Horrible question

[Christmascinnamoncookie]

I had mine injected then taken away for cremation by the knackerman. The other was already at the RVC. I’ve never kept ashes. I have a shoe from both of mine and their bits and I had a bracelet made from Beau’s tail hair.

 

[MissTyc]

I'm another who never has ashes back, not from any animal. I just don't want to grow older surrounded by more and more urns and I'm certainly not paying to scatter them into the wind ... I keep the "live" memories, the photos, maybe a plait of hair and a collar if a dog ... so I go for the cheapest option for disposal and I have injection or gun depending on my own emotional status at the time.

 

[Auslander]

Alf will be cremated, as that's what the local pick up guy does with them. I'm not interested in having ashes back - all the things that made him Alf will go when he takes his last breath, so I don't feel the need to have the ashes. I have plenty of happy memories of him, and hopefully there will be a fair few more before the end.

 

[Starzaan]

I thought most of the hunts cremate these days? Certainly one I've used did and a video doing the rounds last year showed a hunt loading carcasses into bins to go to the animal crematorium. The hunts I used said that horse meat sours the hounds so they didn't use it.
.

A lot of them do, but it’s mass cremation with no ashes back. I assumed OP was talking about individual cremation with ashes returned, which is waaaaaay more expensive.

 

[poiuytrewq]

I don’t think I can afford cremation atm, my dad died in March and I am financially supporting my mum. I think my farmer will let me bury him in the land.

Please please go easy on yourself. You don’t need to cremate. That’s an us thing not a them thing.
All the horse cares about is that you do the right thing by them when they are alive. Memories and photos are far more special than ashes.
I did get a dog cremated and I have his ashes but it’s the photos I cherish.

 

[Cortez]

All my horses go to the hunt, they shoot here at home and take the carcass for feeding. I like the thought of the horse being part of the circle of life, and ultimately running with the hounds. My rather more sentimental friend has containers of ashes from small (cats) to enormous (horses) stashed all over her house. She never looks at them, and I fail to see the point, but each to their own.

 

[Goldenstar]

What matters to the horse is what happens while it’s breathing .
That’s the most important thing to have in mind .

 

[PapaverFollis]

Granny horse went on the fallen stock wagon. There was no other option at short notice up here. It makes not a jot of difference really so do what you can afford and don't feel guilty. If anyone was to judge how much I cared about that old horse by the way I had to dispose of her body they would be deeply in the wrong to do so. I'm just not one who needs souvenirs and sentiment really. I did right by her in life and in the end of life decision and that is all that matters at the end of the day. Disposing of the body is just a practicality.

 

[Fabel]

Please please go easy on yourself. You don’t need to cremate. That’s an us thing not a them thing.
All the horse cares about is that you do the right thing by them when they are alive. Memories and photos are far more special than ashes.
I did get a dog cremated and I have his ashes but it’s the photos I cherish.

Thankyou

 

[soloequestrian]

Mine are buried at home. I checked with the council about regulations before the first one went and they are fine as long as the grave isn't near a water course. We have kind neighbours with a digger and my husband can drive it so the process is quick and I don't have to interact with anyone other than the vet, who only offers injection so there are no decisions to be made on that. If I didn't have that burial option I think I'd want something in place that meant I could just walk away after the vet part and not see any of the rest of it.

 

[Trouper]

Would love to see that if you have a photo.

Now you've got me. Have never tried uploading a photo on here before so give me some time to look one out and give it a whirl!!

 

[Fabel]

Thankyou all. You have made me more ‘comfortable’ with what is to come. I am very much taking him day by day and whist it’s dry he’s happy. He doesn’t mind the cold as I rug accordingly but once the rain comes he is utterly miserable and that’s when a decision will be made

 

[Trouper]

Here he is.

 

[Surbie]

View attachment 99801
Here he is.

That's really lovely.

 

[Moobli]

View attachment 99801
Here he is.

Oh wow! I love it and what a special photo with the rainbow!
I know what I want for Christmas now

 

[spotty_pony]

I’ve also never had the ashes back. 8
I have a shoe as my boy was shod, and tail hair both from him and my mare. I am yet to do anything with the hair yet but I want to get it made into two bracelets. I also wanted to get the shoe engraved but haven’t found anywhere that can do that for me yet.

 

[Fransurrey]

Mine was donated to the vet school. As I worked there I got an unofficial PM report and a picture of his brain tumour to boot!

 

[Cortez]

Mine was donated to the vet school. As I worked there I got an unofficial PM report and a picture of his brain tumour to boot!

Cool! I have had a look at a few unofficial post-mortems at the kennels myself.

 

[Clodagh]

Cool! I have had a look at a few unofficial post-mortems at the kennels myself.

Same. Fascinating!

 

[Annagain]

I had my old boy's ashes back. To be honest, by the time they arrived I was in a place where I was no longer crying at the drop of a hat and starting to get back to a bit of normality and it really set me back again. The box was also huge (compared to what I expected) and I didn't really know what to do with them. I scattered some in the field under his favourite scratching tree and some on the common where he loved to have a canter but felt really quite silly doing it. I don't think I'd have them back again.

My old dog is still in the cupboard under the stairs 16 years on. The vet asked if I wanted them back, I said no but in between the sobs, she thought I'd said yes. The next thing I know the vet was phoning to say they were ready for collection. I couldn't leave them there but I don't know what to do with them. We've even moved house since then so even sprinkling them in the garden wouldn't be right as it was never his garden.

 

[Fabel]

He looked a bit wonky trotting up the field today, but that could be because he had some relaquine this morning to clip his legs. Will trot him up tomorrow and see ?

 

[Orangehorse]

From what I have heard, ashes from a horse come in quite a big box, so you have to think what you would do with it.

You can bury a pet, but for a horse it is going to be quite a big hole, and you would need a JCB type digger. Have to be careful about water courses. A local livery yard was told by the Environmental Agency that they couldn't bury any more horses on the place, and farmers can't bury livestock.

 

[nagblagger]

[QUOTE="Fabel, post: He looked a bit wonky trotting up the field today, but that could be because he had some relaquine this morning to clip his legs. Will trot him up tomorrow and see ?[/QUOTE]
I can't like that because i know what it might mean.
Thinking of you at this hard time.

 

[Nasicus]

I had the knackerman out and he shot and took away from cremation (but not the private, ashes back kind of cremation). Private cremation is incredibly expensive and you get a 16-20kg bag of ashes back. That's a lot of ash to store and scatter. Taking some mane/tail is a lot easier and cheaper, plus you can do a lot more with it for memorial items.

 

[Carlosmum]

Both mine are buried at home, one was PTS at the vets following surgery, but OH was allowed to go and collect his remains. the other PTS at home. Both are now in one of our fields well away from any water courses. We are fortunate in having the equipment to do the job properly, but I must admit to leaving OH to do the tasks I was well away from the action. However, now every time I go passed their places I can say hello!

 

[MagicMelon]

If you own your own land you could consider burying? Ive always had all my horses buried on my own land in their fields. I cant imagine doing anything else although obviously you probably cant do that if on livery. I just ask our next door digger man to do it. Hes always amazing and never even charges us, we just give him a bottle of something as a thank you instead. Personally I let my OH deal with that part of it. Im always there for the putting to sleep part as I feel its my duty to be there for my animals but I cant bear to watch them being buried. Its nice having them here, I have 2 sadly buried at my current property. Even told my dog off this morning who was about to do her business where they're buried, silly I know. I wish Id planted apple trees there but its quite open in the field and I cant afford the space to section it off permanently. My cat is buried in my back garden with a cherry tree planted over her which is nice. I like the memory trees idea.

 

[SOS]

To get an idea of cost, I had my pony PTS by injection (very peaceful) and had him cremated at a pet crematorium but no ashes back. It cost around £400. I told the vets I wanted to use X crematorium and they had a relationship with them and arranged it all. If I wanted individual and ashes back you were looking around double that, even more if you wanted a casket and not just a plastic box.

It was actually an incredibly peaceful day, I walked him up from his field and he was happy, gave him a huge sloshy feed (he could no longer eat well) and the vet then PTS. Me and the vet then sat talking for half an hour by the pony. He had known the pony and me and seen us grow up together. I then left as the crematorium were almost there, the vet stayed and oversaw the loading.

 

[marmalade76]

Mine have gone to the hunt bar one, the most special, who was buried in an orchard (basically a massive horse cemetery, severalhave been buried there over the years).

 

[Chippers1]

I had my old pony's ashes back, and he's buried at the end of my mum's (big) garden with a pear tree to mark the plot as he loved pears it cost me a fair bit (about 3 months livery!) but I didn't mind spending it, and I already had Buzz at this point so it didn't need to be spent on another horse purchase. I wasn't quite expecting the box to be as big as it was!

 

[Merrymoles]

I'm probably a bit odd but I have had all my dogs' ashes back but never my horses. I suspect it is because the small animal vets think it's normal to want the ashes whereas the equine vets always ask rather than assuming!