What happens to our horses if there is a WW3?

[throwawayaccount]

as title, I’ve been thinking about it over and over.

will our horses be enlisted in some way, as they were in previous wars?

does anyone have any kind of emergency plan or idea for what they’ll do with their horses, if we do go to war?

There could be a roll on affect for everything in terms of sourcing basic necessities for our horses - how will we afford them if prices skyrocket ?

Cost of living is already going up, petrol etc.

I may be overthinking, however it’s starting to frighten me. A few weeks ago I listened to the radio and folk called in from Ukraine saying they doubted anything would happen, it was scaremongering and what have you,and look where we are now.

of course this is hypothetical and just my own worrying, but wanted to see if anyone else has any concerns??

 

[Tiddlypom]

I have to say that this thought had occurred to me ?.

The horses won't be enlisted, but keeping them would become increasingly difficult.

Life as we know it would stop. Let's all fervently hope that it doesn't go there, but it is a very real possibility.

 

[milliepops]

I can't imagine my horses being enlisted for anything except findus lasagne tbh ?

Have always thought that if there was some major drama then the ones at home would be just fine for long time. We have mountains of hay and they have minimal needs. If it went REALLY wrong and we had to leave in a hurry, any that couldn't come with us I guess I'd let go free in the forest ?‍

 

[AmyMay]

If we did go to war we would buy two ponies (and a trap) for transport.

 

[Peglo]

I can’t see horses being enlisted. If there is a proper war it could be a nuclear one which is terrifying. As for looking after horses, other than feeds and all the extras I guess mine would stay much the same. (If we can get a farmer to cut hay through the summer that is) 2 of my 3 wouldn’t even be any use to findus ?

ETA ^^^ going to oil up the push bike now

 

[vannersrus]

It’s a terrifying thought but if a nuclear war came with the accompanying radiation and dying of forage they would be better off pts ?

 

[Red-1]

In the short term, I don't think Rigs is up to much work, we live in the middle of nowhere and I'm not even sure he would be a reliable mode of transport to the nearest shops! I guess he could learn to pull a plough or something, not that I have one or know what to do with it LOL.

Baby horse would have to grow up. He could pull a trap easily enough. Not that I have one, or have fully trained one to go in one! At least he could go shopping and would be reliable enough to tie up outside.

They would both make tasty steaks.

I don't have much of my own land so would have to buy feed in. I could possibly keep one alive on what I have. That would be a tough call. However, I hope that we will have hay at least available.

Both can go barefoot.

 

[palo1]

I have considered this too though I would hope that it is entirely hypothetical. Given a little bit of time I would take the horses up into the hills to the summer grazing. They could stay there quite happily and it is high enough and poor enough for me to not have to totally panic about laminitis,. Longer term they probably could adjust to a feral life on the open hill if I were around to check them regularly etc. Then they would cost us virtually nothing and could be shot if need be. If things went nuclear, depending on the situation, I would probably shoot them as the thought of them being burnt or having radiation poisoning is too grim for me. I would want to know they were gone. Ghastly subject that hopefully never becomes any kind of reality in the UK.

ETA - in terms of 'usefulness' all of ours could and would do a job. They can all shepherd to a degree and 3 out of the current 4 could be trained to drive. My Araby chap probably isn't suitable for that but he would make an excellent getaway car!! All can go unshod and are relatively low maintenance too. We have used them to get to the shop and my vulnerable FIL when snow made vehicles too tricky as well.

 

[Errin Paddywack]

Ours would be put down.

 

[katastrophykat]

I love all the ‘train to drive comments… most of the vehicles nowadays are manufactured in Eastern Europe, and I suspect that manufacture plants would be turned over to munitions- you can break them to drive, but you might struggle to find a suitable vehicle of any form!

 

[AmyMay]

We’ve also talked about how to accommodate family members at ours if it’s needed, if they need (want) to evacuate to the countryside.

 

[ycbm]

I love all the ‘train to drive comments… most of the vehicles nowadays are manufactured in Eastern Europe, and I suspect that manufacture plants would be turned over to munitions- you can break them to drive, but you might struggle to find a suitable vehicle of any form!

I believe this happened a lot in WWii

 

[milliepops]

OH has broken horses to drive before and if there was energy of some form that could power the welder i am confident he could knock up a form of transport for us with the junk useful items that are dotted around. there are multiple generators and inverters and whatnot so i guess the form of energy would be fairly flexible for a while. The question is which horse though.... they're all a similar size so i guess we could try them all

all joking aside i think i picked quite a good spouse for the apocalypse, he's very handy.

 

[ycbm]

all joking aside i think i picked quite a good spouse for the apocalypse, he's very handy

I have one of those but maybe I should stop him selling off any more of his junk really useful stuff so we can fit into a housing estate?
.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

It has occurred to me, too. There will certainly be no enlisting of horses, what on earth would be the point? Horses weren't used extensively in WW11 and they would be no use at all in a nuclear war, which I'm afraid is what WW3 would be. We just have to hope that it doesn't come to that. Maybe Putin will be 'dealt with' at home. Fingers crossed!

 

[Miss_Millie]

If war came to this country, it would be nuclear. There wouldn't be any survivors. I imagine it would all be over very quickly...let's hope it doesn't come to that.

 

[throwawayaccount]

Thanks all for your replies,

I wonder how the Ukrainian horses are doing, if there’s any kind of appeal they have going we can support?

I’m not sure they are the same as us, livery yard wise??

 

[Indy]

Heaven forbid it comes to it but all of mine who are golden oldies would be put down.

 

[Pearlsacarolsinger]

Thanks all for your replies,

I wonder how the Ukrainian horses are doing, if there’s any kind of appeal they have going we can support?

I’m not sure they are the same as us, livery yard wise??

I have no direct knowledge but the people who are leaving are mostly city dwellers, so I guess that horses and farm animals are still being cared for by their owners. A friend has Ukrainian relatives who have a small mixed farm and that appears to be the norm outside the cities.

 

[scats]

I wish anyone luck trying to enlist Millie and Polly… though they’d probably feed a good number of troops!

 

[Winters100]

I could not see a war between NATO and Russia being fought with conventional weapons, so most likely the fate of our horses would be the same as our families.

 

[Winters100]

I have no direct knowledge but the people who are leaving are mostly city dwellers, so I guess that horses and farm animals are still being cared for by their owners. A friend has Ukrainian relatives who have a small mixed farm and that appears to be the norm outside the cities.

Mostly the countryside has not been a focus of attack, but many horses from areas closer to Kyiv have been transported to Poland by volunteers, many people are offering free accommodation for them and vets are offering free services to care for them.

 

[Cortez]

Ours would be put down.

The woman who first employed me told me that her father had shot all their horses rather than let them be commandeered for WWI, working horses and hunters.

 

[ycbm]

The woman who first employed me told me that her father had shot all their horses rather than let them be commandeered for WWI, working horses and hunters.

I would do the same. The pictures of those poor horses stuck in the mud in Flanders trying to pull cannon give me nightmares. I would shoot mine myself before allowing that to happen to them.
.

 

[MissTyc]

I live on the South Downs with good doer ponies, so I suppose I would set them free there if things were looking bad but not dire, in the hope of finding them again at some point. If things were looking end of the world dire, then like many others, I would try to have them put down humanely before attempting to flee to a safer country or to save them from a slow lingering death. That's if nobody else eats them first! I would have to prioritise myself, my family, then the dogs if at all possible. The dogs are a form of asset in terms of protection and rabbit hunting, but in reality, in the end one would do whatever one needed to survive. Obviously I am hoping it doesn't come to that, but like others on this thread I fear a WW3 would be "all or nothing". Probably all and everyone.

 

[HorseyTee]

If it happened, I'd have 2 options really.
As we are in quite a busy area with Birmingham not too far away, the chances are we'd be pretty buggered here.
So I'd go to my sister who lives in Pembrokeshire surrounded by country, I'd try and get the horses transported there, but if that wasn't an option, I'd have them shot to ensure they wouldn't have to suffer.
I hope its not something any of us have to actually think too seriously about though because that is a terrifying thought.

 

[smolmaus]

If it looks like it's going nuclear I suppose I'll ask if the vet can put me down along with the pony and the cats, to save on multiple callout fees.

 

[tiga71]

MIne would just live out in their massive field. They live out all year round without additional food anyway. If there was a nuclear war it wouldn't matter anyway, we would all be dead pretty quickly.

 

[Birker2020]

Everything I've read says it is extremely unlikely that we will go to War. I'm starting to stop over thinking on the constant 'what ifs' in life now.

 

[Sealine]

Watching the news this morning I saw a man carrying a cat which made me think what I'd do with my dog in the same situation. I decided that as he is elderly and a long journey would be difficult for him I'd have him PTS. I hadn't thought about my horse though! My horse is old and arthritic so I'd have to make the same tough decision. WW3 is a terrifying thought animals or no animals.