What to do if 'the worst' happens?

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lucy1984

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Sorry to be morbid but I was just thinking.
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What would you do if you went to check the horses one day and one of them had died?

Who do you call? Do you get the hunt out to take the body away?

Can the body be buried on the farmers land with his/her permission?

This hasnt happened to me or anyone I know so I was just wondering.
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This happened to my best friend earlier this year - it was absolutely devastating - on the evening he was fine- the next morning gone - it was her birthday too. She called the vet who arranged everything - no way she could have done it herself - she was just in to much of a state to think straight.
 
i've thought about this too, and decided I would probably call vet and ask what to do. If it was that sudden I would probably want to know reason anyway.
 
I am a bit of a control freak. When I first got a horse I made my decisions and did a little research in advance.

Having now had 2 horses PTS one planned and one unexpected, it did make things very straight forward tbh.

I know what will be done and all the numbers I will need are in my mobile. Vet, Emergency Vet, Insurance, Cremation Service etc.

It's not morbid at all. It just makes an awful time a little less distressing.
 
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I am a bit of a control freak. When I first got a horse I made my decisions and did a little research in advance.

Having now had 2 horses PTS one planned and one unexpected, it did make things very straight forward tbh.

I know what will be done and all the numbers I will need are in my mobile. Vet, Emergency Vet, Insurance, Cremation Service etc.

It's not morbid at all. It just makes an awful time a little less distressing.

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I wouldn't say you are morbid at all, just practical and TBH, is one of the things you should think about if you are a pet or horse owner; you must be prepared for all eventualities, even the worse ones, it's no good falling to pieces, that gets nothing done. I'm not hard, just practical, I don't like to think I'm not capable of making decisions however much of a shock it is; nothing worse than just wailing and wringing your hands no matter how upset you are, it does nothing but make you look weak when you need to be strong. That doesn't mean you don't care at all but there's always time to grieve later when the priorities have been dealt with.

To OP, if it was a complete shock with no obvious cause, then I'd ask the kennels to collect (or take it there; there's always someone with a flatbed lorry or flat trailer you can ask) providing the horse wasn't already on drugs. If on drugs, then your knacker man to collect as it can't be fed to hounds and just costs the hunt money to dispose of themselves. I would also inform the insurance and tell them what I have planned and also ask the vet to do the pm if necessary (remind the kennels at delivery/collection that pm is to be done else the horse might not still be there if vet is delayed!)
For those that want a burial ground at home then you need somewhere well away from any water courses and a friendly digger driver; the hole will be large, at least twice the length and height of the horse to minimise risk of it being dug down to by scavengers and don't forget you need friendly digger driver to fill in the hole after burial too which deserves at the least £20 and/or a bottle of whisky if it has been done by a friend.
For those wanting cremation, then you just need to call the crem' ASAP and they will do it all for you - at a great price; it might be sad for you but it's a money spinner for them so expect to pay through the nose for that especially if you want your own horse's ashes back as you're quite likely to get whatever is handy otherwise. TBH, I'm not sure how you can be sure you get your own ashes back anyway as there's no way to see any difference unless you are actually there at the firing which most people wouldn't want to do. Me, cynical? What makes you think that?
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Yes, it is a distressing time that I don't wish on anyone but you can make it much easier on yourself if you have made any plans for this and have the numbers you need handy in your phone or diary.
 
Not morbid but sensible. One of the issues we took into consideration when buying our property was the access for a lorry in an emergency. Having had several pts at home now we know the routine. We ring either the hunt to do the job and remove or the local Equine Crematorium. We do not want the ashes back so the cost is about the same whichever comes out. The only advice extra to any-one else's that I would give, is to have an alternative number to ring, there is nothing worse than trying to get help in an emergency and getting either no reply or an answerphone.
 
Personally, in my situation, I wouldn't call anyone. I would just bury it.

I think if I didn't have the facilities, I would call the hunt or deadstock collectors, the Vet would have contact numbers.

If it was completely unexpected and a claim on the insurance was needed then presumably a post mortem would have to be carried out, so again the Vet would be called. Also there is the question of infection or poisoning to be considered and whether this may affect other horses.

I don't think livestock can be buried within a certain distance of a water source but I don't know the facts on that.
 
This happened to a friend of mine last week.
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The first person she rang was the vet, the insurance company and then the hunt..... very sad.
 
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I think i would call the vet out first, then my insurance company to get advice. God forbid it ever happens.

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Well... unless you are going to sell your horse, it's inevitable that it'll die at some point - they don't live forever!
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OP - Good post - it's always good to see that people are prepared!
Kate x
 
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I think i would call the vet out first, then my insurance company to get advice. God forbid it ever happens.

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Well... unless you are going to sell your horse, it's inevitable that it'll die at some point - they don't live forever!
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Yes i do know that! I mean't god forbid i find him dead.
 
Hunts aren't allowed to take dead stock anymore, unless they come and shot it themselves DEFRA you know. Lost my lovely heavy weight cob begining of October and the local slaughterman came within in the hour to pick him up and the charge was £150 and even with a dead horse they still treated him with some dignity when loading him up.
 
I do think everybody should have plans in place from the start for how to dispose of the body. No matter if it planned or sudden.

No, a horse cannot be buried on land without Permission from DEFRA.
 
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Hunts aren't allowed to take dead stock anymore, unless they come and shot it themselves DEFRA you know.

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That's actually not true! SOME hunts may not be prepared to take horses that have been put down by lethal injection - or will charge more than if they put the horse down, because disposal costs are very high for animals that can't be fed to hounds. Many hunts have had to shut down their incinerators as the cost of getting them up to new standards was too high.

But all the hunts around here will collect/dispose of horses that have died suddenly of unknown causes - and horses that have been PTS by vet.
 
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