Thank you for the advice re: Mylie

[lupinfarm]

I just wanted to let everyone know that I have really appreciated all the great advice and help that has been offered over the last 5 months regarding Mylie, but unfortunately Mylie has to be euthanized. I was willing to give her away to someone competant who can handle her but new information has come to light and I have decided that I don't want to burden anyone else with her. Something REALLY bad has happened to her in the past and it is highly unlikely she'll ever come out of it. She is missing enormous chunks of muscle in her neck, and has huge trust problems. She is extremely anti-social with people and even with my pony. I feel horribly for this horse and I wish there was some way to turn her around but she's been like this for so long, and has had so many bad things done to her by humans that its unlikely she'll ever trust humans fully in anyway.

The vet is coming out Thursday morning to euthanize her and after speaking to her last trainer, my trainer, and the veterinarian who has seen her we all agree this is what is in her best interests. She would have an extremely uncertain life ahead of her if I did find a home for her and I don't want that for her, and there is a high chance she could kill someone.

Thank you everyone for your great advice and help but some horses just cannot be helped. I'm not one to give up, and I don't feel like I'm giving up... I feel like this is her only option. She is wild, and appears to have moments of clarity and moments where she is totally spun and it takes her a day or two to come down from her spooks. The background on this mare is more than unhandled for many months, its more like unhandled and abused for many years. She has a super sweet personality (when I've been able to get my hands on her at all) but its covered up so much by sadness, distress, and years of abuse and neglect. She is a gorgeous horse and I will miss her but she'll be better off in the end.

 

[Chickerdoodle13]

Awww I'm so sorry to hear this! It sounds like you are making the right decision though, and a very responsible one at that. Sometimes the most humane thing to do for animals with that kind of history is euthanasia. It's a very sad thing to have to do, but in the end I'm sure that even you will feel a huge burden lift from your shoulders.

And don't worry, you will find a horse that works for you! It may take a little while, but they are certainly out there.

 

[lupinfarm]

I know. I haven't slept well since I got Mylie, my first gut feeling in the morning is to look outside and see if she's still in the field. I've gotten a lot of heat about this on another forum and I just don't think these people quite understand the circumstances. Mylie is more than just wild and unhandled, she is well the only way I can describe it is emotionally and mentally scarred and worn out. We don't get anywhere at all, in fact the more you do with her the further behind you get. I would hate to see someone else have to go through this with her, and she's now starting to affect my relationship with Luna as well. I don't even ENJOY going to see my pony anymore, I don't enjoy driving past the field, I don't enjoy horses.

I know I'll find a new horse, and I am actively looking but for now I just want to sit at home and enjoy brushing my Luna. By the way, I finally got some background information on Luna.

 

[ridinglizzard]

I am sure this decision was incredibly difficult and it will be a hard day, but it sounds like you have given this a lot of thought and are trying to do what is best for all involved. Take care. Liz

 

[ksalvagno]

I am so sorry you had to make this decision. Those are always the tough decisions that you never feel good about. Ultimately, you have to do what is best for the horse and put your feelings aside. You certainly don't want to put her in another bad situation. You really worked hard with her and did everything you could.

 

[ducks4you]

It's the right decision, but I'm very sorry for your loss.

 

[michickenwrangler]

How awful!

I know you were trying so hard and so happy when she was improving, just a little bit. My thoughts are with you.

 

[lupinfarm]

Thank you guys all for your support. Sadly in the 5 months (almost 6!) I've had her, the only time we ever made any headway was in February and in about 2 days all that progress was gone and she was wilder than before we got the progress down.

 

[fadetopurple]

I'm so sorry. I can't imagine how hard it would be to make this decision. Kudos to you for not passing the problem along to someone else. All anyone can do is try. You gave her a chance, and that's what counts.

People on message boards are oftentimes quick to judge. It's easy for a person to point fingers when nobody there knows them personally and they can project an image of being a perfect horse owner.

 

[lupinfarm]

To help everyone out here I decided to post what I know... Mylie is like a big foal, she's somewhere around 8 years old but she is stuck in the mentality of a foal, kind of like downs syndrome I guess. The reason we never get any further forward is because she has the attention span of a child/foal. Not only that but he said she has absolutely no idea what horses are and thats why my pony called out to her once or twice and then went "huh? you look, smell, and walk like a horse but you're not really a horse." This weird behaviour around other horses was really reinforced when my pony went under the fence and I was leading her back to the gate I had this hunch Mylie had some social issues because she has never once communicated with the pony or been interested in other horses. I brought Luna over to the gate, Luna was super interested and excited and Mylie just stood there staring at her for a few seconds and walked off. With Mylie its like she can take so much training to a point, you could go 1 day and she flips around the next day, or you could go 2 weeks and she flips around and is all of a sudden back to what she was before. Its like she's schizophrenic. It's also like she never really ... grew up. I mean, shes huge but she has a foal-ish face and a very babyish body.

Does any of that make sense? Its like she's just a gigantic baby. Its all super weird.