Hello all,

My name is Kai, known to a lot of you as Oma or Crackerjack, and I am here to ask for the help I need with my beloved horse and pet Jethro.

Jethro is a nearly 23-year-old horse who I adopted as an alumni from my college after he taught me many incredible things over my four years there. He was by far the horse who made the most impact on me throughout my career there, inspiring me to take new approaches when working with anxious (and often defiant) horses and to teach other students the lessons he bestowed on me. Over the nearly 7 years I have known him, he has become a trusted confidant, a goofball who can make my day better after a rough shift at work, and a grounding pillar of my life.

A few years ago, he was diagnosed with hock and stifle arthritis, which has been thus far treated with medication. However, this year he began showing additional signs of pain in his hind end, including intense recurring abscesses of the hoof, white line disease, a removal of 3-5 inches of solid debris from his sole, and X-rays demonstrating mild deterioration of the coffin bone. While I have been meticulously managing his hoof health and lameness, he is beginning to show more as the year gets colder. I am struggling to keep up with the cost of his check-ins on his internal leg structures as they can cost upwards of $600 a visit, and am ultimately becoming an unable to maintain this on my own while handling other expenses.

I am unsure what his treatment plan may look like at this time, but ultimately he needs more financials towards this than I can currently offer to him with the amount of emergencies Kristopher and I have gone through this year. I have set my current treatment goal at $2500, with the donations being used as follows:

$1000 - immediate treatment and further diagnostics

$1500 - ongoing treatments or, if recommended, end-of-life costs (cremation and vet) associated with humane euthanasia of a horse

This horse has taught so many people, from students, to veterinary teams, to farriers, and most of all to those who are directly close to me and him. Please consider donating as any assistance is greatly appreciated at this time!