff up? How odd to read that and suggest the op wants all babies born with one arm/leg killed off or aborted. So it's ok for an animal to be in moderate pain every day of its life?

I fully accept that tone does not come across well in internet posts. However, I think that when you bought up 'armchair opinions' when you knew that several posters on here do have a lot of experience with horses, that did come across as scoldy/berating.

Plus, you don't know what the vets actually think, or if what they say in public due to professionalism is different from what they actually think in private. So you don't know what you are agreeing/disagreeing with at all.

They are armchair opinions. What we are doing is literally the definition of an armchair opinion.

I agree with them whatever their opinion was because in my opinion, they are best situated to make the assessment.