Have you ever/know anyone that has sent a horse to an abbatior?

No I haven't - having had my horses put down by the huntsman and disposed of by the kennels

For me it wouldn't be an option - these are after all my pets. However, for those more commercially minded it's a good option, for the money they get back for the carcus
 
I spend a lot of time at an abattoir and am very happy to answer any questions.

The whole set up is very professional, the horses are relaxed and not stressed (can confirm with spontaneous blink rate counts) and the procedure is incredibly quick and dignified.
 
I personally haven't as we have always had the hunt to them as this is more convienient. But I have worked at a non-equine abbatior and was surprised how quick, dignified and humane it was. So I would probably not have a problem sending one, it is just easier for us to have the hunt due to distance.
 
I wouldn't send my horse there but that's just personal choice. I think a horse deserves to be put down at home (where possible). However having seen many kill it, cook it, eat it series and seeing how abattoirs work I am now not as full of horror as I once was at the thought of them and was totally suprised at how stress free animals were right up until the point of slaughter. Very humane, dignified and I am sure it is no different with horses. One of the programmes highlighted baby animals, ie lambs only a few weeks old, piglets, etc. One lamb was stunned but the stunning gun didn't work correctly (on this one ocassion) and the animal wasn't rendered unconsious for long. It managed to scramble to its feet and shook itself down. The slaughterman grabbed a humane captive bolt pistol and killed it within a second. Quick thinking, clean and humane and above all very professional. I was impressed about the professionalism more than anything. That's what its all about.... still wouldn't send my horse to one though!

Totally disagree with the halal method of slaughter though. Ex was slaughter man in Ireland for four years. Came over to Birmingham to live and worked at a halal meat factory in Birmingham. Lasted a week, he cried when he told me a typical days work. Very sad.
 
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Totally disagree with the halal method of slaughter though. Ex was slaughter man in Ireland for four years. Came over to Birmingham to live and worked at a halal meat factory in Birmingham. Lasted a week, he cried when he told me a typical days work. Very sad.
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Really interesting. Was having this conversation in work the other day - and people were suprised that I refused to eat Halal meat......
 
A friend of mine took one to Potters some years ago. Pony was crippled with sidebone. She said it was most upsetting and I really don't know why she didn't have the pony PTS at home. She'd had to use the local knackerman once before and he was most professional but I have a feeling she wanted the money (Potters paid her something like £250 for the pony . . . )
 
amymay said:
Really interesting. Was having this conversation in work the other day - and people were suprised that I refused to eat Halal meat......
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Good for you, I would have done the same. The ritual slaughter issue is opening up a whole new can of worms... totally inhumane.
 
I havent but a friend of mine drives a horsebox as her main job and regularly takes a lorry load( 10-14) of ponies to potters in taunton, they are a mix of mares, geldings and stallions who can no longer do what is wanted from them or they want new bloodlines.
I also know someone who sends their old point to pointers to potters as they get paid for them.

I personally would never send my horse there as I prefer to hold them myself and have had 1 individually cremated in the past as well as 1 that went to be hound food and 1 that went to be zoo food but each to their own.

At the end of the day the horse has been destroyed in a humane and pain free way and is no different to the huntsman or vet shooting them ( being an equine vet nurse I have seen this a lot) the only difference is what happens to them after they are dead and death has no feeling or memories. After all cattle, sheep and pigs go through the slaughterhouse everyday and the farmer gets paid for them so what is the difference.
 
I refuse to eat Halal meat knowingly. Whenever I go for a balti I will always have a mushroom balti. I think it is a cruel method of killing and apparently research (If you google you will see this) has shown that it can take 2 1/2 minutes for a cow to reach a state of unconciousness/death whilst hung upside down in agony with its throat slit, knowing its life is draining away, so its not just the physical side of things, its also the mental side that I find the most upsetting. However in other documentation that I have read it shows that if done correctly the animal is rendered unconcious immediately. The whole thing about Halal is that the animal is not stunned prior to throat slitting.
 
charlie76 said:
Can I ask why and was it ok?
If not then why wouldn't you?

Thanks
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It wouldn't be for me. I have lost two, both of which have been pts at home. The first one was only five, and he went to feed the greyhounds. The second was in his mid-30's. He was cremated and his ashes are now buried in the field in which he lived.

It may be a bit soppy for some, but I believe that after having been my friend (for 19 years in the second case) and servant that the least I owe to my horses is to allow them to die at home. Any horse I have pts in the future will also be cremated and returned to me.
 
Box_Of_Frogs said:
The difference is that the horse has NOT been bred/reared for meat.
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To be honest, I don't see what difference that makes to whether the process is humane or not? :confused: If you are happy to eat meat that has been slaughtered at an abbatoir, then I can't see why you can be opposed, in principle, to horse slaughter at abbatoirs. (Obviously, if you are vegetarian or vegan I can understand the objection more).

I wouldn't send my own personal horses to the abbatoir - but that is because if they are PTS it will be due to some traumatic accident, serious illness or impaired quality of life which is likely to make travelling to an abbatoir a stressful and uncomfortable experience, so they will be PTS at home.

However, I don't have a problem with abbatoirs themselves and feel they perform a very necessary function. You have to accept that for some people the horses they own are not personal pets but have commercial value in the same way as farm animals have commercial value to the farmer.
 
I would NEVER send one of my horses to the slaughter house/factory/abbatoir/death house or whatever you would like to call it. The thought of my horses being fed to hounds or anything is really quite gross and disrespectful to them. I don't see why people don't have a problem with pets going to the slaughter houses when they just don't want them anymore. After years of giving them trust and loyalty, the least that we can do for them as owners is to give them a peaceful and dignified exit if possible in their home surroundings.

I have seen photographs of horses in slaughter houses awaiting the inevitable and to me they don't look very calm!! The conditions are awful! In cramped pens standing in their own excrement!! The only form of calm that is there is where their life and spirit has been broken! I am in the process of rescuing a FOAL from the slaughter house. The only reason why he was there was because there was no one in their current economic climate wishing to buy baby horses.
 
I thought it was an EU directive that all animals had to be stunned prior to being killed - oh forgot except for the halal - now how does that work?.. I must admit i did did not have a problem with this method in the "olden" days - as it was the best way to prevent the blood conjealing (sp) in the animal due to the heat and therefore creating contaminated meat... but why today? -

KFC has had an interesting problem as they have been trying to gain market share of the halal eaters, but these have boycotted them because they are saying the animals are not being slaughtered in the correct manner - a prayer is being said over a loud speaker, rather than an indviduals prayer... and KFC have also taken off the bacon from one of its burgers.... this has outraged the non-halal eaters and now they have boycotted KFC too - and it serves em right!
 
I have always said that I would have the hunt remove my horse so it could carry on running through the fields in the dogs' blood :) Since there are now no hunts within 4 and a half hours of where I now live this option is not available any more. I am a firm believer that life should not be wasted (even in death) and would happily send my horse to the abbertoir. I have eaten my own livestock before (and dispatched my chickens) so I am not squeamish about it - though I can see why others would be.

The other benefit is that you can gain recoup some costs through selling horsemeat rather than paying for the horse to be shot and disposed of. You can actually get quite a large amount of money from horse meat an have considered opening a 'humane' horse meat farm. Only in passing though as I would probably be a social outcast!
 
When i worked in ireland alot of the racehorses that where no good for various reasons went, i was totally disgusted but when someone said would you rather them living outside in the rain/cold and starving/ being mistreated, At when they go to the factory they wont suffer. Its harsh but i'd rather an animal not suffer.
 
I have sent 2 horses.

It is done so proffesionally.. the horses didn't mind travelling, they don't no where they are going or why.. by the time they are off the truck and into wherever they get destroyed... they're dead.. its not that traumatic.. its not like they no they are being sent away to die.. so i don't see a problem with it!

Obviously.. if the horse had a broken leg or was very old or a bad traveller i think you would have to reconsider! i don't think I would send my 32yr old pony for example.. i think i would get the local huntsmen in to destroy her when the time came!!!

Each to their own is my opinion!
 
Trumdella there speaks someone who obviously didn't accompany her horses to the end.
I have seen probably more horses euthanised than most, years ago when hard up I took my horses to the equine abbatoir near Nantwich, and they were utterly professional and it was done with respect. I can tell you though that some horses knew instantly when we pulled up where they were, and were very afraid. Most behaved calmly but a couple shook and refused to walk through into the killing pens. I can only assume despite the whole floor rotating and being washed down between horses they could smell death.
I then had various ones shot by the vet and the huntsman. Some were fine, others I always felt didn't go instantly despite dropping like stones, and I didn't relish having dark red blood to clear up afterwards.
We then moved and I took two horses to Potters.
For starters the agreed appointment time was rubbish, I was in a queue above the pen and it was only when the horses on board starting leaping about I realised they were looking straight into the pen seeing others killed. The handlers were rough despite the presence of a vet (think blue pipe hitting one of my horses who wound up managed to burst the partition half open, break his leadrope and roll down the ramp ending up on the floor, this was because the stupid chap leading the first one went round a corner despite me asking him to keep the first horse in sight). They then expected both horses to stand next to each other to be shot.
At this point I blew it and called the vet every name under the sun, there was no respect, no calm quiet handling which they always did at Nantwich etc and I took one horse out and waited to give them the next.
Half way home I stopped the box and sobbed my heart out, I felt I had let those horses down (one wasn't mine) and vowed never again.
Since then we have perhaps had 15 pts, with a reirement livery it's normal to end up with oldies needing to go, and we have had some of our own pts too for various reasons.
They all get done here at home in their own surroundings, with people they know, in a method agreed between us and the vet.
I'm lucky our vet practice is very good and we rarely get anything other than a peaceful easy death.
Please do not send your horse off to an abbatoir, if you ever thought anything of it, you must be strong and accept it needs to die in a fitting manner.
Your euthanasia by sedation then injection will cost approx £200. Collection by a cremation service a similar amount.
So there's the answer to your question, if you value your horse, be kind to it.
I should say the next best method is the huntsman. they are incredibly good at handling and using the stun gun, but for me even the noise is an unpleasant thing.
Even harder is being the person who decides as I often have to, is that today is the day I decide you die.. I hope I always get it right.
 
I agree with the last post, though have never had to have one sent to the abotoir, I have lost my first one last summer, it was a very painfull and long thought out decision, my pony had cushings and had suffered from laminitus on more than one occasion despite trying everything possible to help him. I made the decision with the help of my local vets, In nantwich as it happens, they were excellent, they arranged everything for me, one the actual day Golly spent a good 2-3 hours grazing on very lush grass :-) he was buted up to the nines, to make his final few hours the happiest he'd had for months. The vets took him off me (i'm affraid I chickened out of the actual deed) they said it would be more upsetting for him to have me there in floods of tears, so they quietly sedated him whilst I was there and then gave him the final injection once I had gone out of sight. they even arranged for the cremation company to come and collect him and sorted everything out in a very supportive manner. I cannot thank them enough for making a very difficult decision that much easier.
Personally I think our horses deserve all the dignity they can, after all they give us everything whilst we have them with us, surely the most we can do is make the final act as stress free as possible for them.
I can understand why people do choose other methods, but for me, all mine will where possible end their lives at home.
 
I will be shortly taking one of mine to Nantwich with a friends horse too. Both are unrideable due to certian reasons and we can not risk selling/giving them away as companions as we then don't have control of what happeneds to them.

I have used my local hunt yard before but they charge quite a lot and they put the horse down on my yard! I can not deal with going through that again so i would rather not be there when this is done.

Having some money back from it will cover my petrol there but atleast its doing something constrictive with the horse, there is a market for this and taking them to my local hunt kennels they only go in the incinerator.
 
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i hade my old boy pts by the vet and hade him collected by bob walker to take to be cremated thats why i have vet do it i didnt want him used after it did cost more this way .but 4 months later my friend hade a mare with bad choke vet bill running up daily so the vet suggested pts he hade to concider the costs involved with vet pts and the cost of disposal after,so bob came and hade the mare he shot he in the stable and took her as dead rather than loading her and doing on yard,it turned out the mare hade a tumer blockin her airways bob told us .bob walker is expert in this field hes fast and efficient in his job.but i would never send a horse for meat
 
I've had to have to horses put down, one of which, Sapphire, I'd owned for twenty two years. Sapphire was shot by my vet, at home, and then taken by Cambridge Pet Crematorium. The second was my daughter's much-loved 12.2hh; she was at the time an "in patient" at my vet's "hospital" and she was put down by injection and again taken by Cambridge Pets Crematorium. My vet was very impressed by the speed at which the crematorium collected the pony (late on a Sunday night) and I have no regrets about using this means of dispatch. However, at the time the pony way taken ill, we were stabled at a yard owned by an elderly woman who was, and still is, closely connected to the hunt. I'll always remember what she said when she found out how poorly the pony was "Please don't have her taken away, have her put down at home". I know she didn't die at home, but she was at the vet's where we'd hoped to give her one last chance - I'd never take any of my horses to an abatoir.
 
yes, when i've had to i've taken horses to Turners, in cheshire, who are very proffesional, very quick and also sympathetic to sobbing women!

Our hunt are good, but TBH i only have them to collect things that are dead from natural causes,

the worst has been when we've had things break legs in the field, and then have had to wait until much later or the next day for the body to be collected, not very nice for everyone else.

personally i would always use Turners when possible, cannot recommend them enough, very very good, and i don't have a problem with them going for meat, as they are dead, and if they go to hunt kennels they get fed to the hounds,
 
I go to Potters fairly often (not to take horses) and I have NEVER seen horses mis treated by any of the workers. The only thing that shocks me is sometimes the state of the horses when they arrive and that is NOT the fault of the abattoir. The abattoir provides a good and essential service.

The slaughterman is EXTREMELY experienced, tolerant and kind. Very rarely does a horse refuse to enter the killing shed. I have never seen Simon miss - which is something I cannot say about a particular huntsman I once observed shooting a horse. In all the years I have been going to Potters I have never seen anything as horrific as the one incident I observed with the huntsman. I've also heard horror stories of inexperienced vets with a gun too.

Unless you have been to Potters and experienced it for yourself then nobody is in any postion to comment on their practice (and definatly don't belive the **** that is printed in the papers!)


Hx
 
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