Just wanted to say I’m so sorry for everyones’ losses. Having gotten to know you all, even if just a little bit, I feel comfortable saying that all of our horses were the best loved and cared for horses in the whole world. Bless you all and remember only the good times. 
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That is a great point @Mango20! Composting is a great way to deal with a large body.
You can find a brochure on it here:
https://ecommons.cornell.edu/handle/1813/2149.2
My decision re the tail was a bit different: I did not want the tail, in the end. Wherever horses go when they die, IMO, he did not need a halter (which I kept) but he would need a tail. It was not mine to take. My memories of him are in my heart and photos over the years.
The only hair I have from any animal is a bit from my heart dog of many years ago. He was with me a friend’s house for dinner long before he died; said friend was a fly fisherman in his spare time and at very good fly tying. He clipped a small section of hair from the dog’s back and tied me a fly. I still have it.
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When my old horse colicked badly, I was fortunate that he was at a farm where he could be buried. As I waited for the vet, I knew he would not recover. Once the vet arrived and the decision finalized we had to walk to the back field. The vet filled him with painkillers and he was able to walk. Before we left the barn, I did cut a chunk of his tail. My vet did not allow the owner to hold the horse as the final injection was made - she wanted to control the situation. So after sedation he was still standing and I gave her the lead rope right after the final injection. My horse did stagger a bit before going down and the sound of him hitting the ground was awful. I did not look back.
I dont judge anyone for not being present at that final moment. It is much more important to make the humane choice and ensure the best possible passing.
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No one should shame anyone for being on hand or not. No one. Full stop.
I have led a few horses on their last walk when their owners just couldn’t. That’s ok. I snipped tail or mane hair if it was wanted…or I’d do it and just have it should they want it later. When my Jake horse passed (I had sold him to a dear friend as a guest horse), she surprised me with a tail spin bracelet. Oh how I cried to hold it and feel it.
Mine will be buried here. I am fortunate to be able to do so.
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I had to euthanize my 28 year old two weeks ago. She somehow acutely injured her back/pelvis/spinal cord and was experiencing pain and neuro symptoms. My vet and myself could not manage the symptoms to keep her safe. When the meds weren’t working, euthanasia was all we could do.
I hadn’t lost a horse since I moved to this area; also had not lost one of my own in many years. Thankfully, the topic had been discussed on a local horse group. Apart from “guys with backhoes,” which can be prohibited in some situations, there was really only one option in my area for large animal removal. The cost was steep for just removal. I wanted a necropsy, but had no one who would do transport to the labs.
It’s good to find out these things in advance. Had the local FB group not had several posts on the topic, it would have been a lot more stressful.
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So sorry for your loss. (((hug)))
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Around my last couple of barns, nobody called it the Rendering truck. After all they render the remains into useable substances, little is wasted. Its the ultimate in Recycling so we just called it the Recycling truck. Nothing wrong with choosing that method.
BTW, I was not with mine at the end, despite holding all the cats and dogs my arms as they departed. I could not bear to see and/or hear them go down for the last time. Had long accepted it was time and death itself, no emotional meltdown.
Just could not allow that to be my last memory. Instead my last memory is hand grazing and a cell phone shot of her in the golden late afternoon autumn sun standing in fresh clover.
YMMV.
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had to put the pony down yesterday, Sir Charles the Great was his name…Charlie was what he was known by all as. Really was not a sad ending as he was over 45 years old and every time we had talked with the vet over the last decade the vet’s first question Don’t Tell Me but did Charlie died
Pine Hill is the company we use for removal, we have a “Family Plot” there . The pickup driver said “I see you want him buried next to George” … yes that’s correct as those two were inseparable in the pasture
And daughter, who never has let an empty stall remain empty is picking up her project horse this weekend
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So sorry for your loss. He was a very cute little guy. I like your daughter’s spirit, looking to the future. May we get a photo of the “project” when he/she arrives?
yes there will photos, but this was not an unexpected event. Charlie had been under special care for the last three years with each day there was the expectation it was to be his last. Special feed made into a mash five five times a day, his own paddock with everything always in the same place (he was either totally blind or near so).
We had to separate him into a private paddock/stall after his very best ever buddy George past. Charlie would follow George everywhere.
He was not a mischievous pony, worked hard but as all ponies he had his ways of being different.
Here he is getting away from flies under the drying parachute we used as round pen sun shade
here he was 20 years ago working as a therapy horse, this girl’s mother had died and she needed something that she could love…she “had” Charlie as her own for several years
(that’s George next to him as George was the only Bay we had that did not have one or both rear feet being white)
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@Texarkana, very sorry to hear this. I went through nearly the same thing with my 25 year old mare a couple of weeks before Christmas. We had been working with the vet that week on what we thought might be some discomfort from arthritis (she was acting really funny about how she’d move her neck, which we thought might be because she seemed uncomfortable from developing arthritis in her stifles/hocks). Friday morning, she had almost no control over her hind end. After a scary 1/4 mile walk up from the pasture to the barn across snow and ice (thank god she stayed upright and didn’t go down in the middle of the public road), we got her settled in a stall where she happily dug into her hay. Vet came that afternoon, gave dex, hoping we’d relieve some sort of spinal cord swelling making her act neurological. She ate up her dinner, was awkward but happy enough. At night check, I found her down in the stall, unable to move her hind end at all. Vet came back out, there was nothing we could do. I sat at her head on the phone with her original owner (she was here at my farm for the past few years as a “forever free lease” retirement situation) while we made plans. Her passing was as peaceful as it could be given she really had no discernible feeling in her hind end. Vet and I were both a little shocked how quickly she went downhill given she had been relatively upbeat, at least attitude wise, earlier in the day.
This all happened around midnight, but thank god for the vet’s help in getting things situated quickly. Like someone mentioned above, we were in an old New England barn, so removing my mare from the stall was a little tricky given the narrow door opening. My husband used our tractor and some chains to leverage her out of the stall while vet and I managed her legs and neck. Turing her out the door and around the corner into the aisle was the hard part. My husband had not been around a euthanized horse, and certainly hadn’t ever had to do anything that intimate with a dead horse, and I think what shocked him the most was just how unwieldy the sheer size of the body made every step of the process (and she was a small mare, no more than 1000 lbs).
We laid her in the middle of the aisle right at the front of the barn, so the next day her original owners came to bring her home for her burial. Because she was right at the door, they were able to lift her out with their excavator. No, it wasn’t pleasant to see her be lifted and swung out to the flatbed, but everyone stayed focused on the task and I found it surprisingly comforting to know she was “going home” for burial with the people and herd she had known for most of her life.
One thing no one mentioned. With chemical euthanasia, do be conscious of any leaking fluids and blood from the body, and certainly keep the body protected from any domestic or wild animals being able to scavenge from it. While the amount of euthanasia drug that could leak from the injection site in a body sitting overnight is probably small, I still didn’t want my dogs or chickens to have access to the place she had been laid out until I was able to scrub it, as some fluids had pooled on the aisle mats. Moving her from the barn to the truck left a small trail of blood in the snow, which we cleaned up.
It’s only been about a month now, but I still miss that mare tremendously. It’s so hard that we lost her with so little warning and no chance to make sure everyone who loved her had the opportunity to say goodbye.
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@MorganMaresVT I’m so sorry to read this. It sounds eerily similar to what happened with my mare. Suddenly and heartbreaking. Hugs to you!
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We have a composting service that picks up the body. I was grossed out at the thought until I learned more about it. I was going to have him cremated. That’s very expensive and I’ve heard people talk about what to do with 50 lbs of ashes.
A horse was put down last spring at our barn. The vet came at 7:00 am. The owner asked the BO to put hay out on the ground. They had a generous pile spread around to catch him. It’s something I’ve talked about for my horse. A few of us were standing nearby. It was very soft going down on the hay not bare ground. You could see part of the belly. When the owner went out to spend time with him it was very private for her because we couldn’t see her. We didn’t have to answer questions because of the hay. It’s the second time I’ve seen hay used. I can’t stand seeing the head on the ground.
Our vet retired in 2017 after 50 years in practice. He is great writer. His second book is on euthanasia because he couldn’t find a book on just that subject. My horse is 27 and it’s helping me organize things now.
David A. Jefferson DVM:
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Great photos. Especially love him under the parachute. It reminds me of the illustrations at the beginning of The Little Prince where the author as a boy drew a picture of an elephant inside a boa. He definitely sounds like he was a special guy.
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Lexie just off the trailer, she is a four year Morgan better photos to follow.
she is pretty hard to photograph as she wishes to be next to you, still can not figure out Why those little things look like horse but are so little
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What a sweet face she has! (Ha! about the mini. I have a great pic of my OTTB when he first saw one. He just stared and stared with a dumbfounded look on his face).
my kids often had one the Morgans at breed presentations showing the public the various breeds…most often presented in alphabetic order… Miniatures were very often just before the Morgans … the First time our mare saw a mini it was a What the Hell Happened to that poor horse moment
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She’s beautiful. What’s her breeding? Her face reminds me of a few of the Scandia Morgans.
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