Poor horse *warning not a pleasant pic*

It looks like it was euthanised as you can clearly see the fluid pool on it's neck. It also looks like it was a healthy horse. Having mechanically lifted many a dead horse out of fields I can tell you it isn't always pretty trying to hoist 1200lbs of deadweight so I'm not at all surprised there are marks on the horse.
 
Loopypony said:
This is truly horrific :(

Apologies for possibly sounding a bit thick - does anyone know if horses swell once they've died? This one looks to me like its underside neck and chest is slightly swollen? Could just be the way its 'lying' there though. Just curious!
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Yes they bloat hugely for about 12-24 hours after death and after that they then ooze fluids from out of all their orifices and it stinks to high heaven. Sorry to be graphic but that is what happens.
 
Spring Feather said:
It looks like it was euthanised as you can clearly see the fluid pool on it's neck. It also looks like it was a healthy horse. Having mechanically lifted many a dead horse out of fields I can tell you it isn't always pretty trying to hoist 1200lbs of deadweight so I'm not at all surprised there are marks on the horse.
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I hope this is the case ^^ disgusting to just dump the poor thing like a bit of rubbish though. Whoever found the poor thing must be traumatised I know I would be.
 
Loopypony said:
Thank you Spring Feather, just happened to notice it and was intrigued!
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Yes you can see that the whole front end of the horse has started to swell. It still has a way to go though. The bloating moves to the rest of the body and once they're fully bloated all over they can get exceptionally large :o This horse looks like it's been dead for 5 or more hours.
 
Not nice but it also is not a recent find....picture has been doing the rounds on facebook a few times in the last 6 months. I know it has popped up in my news feed as being found in in various parts of UK & Ireland
 
amage said:
Not nice but it also is not a recent find....picture has been doing the rounds on facebook a few times in the last 6 months. I know it has popped up in my news feed as being found in in various parts of UK & Ireland
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That happens with Facebook a lot. A shock-value picture or story "does the rounds". The details like time, place etc, change and yet people re-post and take it on face value. Unless I know the source I ignore these things. They're probably mostly not what they seem.
 
Could it not be possible that this horse has had to be euthanised (as Spring Feather says, you can see the pooling in the neck and chest) and the ropes are there in readiness for the disposal van?
I recently helped a friend by being there when her old lad was euthanised and taken away. He immediately had lymphodema appear on the injection site. I then stayed with him whilst he was winched onto the knacker van. He was in poor condition (very elderly and the reason he was pts) and it still took a huge amount of effort to get his body loaded.
It is quite possible that this horse's 'whip marks' were caused by being pulled out of a stable/from the field or even from an owners desperate attept to get him/her up if it had gone down before the decision was made. I know from getting sheep and cattle up how much effort it takes!
 
Rosehip said:
Could it not be possible that this horse has had to be euthanised (as Spring Feather says, you can see the pooling in the neck and chest) and the ropes are there in readiness for the disposal van?
I recently helped a friend by being there when her old lad was euthanised and taken away. He immediately had lymphodema appear on the injection site. I then stayed with him whilst he was winched onto the knacker van. He was in poor condition (very elderly and the reason he was pts) and it still took a huge amount of effort to get his body loaded.
It is quite possible that this horse's 'whip marks' were caused by being pulled out of a stable/from the field or even from an owners desperate attept to get him/her up if it had gone down before the decision was made. I know from getting sheep and cattle up how much effort it takes!
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This was the first thing that came to my mind. Looks like a horse that's been put down and ready to be taken. The ropes are not wrapped round the horse crudely etc.
The whip marks sound like potentially a story written to go with the photo.... however it is all conjecture.

Pan
 
I agree. There is too much you can't know from a photo.

It is possible that the carcass was dragged to this position and was awaiting the removal lorry.

It's not very dignified, but the poor animal wont know anything about it.
 
Casey76 said:
I agree. There is too much you can't know from a photo.

It is possible that the carcass was dragged to this position and was awaiting the removal lorry.

It's not very dignified, but the poor animal wont know anything about it.
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About 40 years ago, my cousin Anne's beloved, well cared for pony died suddenly in her field on my uncle's farm. :( My aunt told me how in order to have the body removal done before Anne came home from school, they had to drag him from his field with the tractor, using ropes round his legs, and have him collected from the roadside.

She told me they both cried through the whole thing, and his poor body was covered in cuts and scrapes when they'd finished.

If a person passing had taken a pic of my cousin's pony at that point, all sorts of assumptions could have been made from that photo.
 
victoria1980x said:
Terrible I wonder which "section of the community" this poor animal belonged to, I can guess.

The worst thing is the monsters who did this walk amongst us without a care in the world..
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and what 'section of the community' would that be? I find is very offensive that you should jump to conclusions without knowing ANYTHING regarding the owners or cause of death.

Maybe the horse died of colic/aneurysm etc etc. His legs would have been tied together to drag or winch him out of his box/field and onto a truck etc to then dump him as it costs less than sending him to a rendering plant. Not nice but there you go.
The horse looks in good condition , if a little swollen, so I would doubt if he has been underfed etc.
Before blaming that 'section of the community' find out the facts first before you begin to hurl mud. :(
 
FionaM12 said:
About 40 years ago, my cousin Anne's beloved, well cared for pony died suddenly in her field on my uncle's farm. :( My aunt told me how in order to have the body removal done before Anne came home from school, they had to drag him from his field with the tractor, using ropes round his legs, and have him collected from the roadside.

She told me they both cried through the whole thing, and his poor body was covered in cuts and scrapes when they'd finished.

If a person passing had taken a pic of my cousin's pony at that point, all sorts of assumptions could have been made from that photo.
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if one of ours dies in his box, we have to tie his legs together tightly (at fetlocks) so that we can drag him out without having him getting stuck in the doorway. He is then dragged out of the yard and left at the side of the road (private) till the truck comes. A mini grab thing then lifts him into the truck and away he goes. We do have to remove his shoes which is pretty horrible but if left would ruin the rendering machinary :(.

This Wesly, the last horse who was PTS at the age of 26(ish)....
DSCF0005-6.jpg


he also had 'whip' marks on his side but in reality they were marks caused by him being dragged while still warm.Not a pleasant subject but part of life.
 
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Rosehip said:
This isnt a 'traveller' pony - look at the condition of the coat, the way the mane and tail are brushed out, pulled and banged. This horse has been very well looked after, well fed and rugged until very very recently... its a sad fact that its quite possible that his/her owners simply couldnt afford the disposal costs, or that it has been stolen and passed away in transit....
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Just what I was thinking. There are so many people to whom horses are just a commodity, I'm thinking of the whip marks here. :( Just seen, yes perhaps they are drag marks.

The legs are tied and ropes attached to move a dead horse as has been said.
 
Fairynuff said:
if one of ours dies in his box, we have to tie his legs together tightly (at fetlocks) so that we can drag him out without having him getting stuck in the doorway. He is then dragged out of the yard and left at the side of the road (private) till the truck comes. A mini grab thing then lifts him into the truck and away he goes. We do have to remove his shoes which is pretty horrible but if left would ruin the rendering machinary :(.

This Wesly, the last horse who was PTS at the age of 26(ish)....
DSCF0005-6.jpg


he also had 'whip' marks on his side but in reality they were marks caused by him being dragged while still warm.Not a pleasant subject but part of life.
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Whilst this in't a nice photo I think it's great you posted it. Disposing of horses is brutal and people seem to miss how unpleasant it is to watch and how undignified it is. I don't think I could watch one of my own be picked up. Shot yes but winched on to the truck, no :( It's easy to see how the carcass could be marked to look like it had been 'whipped' when infact nothing of the sort happened
 
Fairynuff said:
and what 'section of the community' would that be? I find is very offensive that you should jump to conclusions without knowing ANYTHING regarding the owners or cause of death.

Before blaming that 'section of the community' find out the facts first before you begin to hurl mud. :(
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I find it offensive too. There are some people who are very quick to start making snide remarks and hints like that. :mad:

For a short while it was beginning to look like this was going to be yet another "gypsy" bashing thread. Fortunately there were enough sensible, unprejudiced people here to stop that on this occasion. :)
 
The cost of carcase disposal is one of the arguments for keeping slaughter facilities in this country. Better a horse should go to the abbatoir than be left to suffer.

Dead horses are a sad sight, but it looks like that one was well cared for - the whip marks could just as well have come from dragging the carcase. I hope, if it was cared for, that the owner doesn't come across this.
 
Fairynuff said:
and what 'section of the community' would that be? I find is very offensive that you should jump to conclusions without knowing ANYTHING regarding the owners or cause of death.

Maybe the horse died of colic/aneurysm etc etc. His legs would have been tied together to drag or winch him out of his box/field and onto a truck etc to then dump him as it costs less than sending him to a rendering plant. Not nice but there you go.
The horse looks in good condition , if a little swollen, so I would doubt if he has been underfed etc.
Before blaming that 'section of the community' find out the facts first before you begin to hurl mud. :(
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Ditto, everyone is so quick to judge these days!

I hope the owner doesn't come across this picture :( :(
 
To me that looks like a very stunning trotter! Poor thing,such a nice horse. So sad that he ended up like that,he deserved to be put to rest or disposed of more kindly.
 
fruity said:
To me that looks like a very stunning trotter! Poor thing,such a nice horse. So sad that he ended up like that,he deserved to be put to rest or disposed of more kindly.
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But how do we know from that one picture that it is a 'poor thing that should have been put to rest more kindly'?? This horse may have been loved all it's life and then PTS (due to illness/injury or what ever) with it's owner at it's head distraught. I may have then been moved from the field or stable and left in the gateway ready for collection, the horses body only needed to be there in that position for a matter of seconds for the picture to be taken.

Just because it is not a pleasant picture it does not mean that the horse wasn't loved, cared for and given the ending it deserved.
 
Should anybody know anything about this horse, who is 'we' that should be contacted? If it was some six months or more ago, let's hope it has been resolved.
 
Has anyone thought that perhaps the owner of the horse took that picture just as the poster who took a picture of her last horse being winched away??
It only takes one venomous person to right click on a picture, save it on their own photobucket and then send it out as a picture of some atrocity or another!

For instance :-

This picture is taken off the internet, and cropped...it shows a lamb in a field.

dead_sheep-1.jpg


Or does it?

Now look at the UNcropped picture. Tells a whole different story doesnt it.

dead_sheep.jpg


Maybe people should take a step back when they see something, to look at the bigger picture.
 
Rosehip said:
Maybe people should take a step back when they see something, to look at the bigger picture.
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and perhaps people need to learn not to believe everything they read on facebook !! especially photos which we all know can be deceiving. How many of us have had a picture taken just as we were blinking and the resulting photo makes us look drunk as a skunk??
The chances are if this photo and story has been doing the rounds for a month or so then it's some sad twisted hoax designed to get gullible people up in arms, :rolleyes:
 
Ibblebibble said:
and perhaps people need to learn not to believe everything they read on facebook !! especially photos which we all know can be deceiving. How many of us have had a picture taken just as we were blinking and the resulting photo makes us look drunk as a skunk??
The chances are if this photo and story has been doing the rounds for a month or so then it's some sad twisted hoax designed to get gullible people up in arms, :rolleyes:
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My sentiments exactly!

If it hadnt been for myself and another person in the field with my friends horse waiting for the transport, then people could have legitimately seen a dead horse who had been abandonded in the field.

Dont believe everything you see or read, look past the cover of the book.
 
Fairynuff said:
and what 'section of the community' would that be? I find is very offensive that you should jump to conclusions without knowing ANYTHING regarding the owners or cause of death.

Maybe the horse died of colic/aneurysm etc etc. His legs would have been tied together to drag or winch him out of his box/field and onto a truck etc to then dump him as it costs less than sending him to a rendering plant. Not nice but there you go.
The horse looks in good condition , if a little swollen, so I would doubt if he has been underfed etc.
Before blaming that 'section of the community' find out the facts first before you begin to hurl mud. :(
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I am so sorry you found my comments so offensive- get a life.I'm not bothered what you think about my conclusions, last time I checked this was an open forum.
 
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