Having horses put down

[crescent]

This isn't a very nice subject and may have been covered before - I have two elderly horses one a very nervous difficult animal easily misunderstood(sometimes dangerous) and the other constantly restricted as lamanitic , their quality of life is such that I think it is time to say goodbye to them. I am not as affluent as I was when I first took them on years ago but I do not want to take the risk of letting them go on loan or sold (bad experiences in the past) I have witnessed many wealthy people sell much loved servants even when elderly for a few measley pounds and never follow up what happens to them later (out of sight out of mind). I would rather know that they have been well looked after all their lives and have them put down than risk a gruesome end. Not having had this done for many years could someone out there fill me in on what options are available/permitted these days and what costs are involved.

 

[Tia]

The options are basically the same as they have always been; shot or injection. Pricing isn't too much more than it used to be. I wouldn't have thought it would be more than £150-£200.

The disposal will be the clincher - it totally depends on how/where/what you have in mind.

Some hunts will still take deadstock or you can have the horse mass-cremated or individually cremated.

Never a nice topic, but well done you for looking ahead in such a positive manner. There is nothing worse than an owner being faced with this decision and having no time to figure out what they want.

Hopefully your guys will be around for a while longer though and you won't have to implement any of these options right now.

 

[henryhorn]

I think you're making sensible decisions, and far better to be prepared now rather then when you have to make an instant decision.
We have at least one a year pts here, and use the following method. The vet sedates them with a small injection into the neck vein, we then give them a bucket with some nice feed in, and they then have a further injection (they don't feel it) and this overdose of anaesthetic put them to sleep. It is very easy and so calmly done.
Your problem is you can't do them at the same time as it's too traumatic for the second horse to see.
Disposal via cremation is around £150 for a smallish horse to over £300 for a large one. vet's costs are normally £100 per horse at least.
You can have them shot but lots of blood sometimes and more traumatic for you, the hunt will come and do them for less but again, at different times to avoid stressing the remaining one.
pm me any questions, I'll be glad to help.

 

[Happytohack]

What a caring horse owner you obviously are in realising that your horse's lives are not what they were and facing up to the inevitable.
I have had 3 horses pts. Two were oldies and we had owned them many years, the other was a young mare who had to be pts following an accident. Sadly, she left a foal at foot that I had to hand-rear - but that is another story.

The two oldies were both shot by the knackerman, who took them away and incinerated them. I was working for a vet at the time, and he used to do a lot of work for the practice and I knew him well. He was compassionate, professional and neither horse knew a thing. The younger mare was injected, in the same way as described by HH above. Again, she was relaxed and knew nothing. I now have another couple of oldies and will have to face the same thing, but hopefully not for a few years yet. I will have the injection in future, merely because it is less traumatic for me. The cost is about the same.

 

[wandaful]

If you have your own land and you can prove that your horses are pets you can bury them. There are constraints about watercourses and habitation but I'm sure I got all the information from the DEFRA website.

Sadly I had to have my horse put to sleep last year and chose injection, it was peaceful, gentle and dignified, I could not have considered any other method. She was then cremated at a cost of about £300. As the ILPH web site says, 'the only thing that hurts when a horse is put to sleep is the owner', how true that is.