Rosella
Rosella was spared from entering the slaughter pipeline in April 2026. She’s an elderly mare who has significant arthritis especially in both of her knees with very apparent calcification changes.
Her left front leg appeared with the most damage as it is bowed and very difficult for her to put weight onto.
Rosella is a QH-style bay roan mare over 30 years old who presents with bilateral mucopurulent nasal discharge with no nasopharyngeal swelling or normal afebrile with poor aeration of cranio-ventral lung fields bilaterally.
At the walk, her left fore toe dorsi-flexes further dorsally, pointing upwards towards the sky. There is no elicitable deep pain response at the coronet band on this foot, but a pain response is intact in the right fore. All feet are overgrown with very long toes. There is evidence of medial and lateral scarring over the mid-pastern over the neurovascular bundles.
Her right knee (carpus) is misshapen with soft and hard tissue swellings palpable on the dorsal aspect and proximal carpal tunnel regions effusive.
The lateral image is most informative, with evidence of OA changes in all three carpal joints. Enthesiophytes and bony proliferation are present at the origin of the radiocarpal joint on the dorsal radius at the attachment side of the carpometacarpal joint on the dorsal third metacarpal bone. Osteophytes can be found throughout, with the most pronounced seen on lateral view of the middle carpal joint on the caudal/palmar aspect.
Rosella has poor ventilation of forward, lower lung fields without the presence of a fever which may indicate long-standing pneumonia, either from aspiration or infectious agents, with strep equi possible, but not fulminant (yet?).
The finding of left front toe dorsiflexion combined with pasterns scars, loss of distal limb sensation and end-stage toe dorsiflexion strongly suggest a previous neurectomy procedure as a salvage for pasture life following end state of the deep digital flexor ligament (DDFL) deterioration as part of caudal heel pain navicular changes and fraying/elongation of the flexor tendon.
Euthanasia is indicated once the toe of the foot no longer remains in the plantar, flexed-into-the-ground during the stance phase of ambulation. The right carpus is painful upon flexion.
After a thorough veterinary evaluation it was determined that no treatments could bring Rosella relief from pain and disability. She was humanely euthanized to stop the years of suffering she endured due to injuries sustained during her lifetime.
More About Rosella
- In Assessment
- Bay Roan
- Mare
- 1996
- QH Cross
- Colorado