Without wanting to upset!! ? about PTS!

To OP: ring your local hunt kennels to see if they offer this service as not all hunts do now owing to the huge costs to them due to H & S restrictions. This is because, to put it bluntly, they now have to pay to get rid of the pieces they can't feed to hounds like the skin and tail. Also remember that many hunts now do not feed flesh at all, not because they don't want to but because of the cost restrictions.
Your local hunts can be found here - http://mfha.org.uk/pack_directory/directory/lancashire/
 
Nah said:
Agreed! Made me feel a little bit sick, to be honest :( those poor people! I wouldn't ever be able to forget that, I would be utterly heartbroken. What a truly awful, awful thing to say.

I don't know what to do with Ned when it's his time. I'm all for "The Great Circle of Life", but a horse that is so special to me...I don't know!
I want to have a plan in place soon, not because I'm being morbid, but *touch wood* he could die before I arrive at the yard in 20mins time.
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You need to check what your contract with your YO is and discuss it with her too. Some contracts state that the YO as person responsible can make a decision in an emergency, others state that YO should make all reasonable attempts to contact the owner, yet others leave it that it is always the owner's responsibility to make the decision. There are advantages and disadvantages to each of these, the most important thing is that you let her know what your preferences for Ned are, just in case.
 
showpony said:
So basically its a cheap way to get a horse pts?
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You can look at it as being a cheap way to have a horse destroyed. However, it's the only method I've ever used. This is not due to cost, but efficiency and professionalism.

I want my horse dispatched cleanly, professionally and instantly. They will also remove the body. If the horse is drug free they will also have my permission to use the carcass for the hounds. If not the carcass will be incinerated.

pip_dog said:
I'd hate to think that's where my horse ended up. But I Spose it's different for everyone.
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pip_dog, it's going to end up somewhere, so it may well be of use.
 
showpony said:
Omg! Really didn't know that the carcus would be used for hound food. So basically its a cheap way to get a horse pts?
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Not all hunts feed the meat to the hounds even if they shoot them. One of my local ones does and one doesn't.

For me, the body is just meat, it's not my horse, it's just what contained his spirit for a while. When I lost one in May, shot by the hunt, I was happy to hear that his body was not just burnt and wasted. The huntsman and I even shared a joke a few months later about just how many meals he made - he was a chunky boy :)
 
I used to find feeding the carcass to the hounds a little distasteful until a good friend explained her view.

She had this beautiful big bay mare whom she had hunted for many seasons. She sadly sustained an injury out one day and after many months trying to get her right it was clear she would always be lame so friend made the decision to have her pts by the hunt. She boxed her over to the kennels, they blew the horn for her and she went surrounded by the sounds of her favourite activity.

Friend has now got another horse to hunt and she says knowing that her old girl went to the hounds makes her feel like her spirit lives on through them.
 
Our local hunt doesn't offer this service anymore.

My boy was a difficult chap (highly strung, head shy ect) so I got his normal vet to come, he sedated him and shot him. Then the fell mongers came to remove his carcass straight away, we paid £160 for removal and the man let us know he was going to a hunt over near York way. All very professional, no pussy footing. Horse went and all was cleared away and dealt with in an afternoon.
Just left with a huge hole where the living horse once, this won't be filled with a box of ash.

Honestly seeing silver shot on the ground was odd, he looked like a dead horse and he didn't have what was 'him' left anymore. I gave him a pat but we had already said goodbye.

Each to their own but this worked for this horse in this situation. I was happywith how he went, he knew nothing. Vet was amazing aswell.
 
We went over to our local hunt a few months back as they disposed of something for us, the huntsman took us in the flesh house and in there were several calves, sheep and 3 horses hanging (skinned and quartered). Very interesting. Also had a young farmers visit to the same hunt a few weeks later which was very informative. Living on a farm the hunt will take any calves that have died, had to have one shot a month or so ago and they came and dispatched it and took it away. In return OH's family put on a fantastic meet for the hunt later in the season.
 
The kennels have to have a waste management liscence and there are seperate rules abou the transport of waste so some will only do it if you take the animal to the kennels.
Although is defiffinately cheaper you do have to pay, the last time I enquired it was £80 to come out on a certain day to PTS in the field which I think is a bargin as when I had my old horse taken away after an injection it was £200 and that was booked.
So please support your local hunt even if you have never been part of the field.
 
BillieBlitzen said:
FoxHunter49 - you think that some poor owner being returned a box of any old ashes rather than their beloved pet is a situation to 'chuckle' at? Dear oh dear. Yes, quite hilarious.
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As the saying goes 'What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve!'

The chap was heavily fined and rightly so, it just made me wonder as to how many people had their horse's ashes when in fact they weren't.

I know that should I have any cremation remains of my pets, I would always wonder.
 
My beloved horse was PTS by the hunt, I had always wanted to hunt him and feel in a way he has been now. I am a bit upset by the 'couldn't see the carcass hung in some warehouse comment' I also could not bare to see my horse stagger around and take 10 minutes to die, I loved that horse with all my heart and I'm glad that he went with a bucket of food and with a proffesional
 
Irishbabygirl said:
^^^ this! It can happen a lot. I used to equine nurse and the amount of times owners wanted the ashes back, but for some reason the message got confused and the owner ended up with a bag of random ashes instead of the horse being marked down for individual cremation.
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seriously? you saw that happen?

i am really shocked in all the time i have worked at a vets on reception the message has been cocked up twice and both times the practice has owned up to the mistake and explained and apologised
 
Foxhunter49 said:
As the saying goes 'What the eye doesn't see, the heart doesn't grieve!'

The chap was heavily fined and rightly so, it just made me wonder as to how many people had their horse's ashes when in fact they weren't.

I know that should I have any cremation remains of my pets, I would always wonder.
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I wasn't questioning the point about the choice of cremation etc - I was questioning your chuckling at the thought of someone receiving a box of bonfire ash rather than their pet - an idea that most would find abhorrent and yet you found it amusing. Odd.
 
I once gave someone the wrong human ashes. :eek: I can laugh now, but it was a huge disaster at the time, and one of the worst days I've ever spent in work.
:o

After a lot of phoning/chasing around the mistake was rectified in the nick of time. One bereaved family weren't even aware of the mistake (hence the nick of time) and the other, fortunately, thought it was hilarious. :p

I aged about a decade that day. :o
 
FionaM12 said:
I once gave someone the wrong human ashes. :eek: I can laugh now, but it was a huge disaster at the time, and one of the worst days I've ever spent in work.
:o

After a lot of phoning/chasing around the mistake was rectified in the nick of time. One bereaved family weren't even aware of the mistake (hence the nick of time) and the other, fortunately, thought it was hilarious. :p

I aged about a decade that day. :o
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Haha woops! Thank goodness the other family thought it was funny! It's always best when people have a sense of humour!
When we got my Grandmother back, my brother nearly tipped her out, thinking she was a bottle of alcohol! (The container looked like the ones you get Whisky etc in)
 
A friend of mine very sadly lost her teenage son in a bike accident several years ago, she had his ashes on the top of the TV, but after a year of "accidently knocking them off and having to hoover bits of him up" - her words not mine! She buried the ashes under a tree, as she didn't want to just shove him in a cupboard either.

Everyone is different in their attitude to death and how important the body is afterwards. There is absolutely no right or wrong in this one.
 
I still have the ashes of 2 horses, I had in writing they were individually cremated which is good enough for me. Taz was PTS 2 ago years on the 2nd of January, I know it's only ashes but I couldn't let go of him. On the 2nd of January I'm going to scatter his ashes as I'm now ready to let my boy go. And the same with Murphy who I lost just over a year ago.
 
I'm not a particularly sentimental sort: I always opt for the kennels when the time comes. I like to think of the horses living on in the hounds, and it is a clean end undertaken by proper horsemen who know their job.
 
Havent read all replies but PTS is upsetting whatever method.

Sis uses hunt always and was rather upset that I didnt(I used injection which was excellent way to go, the only thing was I would have been happy if he had been eaten by the hounds but drugs etc etc). Our local hunt are used a lot and they are always very kind as they are use and like horses too. They fed my sis last horse a carrot whilst doing the deed and took the body away to be fed to the hounds. We liked that option as the carcass was not wasted and had a use. But they came out to the home field and KIND was the word used. Good luck to anyone facing the hard decision but sometimes a realistic one.

I guess you ring them and ask whichever is local to your area.
 
I don't know why you're getting upset BillieBlitzen as it's an old saying that where there's death there's humour. There has to be as an outlet for sorrow and as Fiona said it was humour that got that family through that mix up too.
Having heard so many stories of pet crem's scooping up the ashes and doling them out to first come first served which is common knowledge, the only thing that surprises me is that people still use them.
 
When we lost our dog - he got run over by a tractor at the yard - I was (naturally) in a bit of a state so when the vet asked whether we wanted ashes back, and I sobbed a no, my OH thought I'd said yes. £85 and 6 years later his ashes are still in a cupboard (despite a house move) as we don't know what to do with them!
 
Black_Horse_White said:
I don't think we can ever be 100% sure what we get back in our caskets, wether it be man or beast. Let's face it unless we are actually there we only have their word for it.
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That's why I like to take hair. I've got a locket with Annie, Holly and Ned's hair. I daren't wear it in case I lose it, so it hangs in my room with pictures of them and others who are special to me.
I would have liked ashes from Holly and I still feel sick that I didn't bring her home (I was in a state, I didn't know what I was saying and I bloomin' left her there! Idiot.)
I think when Ned goes, I'm going to hack as much hair off as I can and when Annie goes, I might chop the long hairs off her tail, maybe so I can later get it put in jewellery of some sort.
 
I never asked for my last dog's ashes back when she was PTS, the dog was gone in my mind, the body was just the wrapping she came in and I did have the feeling that I would have got whatever scrapings came out of the oven. I feel the same way about humans to be honest, hence my support of organ donation, Body Farms etc.
 
Also I remember someone on here writing a very vivid description of the death of her horse (tacked and boxed and driven to the hunt) which was shot with her ears pricked at the sound of the horn and the hounds and was dead before she hit the ground, it was really, really moving, I was very teary and I think a great way for a horse to go, what happens to the body (wrapper!!) afterwards, wouldn't really concern me.
 
The hunt can be useful for unsolved injuries too, when I worked for the first hunt my ex had a horrific accident on his horse and I had to have the horse shot as my ex was in hospital, the vet said the horse had no broken bones when in fact it did do. Also a hunt horse that was very lame, x-rays showed nothing but it actually had a fractured leg. We sometimes had vets to do pm's before the bodies were disposed off.

The 2nd hunt doesn't feed the flesh to the hounds.
 
I'm surprised so many horses go to the hounds, especially if the reason they are shot is due to conditions such as arthritis or laminitis. Surely they would have had bute, and possibly not therefore suitable to feed to hounds? Genuine question.
 
We check with the hunt beforehand as obviously we wouldn't want to withdraw pain relief or medication on their last few days in order that they could go to hounds. Some drugs would mean that the horse is incinerated (cremated!) rather than being used, other drugs they are unconcerned about. It's done on a case by case basis. We also check with them for any other deadstock, as they run their own incinerator they can be more accommodating than some other places.
 
I would think foxhunter49 was having a chuckle at the dishonesty of the man in charge, not the sadness to those who received the wrong ashes, I could be wrong but doubt it.
 
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