Really random - horses committing suicide?!

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Morgan123

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Hiya, really totally random Q and just out of interest (sorry it's both morbid and long!!).

at my yard, we hve some meadows that back onto a river which is pretty deep. The horses don't go out next to these meadows anymore, but they used to for years and years. I was chatting wiht someone who's been at that yard for like 40 years today, and she was telling me about all these cases of horses (she mentioned about four/five different ones and i've heard some of them from others too) who lived in these fields for absolutely ages wiht no problems whatsoever, totally happy there - and then when they got veyr very old, or in one case very very ill with ragwort poisoning and the owner would not have the horse put down even though it was in a lot of pain, they took themselves down to the river and drowned. this is despite having lived next to and drunk form this river for years prior to that.

I heard another one a while ago about this racehorse that just hated racing, totally stressed out. One day he was racing and he just ran straight through the rails, through a hedge, and plunged himself and his jockey into a lake. They both ended up surviving and the horse ended up in a nice home where he does very little - but just makes you think! I mean, that ones a bit different cos you could say he was just in a highly stressful state and didn't know what he was doing, but still.

I was thinking, in the wild a horse that is past it would have either a long and slow death or be eaten by something, so in a way it would make sense if they had some sort of suicidal urge at some point in thier lives. But I'd never really heard about this/thought about it before - do horses actually commit suicide?! anyone else every heard of anything like it?!

Sorry it's a bit morbid for a saturday night....!!! :-)
 
There has actually been studies to prove horses WILL commit suicide, it's meant to be one of the reasons they head press when they have severe liver damage
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Dont have any help at all lol .. but where you mention the racehorse ... at the racing yard I work at we had a horse who didnt want to go into the stalls, so they blindfolded him. He went in and when they closed the stalls behind him he panicked and fought his way through the gates, left his jockey behind in the stalls and cantered down the track, still blindfolded, straight into the lake at Kempton. He got out fine, and was then retired and now has a new home, but I was wondering if that was the story you heard (but had got muddled along the way) or if another horse did kind of the same thing?! Theres a video of our horse doing it, if you go onto Youtube and type in Blue Warrior The Great Escape, then you can see it
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Dont think he was trying to commit suicide though :P
 
I'd bet a lot of money that that first story is absolute nonsense - I just don't think animals deciding to commit suicide is possible in any way, shape or form.

I once read an article about laminitis and the vet who wrote it said they had seen several horses that had foundered completely (essentially their hooves were no longer attached to their body) dash blindly into anything in front of them if forced to move, and had seen several kill themselves this way. But that surely is a reaction to extreme pain rather than a premeditated decision to end their own life, which I don't believe animals are capable of.
 
Probably an interesting question but i'd like to think they were not committing suicide.

I have a deep stream running through most of my fields and after having horses here for 50 years none have gone in, apart from to wade through to get to the nice juicy hay field!!!
However last autumn a few decided to take up scuba diving and ended up stuck with the water nearly over their backs, (none drowned luckily) this happened to 5 in total - idiots! Anyway needless to say we have put up new fencing to stop them.

I think the ones you are talking about have either been too ill or too old to get back out of the water, I do not think for a minute that horses would choose to die in this way if at all.
 
Yeh maybe - I did think maybe they wer ejsut too ill to get out, but it does seem random. And in terms of genetics and survival and all, it would kind of make sense for the elderly to take themselves off and vanish into a river, thus not allowing themselves to be picked off by wolves and helping the survival of the wolf family?! just random anyway. Am interested in what Boogles said.

The racehorse is like 25 now, could that be the same one? he's in oxfordshire. they didn't mention a blindfold but could have been exaggerated!!
 

The racehorse is like 25 now, could that be the same one? he's in oxfordshire. they didn't mention a blindfold but could have been exaggerated!!

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Ahh no he's not that old, it happened earlier last year. Just weird that another racer also ran into a lake lol
 
Have never come across this with a horse, but years ago when I was a child a really old dog that lived a bout a mile away jumped into a canal lock infront of us. He stood at the edge rocking back and for before jumpimg. I was all for trying to get him out, but the old farmer who ran the yard wouldnt let us. He knew the ower and the dog, the dog had been ill for a while and was due to be PTS.
 
This may be completley off the point but my horse had colic when she was young and when she was at the worst point she would submerge her head into her water bucket and look as though she was trying to drown herself!! My vet said horses do this when theyre very ill i have since heard of another horse doing this to but sadly he died??
 
I think it's true! My 4 year old tried to kill himself a few weeks ago! Was cross tied in wash box, and tried to itch his head with left hind. Got left hind stuck in between cross tie and halter. Fell over and got wedged against wall, with his left hind fetlock wedged under his jaw. I had to cut him free, he's been lame ever since. I keep keep telling him that there were easier ways to have prolonged his holiday!!
 
I think there's two ways of looking at this. Firstly, after having kept a large group by a river (not a fast flowing one mind, just part of a flood plane) you will find they do sometimes go in for a swim! So sometimes obv. they just don't make it out. Horses that are in extreme pain may exhibit strange behaviours, someone has mentioned head pressing, which is correct, they also do know when their time has come and sort of give up. Anyone who has ever dealt with with a horse in this situation will know how different it is to a normal healthy horse or one thats fighting. So I think it's more likely that the sick horses were chased by the others in the herd (which horses will do as it threatens their herd safety) and ended up in the water, but being frail they got out there and gave up fighting as they had no energy left to pull themselves out.
 
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