Shedrow Secrets
Fast Karma
by Mary Johnson
For those of us who follow Horseracing Wrongs, the descriptions of dead horses are all too familiar:
– complete rupture of suspensory apparatus
– multiple fractures and ruptures; severe, extensive cartilage loss
– catastrophic skull fracture
– catastrophic fractures of vertebrae
– and of course the proverbial “collapsed, sudden death”
All of these horrific descriptions come from the racing industry itself through FOIA requests. They aren’t propaganda or fake news, as the racing supporters would have you believe, but are factual accounts of horses dying for gambling entertainment. However, there are horses who do make it out alive but are so badly damaged that euthanasia is the only humane option. Every single one of these horses deserves to be recognized and have their story told. This is Fast Karma’s.
It was late November, 2018…a chilly, gray day…a prelude to the winter right around the corner. I was on my way to do a sanctuary site-check for a calf I had recently purchased from a farmer to prevent her from eventually ending up on someone’s dinner plate. I was focused on the unfamiliar country road when I got a call from Sharman Privett, an equine advocate and a friend. Sharman has a big heart and always tries her best to network for those many horses who have no other options.
Sharman asked if I knew of anyone who might be interested in a sweet, five-year-old Thoroughbred who could possibly be a low-level pleasure horse or, at worst, a pasture companion. Sharman is on the board of a TAA-accredited facility located in Michigan, so I immediately asked her if that rescue could take him; she said no, they were full. Of course, I didn’t know of anyone looking for a horse who, most likely, would be limited, but I was determined to help in any way that I could even if it meant euthanasia down the road. Having been in the rescue world for many years, I believe that a horse waiting to be slaughtered would gladly change places with a horse waiting to be euthanized, and I have made it my personal mission to never allow a horse with whom I’ve become involved to get on THAT truck.
Sharman agreed to take Karma temporarily while we looked for a new home. She immediately had x-rays done by her local vet. He told her that Karma’s knees were a “hot mess of chips [fractures].” Heartbreaking. Karma was ONLY five years old…still a baby…and should have had a promising future, but like so many others, racing had taken a horrific toll and sealed his fate. Still, we soldiered on, hoping against hope.
I shared Karma’s story with Rose Smith, a regular on this site, and after several discussions we agreed to give Karma a fighting chance. We decided to split the cost of knee surgery at Equine Specialty Hospital if, of course, the surgeon felt his long-term prognosis would be favorable. But first we needed to find him a safe place since Sharman couldn’t keep him. We eventually found a rescue that would accept him.
Karma’s initial x-rays were forwarded to Equine Specialty and I spoke to Dr. Nate McClellan about Karma’s prognosis. Although Dr. McClellan never physically examined Karma, his analysis of the x-rays was sobering: severe damage in the upper joints of both knees, the right being the worst, as well as fragmentation in the back joints. He described the joints as “end stage” and the chips as “big fragments” – a couple centimeters in length. Karma was suffering from end-stage arthritis. Based on the x-rays, Dr. McClellan felt that Karma had a “fairly poor surgical prognosis.” I was obviously upset, but I gathered my thoughts and asked the question I have asked so many times before: How could Karma have raced on those knees? It was Dr. McClellan’s opinion that Karma had been injected to keep him on the track.
After my conversation with Dr. McClellan, Rose and I decided that Karma should be euthanized, but we wanted to give him a few good months – to give him a life, brief though it would be, where nothing was expected, where he could just “be a horse.” I was notified in July that the rescue that had agreed to take Karma was closing, and I decided to adopt him, along with two others. Karma was not in great condition, having lost considerable weight. On Friday July 26th, the three horses were delivered to a barn where Rose and I have previously boarded. The owner loved Karma and treated him wonderfully while managing his pain with meds. She described him as a sweet “in your pocket” horse. I visited him regularly and grew to love him dearly.
Karma, in August, right after I acquired him…
November…
On December 16th, Karma was euthanized. I was there wishing him a safe trip across the Bridge, reassuring him that his friends would be waiting to greet him. The ending was peaceful but filled with bitter sadness. Here was yet another loving, trusting horse destroyed by an industry that obscenely claims that their “athletes” are “loved like family.” I simply call it the BIG LIE.
Fast Karma earned $73,000 for his racing “connections” during his brief “career.” First thrust onto the track at two, he was put to the whip 19 times in all. In 2018, he was raced just once, at Belterra in May, finishing 6th of 8. However, five months later, he had a “timed workout”:
Yes, a workout – with an eye toward racing him again – on two knees with END-STAGE ARTHRITIS. Anger doesn’t begin to describe how I feel. Truth is, that damage started way before then. In the end, it was up to those of us who have never made a dime in this sinister industry to step up for poor Karma. Those who exploited, abused, and eventually trashed him have already moved on to the next asset. But we who got to know and love him will NEVER forget. RIP, Karma.
Karma, the day he was euthanized…
I do not agree that this horse needed to be euthanized. If he had had a family that wanted him he could have been managed and in time he would have been pasture sound. Arthritis is not a reason to euthanize. And you don’t have to agree with everything a veterinarian says. They are always pro euthanasia and I don’t agree with that.
Equine vets are NOT “always pro euthanasia.” Many just understand what horrific fate awaits most of those injured horses that are not euthanized.
I fully support Mary Johnson’s considered and thoughtful decision. She and Rose gave him a comfortable four months that he never would have had from racing. Then, she chose a kind and peaceful end for him.
That’s something racing people rarely even consider.
Kelly, you are so dead on RIGHT. This industry is all about forced breeding. The money to be made is in the breeding shed,they are actually happy so many die from the races,it keeps their steady flow of stud fees into the GREED pipeline of lining their pockets. If you think about it,it’s a ponzie scheme.
Arthritis is extremely painful and requires pain medications that have side effects that can and do cause more damage to all of the vital internal organs. Pain medications can cause damage to the stomach and cause ulcers. Most race horses have ulcers to varying degrees of intensity, because their racing connections give them pain medications (both legal and illegal) to keep the horses on their feet and running at the cost of the horses’ health and well-being.
My mother passed away on March 13 at the age of 94 years old. She had been on pain medication for decades. She had to have Fentanyl patches (a controlled substance) all of the time because she had constant pain from arthritis in her lower back. In 2010, she had an episode of sleep-walking and fell down three times. She was not acting herself during that episode. After she became “herself” again, she woke up in more intense pain than the Fentanyl patches could stop. It was a nightmare of an experience. She couldn’t take more controlled substance than is legal without causing the doctor to be at risk of losing their license to practice medicine. There are reasons why there are laws to put a limit on how much pain medication of a certain kind can be legally prescribed. The medications have side effects that cause additional health problems! For awhile in 2010, she was taking over-the-counter pain pills (Tylenol) and she started having pain under her right chest area. It turns out she was suffering from an enlarged liver due to taking more than the amount of Tylenol recommended on the label. She changed doctors and that is when we found out what that extra pain was. Her “new” doctor was an ARNP in the same office with a doctor and near a hospital. So, the nightmare wasn’t exactly over but not quite as bad, at least for my mother after the ARNP prescribed a higher dosage on the Fentanyl patches. It is a constant battle between the constant pain caused by something that does not heal or go away and the bad side effects of the pain medications and what is legal and what is illegal.
No person could ever feel the pain that a horse feels! However, with knowledge, education, experience and compassion, it is possible to make a judgment as to what is right or wrong for the patient; whether the patient is human or equine.
We are entitled to our opinions, but we are not entitled to break the law of the legal limits on pain meds to the point of causing internal damage to a horse’s internal vital organs and causing a licensed doctor of veterinary medicine to lose their license to practice in the profession that requires at least 8 years of formal education after graduating from 12 years of basic education. I know there are some very deviant and unethical veterinarians collecting payments for doing horrible things to horses at racetracks. But, an honest, ethical veterinarian would be interested in keeping their equine patients comfortable and do so without breaking the law. I believe FAST KARMA was suffering to the point that he would never be comfortable and would not be able to be in the same pasture with other horses. Any movement he would make would be painful and standing up would be painful. Lying down would be painful. Getting up would be so painful that he might never be able to get up without serious help.
Wanda,your story of your mother is my 83yr. old mother’s to a tee. My mom is still alive,but she’s been on Oxy.,for Years. Thank god for the meds.
My wife is a veterinarian. The last thing she ever wants to do is euthanize any kind of animal.
marymbaggaley, would you be so kind as to share with me what planet you live on? I live on planet Earth and have over five decades of experience with horses. I can’t tell you how many conversations I have had with vets over the years and the vast majority want to keep horses alive in order to keep generating revenue from those horses. Fast Karma would NEVER have been pasture sound and, since his condition was progressive, he would have gotten worse moving forward. Dr. McClellan is an equine surgeon so he could have generated lots of revenue for his hospital by operating on Karma because removing chips/fractures isn’t a cheap surgical procedure. He also said that Karma couldn’t have been kept comfortable without surgery, and, even with surgery, it was doubtful.
In December, 2018, a rescue accepted Karma into their program and, within a few months, the horse lost weight. That situation is another story for another day but this horse wasn’t even completely safe at a rescue. It is extremely difficult to find adopters willing to take sound horses so it is virtually impossible to find forever homes for unsound horses. I’ve heard the same tired, worn out story time and time again. After adopting a horse, the family’s circumstances change and things happen….divorce, job loss, sickness, lack of time, etc….and then the horse is “at risk” once again and is dumped and I wasn’t willing to take that risk.
I have an OTTB that had mild arthritis as a four year old and he is doing fine at the age of twelve. Karma had end stage arthritis. There is a huge difference. Karma’s pain was managed with bute and he needed that regularly to keep him comfortable. I truly believe this horse learned to cope with the pain but there was no way to keep him comfortable without intervention. Oh, and it is irrelevant to me if you agree or don’t agree. I trust my experience and Dr. McClellan.
Please reach out to Patrick and give him permission to share your contact info with me. I have picked up so many broken bodies from an industry that chews horses up and spits them out and, frankly, I would like your help since you support the industry that destroys them. The next time a situation such as this presents itself, I will rely on you to step up and, therefore, save myself time and money. It is interesting that you seem to hold me accountable for euthanizing the horse but you don’t hold the horseracing industry accountable for destroying him. That, to me, is sick stuff. Got it?
Mary, you did the right thing. I’ve been a horse person for over 60 years. One look at Karma’s knees and you know that he was in pain. When an animal’s quality of life is so compromised by pain and suffering, why do people want to prolong it with pain-relieving drugs. It is a sin that this horse’s life had to be ended at a mere 5 years of age. I really hope that racing becomes so unpopular and costly to continue that people just turn to casinos to satisfy their gambling lusts. Please people, you can make a difference. Write to your elected officials locally, on a state-level and federally. Give them information about why you are completely opposed to horse-racing and how the money given to floundering tracks could be much better used for other types of sports and/or recreation. It’s time we stopped treating animals as mere commodities and more like the beautiful, kind creatures that deserve our humanity and respect.
Have you ever seen an animal so crippled by arthritis, that it struggles to get up or down, or to walk to its food? I have seen both horses and dogs, so afflicted. But, dogs are not so abused (usually) as to result in arthritis in its leg joints, so that it can’t do normal things. And, dogs with this advanced arthritis, are usually very old. The arthritis comes on with age, manageable at first with meds and limiting the dog to activities that don’t cause pain.
Racehorses are put into training, and raced, before their joints are fully mature. Bones are not as soft as they are at birth, but they also aren’t fully hardened. Growth plates aren’t mature. Ligaments and tendons are still developing. Yet, these “loved members of our family,” as so many owners put it, are having their immature bodies stressed by training and racing, before they are ready.
The tendency to get osteoarthritis is often inherited, which brings up another bugaboo of mine, regarding race horses. The inbreeding. For the past 200 years, the same family lines have been crossed, over and over again. Its never a surprise, to see a grandsire or dam, showing up at the same spot on a genealogy chart, in both sire and dam of a horse. If tendencies for speed and endurance are inherited, so are tendencies for arthritis, pulmonary conditions, and so on. I often wonder, who many foals are born with birth defects due to the inheriting recessive genes from both parents, who have to be euthanized at birth. Or who are stillborn because of of birth defects. Or how many miscarriages result from the same reason. When you are sinking so much money into breeding, you want to know why that $50,000 stud fee resulted in a foal with microcephaly, and if its going to happen again.
But, arthritis and other painful conditions. Like I said, the tendency to get arthritis, is inherited. We know this. So, you take an animal like this, force it to do physical work before its body is ready, and you up the odds that it will, at some point, get arthritis, and sooner rather than later in its life.
Trainers take it for granted, that horses in training or who are actively racing, are in pain. So, they are fed anti inflammatories, also known as NSAIDS, daily, as well as steroids to also reduce inflammation. Both drugs are known to cause organ damage, stomach ulcers being just one type. I’m not talking one ulcer. I’m talking 50 or more-because when a necropsy is performed on a dead horse, this is what it is common to find. 50 or more stomach ulcers. The next time you reach for that bottle of OTC Advil, read the entire label, and any literature that came with it. You take it with food, and you aren’t to take it if your pain persists-you’re to get to your doctor, in that case. Why? bEcause repeated doses of NSAIDS, especially taken on an empty stomach, cause ulcers.
These horses are not getting arthritis at age 15. They’re full of it, in their ankles, knees, hips, spine, and at age 3. This is far from normal, even with an inherited tendency to arthritis. Its because the animal’s body has been overworked, before it was mature enough to handle work.
Overwork at a young age, too, has been proven to cause arthritis, and other joint injuries.
Because of the lack of good vascular support to their legs, and the heaviness of their bodies (muscle weighs more than fat, of course, and horses have been bred to be more muscular, therefore heavier than horses 200 years ago), horses are not candidates for many leg surgeries, including joint replacement. Joint replacement in horses is not even at an experimental stage-scientists and researchers know, it’d be wasted time, money, and a waste of a lab horse. You could never replicate joint replacement surgery in a smaller animal, and expect to get the same results in a horse. I doubt its even on any veterinary research lab’s radar.
So, you have a 4 or 5 year old former racehorse, so crippled by arthritis, that its on ever increasing doses of painkillers, which in turn cause ulcers and other organ damage. So, now, the animal not only doesn’t want to even move, it doesn’t want to eat. Its going to stand in its stall, and starve itself to death, because the pain is too great to even eat. Or, its going to lie down, as horses do, and be unable to get up. There is a reason healthy horses never lie down for any length of time, like humans can. The weight of its body, is going to start putting pressure on the nerves of its hind legs, until they stop sending messages to the muscles. The horse is now incapable of getting up, even if it grits its teeth and tries to struggle to its feet. Or, its own weight starts pushing on organs, until the organs stop working. Now, the downed horse, is suffering from colic, or an intestinal blockage, because the intestines are no longer moving food along the pipes. Colic, in itself, is excruciating for a horse, but usually curable in a healthy horse if caught in time, fatal if not caught in time, in a horse that can’t get up, and can’t be made to get up.
You really want to subject an animal to that kind of life? Of being not able to even walk from its stall to a pasture? Of hurting so much, it won’t, or can’t, eat? Of going down in the pasture or stall, and not being able to get up? Of dying of colic, after hours, or even days of agony?
We have just seen on the PR how your comment of 4 hours ago stating the truth was taken down! Sad that people can`t take the truth.We also have not always agreed with vets either! Many times we have changed vets to find one who has a middle of the road approach and not just go by the #`s.
Our comment was directed to Mary M Baggaley above. Don`t know why it showed up here. Also appreciate the link that Patrick provided below.
He is such a beautiful horse. He would have been a great horse for every day trail riding for a person who practices true horsemanship IF HE HAD NOT BEEN USED, ABUSED and EXPLOITED and consequently injured for life by his racing connections! May this beautiful and sweet dispositioned horse, FAST KARMA, rest in peace. Thank you, Mary Johnson, and all who did what you did to rescue him and let him have a peaceful stage of his life.
This is so sad that it leaves me in tears!
It’s too bad that the horse racing industry is unwilling to make badly needed changes: racing 5 year olds instead of 2, 3, and 4 year old immature horses, stopping injections to damaged horses so they can race, the list goes on. I used to enjoy attending horse races, but I refuse to go anymore and believe that this “sport” should be shut down.
Starting to race horses when a vet certifies they are mature, would go a long way towards weeding out the owners who couldn’t even support one pleasure riding horse. These people don’t have the money, to support a horse for 5 years or more. Thats 5 years of vet bills, feed, farrier, meds, the cost of a pasture and a housing for the horses, (buying the land, paying property taxes), insurance on the property and the horse, paying anyone who is working with the horse (a groom, maybe a maintainance person to unclog drains, mow grass, do handyman jobs), the occasional hiring of others to do things you or your employees can’t (roofing the barn, installing a furnace/AC)…the list does go on! And, you’d want someone to train the horses to stand quietly, walk at a human’s speed on a lead-as with a dog, you need to teach obedience to an animal this big, or its going to be towing you all over hell’s half acre, everytime you snap on that lead. Or, its going to run away from you, when you want it to come in from pasture. It might take to kicking or biting, anytime it just doesn’t want to be bothered by a human.
Also, fewer people would breed horses. If you can’t afford to raise a horse to 5, how could you come up with a stud fee?
We know the plus side. Stronger horses, fewer injuries, therefore, fewer drugs that cause ulcers and other horrible side effects.. Fewer deaths due to racing injuries.
If only…
I’m in tears reading Fast Karma’s story. Mary and Rose, we cannot thank you enough for what the both of you did for him – and for the countless other racehorses chewed up and spit out by this multi-billion dollar industry.
We are often accused of doing nothing but “complaining” – doing nothing but being “keyboard warriors” (for which, BTW, I am very thankful for because those warriors donate their dollars and time to help us help horses this industry turns away from)…but time after time, individuals like Mary and Rose (and SO many others who support Horseracing Wrongs) WALK THE WALK – pouring their hearts, souls, time AND money into the horses we love so much and fight so hard for.
Fast Karma – you were one lucky horse. Sad and infuriating, isn’t it folks? – to consider a terribly broken 5-year-old racehorse, crippled by an industry that constantly claims to love their racing slaves, as LUCKY?
Thank you, thank you Mary and Rose. And Fast Karma, I want to believe you are in “heaven’s green pasture” somewhere – certainly there were countless others like you who welcomed you there.
Shame on whoever raced Karma knowing how bad his knees were hurting and injected him just so he could make money for them. At least Karma was given 4 months of care and love but he should have enjoyed more years of life. Racehorses are such great athletes they deserve the best care and certainly no injections.
This left me in tears.
Crying while reading this. Poor sweet soul free from his pain and abuse. RIP Karma.
Thank you for being such a compassionate advocate for these poor horses, Mary. I agree that each and every horse deserves recognition and to have his or her story told.
I have a worry with the virus outbreak that I wonder if you share. While it’s a good thing that horse racing has all but stopped, do you think there will be a flood of abandoned horses or horses sent to slaughter because owners can’t/don’t want to support them if they aren’t able to run them? This worries me for all horses but especially the race horses, as they are so vulnerable to callous owners and “trainers.”
melnickt, I share your concern about horses being dumped because of the shutdown of racing. Slaughter has been the disposal system for unwanted horses for years and years and that will never change. Most will go underground and a lucky few will end up at auctions where they might have a chance of being “saved.” It isn’t cheap to care and provide for horses and, if they are standing in their stalls, there is zero chance of producing revenue for their owners. I personally feel that many will “disappear” and it is truly heartbreaking.
It is heartbreaking. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help you. And thank you for all you do.
Just another BEAUTIFUL innocent Soul,whose life was cut waaaaaay too short.
So I’m into the Kleenex box for this sad story.
Stories like FAST KARMA are all too common.
Used, abused, exploited, and dumped by an industry who claims to “love them like family members.”
Racehorses’ broken bodies and spirits left up to people, like Mary and Rose, to take care of them.
They had nothing to do with breeding them, exploiting and damaging them, but stepped up for FAST KARMA.
After my tears, I started to think about the happiness that FK enjoyed for the last 2 months of his life.
Being made as comfortable as possible, in a grassy paddock with no demands placed on his damaged body.
He was able to be a horse again and he was able to leave a life of suffering in a dignified manner.
This all due to a couple of compassionate and generous people: thanks to Mary and Rose.
FK – thanks to you buddy for showing us, yet again, how vile horse racing and the people in it are.
What can be done to stop these cruel people who clearly do not give a damn? This is not a business, this is expliotation of horses and nothing else.
I love horses.
‘FAST KARMA’, you reminded me of ‘FERDINAND’ and ‘SECRETARIAT’. A beautiful and majestic horse you were!! May the ‘Wrath of God’ strike all who abused and injected this horse, Amen!!!! Thank you for sharing his story. May God richly bless all who rescued and loved this beautiful baby, R.I.P.
One big difference between Fast Karma and Ferdinand……Ferdinand ended up being EATEN off a Japanese dinner plate!!!!! Truly sickening that such a great horse ended up in such a horrific situation, but, of course, his so-called ‘owners’ loved so much…enough said. RIP dear Fast Karma, at last you can gallop without pain.
Even if you support racing, facts like this make one want to have horse racing shut down. Where was Larry E. Smith the owner/trainer from Smith RedGate Farm LLC ? Did he attempt to race this crippled horse? Did he step up to help this horse? Looks like the answer is yes, followed by no. Has anyone contacted him at 6431 East State Route 22/23, Morrow Ohio 45152 ? Doesn’t the Jockey Club have regulations to prevent abuse? It is in their best interests.
If the Jockey Club cared about horses in a truly compassionate way, they would not be pro-slaughter! Nor would they be pro-racing of Thoroughbreds in Futurites for Two-year-olds and Derbies for Three-year-olds. Exploiting Thoroughbreds is what the Jockey Club stands for; it is their job.
I find it hard to criticize the author’s decision to euthanize when it was she and others who took this poor creature under her wing to seek a just end to his heart wrenchingly cruel life. I also find it disturbing that it’s primarily women who write in sympathy here, whereas men (like me) who, primarily, are those who exploit horses for their indecent gain and pleasure. This reminds us that animal abuse is part of a larger framework of prejudice and inequality, and that we have to fight on ALL fronts in order to gain justice for the animals we all love so much.
Thank you, WayneLee, for your kind words. I appreciate them so much.
I don’t understand racing in the USA. Here in the UK there is racing and gambling on it and I don’t hear of the numbers of deaths which you apparently have in the USA. What is the difference?
There’s no Horseracing Wrongs in the UK, Ross.
There is one. Please see https://www.horsedeathwatch.com/.
I have spoken to Animal Aid, the group responsible for that list, and they do not (or cannot) dig as deep as I do here in the States. An accurate comparison of numbers from our two countries, therefore, is at present simply not possible.
Correct. The information is not available to them. They have to track it as best they can. The numbers are atrocious, especially jumps racing. Racing kills everywhere.
My heart is broken for this magnificent horse who had a few months of love before passing. Horse racing is bad and needs to be stopped before many other horses end up like this one.
Veterinarians “are always pro-euthanasia”, marymbaggaley? Maybe in your experiences but certainly not in mine NOR in Mary’s and Rose’s. In fact, in my 30 years of having my own horses, 20 of those years being in equine rescue of all breeds, I have found that a good number of veterinarians want to explore every option before choosing to euthanize.
Another thing I’ve found is that too many humans selfishly choose a life of pain for animals – keeping the damaged animal alive because they, the human, will not take upon themselves the pain of no longer having the animal by releasing the poor creature of his.
Joy, marymbaggaley must be living in the enchanted forest. Vets want to keep horses alive and they have a financial incentive to do so. Fast Karma would have required pain meds for the rest of his life and Dr. McClellan, a well respected equine surgeon, told me that Karma “probably” couldn’t be kept comfortable over the long term. I believed him then and I believe him now.
As do I, Mary. I know how fiercely you love animals and how it takes you to your knees whenever one needs to be euthanized – it is something that both you and Rose agonize over.
RIP Karma.
Thank you for sharing this.
Racing turns a blind eye to the horses that are so damaged no drugs and/or joint injections can get them to the starting gates anymore.
That is when all connections walk away. They readily wash their hands of any further responsibility for their well “loved” and well cared for for “family members”.
The breeders, the trainers and the owners are cruel and unprincipled, casually abandoning their horses to whatever fate befalls them. And they never look back.
Rose, they move on to the next racing slave – how many times have we seen an ad for a racehorse that “needs to move ASAP”? – way TOO many times. Race. Use. Injure. Discard. Repeat.
I am a male in my mid-seventies. 13 months ago I had to send my best “Buddy” across the Rainbow Bridge. I wanted to spend more time with him, however, it was not to be. Googer was a beautiful white male Boxer, 12 years oid. He always seemed to understand my thoughts, like in the evening when I would stand, he would look at me and then we would both walk back the hallway to bed. In the morning, and yes, sometimes during the night he would awaken me by sitting beside the bed and give me very subtle soft grunts. in turn, I would put my hand out to him so he would know I was awake. I could have selfishly kept him for a few more months, but I knew after consultation with the Vet, it was best I let him go across The Bridge, I cried like a baby, and when I got closer to his face to tell him I loved him and will always love him he looked at me and tears were coming from his eyes. Why am I taking so long to share story about my “Buddy?” Especially on this site, just to let these two precious ladies know from one who has never owned a horse or never around horses, you did the right thing. Fast Karma was able to spend his last days surrounded by Peace, Love, and Tranquility, and for sure he knew it, just like my “Googer” knew he was loved. Blessings to you Ladies for what you have done for just one of God”s Creatures.
Thank you, John, for sharing your Googer with us – I can promise you that your words touched many hearts here – and we understand the acute grief of losing a precious furry or feathered family member. We truly do.
I came across this piece a while back…I want to share it with you, John;
Better a week too soon than a moment too late, they say.
Better while the eyes still sparkle than wait ‘til they dull.
Better while the good days outnumber the bad.
Better while it’s hard for us than hard for them.
It will never be easy for us…
But as stewards of these amazing creatures, we have the opportunity of giving one final gift.
Peace.
We grant them peace in lieu of our own.
John, reading your story was truly a deja vu for me. I relived the gut-wrenching decision…the sadness…the emptiness. But despite the inevitable heartache, I would not give up one moment of the wonderful time with my Kirby, a black lab. at my side literally and figuratively for 13 yrs. Like your Googer, he knew he was loved just as my horses know, also.
All life is a precious gift.
John, bless your sweet, compassionate heart. We appreciate you sharing your loving story about your Googer. There is a wonderful verse that I often share with people. It goes like this: Until one has loved an animal, part of his soul remains unawakened.” ~ Anatole France Truly loving animals, keeps our souls awake. God bless you, Dear Friend!
I could not contain my tears. Such a sad yet heartwarming story. Mary/Rose you are angels and the world needs more like you. Thank you for sharing, for the love, empathy and care you have shown KARMA and for stepping in when his racing connections stepped out! As always…another young life had to be lost because of constant abuse and cruelty,
RIP KARMA! Such a gorgeous boy!! Hopefully you found your peace in pony heaven!
Karma was an absolutely beautiful horse. His outer body appears to be flawless. No swollen limbs, no chipped or overgrown hooves, no ribs or hip bones showing, no sway back. That’s why it “appears” his pain would be manageable. But sadly his insides were beyond healthy. It struck me too that he should not have been euthanized because he appeared to be so healthy and not old at all. But atlas he was so broken down on the inside it was inevitable that he would have to be euthanized. Sorry Karma, R.I.P. pretty boy.
Taking a close look at his front legs and his knee joints, he does NOT look flawless to me! From reading the post and knowing that he had bone chips in his knee joints from the cruel abuse of what his racing connections did to him, and having end-stage arthritis, it is inevitable this young sweetie did not deserve to suffer any longer. He suffered enough. Sad, sad, sad! 😢
I agree, Wanda – Fast Karma’s front limbs are not flawless but instead, show evidence of the severe damage done to his knees from racing/training.
Carolyn, Karma was indeed a beautiful horse but take a look at his knees. BOTH front knees looked as if they had bumps under the skin and you do NOT need x-rays to see that. The damage can be seen with the naked eye. I gave him four and a half months of a good life but even now I second guess myself. Did he suffer during those months? He seemed happy turned out with his little herd but I will never know for sure.
Well, I am crying as I read this. poor Karma, at least he had a little time with loving attention.