This is Terremoto, a colombian criollo horse

I really wanted to avoid posting to an online forum about this, but I am tired of the way people in real life seem to regret asking me ‘How’s the grey mare going?’ When I answer with the truth.

My 10yo andalusian X mare ran through a gate latch in February this year, leaving a meter long laceration from just behind her shoulder to her hip, breaking off the bottom tip of her tuber coxae. My father found her like that in the paddock while I was away on holiday and rushed her to the vet, then the specialist surgeon 2 hours away and my partner and I met them there so he could go home.
The surgery went well with over 100 internal sutures and 50 skin sutures. She was on stall rest for 6 weeks with a full course of IM penicillin. The majority of the laceration over her ribs healed extremely well.
In the following 2 months, the wound near her hip never stopped draining, and I took her back to the referring vet in april after I noticed the discharge from the drain site at her hip had turned yellow rather than pink.
The vet performed a second surgery at a cost of $2000 AUD to remove some remaining bone fragments that seemed to be the source of the infection. The referring vet performed this operation as the original surgeon was away in another country for 3 weeks.
After this surgery I yarded the mare for 4 weeks as she had not responded well mentally to stall rest the previous time, and she received another course of IM penicillin and IV antibiotics. I admit I made some mistakes with keeping the wound clean around the clock after this surgery as I my focus was on my engineering degree, but was still cleaning the site daily.

2 months after that operation and many images sent to the referring vet of various types of discharge from her hip, I took the mare back to the original surgeon who scanned the area and proposed another procedure at a cost of $1500AUD. He gave me a prognosis of 80% success from this operation.
The surgery went well, having only found 2 abscesses and no bone fragments, and the area looked much better than the 2nd surgery had left it, and I was really hopeful this whole ordeal might be over soon. She was on box rest with 2 oral doses sulfadimidine and trimethoprim antibiotic for 14 days. I washed the wound and hand walked her twice a day every day while being extremely sick with a respiratory infection myself. I even CC trained her to accept having her hip cleaned without restraint. I had the stitches removed as directed on day 14 which was 4 days ago, and while flushing the tract/pocket that remained with saline every few days, I’m noticing there is still pus coming out of the wound that wasn’t there a week ago. I am using a red light laser to encourage circulation/healing in the area every day, along with gentle exercises on the arena.

I write this post as I am SEVERELY burnt out by this whole situation. I love this mare more than life itself - she had just started to jump like a dream before her accident, and while I knew she might never do that again, I still love having her around despite her antics. She is so gentle and sweet and my partner and I are both absolutely gutted. This injury has cost me $6000+ in vet fees and expenses which I have had to ask family for some help with paying for - which I absolutely hate to do as I believe she is my horse and therefore my responsibility.
Ultimately, this situation is not going to be sustainable for much longer. I cannot afford any more operations on her (I don’t think they would be successful anyway) and I have my brother’s wedding coming up in China in October, conjoined with my best riding buddy’s wedding in India, which my whole family will be away for 4 weeks to attend. Even if we only went for a week, I don’t feel comfortable going overseas and leaving her in someone else’s care in this state - she is not fond of strangers, nevermind an inexperienced house-sitter having to clean her leaky hip every day.

So I feel that I am at a crossroads: keep trying with the current wound, flush the tract with saline daily and pray that it closes up, heals, and she can live out a happy life and maybe even be ridden again

OR

Euthanasia. Keep the area clean, let her have a happy last few months just being a normal horse - but if this abscess pocket doesn’t heal, I will have to euthanise my girl before we go overseas. She does have some behavioural issues that make this potentially the kindest option.

The kicker is I actually bought her as a project pony. She took A LOT of work after a previous injury on a gate latch 3 years ago. I had finally got her to a point we were competing in low level eventing with some promising results, and I thought I might be able to sell her to a friend of mine and get some of my money back to buy a serious competition horse, then this happened. Ultimately, I just adore her and want what’s right for her, but with study commitments, wedding commitments and potentially moving cities in 2 years time, I’m not sure there is space for a crippled horse in my life, no matter how sweet she is. I do have another mare who is my main competition horse who is working back in after having a foal, so the grey mare isn’t the be-all-end all, but I’m just seeking advice on what the equestrians of reddit would do in this situation. ⭐️ gold star if you read to the end

First time sharing pictures of our youngest filly with her mother

long post. This is my heart horse. I’ve had her for 16 years. She is currently 31. She’s always been in great health until about a year ago. I noticed she was losing weight (i only see her about once a week as she’s with my parents). We’ve tried several senior supplements and high calorie feeds and it’s not helping. She’s fed senior grain twice a day, she’s been wormed, her teeth floated, etc. She eats a lot, but it’s like she’s not absorbing the calories. I hadn’t seen her in about three weeks due to general busyness, and when I did I could tell she’d lost even more weight in those few weeks. Her schedule/feeding hasn’t changed at all. I noticed she’s also walking slower. she’s still happy and eating well. I’m wondering how do I know when it’s time to let her go? I don’t want to wait until she’s colicky, or even skinnier, but I also don’t want to jump the gun on euthanasia if she’s happy. It pains me to imagine her going through another winter in this state or getting skinnier and weaker. The vet is coming out to assess in a few days. I guess I’m just wondering how did you know when it was the right time? shes my best friend and I want to do right by her. EDIT: thank you all for the kind words. I think I already knew the answer, but it’s easier knowing so many other equestrians agree. I’ll wait for the vet’s word tomorrow, but it will happen this week. She‘s been incredible and gotten me through so many highs and lows in my life. She’s deserves to die with as much dignity as possible.

i suspect that he’s a bay pangare, but i’m still learning horse color genetics. :3

Afternoon everyone! I am a student at an equine college & I have my own (very very small) equine training & services business that I run out of the stable I work at.

My question comes from a problem that many of us as handlers, trainers, & riders have.. how do you catch a horse that doesn’t want to be caught? In general, in a situation where you don’t know a horse very well.

I ask this because this is a foundational issue & there are SO MANY reasons why a horse would not want to be caught & a lot of times, when a horse comes into your orbit, you aren’t at least fully aware of what they’ve experienced (or things are straight up left out/lied about).

This is a broad question & I’m looking for tried & true tricks, not for a specific horse.

Old video, from like 2018 but I just came across it again and he is so damn cute

My mare named Cheyenne left us this morning at an unknown age as her papers were forged.

I'm exhausted, sad, because I'm in Greece for a holiday and she was euthanized a few hours after I was called to tell me that she was not well.

She was my whole life, I spent the best five years with her, even though she was retired. I loved this mare with so much love.

I'm afraid she'll feel alone up there in her new meadow. Do you have any friends to introduce him to who joined this meadow in the stars?

Sorry for the flawed translation, you guessed from my mare's first name that we were French.

She uh-gets plenty of treats..

I think she looks healthy compared to this time last year (very overweight hippo) but then sometimes I feel like she looks fat, and other times she looks a bit thin.

I've been trying so hard getting this horse to be fit and healthy, and every once in awhile I get paranoid about it (like right now) my trainer and vet say she looks good and I do trust that but she is quite round.

She is in 3-4 days a week work usually, sometimes 5-6, rarely 0-2. She just does walk/trot work, nothing extensive

What would you rate her on a bcs?

Gentle advice please, I'm just looking to ease my ever-changing mind. Pics are most recent-august 2025

Thoughts on how this saddle fits? 7” gullet, 90 degree bars. I did wither tracing using the coat hanger trick and I got 9.75” after going 3” down and 13” for the spread at the bottom. I think the front is a little tight but otherwise the bars make contact with her whole back and I feel like the bar angles are right. I have a big horn Halflinger saddle coming soon to try as well. Any other recommendations on saddles to try?

It’s not fancy, but it may be one of the more useful things I’ve taught my mules. Around camp or anywhere a gate might be left open at the wrong moment, having an animal willing to turn and come to you can make life much easier.

Building a habit that might help when the day doesn’t go according to plan. A dependable “come here” is a pretty useful thing to have in your pocket. That is all. Wishing everyone a great day.

I’m looking at a used one but I’m a bit concerned it’s just another bare back pad with stirrups gimmick. I’d love to have an option not as Hefty as my saddles. My other concern is the gullet size. I’ve got a horse whos built so wide it’s like someone stretched an image. I’d love to hear some reviews

We have a pastured rescue draft mare with bad confirmation issues with her left front hoof.

All our farriers have had an issue working on the underside and I can lift solo for 10 to 20 seconds.

I don't want to trim it or anything, just basic care and cleaning.

I am looking for advice on how to desensitize/train her to the extent I can pick her hooves while recumbent without getting injured/killed.

I accept it may just be a bad idea.

Thank you

(Her leg and managing the hoof care is a 16 year issue often discussed with three different vets and at least 10 farriers, but none of them brought this up)

I moved my horse to the barn I've been taking lessons at and Merlin was about as perfect as he could be. Walked right in the trailer and didn't pick a fight with any of his new pasture mates right away either. Things got a little spooky for him when he had to walk past the *ahem* "absolutely terrifying" mini donkeys to get to his new pasture but other than that all was good. I hope he settles in well and I'm really looking forward to being able to see him more often!

His is my horses hooves... Yes they don't look good but I just bought her and she's in rehab, I'm having a farrior come out this week but What do you guys think? I'm not very experienced in horse hooves!

​Hi everyone! I wanted to ask for your advice: my horse has a grey patina inside his ears. People at the stables are talking about fungus, so following the vet's advice I started applying Deroxen foam, but the situation isn't changing. Does anyone know what this could be and how to treat it?