http://lindayezak.wordpress.com/2009/08/10/cry-for-the-horses/
Unfortunately, by the time Chris and Jenn got Angie, she was in the advanced euthanasia stage of DSLD, a disease that inflames the animal’s connective tissue. She had been misdiagnosed, and the previous owner hadn’t bothered with a second opinion. The kindest thing to do was to put her down.
Esmeralda is a Paso, a Peruvian breed of horse with a smooth swaying gait. They are charming animals, but their breed is prone to DSLD, a disease where little tears form in the ligaments, but do not repair with the same elasticity as before. Eventually a horse with DSLD cannot walk or stand. They are in constant pain. There is no cure.
Another one gone.
Mariposa Lazo - 20 May 1985 to 15 June 2005
It’s a beautiful day. The sun is shining for the first time in weeks, the sky is a clear blue, and the wind is warm...
And my horse is dead.
She is twenty, not really that old, even for a Peruvian Paso but she suffers from DSLD, degenerative suspensory ligament desmitis (equine connective tissue disorder).
Good-bye, Mari. You were as good a horse as anyone has a right to ask for.
Alisandro was calling for Mari every fifteen minutes or so throughout the first night, but now that it's a few days later, he seems to have accepted that she's not coming back - at least not anytime soon. He too is a Peruvian Paso and likewise has early stages of DSLD, and he made himself quite sore pacing the fence that first evening.
The day we put Marimba to sleep, I woke up thinking about Tina, my dog, who missed her 16th birthday by two weeks. I rescued her at six weeks old, and she had been with me ever since. It was the first time I had been faced with making *that* kind of decision. I found it odd that upon waking, Tina was the one in my thoughts instead of Marimba, but there she was.
Goodbyes are never easy, especially when they are final. Worse yet is the goodbye we must say when we made the decision. I made the choice not to end her life, but to end her pain. We like to think they'll be better off. We say goodbye dear friend. I love you. I will miss you. But whether or not they understand us, we don't know. There's regret, a very heavy heart, and a void left where there was once joy.
Marimba's final moments were spent here at home with me and my husband saying Goodbye. My vet offered to load Marimba on the trailer, take her away, and euthanize her at the clinic. But I couldn't bear the thought of her final moments being afraid in an unfamiliar place with strangers. It is important to say goodbye. And so we did.
Death is Nothing at All
by Henry Scott Holland (1847-1918)
Death is nothing at all.
I have only slipped away into the next room.
I am I, and you are you.
Whatever we were to each other,
that we still are.
Call me by my old familiar name.
Speak to me in the easy way
which you always used.
Put no difference in your tone.
Wear no forced air of solemnity or sorrow.
Laugh as we always laughed
at the little jokes we enjoyed together.
Play, smile, think of me, pray for me.
Let my name be ever the household word
that it always was.
Let it be spoken without affect,
without the trace of a shadow on it.
Life means all that it ever meant.
It is the same that it ever was.
There is absolutely unbroken continuity.
Why should I be out of mind
because I am out of sight?
I am waiting for you,
for an interval,
somewhere very near,
just around the corner.
All is well.
Coon footed horse/DSLD put down?
I have a coon footed pony thats hind legs have dropped so far, he has completely straight legs now(not even an angle at the hock). He is 4 yrs old and is on stall rest. The vet gave him 5 months before he will be in so much pain he will have to be euthanized.
I Dont see the point in keeping him around for five months just to be in pain. Maybe if there was a good outcome but sense theres not is there really a point?
I think it would be best to put him to sleep now and not have him suffer at all...but a certain someone is saying it would be extremely selfish to do that.
Is it selfish to put him down before he is in pain or goes crazy from being stuck in a stall? I thought it would be doing him a favor.Additional Details
My vet gave him 5 months before his pasterns would be hitting the ground and he would be in a lot of pain. Right now his hocks are hurting him doe to the straightness in his legs.
sweet georgia gurl has been getting worse over the past few months hindlimb lamness that cripples both hind limbs, she lays down alot because she can't get comfy on her legs,. she was diagnosed with a disease that affects the tendons and ligaments because she was born coon footed. she has conformation which has made it a more severe case.it will eventually affect her heart and eyes and she will be in severe pain,I can't have her hurt all the time that would be so sad even though this is sad too I know that she will be in no pain. ( i will look tomorrow and get the name of the disease, it is mostly seen in peruvian pasos, she is a twh. but sadely she will be put down tomorrow because we don't want her to suffer and my vet said there is no treatment that we can do for her. she will be missed greatly. I loved her so much, I am truley heart broken. I sat with her today in her stall and just cried my heart out. she was laying down so I just hugged that big sweet horse and told her how I loved her so..georgia gurl 1999-2008 we will miss you dear friend and babysitter...the last pic is of layton my friends daughter who rode her in costume lead line...she loved her very much.
From Page 9 of the Maryland Arabian Horse Association Newsletter (this is a PDF file):
Magic Man Snickers, owned by Kathy Werner was euthanized due to severe DSLD (degenerative suspensary ligament desmetitis)
Another day, another story. Another person looking for answers -- and finding them. Only the names and faces change. Here are some selected quotes from a Gaits of Gold Forum post. I've included the links for each quote, but please read the entire thread for all the details.
http://www.gaitsofgold.info/wowbb/forum43/7288-1.html
Tue Mar 25th, 2008 08:38 pm
I recently bought a 14.3 Paso mare 12 years old from a woman who would tell me nothing about her. I suspected right away there were problems she wasn't telling me about.
Tue Apr 29th, 2008 09:43 pm
...today when I finally took her out on trail, she started trying to rear again when we got to a place where she wanted to turn around and go home. I kept her from rearing but she was very balky and suddenly started scrambling backwards really fast. I've had horses go backwards before and they usually just stop when they see they are going nowhere, but not this one! She scrambled back and got her rump under herself and then reared and flipped over.
Fri May 2nd, 2008 07:11 pmand
...what bothers me is she was a good horse for a couple of different riders for nearly 10 years...
Sat Jun 14th, 2008 01:59 pm
Yesterday I had my lovely white mare euthanized. It should have been done years ago because she has been in pain for such a long time. When she reared over backwards with me, it was not because of orneriness, it was because her hind legs could not hold her up. She was objecting to being ridden and wanted to go back home but it was because she had an advanced case of DSLD (degenerative suspensory ligament disease) also know as ESPA (equine systemic proteoglandin accumulation).
From: http://www.freewebs.com/userl-tidewater/tidewatershorses.htm
Lady and Freckles (Two registered TBs). 
Links and Quotes from other blogs with DSLD / ESPA horses:
http://along-the-crooked-path.blogspot.com/2007/10/around-farm.html
Lacy, my Connemara mare. Sadly, it has been determined that Lacy is suffering from a disease know as DSLD (more recently renamed ESPA).
First some background: I’ve got over 1000 endurance miles now and have done 50s on 4 different horses (my first endurance horse was retired due to DSLD but he sure taught me a lot!).
Well after a very long day at work...Liz decided to put her Fresian Nico to sleep. He has whats called DSLD and it's a disease in the ligaments...its really a bad thing i must say.
List of DE horses here: http://www.angelfire.com/bc/curlygait/tribute.html
I think most of these horses have been euthanized.
After viewing the pictures here and elsewhere, reading various posts from owners across the web and more specifically on the DSLD-ESPA Equine Group on Yahoo, and reading about the research conducted at University of GA and University of KY, and now TX A&M, it baffles me that some folks claim that DE doesn't exist. Personally, I'd run far and fast from anyone who claimed such a thing. How can all these different breeds in diverse parts of the country, performing in various disciplines, all kept/fed/cared for in different ways be similarly affected if DE doesn't exist?
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