14/02/2024
It is extremely heartbreaking for us to share this news from Foundation Equine Clinic relating to Faith’s journey and its untimely end.
Many people have rallied in her corner and have done everything humanly possible to see to it that she had the best chance at recovery from the abuse that she endured.
Unfortunately after lots of diagnostics, medical treatment, and consultations with experts in the field it was just not in the cards for Faith to be able to live a relatively pain free, semi-normal quality of life.
As you can read in FEC post she had been progressing well but with growth comes changes in the body and she had a setback and started to show some lameness. With this change, specialists were consulted to see if surgery was an option for the slightest chance at a semi-normal life to which the consensus was unfortunately not what we had hoped to hear. The effects caused by the initial damage done to her shoulder would, over time, only worsen with no remedy and as her body grew it would only bear more weight and subject her to increasing pain.
We had set a manageable goal for Faith to achieve in order to sustain a quality of life we believe to be in her best interest from a welfare standpoint and she will never be able to reach that goal…a goal that was only to be able to walk and occasionally trot comfortably enough to live her years being a horse with herdmates and a well thought out pain management or physical therapy program when necessary.
We will be by her side as she is laid to rest and she will forever be a cherished memory of Sandhills Horse Rescue.
We only pray for her abusers to receive the justice they deserve and we are comforted in knowing that Faith spent months knowing how good life could be and how to be loved by those who entered her life after her removal from hell on Earth.
💔An open letter to all of Faith’s fans and followers, from Dr. Kivett:
It is with tremendous sadness that I have to let everyone know that we’ve had to make the agonizing decision to stop our journey with Faith.
As everyone knows, we had very good success with the recent injection of her shoulder joint, and Faith was walking almost normally two weeks after the procedure. We had all become wildly optimistic, not that she would have a particularly long life, but that she would have some life, and we had made all the arrangements for her to join a small herd of special-needs ponies at an experienced local farm for her foster care.
To be perfectly honest, I’d made the decision to bring her back to Foundation Equine Clinic after her time there. I planned to let her live her days in the retirement pasture, to be a beacon of hope for other patients who have a long journey against steep odds. Devastatingly, this will not be her outcome.
About two weeks ago, her lameness began to worsen again, and within about a week, she’d lost most of the progress we’d gained with the injection. We repeated x-rays of her entire leg, and confirmed that the arthritis in her shoulder had worsened, badly. This arthritis is from the damage to her tendons and soft tissues that would normally keep the joint stable. Without this stability, her shoulder joint moves too much, and the cartilage is damaged in the process. We consulted with many surgeons, prominent sports medicine doctors, and joint therapy researchers, to see if we could find any options for Faith. Every single specialist is in agreement – there are no options for this joint, and even in humans, this joint would be beyond repair.
I’ve said from the beginning that my goal for Faith was to live relatively pain-free in a field, and have the ability to trot. I can’t conceive of a horse’s life worth living without these basic things (I’ve seen it done and it hurts my heart). I’ve been clear that if it became apparent that she would have no chance of achieving this outcome, we would not keep her here to live in pain.
We’ve made the heartbreaking decision to let her go while she’s still relatively comfortable. We don’t want to prolong the inevitable, but she’s reasonably happy right now on pain medication, so we have time to make arrangements for her to cross the rainbow bridge next week. Until then, she will continue to be pampered, eat the finest hay, have whatever grain she wants, be turned out in her paddock on sunny days, and sleep soundly in her cushioned stall at night. She will pass, surrounded by friends, with no fear, and knowing she is loved.
Please know that this is incredibly hard for all of us, and I, in particular, am taking it quite hard. I’ve grown very attached to her little nose kisses, and will carry forever the bittersweet memories of changing her bandages with my little children holding her and passing me bandage material. I have no regrets, and am incredibly proud of our team for working so hard and overcoming so many obstacles to get her this far. We’ve given her six months of love and kindness, *double* the amount of time she spent anywhere else. I’m also so thankful to everyone in the community for their support, and to everyone who was involved in getting her here.
Please be kind in the comments, and if you could keep this post positive, I’d really appreciate that. I know everyone is angry at her former owners, and there’s plenty of vitriol in the comments of the other posts. I’d love to celebrate this little life, and feel thankful for the time we’ve had.
If you feel called, please consider a donation to Sandhills Horse Rescue in Faith’s memory. Link to donate: https://www.facebook.com/donate/264732989934760/122105164442145468
SHR has a very special and specific mission: to help with cases just like Faith’s- the ones with no options and requiring a level of care that can’t be provided elsewhere. We were able to take Faith because of the remaining funds from donations for other SHR rescues like Hope the Wonderhorse at Sandhills Horse Rescue. When the next one comes along, we’ll have space in our hearts and in our barns, and we want to be ready.
Finally, if you feel a connection to Faith, and want to meet her before next week, please email us at [email protected] and we’ll do our best to accommodate. I know how much she means to so many, and I don’t want to keep her from you. You’ll have to deal with my tears, but if it’s ok with you it’s ok with me.
Thanks again to everyone for the outpouring of love and support for Faith over the last six months.
-Lisa Kivett
