30/04/2026
This is a story we hoped we wouldnât have to share for many years. Itâs long but itâs important.
In August 2025, Atlas came into our lives. We didnât know anything about him other than heâd been raced previously and been passed around many times, even more so in the weeks leading up to his surrender.
It wasnât until we went to get him that we found out why. Atlas had a problem eating properly, caused by a poorly done âtie backâ surgery. A tie-back surgery is where one or both sides of a horses larynx are tied backwards to widen the airways and optimise airflow. This would then improve racing performance. The person surrendering Atlas to us told us that he had been moved on multiple times as no one had been honest about his condition, only discovering it once they had him in their care.
More often than not, horses will live normal lives without a tie back surgery but the demand for increased performance is normally the only reason to perform one.
And so, Atlas came to us. We knew he couldnât eat hard feed or treats or really anything outside of grass and hay. Food and water would come out of Atlasâs nose, even chewed up hay, but giving hard feed increased his risk of both choke and aspiration massively.
For a while, heâs managed well. Our vets were happy with him and said we could conservatively manage him for the time being unless anything changed. A few short weeks ago, things did change.
Atlas seemed to be coughing more, heâd had a blood nose and his weight wasnât as good as it was but a consult with our vet revealed nothing; lungs clear, no sign of infection.
When Atlas dropped more weight, had another blood nose and the coughing didnât improve, we took him into our clinic for a thorough work up and it was revealed that Atlas not only had had a tie back, but also had his vocal chords lasered (also known as a Hobday procedure). Anatomically, he still had narrow, abnormal airways but more worryingly, Atlasâ epiglottis was completely covered by his soft palate. The epiglottis is like a trapdoor, opening and shutting to prevent food from entering the airways. On Atlas, the epiglottis couldnât move, or even be seen on the endoscope. The vet also couldnât trigger a swallow reflex, indicating possible nerve damage. Everything was inflamed, the level of discomfort was obvious.
Then we talked options. We were willing to do what it took for Atlas to be comfortable but this was new territory for us and we looked to our vet for guidance. She was nothing short of amazing and went to read similar case studies on horses presenting like Atlas, exploring the outcomes for different treatments.
But the fear we had was realised, horses like Atlas had only one option for long term quality of life, which was surgery and the outcome of surgery for the majority of the case studies was unsuccessful as well as very invasive.
The recommendation for Atlas: euthanasia. He will not get better and one day, we will find him in strife, choking on food or water, gasping for air and no way to teleport a vet to his side fast enough.
Not only did our hearts break at that moment, but we were consumed by rage. So many humans failed Atlas throughout his life, more than we could even try to count. He was put through a surgery to make him run faster and to silence his rasping voice when he ran and when it didnât work, he was thrown away. He has never known stability, he has never found home. Heâs passed through so many hands because he couldnât perform, he couldnât be ridden, he had a medical condition that he wouldnât have had if not for being seen as a money maker. People lied to move him on, because to them, he was a burden. Heâs only 10 years old.
We couldnât euthanise Atlas last week. We wanted to give him one last week of love, attention, brushing, kind words, home.
Tomorrow morning, our vet will come and we will say goodbye . Our only hope is that he felt a sense of belonging here.
Atlasâ vet bill last week was just shy of $750 and an at home euthanasia will be over $400, not to mention an impending hay delivery.
Itâs hurts to ask but you can play a part in Atlasâ life as someone who cared. Please consider donating, or sharing if you canât.
Ref: Atlas
Strong Hearts Farm Sanctuary
BSB: 633 000
Account number: 180 405 532
www.strongheartssanctuary.org/donate
https://www.paypal.com/donate/?hosted_button_id=WJ8SSQ2SEAL5G&fbclid=IwAR1o7GmxfAk_U18KQDGmj4BXauVlhV0AndQg-61jb1OwtVAT6mfv85IVQnU
