I had my lovely sweet mare Maddie put to sleep this morning at 3am
She was the dam of my grey stallion Rocky, Truly in my avatar and my Frankie.
She was a very brave horse and had such a strong will to survive.
She was the first foal I bred and was born a month early and had joint ill, she pulled through the joint ill when the vet didn't expect her to but unfortunately her shoulder and hock were badly damaged.
I had her shoulder operated on as a yearling but it wasn't successful.
She managed just fine and it was more a mechanical lameness rather than a painful lameness.
When she was a 2yo somehow she managed to push backwards sheltering from the rain into a tree and found a random piece of old wire (everywhere was post and rail!) I happened to see her cantering across the field and just fall over!..I ran up because I knew that wasn't normal and found her standing on the front of her hind fetlock...she had severed the tendon that runs across the front of the cannon.
She had her leg in plastercast for 9 weeks..the tendon never healed but the other ligaments compensated.
Rocky was her first foal and he was sooo big that the vet actually induced her labour a month early.
As Rocky was so big but premature he couldn't stand as his tendons were so slack aand he was completely down on his fetlocks.
This mean't he couldn't stand to feed or keep still to latch on and I had to milk her and feed him every few hours.
During a night feeding I found her laying down and pushing...she had prolapsed and I got her up and phoned the vet...he came within 40 mins, gave her an epidural and managed to push it back in using a funnel and tube and pouring water into her.
Just after I weaned Rocky I looked up the field to see her standing what looked like his field instead of two fields away..I ran up to find her standing with her whole knee ripped open in an L shape..the mare she was turned out with (not mine) had cornered her and her only way out was through the water trough which was 10 feet wide (a big round Victorian one that fed three fields which I fenced off after that!)
My poor girl had suffered more serious injuries in her short life than all the horses I've ever owned in my life.
It was like the worst thing that could happen would happen to her!
But you wouldn't believe how tough she was because she obviously really wanted to be alive!
Maddie had 3 more foals, I kept 3 out of the 4. Truly in my avatar is her last.
Maddie found her vocation in life , she was fabulous mother and a fantastic broodmare..all her foals have been big and beautiful and really move well..and all perfect limbed
Truly won every year as a yearling, 2yo and 3yo at our top shows here in Hunter and Sporthorse classes.
Maddie had her own way of coping and the last few years she would lay down on her bad shoulder and then roll over onto her good shoulder to get up. She hardly laid down in the stable and sometimes she would get cast against the wall and would know we would come and help her get up..she was so trusting.
Recently her shoulder had got worse and she had very restricted movement and watching her walk was unbelievable...yet she would then gallop up the field!
her hind leg had not as strong as it had been because of the strain and she did find it harder to get up.
She went down in the stable and we did have difficulty getting her up this time..when she did was wasn't weight bareing on her bad shoulder
...I'm sure she bruised it very badly trying to get up and falling back down before we got to her.
We made the decision during the night as she became very distressed at about 2am..she had been fine standing and eating but suddenly was in a lot of pain...I actually think now it brought on colic.
I knew she wasn't going to pull through this time like she had all the other times and we put her to sleep.
She was a very special girl and I miss her
she was 23yo
I'm so sorry
