For those who have had a horse put to sleep...

How often do you clean your tack?

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mollymurphy

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Right, this is purely out of curiosity.....

I'm assuming most of you on here hunt? Well i dont, so i'm not sure if when a horse dies, you send them there to support your local hunt?

I had to have my gelding put to sleep in May due to Cushing's-related laminitis. Now i loved him more than anything and had such a bond with him. I'd never had a horse PTS before, so assumed they were all shot. I told the vet i didn't want this and she reassured me that i didn't have to. She said all the vets (apart from 1) at her practice preferred to inject, rather than shoot. When the time came, murphy was sedated, then the final injection was given. He just lay down as if going to sleep. He stopped breathing instantly,but his heart took a minute or 2 to stop. There was no movement at all. We sat with him for an hour before the creamtorium man came.

Now i know it is quite a lot more expensive to have a horse pts via injection than to shoot, but i feel at the end of the day, that if I had a choice, i would far rather be injected than shot.

We arranged for a pet crematorium to come and pick him up. He was cremated that day and we picked him up the next. This cost £400, but i would never have done anything else. His ashes will be scattered with me when i die. And the same will go for all our other horses.

What i would like to know is if other people have done this? Because i get the impression from various posts that not many do. Correct me if i'm wrong!

I would like to know peoples' opinions on shooting / pithing and sending your horse for meat. I dont want to start a debate, i'm just curious. I've never seen a horse shot, so have had no experience of it, and as far as i'm concerned as long as it's humane and done properly, that's all that matters. I just feel injection is a 'nicer', more dignified was to go. A lot of people seem to have the opinion of "it's dead - it doesn't matter what happens to it afterwards", which is fair enough, but i don't aggree. My horses are my family.

Opinions please!

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I had my horse put to sleep in October. He was taken to the kennels and shot. I would do the same again. I was not with him as I wanted to have nice memories of him and I have seen enough dead horses to know that would not be last memory I had of him.
 
Hi Mollymurphy - I'm with you on this one. When I lost my mare at 10 with a broken leg, I had her injected, individually cremated and returned to me. She now resides in the garden under a rosebush for remembrance.

Soppy and soft, but the only way for me, as my horses are first and foremost pets and companions. Plus the process of having her ashes returned to me did help me to work through my grief and shock at her sudden death.

Mind you, I don't think people are wrong to do it other ways, its each to their own in my opinion. Certainly if you own multiple horses or they are your living, it could get rather expensive to have them all individually cremated!!
 
We have our horses injected but if the horse was suffering alot my dad will shoot it so that they do not have to suffer further waiting for the vet. Although we would choose injection over bullet each time if we had the choice.

All of our horses are buried.
 
Never actually had a horse pts, but when the time comes and if I had to choose I feel the only fitting way would be to quietly put him down (injection) I think what you did is probably exactly what I will do. I'm sorry for your loss x
 
Most of mine have been shot at home and then taken off by the knackerman.

One died "naturally" and we buried her.

A dead carcass to me is not my horse I'm afraid - it never will be - my horse is gone the moment the heart stops beating.
 
My horse and pony were killed by lightening last summer one eveening. Obviously it was a shock and i was totally unprepared as to what i wanted to do with their bodies. I didnt just want them sent to any old place but luckily a friend had a number of a crematorium that she had used which was nearby. They came and collected them the next morning and we collected their ashes after a few days. They were both cremated together. It was expensive - £850 altogether - but insurance paid some and at the time i just wanted them to go somewhere 'nice'.

I would say to everyone that even if your not expecting to loose them make sure you know what you want to do with them if the unfortunate happens as its the last thing you want to be deciding on the spot like i was.
 
Stinkerstonker went to the South Notts kennels - when I hunted with them the other week I shed a tear, but in happiness that she was living on in the hounds.
 
My own horses have one shot, one injected. I have seen captive bolt, shot, injection and natural. In future i will have horses shot if given the option as i have seen 4 horses who have convulced/fitted when injected and have remain semi concious for far too long.

Lou x
 
Yes a difficult one ,the injection I have been told is very good now but sometimes if the horses blood supply is not very good I have beentold its not always the best option.We had a horse shot and buried It was instant but I'm not sure if some vets get much practice and I have heard horror stories
 
For me personally it would depend completely on the circumstances.

If the horse had an acute injury (leg hanging off) then I would want whatever was fastest done. If that means shooting it then that is exactly what I would do.

If, however, it was a more chronic illness and we were in a position to take a more relaxed approach then I would probably have it injected. In reality that would probably be to spare my own feelings - seeing a horse being shot is far more traumatic. I don't think it makes much difference to the horse to be honest.

Once it is dead then what happens next doesn't wory me much. I would be happy to send a horse to the kennels if it were shot. If it has been injected then it has to be cremated anyway.
 
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i have seen 4 horses who have convulced/fitted when injected and have remain semi concious for far too long.

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I was really worried about that and have heard it's gone on, but my vet reassured me that she would give him such a huge dose he would be gone before he hit the floor, which he was. I think it depends on how fit the horse is, and how much of a fight their body puts up.

Lou. x
 
When J died last week he was PTS with the injection. He wasn't in any pain by that point and if he had been I would have had him shot.

He was taken away and cremated but his ashes were not returned to me. To be honest when he died the body wasn't him anymore. I did my best by him in his last moments and I feel that scattering ashes would have only alleviated my feelings which I didn't want done.
 
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If the horse had an acute injury (leg hanging off) then I would want whatever was fastest done. If that means shooting it then that is exactly what I would do.

In reality that would probably be to spare my own feelings - seeing a horse being shot is far more traumatic.

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Totally agree. x
 
i lost a mare due to broken leg, she went by injection as it was the only option, we couldn't move her to field to be shot. I stayed with her whent he injection was given, but couldn't have bared to hear if it was by gun. The injection worked well, she fell and was gone within 30 seconds.

She was taken to be cremated but we didn't want her ashed back, just her shoes.
 
I heard that horses hate losing their balance, falling over etc so to inject is making them go through this (just what ive heard, not sure if theres truth in it). I would much rather have my horses last memory of munching on a carrot and not noing whats about to happen, rather than having a stranger that he doesnt know handle him and put a needle in him.
xxx
 
I had my own horse injected and had his ashes back to scatter. This was just what was right for me - he had been with me for 15 years and it was my way of coming to terms with his death. This was having worked in an equine vets for four years and seeing many, many horses put to sleep by both injection and gun. I never realised until the time came that my views on my own horse would change.
 
I have the same views as Tia on this one. Once they have breathed their last then they are no longer my horse. All mine have been shot and then sent to the kennels. It is always done with kindness and dignity and I have no problems with it. It is the same with my dogs, they get injected and then the vet takes them. I don't feel as if I am being uncaring as when they were alive I loved them as much as anyone else loves their animals.
 
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I heard that horses hate losing their balance, falling over etc so to inject is making them go through this (just what ive heard, not sure if theres truth in it). I would much rather have my horses last memory of munching on a carrot and not noing whats about to happen, rather than having a stranger that he doesnt know handle him and put a needle in him.
xxx

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Didn't happen like that at all in my case. J was already down and had buried his head into my lap. The vet injected him and then stood back. J didn't seem to notice and kept his head in my lap until he died.

The vet (a stranger) was not handling him and J was full of my smell and touch in his last moments.

As for a last carrot, alot of times that's the last thing you can do or the last thing you're thinking of. I assume other people would be the same but my thoughts were to stop my horses suffering as soon as possible in the most dignified way. Colic doesn't aloow one last cuddle and one last carrot.
 
It does depend on circumstances. I have always had horses shot. 2 did go to the kennels, but my old pony had been on bute for a long time so could not be used for the hounds so she is buried in the field. I think I would probably choose burial from now on as I have the space, but don't tell the council! I would always choose shooting I think, because I too have heard horror stories about injecting. However our vets get plenty of practice ,and they attend a lot of race meetings. Sounds bad that, what I mean is they are a very experienced practice who deal with a lot of large animals.
 
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rather than having a stranger that he doesnt know handle him

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I see what you're saying. A part of me wanted to hold murph's leadrope when he went, but the other part didn't want to watch. As it turned out, we weren't allowed to hold him - the vet tech did. The vet said it's instinct for owners to try and catch the horse as it goes down, so we had to stand away. After he was sedated, i stood near him, but couldn't acually watch. When the vet said he was down, that's when we went and sat with him.

As for the 'stranger' thing, this would prob be the case with most horses, but not for murph. We practically lived at the vets - he had so many problems! He was fussy about who he liked, but he was ok with our vet! x
 
When we had smokey put to sleep. A 40 year old gelding (full of jump!) He had broke him leg, kicked by a hunter. The knacker man was 10 mins away, the vet an hour. He was shot, was over and done with in 15 mins. He went with the hunt.

Lou x
 
I've had all mine (only three!) done by injection and then individually cremated. As the first was because of cushings related laminitis my mum (I was only 13) had researched crematoriums months before the time came as we knew it would be on the cards at some point. The first time our vet tried to persuade us to call the hunt but we knew we didn't want to go down that route, it may have been different had we been involved with a hunt at all...
 
Kill rate on our farm:
Dad = 3
Huntsman = 1
Vet = 2

Dad seems to end up shooting them when an emergency and we didn't want to leave the horse waiting for 20 minutes.

I prefer the huntsman. I would never have mine injected, been with a horse that was. I do not want its last memories to be an injection.

Disposal is always huntsman - its natural and I prefer to believe the spirit lives on through consumption.
 
Had one injected by the vet and three shot, by the hunt, at home and then removed by them I would never have one injected again. Shooting is quick and they have alldied with food in their mouths. The injected one was scared and stressed. When the old girl goes later this year we will call the hunt, have her shot at home and they will take the body.
 
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