Pony's field companion being PTS this afternoon.

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I have a retired cob who spends his life mostly turned out with another, older retired pony for company at a local livery yard. Sadly, the other pony is very unwell and his owners have decided to PTS today. The two are very strongly bonded. As I write, they are turned out together in a lovely, shady paddock and the vet will do the necessary outside. I am planning to be there, of course, to support my horse, and the owner of the pony who is a good friend. But I have never been in this situation before, so all advice on how to help my old boy deal with this would be more than welcome. Do I leave him in the field, take him out, let him see his companion after the deed is done???? Help!

Thank you everyone.
 
I left my girls together. After the one was PTS I left her in the field until she was ready to be buried and it was only after she was taken away the other one got upset.

Is there other ponies on the property to keep your boy company?
 
Most definitely let the cob see the body and absorb what has happened.
One of mine was PTS whilst out in summer grazing I thought they had accepted it but the knacker was a bit quick off the mark in putting the body in the trailer. For 2 long years her BF would come home, check out the fields visually and then go straight to the dead horse's stable, just looking for her. :(
 
I went through this, 2 kept together... Took the one over to an out of sight place for PTS then led other one over to see body. He was very disturbed by it and took some encouragement to get close enough, but after his friend had been taken away never called or looked for him, was depressed for couple weeks while on own (unexpected PTS) but once his new girlfriend arrived perked right back up.

I think he could see from a distance his friends body being taken, not intentional that he could see but he didn't really react to it.
 
Thank you for the replies. I think I'll leave them together whilst it happens and give my boy a bit of time of he needs it. @Peglo ... yes, we have another pony lined up as stand in companion - another elderly gelding. Sad day ... :-(
 
give your horse some treats whilst the pony is PTS and then just everyone walk away and leave them. Preferably delay removal for as long as possible. If it was possible I would wait however long it took for the horse to walk away and stay away but that may not be possible. I think it better if the grieving horse makes the decision to leave.
It takes as long as it takes for a grieving horse. I have had some mourn the body and some who simply couldn't give a damn and the dead horse has been their friend and looked after them for years. What ungrateful gits they were. :)

It is not very predictable what a grieving horse will do. For some it is a shrug and "so what" and some unfortunately take it a lot more personally.
My worst, a sec D totally dependent on his donkey, grieved and was inconsolable for 3 days. I put another horse in to keep him company but he didn't care. The new horse was young and a PITA. After 3 days the grieving horse just snapped out of it and started to deal with the youngsters poor behaviour. So sometimes another horse helps and sometimes it doesn't and sometimes after a few days it does.
You just never know.

very sad day for all of you.
 
I had this last summer. Sudden PTS when Indy back legs went. Three sniffed then walked away. The other became fixated. Kept stamping on her. And had to be removed from the field. It was quite aggressive. Or perhaps she just wanted her to get up?
 
Equi said:
It depends on the logistics but if possible I would take him away for the deed but let him out to see the body, then take away again for the removal.
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This is what happened when my lad lost his field companion. I was incredibly worried that he wouldnt cope but he surprised me and just accepted that he had gone .
 
So sorry your friend is having to face this.

All horses are different. I would stand some way away with your horse, perhaps feed him treats (I'm anti-treat but make an exception in such circumstances!) and make a fuss of him. And afterwards let him have a look, he may want to spend quite a bit of time sniffing and nudging, or he may simply take one look and walk off. I have never seen one react aggressively but as others have said above, it can happen so be prepared and be careful. If you have somewhere to take him out of sight when the pony is removed, I would do so.

You've said you have another companion coming, I'd get him settled with your boy as soon as you can. Be prepared your boy might be a bit quiet for a few days.

You sound like a thoroughly lovely person saying you want to be there for your horse, as well as your friend. But if you have not seen it before, be aware that it isn't a nice thing to see and make sure you take a bit of time afterwards for you too. I tend to be the person my friends call in PTS situations because I can detach myself and am very unemotional and practical about it, but that isn't to say it doesn't hit me later (and I am a wreck when it's come to my own).
 
I had my old boy PTS last week, the fallen stock company came out.
I always leave them in the same routine, but have an area taped off where they are fed seperately from the others, my old boy was is gods waiting room with another just for extra food, so I kept the rest in the sheds until the lorry left and then turned them out together. IME, and I have a few PTS they do not bother if they have distraction and company.
I think it becomes difficult the they can not collect quickly so make sure its in a place that is not going to get a lot of people or animals going by.
 
exracehorse said:
I had this last summer. Sudden PTS when Indy back legs went. Three sniffed then walked away. The other became fixated. Kept stamping on her. And had to be removed from the field. It was quite aggressive. Or perhaps she just wanted her to get up?
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Maybe some animals actually do respond to that situation with genuine aggression, but I believe that most often what looks like aggression to us, is simply somewhat brutal attempts from them to try to get their friend to wake up/get up. Either way, especially if it's the first time they see a dead body, you never know how they'll respond to having to figure out that their friend isn't with us anymore.

Several years ago, one of my cats responded to seeing a dead dog body the first time with taking a few sniffs, and then she bit one of the dog's paws. Since both the cat, and the dog belonged to me, I could allow it, but of course, if the dead animal belongs to someone else, it's understandable you don't want your animal to behave in a way which could be viewed as disrespectful by the grieving owner.

I hope that things went as calmly, and smoothly as possible today @PinkUnicorn , and that neither you, nor your cob is too upset.
 
exracehorse said:
I had this last summer. Sudden PTS when Indy back legs went. Three sniffed then walked away. The other became fixated. Kept stamping on her. And had to be removed from the field. It was quite aggressive. Or perhaps she just wanted her to get up?
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It is likely to be the latter. I had a mare who did that to her stillborn foal. She knew the foal should be getting up and was clearly confused and increasingly frustrated that it wasn't, so kept vigorously pawing and nipping at it to try and encourage it (this is what they with do naturally if the foal is a bit slow to stand).
 
A few years ago one the oldies went off his legs suddenly, and had to be pts in the field.

It wasn't practical at that moment to remove all the others (herd of 10).

One came and stood with her head on the owners shoulders throughout.

We had to leave them all in there whilst we organised another field for them to go into. They all went and stood around his body, gently touching him. After about an hour we were able to remove the rest to other grazing.

The old boy was buried where he fell. This is now their snooze area when they are in that field.

Although he was field boss,no one worried about him going, I'm sure because they were able to say their goodbyes.
 
Nonjumper said:
It is likely to be the latter. I had a mare who did that to her stillborn foal. She knew the foal should be getting up and was clearly confused and increasingly frustrated that it wasn't, so kept vigorously pawing and nipping at it to try and encourage it (this is what they with do naturally if the foal is a bit slow to stand).
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That’s sad. Did your mare emotionally recover ? I was quite traumatised when she started to stamp on Indy head.
 
exracehorse said:
That’s sad. Did your mare emotionally recover ? I was quite traumatised when she started to stamp on Indy head.
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Yes, pretty quickly. The foal was stillborn so no bond had formed. She demanded to go out with the others when they were turned out later that morning. I cleaned out the stable completely and put in fresh bedding then when she came in I put her two year old daughter in with her for the night. She checked the area where the foal had been and sniffed the new bedding for a few moments, but then she just moved on.
 
Just dropped back in to update.

The deed was done yesterday afternoon in the field. I held my boy a little way away until the vet confirmed that his pal was gone, then we let him off and left them together for a while. My lad sniffed at the pony shaped mound on the ground for a while but then wandered away to graze as if he didn't recognise the body as his old pal. I took him in while the pony was removed and kept him in overnight, and we turned him out with his new turn-out buddy this morning. He seemed a bit quiet, but settled, which I'm happy about. Hopefully, he's OK with it and I'm just over-thinking it all.

Thank you all for your thoughts and shared experiences.
 
I held a friend's horse when he was pts. She couldn't bear to be there and went out for a two-hour hack with friends. The knacker man came and I let him in, showed him which horse it was, where his money was and the school which my friend had elected to have him shot in. He made me confirm which horse it was by showing him the horse's nameplate on the stable door. I led him out to the school , gave him a treat, gave the knacker man the rope and stepped away. Before I had reached the side of the school, the horse was on the floor, completely dead. There was some blood dripping down his nose, but that was it. I watched him being winched aboard and transported away. Afterwards, I cleaned up the blood, raked the school, mucked out his stable and left the clean straw in a corner. The owner came back, asked if it had gone alright. I confirmed that it had. Gave her a bunch of her favourite roses and left her in the capable hands of her husband and her groom.
I would prefer a competent knacker man over a vet any day. In the past, I've seen vets struggle to find a vein.
 
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