Equine grieving process

Sanolly

Sanolly

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As some of you may know my YO's old TB was sadly put down on Tuesday following a suspected brain tumour. We did this in sight of the three remaining ponies so assumed they knew what was going on, however over the last couple of days, today especially, they have been off their hard feed and hay including my normally very piggy cob :( They are also very listless.
I have been riding my 2 (the other belongs to the YO who (understandably) hasn't been up the yard since B died) thinking it would be best to keep their routine as normal but do you think it would be better to give them a couple of days off and just give them lots of TLC?
How long do you think it will take for them to "get back to normal"? and is there anything else I can do?
 
Probably best to keep them in their normal routine really.

Slightly different but I had 2 horses who were stabled next to each other and turned out together. I sold one in September and the other one really pined when he was turned out despite having 3 horses in the next door paddock.

After about a week we put another pony in with him and he seemed to get over his loss - obviously the pony hadn't died, simply moved on but he wasn't to know that. He really did miss him I think for a couple of weeks.
 
You have my deepest symphathy hun on the lose of your horse. I had a very similar thing a few years ago my old TB had a brain tumor and epilpsy as well which made it hard I had my tb put down in the field with my other horse and then left him to smell him and to know he'd gone. Like your other horses my other lad was off his food didnt want anything at all and all I did was silly and soft I know, but I sleep outside his stable door for 3 nights just to show him I was there and that he wasnt suffering alone and he started to eat after 2 days so in my case it was just being there and letting him know it's ok. Now hes back to him self and happy with his new friend. :)
 
We had 2 mares who had been together for 20 yrs and were extremely close. The younger one had a stroke in her stable, while the older was next door, able to see what was going on. The hunt came to pts and she had to be winched out of the stable before the other one could be taken outside. There was another mare at the other side of the healthy one. The one that was left behind had 2 companions that she had known for yrs but was very subdued for about 3 weeks until we got another mare and then it was as though her mind was taken off the problem and she really perked up.
Ours were kept to their normal routine but the elderly one was retired so she couldn't be ridden.
 
Mmm bit different here. My old mare shared her field with a shetland, when Thea was PTS Sheltie was there and saw all, she was on her own for awhile until I got Sami , another arab exactly the same colour too, rode her into the yard and the Shetland ran to the fence as if it was her old chum, needless to say Sami and Shetland have been in love ever since.
 
Koko's field companion a bit upset when he went. I think he knew he wasn't well though in the field but he was very distraught for a few days because after he died he had to be turned out in a new paddock with horses that can be described as bullies. His owner hasn't come to see him at all this winter and to me he looks depressed and has wintered well compared to previous years.

To try and help him we've been giving him lots of TLC and grooming and he seems to be perking up now.
Maybe take them out on a nice relaxing hack, I find that always cheers me up and normally puts a spring in their step :)
 
A horse on our yard was PTS a few months ago. His owner had 2 horses and they'd been together for most of there life, over 10 years, sharing the same field, routine etc. The horse was PTS in his stable as he had horrendous colic but his pair bond was taken in (we have very large stables) to see and sniff his body for a short while. As he was PTS late in the evening, he had to wait til the morning to be collected and getting a dead horse out of a stable isnt the nicest thing. So all the horses were put in the fields as usual, his pair bond in his field alone and the body was pulled out waiting to be collected. Pet crem came and as they pulled him into the trailer, his pair bond galloped up the field and watched it all. It was so sad, then he walked off and continued to graze. None of the other horses bothered or came to watch. The pair bond was fine and has been normal since.
 
Thanks for the replies, I am starting to get worried, none of the hay has been touched which means they have barely eaten in 24 hours except ca 4kg of hard feed each. I have left them all in (normally live out) with huge nets and another hard feed, hopefully some of it will have gone by tomorrow :(

ETA the whole process from PTS to body collection (what a horrible term) took about 3 hours, maybe it was too quick for them to process what happened?
 
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