The Story of Titch

by Shirley A. Wilsher

Titch - born to be a show jumper

Titch was born on 19th June 1995, the son of Tessa (full name Flight's Fiesta), and Pinewood Premonition (Tyson), a local stallion. Tessa was my dream horse, a bay mare bred by myself from an elderly retired horse named Marina from the riding school where I worked as an instructor. Her sire was the manager's Anglo Arab stallion, stable name Flight (hence her name). Tessa was a childhood dream come true. I bred the foal as a show jumper for my daughter, and it was she who named him Titch.

All seemed well at first, but then at two months old we noticed a lump on Titch's near side stifle joint. The vet examined him and decided he had probably received a kick from his mother or the other horse in the field. A few weeks later, on October 2nd, when Titch was coming up to 4 months, Tessa decided to take a violent dislike to the pregnant mare in the next field. She crashed through the post and electric tape fence and proceeded to chase the mare around her field. Titch, desperate to get back to his mother, or any company, jumped the electric fence dividing his field from that of the gelding next door, a horse named Teddy. The two of them then proceeded to gallop up and down the field until Tessa was finally caught and returned to her own field.

The lump on Titch's stifle is quite pronounced

When the time came to bring Tessa and Titch in for the night the foal could barely hobble and was obviously in a tremendous amount of pain. The vet was sent for - he suggested a week's box rest - but when this did not improve matters he asked for Titch to be taken in for x-rays. This we did on October 10th and the x-rays were sent to Newmarket for diagnosis. They told us that Titch had osteochondrosis (OCD). The patella had eroded the bones of the stifle joint so badly that it was now moving from side to side instead of up and down - so causing more erosion every time he moved. The recommendation was to put him down as no one, apparently, had tried to rear a foal with that amount of damage. When I asked if there were any other possible way I was told that the alternative, if I wanted to try it, was box rest indefinitely, with further x-rays to record progress. His prognosis was very bad - we were told the best he could hope for was to be a field horse - perhaps a companion.

I was desolate: I really did not know what to do - to give him a chance or put him out of his pain! My husband said to me "give him a chance - you know that's what you really want to do" so, thus encouraged, I did. Unfortunately, at this time, my daughter was pregnant with her second child and was not in a position to help, either physically or emotionally. This meant it was up to me - it was my decision and I had to tackle the problem myself. I did have plenty of moral support from both my husband and Karen.

Continues........

 

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