i killed my colt

[quote=theoldgreymare]

[quote=annie234]   but i do have a friend who will let me use his trailer if i need it.

I guess I will be the only one who won't blow smoke up your rear and tell you "it's not your fault" the colt died.  If you had access to a trailer and did not take him to a vet clinic when you saw he was not thriving you are guilty of neglect.  Poor colt.

I guess I will be the only one who won't blow smoke up your rear and tell you "it's not your fault" the colt died. If you had access to a trailer and did not take him to a vet clinic when you saw he was not thriving you are guilty of neglect. Poor colt.

WOW!!!! oldgreymare.  You are the first person I ever met who has never made a mistake with a horse.  Or haven't you ever heard of not throwing stones?  Be nice.  Your comment was neither helpful, nor necessary.

[quote=hunterseat]

Blow smoke?  I think the title of this thread says it all.  Hindsight's 20/20. 
I have a friend who didn't know which one of her mares had the baby!!  She kept the baby with the wrong mare and it died, of course.  That kind of stuff haunts you forever.  BUT it goes to show that making babies isn't to be taken lightly.  I think it should be left to the pro's. 

I have an Arab breeder friend who's purchased two expensive breedings and refuses to use them because of the economy.  Her horses have sold for $35K.

 
The colt thing is insane! But I can see how it could happen. I had a mare drop her baby in the middle of a pasture of horses...and one of my other mares cut it away from her and wouldn't let the other horses (including its mama) get close to it. I would have thought it was hers, if she had been pregnant at the time.
 
It's so true...I think everyone at some point makes bad decisions which, sadly, result in damage and/or death to our animals. I once left a beloved family dog tied, she got tangled and roasted in 115 degree weather. And my children found her. I was heartbroken for years. I still am. And talk about guilt.
 
I also had a colt that died suddenly while it was being kept at a friend's place, and as her trough was dry when it happened, I worry that I skipped a watering and that killed her. For the life of me, I can't remember if I watered her the night before her death or not. 
 
Those two episodes brought home the absolute necessity of cutting down the herd if you are unable to care for them properly. In both cases I was working and driving a lot, and it was really difficult to monitor the animals like I needed to. I cut down on everything and for years didn't even have horses...or a dog, for that matter, until I could have them close by and easily keep an eye on them.
 
So you're absolutely right. The nature of our relationship with animals means mistakes we make (and everyone makes mistakes) and our own lack of experience can lead to disaster for them. You learn from it and move on.

Oldgreymare-I understand what you're saying but Jeez don't ya think you could have been a little nicer about it? How would you like for somebody to say that to you? I'm not saying you're wrong but use a little common courtesy next time.

Hunt- I'm with you on this,as,well,pretty much always.
 
Annie-We're only human,we make mistakes. Don't beat yourself up,I know how it is to need something so bad but not know what to do. It makes you feel horrible and like nobody cares. But remember,we ALL have made mistakes with horses. I have a friend who's had and shown horses the better part of 45 years and last year had a gelding get caught up in a rope that was just a few inches too long. Even me a couple months ago,I've been riding and owned horses for 10 years and we just built a new lean to barn,I told my dad to put the metal to the ground and he said no,I should have pushed harder to make him. My beloved Cowboy laid down,got his leg caught,and panicked. He's been lame since March 7th or 8th,it took the meat off the bone on his hind leg. I blamed myself for it for a while but then I realized,you know what,Life happens,its not fair,its not nice. They are horses and they are going to get hurt. If it hadn't been that something else more than likely would have happened. But you know what? Now I know not to make the same mistake twice! Just learn from it and take what you get,don't beat yourself up about it,Of course keep your feet on the ground and head out of the clouds but still,try to make light of it,don't let it linger on and weigh you down with everything you do.

I have made poor choices that cost me one horse's life and another horse's tail.  I lost my Arabian, Taz, when he broke his left hind after I took him over a bad piece of trail, it was very traumatic and he would be alive today if I had not been so ignorant.  The best you can do is to learn to trust your instincts more, if something seems wrong with a situation involving a horse - it probably IS wrong, and you need to make a decision, NOW, and follow through with it. 

I do not use a vet very often, but there are times when you need a vet, ASAP, and it can not wait- whether it is money, time, or distance, you need to have a plan in place to overcome these barriers.  You have allready learned these painful lessons, and I am very sorry that you had to go through this. 

thanks guys for all the support. guess i am not the only one who made some bad choices and decisions. guess experiance is a hard teacher but often proabably is the best teacher. i only wish  i had done things diffirently. i messed up and it is too late now to do anything abut it except  to learn and do better from the mistakes  i've made.
i think we all know of some wild and crazy accidents to happen to animals and people. like was mentioned here. some times there are just freak accidents or incidents that cant be forseen.  i had a dog once that got into the damndest prediciments. crazy things just seemed to befall him.
 
alliebaba, i doubt that even if you had missed watering your  colt the one evening that it would have died that soon. proabably something else went wrong there.  we had a beloved dog once that in later years we kept tied at times. she was seemingly fine one evening when my husband fed her and the next morning  she was laying in a huge puddle of blood dead. she had bled to death from the insides. guess she hemoraged and died. no trauma to her that we knew of, no injurys or illness. just fine one eveing and dead by the next morning.never did figure that one out. some things will happen inexplicably in life and we will always wonder and second guess ourselves.
thanks agin all for the replys.annie.