After Your Horse Passes

[ThreeWishes]

I have been present for every euthanasia of my beloved horses. 6 of them. I cannot watch the burial. To me … by then they’re gone. And they don’t need my comfort any longer. Know yourself. What you can tolerate and what you cannot. I’ve held friends horses who just couldn’t deal with euthanasia. I’ve stroked their necks and removed their halters when they could not. Give yourself some grace. Think about what you can handle. It’s very wise to consider these things beforehand.

And EVERY vet I’ve ever had since I was a child has been kind and patient and also very affected by the process of shepherding a horse from this world to the beyond. So if you can’t be there or don’t have a friend available trust the person who has dedicated their life to these beautiful creatures will give yours a soft journey out.

[endlessclimb]

I want to also say that some of the movements, sounds, and breathing attempts that horses make after they are clinically dead are VERY unsettling.

So for that, I do understand when someone can not be there.

My Old Man gelding, very much alive, sometimes gasps in a way that sounds JUST like a euthanized horse’s nervous system after death. My throat tightens every time he does it, as it floods memories of the final moments of my beloved horses that have passed.

I am a bona-fide hardass when it comes to this stuff, and it still haunts me. It will never leave you.

[Night_Flight]

@Doodlebug1

if you want tail hairs the best way I know of is to use a plaiting band and secure it at the top of a chunk of hair, plait down and secure with another band, then snip just above the top band.

If you dont have an elastic on hand, tape wrapped around the tail works, too (the vet hospital just used ordinary white medical tape at the top and bottom of the braid).

[Alex_and_Bodie_s_Mom]

It may be a sad topic, but it’s also a necessary and practical one. It’s always better to know ahead of time what your options are.

I’m lucky enough to live on a farm and all my horses are buried here. As others have said, you don’t want to be there for the removal. If it was someone else’s horse, I’m sure I could help do the bundling and even be there to help maneuver them onto the truck, but my own horse? I don’t think I could. But then again, when I have to put my cats to sleep at the vet, I’m there for the last bundling into a blanket before I take them home to bury them - it’s like the last little thing I can do for them. But if it involves a tractor and chains and - just no. Just don’t be there.

I’ve been present for all my horses, and each one is different. Your vet should be able to walk you through each step as they do it. Mine does. “This is the sedative.” “This is the euthanasia.” “Here’s what to expect as the nervous system shuts down.” I know by now every step, but my vet does it anyway. It helps. As @endlessclimb said, the sounds and movements they make can be troubling.

There is no shame in letting someone else your horse trusts hold that lead rope. Or in letting the vet give the sedative and then not being there for the actual euthanasia itself. You will have a few minutes in between them to remove yourself and not hear or see anything further. Once sedated, your horse really won’t know if you’re there or not.

When it became crystal clear that my dad’s dog had to be put to sleep, he was still resisting it, but I finally made the appointment, told Dad I would take him, and I think that was the key - he didn’t want to make that call, he didn’t want to be there. Once I said I would do it, he was easier about it. He knew, deep down, it was the only choice, but it wasn’t a choice he wanted to be responsible for making.

Your vet will know who to call to remove the body, and what options are available to you. It’s better to have the information now (and on file with your BO and vet) than to not have it when you need it.

[StormyDay]

I’ll be a dissenter here; don’t try to fold the horse if it passes unexpectedly.
Best case scenario, it’s not in rigor mortis yet, and your beloved horse makes undignified and scary breathing and settling noises as you move them. Worst case, rigor has already set in (it can pretty fast) and you end up trying to push against your horses muscles, a fight you will lose, while they are cold, and the feeling of something that was alive and happy but is now stiff and cold is unsettling to say the least. Either scenario is not fun.

My suggestion, if you ever find your horse gone; cut out some tail and sit for a few minutes petting the horses’ face. That’s going to be the area that feels the most normal, even after rigor mortis sets in. Then if you have a soft stomach, leave and don’t be present for the truck. The way they move the horses didn’t bother me, my it really bothered my mom.

A medium size tractor can drive into the barn isle and easily remove your horse from a stall. Any service you call will have done this hundreds of times, and it’s not a big deal.

[beowulf]

@StormyDay

Best case scenario, it’s not in rigor mortis yet, and your beloved horse makes undignified and scary breathing and settling noises as you move them. Worst case, rigor has already set in (it can pretty fast) and you end up trying to push against your horses muscles, a fight you will lose, while they are cold, and the feeling of something that was alive and happy but is now stiff and cold is unsettling to say the least. Either scenario is not fun.

I’ve had to fold a few now. You do nail right on the head the unnatural feeling as you work them. My first time was the hardest, for obvious reasons - it was very surreal feeling cold legs - legs I’d brushed a thousand times and knew every bump and splint on. Like you said, I sat with his head in my lap for the hour it took my vet to arrive and declare him dead and perform a very basic field necropsy.

I luckily haven’t had any noises yet on those I’ve folded.

You are so right about how quickly rigor mortis sets in. By the time my vet arrived for the horse I mentioned above, his neck was incredibly stiff and it was difficult to bend his legs. He had fallen down against the stall wall at an angle - his neck was propped up against the door. At that point, my best estimate was he’d been gone for a little over an hour.

Every barn has different limitations for what machinery can access it and what their protocol is when a horse dies. That is probably something I should have included in my first post: you want to get them out of the stalls ASAP in most barns, and somewhere a tractor or backhoe can access. If rigor mortis sets in while they are in the stall it can make it downright impossible to pull them out easily, especially if you’re in the unlucky position of doing it by hand. We had to flip my horse’s body up and “cast” him against the wall just to get him out of the stall. For instance – and this was never a consideration of mine until that day – the barn I kept my horse at was set deep in the back of a large fenced in pasture. The pasture gates were the typical 12ft wide - the people that came to bury him couldn’t drive the rig through. They had to unload the backhoe and they actually damaged a post when they just barely squeezed in. The barn was a southern style pole barn - no machinery at all could have fit in it that could have moved the horse. We ended up backing a truck under the pole overhang and pulling the body out in chains.

In many barns in the NE, tractors don’t fit or the aisle and entry-ways make access like that difficult. Something to think about when and if you ever make your own barn.

I lost one of my horses on lease a few years ago due to a full puncture of the stifle, and was present for his final appointment. That barn was a New England L-shape barn; even then, machinery could not fit in the access point or even make the right angle turn to the stall row. I had to walk my horse up a steep hill, past the parking lot, and bring him behind the pasture for the appointment. He was 3 legged lame… So just another thing to think about when you are making plans for disposal… having ease of access really changes how hard an already difficult situation can be.

[SFrost]

Thank you everyone for the kind, thoughtful and excellent advice!

I would for sure be with him when the time comes. It’ll be sad and awful but it is something I’d prefer to be present for. The whole death thing doesn’t necessarily bother me, but I’m of course sad about them not being physically present in my life.

I’ve seen many horses and pets put down (I worked at a huge farm in college and a small animal vet) and I always was thankful they were getting a dignified ending. What got me was always the owners being upset and having no way to make that better for them. With the horses I’ve never had to deal with what to do with the body if it wasn’t buried. I didn’t even know where to start with that.

Again, thank you guys so much!

[StormyDay]

Yes, it can definitely depend on access. My horse passed in a barn with a 12ft isle. They brought the tractor in, tied her legs up with chains, and just lifted her right out.

[endlessclimb]

@beowulf

This makes it easier for the backhoe (or whatever machine is used to pick up the body – usually it’s a backhoe) to just scoop up the body, versus having people struggle to “roll” the stiff body into the bucket.

Question - your renderer comes with a backhoe? Or are you talking about placing the body in the burial hole?

Our guy has a rusted out trailer horse trailer with a winch welded in the front, and he hooks a couple legs and drags them in.

[Spudsmyguy]

When I had one of my horses PTS it was here at home out in the pasture. The vet administered the first shot and Woodrow crumpled to the ground like he was going down for a nap. Vet told us to say our goodbyes that he can hear us still. Of course I was blubbering but I hugged his head and kissed his nose and thanked him for his years of service to me. (I’m tearing up right now just thinking about it) The vet then administered the final shot; he also took his tail and the office had it made into a keepsake keychain. I covered him up with a tarp and the rendering truck picked him up; I didn’t have to be present for that (thank god) but I did peek out the window once and he had just fastened the chains on his hind legs and turned on the winch, the body was still covered so that was good.

[eightpondfarm]

i have been the one to deal with the remains for two of the three horses i have put down the past 30 years.
We have an area in our farm…one of the furthest points from our house that is also the furthest corner from any neighbors’ homes. We call it “Iceland”. Because i leave the bodies above ground for scavengers to eat, i shoot them rather than have vet give a drug. And, unfortunately, I routinely have to put-down an animal. Yesterday i had to kill my elderly pet, a housechicken, Abigail who was 12-14 (i’d have to go back an look to be sure her hatch day) Day before i had to put down our nicest ram, Clive. He was an old ram. It is always very very sad, but i suppose because it happens so often (the more animals you have, the more death you encounter) and a dead body is …a shell to me. The being inside is gone.

When i was boarding, the staff had me lead my mare out to a meadow by the road and the vet administered the drug. Then after she was gone, the barn folks drove me back to the barn and the truck passed by on the way to her body. I was suicidal. My mom flew out from St.Louis to San Francisco and i went to a psychiatric holding place for a few days and then counciling for a while. Gotta say, things regarding death of animals i love has gotten much much easier on my heart. We, none of us, gets out of this alive…

[beowulf]

I was referring to moving the body to bury it, yes - in that instance, it was a backhoe. (Context: this horse died while we were in Aiken, and I had no feasible option to transport him back to MA where the farm is) In the instance where my lease horse was PTS, he was moved with a backhoe too.

There’s as many ways to handle removal as a body as there are types of cars out there. The local rendering service has a set up similar to what you mention, though I’ve never used them personally. I’ve seen people use tractors, once even a Lull, to remove large remains. Most of the burials I’ve been present for used backhoes to move the body and dig the hole.

We own our own farm and have our own machinery here - we had to put my first OTTB and grand old man down a few years back, and I used an excavator to move him using heavy-duty ratchet straps as a “sling” to move him. I’m not sure which is easier. Both came with their own set of difficulties, but with the excavator you could at least better control the orientation of the body as it went down.

[pony_grandma]

If we’re using this post to offer general advice since this is a common subject - I will mention that I’ve taken to burying our elders in the extreme corners of the property lines. The land is prime for rural housing lots and that way they won’t be excavated for drives or foundations at some future time.

{{hugs}} It is a duty we have to honor them.

[candyappy]

Not a pleasant word but rendering companies are what we always use.

[Fiesta01]

@2tempe

As mentioned above, think about if you want tail hair to remember by itself or made into something. I THOUGHT I wanted this but weirdly in my horse’s last few days every time I got the scissors, I couldn’t bring myself to cut the hair.

When my horses have passed/had to be euthanized, I was never in the right mental state to think of this. However, I’ve been blessed with wonderful horse friends who had thought of it and surprised me later with a keepsake box (tail neatly braided with ribbon and a place for a picture on the cover). Maybe a horse friend of the OP could surreptitiously clip some before the dreaded day?

[Tarlo_Farm]

@Doodlebug1

This is the strangest and most judgemental response to someone who has clearly given this much thought and is trying to prepare. They haven’t said they won’t be there - but sometimes sh*t happens. Why not answer the question rather than judge?

I did answer the question to the best of my ability not living in the same area. And I added my opinion. You are entitled to yours as well.

[Tarlo_Farm]

Regarding the use of the backhoe; we can bury where I live. I have placed sling bands around my horse(s) before they go down, so my contractor friend can lift them with some degree of dignity.
I would NOT be present with a rendering truck.

[Fiesta01]

@Tarlo_Farm

And I think it’s very disrespectful to not be there when your horse passes (or your dog or cat) if they are euthanized. I don’t care how hard it is, it’s also the only right thing to do for an animal who has given you their life.

I was always with my horses (and cats) until the very end. I wanted them to hear my reassuring voice as the last thing they heard (on this earth anyway). My gelding, Gatsby, was the only exception, as he passed without warning out in the field.

But that is a very personal decision. If the owner can’t hold it together emotionally to be there, I would be afraid that the experience would be worse for the horse. They know us so well that they can only be affected, even frightened, if the owner is having a meltdown.

Some of us can keep our meltdowns until afterwards, others can’t. So please don’t judge too harshly. In some instances, it may be better for the horse to only be with a calm, competent vet at the end.

[Fiesta01]

@Paint_Party

I’ll never forget how I purposely stroked his mane one last time, just so I could commit its texture and its mixture of colors to memory.

That’s so sweet. I was laying on Gatsby’s neck with my nose buried in his coat, trying to memorize his smell.

[Mango20]

You might have an option for composting - ask your vet and/or farrier. I am in MD and had two horses taken away by a lady who composts them. It cost about the same as having Valley Proteins come get them, but is a much more peaceful thought to think of them slowly rotting away under some mulch than whatever they do at the rendering plant. I’m not against rendering and have had two go that route, too. It’s just their body in the end, and you just need a way to dispose of it. It has no effect on your love for them or their spirit, or anything like that.