No one can give you the "right" answer, because
everybody thinks differently. Heck, I know from experience - current
experience - that the answer will be different horse to horse, year to
year. Horses that are special - either your first horse, or a long term
campaigner, or your child's pony, even the pocket horse who hangs around the
gate all day hoping to see a human are going to get treated differently than one
that you feel no emotional bond with. Right now, half of my four horse
herd is lame. For different reasons which I won't go into here, one will
most likely die on the farm, the other is going to be given away to what I hope
and pray will be a place where someone else will pay his expenses for the
privilege of watching him walk short strided around the pasture. For some,
euthanizing a horse should be treated with the same horror and provocation as
euthanizing Grandma, for others, a care of a healthy but lame horse is an
expensive mouth to feed and a waste of resources that could be used better
elsewhere. I hope you find peace with whatever you
decide.
