How do you shoot a head shy horse?

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I wont mind how he is loaded....i will be too busy sobbing into his mane while OH is throwing a party
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lol
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the vet's bills were making me weep almost as much
 
Oh and Twanky - just stay out of the way when they load him. Me, the vet and my friend sat in the feed room until my boy was loaded - the vet actually advised us to (said it wasn't very nice to watch)
 
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I think that the zoo is a rather dignified end myself! What a great way to go out in style.

Mind you ... I'd probably not send my two jack russells to the zoo, but they are pure muscle and gristle, and would get stuck in the lions teeth!!
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[/ QUOTE ]It would keep them busy though
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I wont mind how he is loaded....i will be too busy sobbing into his mane while OH is throwing a party
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lol
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the vet's bills were making me weep almost as much

[/ QUOTE ]Yes, I am thinking my BIL is quite good with a gun......
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i may be being thick here but i didnt know you could still have a horse shot,knowing that i think i would opt for the bullet for my boy
 
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you wouldnt put a bullet in ur granny's head either would you?

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No. But then i wouldn't put a saddle on my granny and ride her round a XC course, either, or move her around the country in a lorry, or feed her hay, or leave her to sleep in a stable over night. I don't really see a lot of parallels between my horse and my granny (except for a certain cast of expression...).

My horse is a big part of my life as well. She isn't mine but i care about her very much, and I would much rather that she died a quick painless death, when the time comes, in her own stable with people she knows and who love her, than passed around from pillar to post and maybe dying at a slaughterhouse amongst strangers.
 
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Oh and Twanky - just stay out of the way when they load him. Me, the vet and my friend sat in the feed room until my boy was loaded - the vet actually advised us to (said it wasn't very nice to watch)

[/ QUOTE ]No I wont be watching that bit...I will start delegating
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it disturbs me because my horse is a big part of my life, to think that all people think of their horse is to put a bullet in its head and feed it to the hounds when its old and done is greatly disturbing IMO

also you wouldnt put a bullet in ur granny's head either would you?

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So you think your horse will just fade away and die one day, peacefully? Or you'll arrive one morning to find he just hasn't woken up? With any animal, you have to be able to take responsibiliy and let it die with dignity - that is, when it is in too much pain or the quality of life is diminished, not keep it going until he just fades away. You may not be able to "shoot granny" but if euthanasia was legal in the UK I think a lot more people would take the option of dying with dignity.

I get the feeling you are quite young, from your posts, so I guess you will probably face the realities a bit more as you get older.

My pony is out on loan and the loan contract actually says unless in pain and needing urgent PTS, he should be PTS by the huntsman and taken to the hounds. His favourite thing is hunting so I like to think of him going back there at the end, to give something back. It may be that he is actually incinerated, but even paying the huntsman to do "the deed" feels like giving something back.
 
intresting thread. I personally have thought about it in much depth but as long as it is done quickly and in a proffesional manner then I will have nothing to worry about. if anything it will be a great deal of comfort knowing that your horse will be galloping free in pastures green in spirit. what a nicer way to end with dignaty (which is what most of humans dont have)

and the suggestion of a bucket of feed when it happens then what a perfect way to go, content and happy. What you do with the carcus is up to you but afterall not my choice but then it is the food chain.

Good luck when you do decide and hope it all goes well for you.
 
I am quite shocked by some of the replies on here. For instance, my granny would have to suffer before dying if she were ill. My pony was shot to prevent the suffering. I believe that animals are lucky if they have an owner who will make this hard decision.
Actual disposal has to be a personal choice maybe mixed with a little compromise if things cannot be exactly as the owner would like.I had permission to have my pony buried on my own land. It would have been nice if she had not needed to be shoved into the grave with the JCB bucket, but compromise had to be made, and it did not upset me. Needs must.
 
Hear, hear TGM! We owe it to our horses to think this out beforehand and not in some frantic, irrational way when there has been an emergency. I even go so far as to leave a letter with my YO, stipulating my wishes in the unlikely event that PTS has to be decided on and how this decision should be arrived at ie no alternative in vet's opinion. Wacky? I feel happier as I am quite often out of the country and would hate to think that my horse was suffering if I was uncontactable.
I think horses are luckier than us- at least they can be PTS when suffering - working in a hospital, I often wish that we were as kind to humans....
 
Maxapple PMSL - my Jack Russel would not be much of a snack either very wiry and stringy!!

I was with a friends horse when it was dispatched by lethal injection, it went down very quickly (but have heard this is not always the case) and he was not at all distressed prior to or during being PTS. We loaded him onto the tractor (the bucket could barely lift him- having said that it was a crap tractor) and buried him in a rather large hole. Then held a funeral for him (friend stayed away until well and truy buried).

Have sent mine to kennels in the past and although the funeral was a nice touch for a soppy horse owner I think that when they are gone they are gone ..... and best to remember them alive and kickin.......
 
you have to be able to make the decision. I made it the day he stopped in the field and stared at me. I just knew. The day after I found him in the stable not able to put his front leg on the ground. You just deal with it, I propped his leg up on a bale of straw (thanks horse for being so patient!) and rang the vet. How could I have watched him suffer and in more and more pain?
 
I didnt watch this bit, i hid around the corner but heard the chains and put my hands over my ears for the rest
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My horse was PTS half in and half out of the stable
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and the stables were on a high ledge so it wouldnt have been easy getting him out. My oh watched and still wont tell me how they did it, but i know as there would have only been one way of getting him out
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Oh and Twanky - just stay out of the way when they load him. Me, the vet and my friend sat in the feed room until my boy was loaded - the vet actually advised us to (said it wasn't very nice to watch)

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To put it politely, that's copping out isn't it?

How would you have managed when the deed done, just you and the kennelman there, the winch decided to be a prat and twist up, then when it deigns to work it pulls your horse into the gatepost and gets her wrapped around that so you both have to pull her around by the tail or she'd still have been there and then she nearly slides sideways off the ramp?
With the exception of the actual shooting which was copybook, the rest was a comedy of errors and we still laugh about the 'red cowbag' today as she always did have the last laugh; it was just like her to go out with a bang, she was always trouble!
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It doesn't mean I loved her any less for laughing but I stayed there until the very end for her; the very least I could do IMO.
 
MFH - I know this may not be the time to say it, but your comment really did make me giggle out loud.
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TT - winching them up into the wagon is fine. It isn't awful at all; at least I've never seen anything horrid about it. Crikey one of our mares who died unassisted on a Bank Holiday, had to be lifted and kept in the tractor bucket overnight so the wolves wouldn't eat her. I had to put the trailer ties underneath her, she'd already gone into rigour mortis within minutes of her death, and then bring the tractor over to her, attach the ties to the tractor and sort of sweep her along the ground until I could get her into the bucket. Then she had to be left in the bucket way up high in the barn and then she was buried the next day on the farm as couldn't get knackers out. She blew up and started to stink so there was no way she could have remained above ground for another 2 days.
 
I know someone who insisted on having their horse PTS in its stable, and then realisation dawned that they couldn't get the horse out and she had to pay for the front of the stable to be removed and re-constructed - idiot!
 
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I didnt watch this bit, i hid around the corner but heard the chains and put my hands over my ears for the rest
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My horse was PTS half in and half out of the stable
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and the stables were on a high ledge so it wouldnt have been easy getting him out. My oh watched and still wont tell me how they did it, but i know as there would have only been one way of getting him out
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The last time my Tb girl colicked, and seemed very poorly, I asked the dealer on the yard if I could put her in one of his stables, as my three are all down a level, with a wall and earth embankment next to them.
The dealer, thankfully, is quite switched on, after asking me how old the horse was, he sussed and lent me a box.
Thankfully, my mare was just being a drama queen and is still with me.
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Why is it copping out??
I dont think I want to see my horse being dragged about by chains with his tongue hanging out....i will go and make everyone a cup of tea
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No where in any of my posts did i say that i wouldnt put him to sleep if he was in pain, however i would not put a bullet in his head, i would have the injection given to him (in my opinion this is a more dignified way)

if i was given the option i would bury him, i would visit his grave every day and cry my eyes out, im finding it so hard to hold back the tears reading this topic, thinking about that awful day!
 
oh dear..mine was dragged all the way down a field and then unceremoniously dragged into a truck, incidentally I quite often hack past said truck
(and yes..I was emotionally devestated..but he doesn't care if he's dragged when he's dead!)
But see you learn something everyday, I know now how to shoot a head shy horse.
 
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We have brick stables so there is going to be a bit of a problem if he croaks it in his sleep
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[/ QUOTE ] Perhaps he better start living out in anticipation of his sad demise!
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Tia - that is what happened to Stan! He died in the evening of the Sunday and so we scooped him up in the JCB bucket, legs straight up
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and there he stayed until the hunt came - I was about the only one that wasn't bothered, I was just pissed off that it had taken 2 days to get those bloody shoes on him and they were only a week old!
 
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