Huh? I’ve had 2 dogs cremated and got the whole amt of ashes. No mixing with other dogs, both got separate and more expensive cremations. I did not want to take someone else’s dog parts home.Ditto my parents.
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So…and again, I get both sides, I don’t mean to be judging (and I am not), so they dig him up, you guys are nearby with shovels and lights, and a truck or something to move all the bones? I am just thinking sifting through rocks/bones. I just…I’d be supportive too, you are a very, very good friend.
Just thinking, so you guys stand in the grave with/on him, then drive him to a crematorium?
I get it. MANY, MANY times, I’ve thought of selling my farm-MANY. I’ve thought if I even win the lotto big time, I may only keep the back part with the horses, because I don’t want anyone building etc there. I’m not crazy about cremation myself, so I didnt want that, but…anyways. Just thinking- no judging!
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No worries Callista, it’s a lot to think about! When she first brought up the idea several months ago when the move was confirmed, I thought she was absolutely insane. I “get” it, but I also don’t “get” it, too. Now all I can do is support her.
The grave is not precisely marked, but it’s measured x amount of feet in front of the 13th fence post on the right side fence line, and x feet from the tree on the other side of the where the “hole” was dug. There’s a pretty perfect-ish circle where the dig was, for some reason, 6 years later, grass will not grow over the spot.
I assume the man that’s un-burying him will be using a backhoe, but honestly I’ve got no clue. Makes perfect sense that everything would get all broken up as he digs into it. She knows this, she knows it’s possible she won’t find some parts, too. This will be quite the experience!
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You might contact Kentucky Horse Park, they have moved famous buried horses from farms to the Park where more folks can admire their memorial statues, honor them. Not sure if those horses were originally buried as entire animals, or the traditional hooves and heart parts. A long time ago, holes for buial were hand or horse dug, folks didn’t have personal backhoes to dig big holes to bury horses.
Best of luck to her, hoping there is nothing but bones to find in the dirt for cremation. Michigan State in Lansing MI, cremates horses. I would think the Vet College would do bones or bones with stuff on them, if her local place won’t. Give them a call. She could ask how to wrap for shipping, get the address and specify how to return remains to her. They cremate and ship horse remains back to owner pretty regularly.
It is pretty well-known, and well stated on the crematorium websites, that horses are (rarely rarely rarely) cremated whole. It would result in an absurd amount of ashes for someone to lug around with them for the rest of the days. I believe the standard is head/legs/heart, or doing the whole thing and just scooping up an urn’s worth at the end.
Here’s an old thread on it: https://www.chronofhorse.com/forum/forum/discussion-forums/off-course/57933-horse-cremation where a 90lbs of ashes figure is thrown out.
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My answer was going to be “not on purpose” …because we found a dead horse when we buried my first horse on this property. I asked my backhoe guy if he could bury her where “that big indentation is” not realizing that the reason it was there was because the previous owners had buried a horse there (and apparently dug a very large hole to do it).
The backhoe hit something metal about 9’ down and it turned out to be a road sign that they had laid on top of the horse, for some reason. I wish I had been there at the time, because I would have been interested to see the remains, but my friend felt it was better not to watch the burial of my own mare. So, she has company down there.
But, it sounded to me that it was mainly just bones left. I should have asked him if there was hide/hair. I think the horse had been buried for about 12 years.
I don’t have a weak stomach for things like this - I don’t think I would do it, but I don’t think it would be that upsetting. (More of a big hassle, in my opinion). My guess is that it will still have remnants of hair/hide, but I think that after 6 years it will be mostly bones. Yes, there still may be a smell; and yes, it might be hard to locate the body without a metal roadsign to let you know you’ve found it. But I don’t think it will be all that ugly if you’re prepared for it.
Yes you’re not wrong, that definitely happens and was the case with two other horses who passed away at this barn, they had those pieces cremated and the rest buried on the property. The horse in question was buried whole. I believe she would want to cremate all the bones she can recover, but again, if not possible, would bury most of him and cremate what she can, again, if they’d accept a previously buried animal.
I also have heard of crematoriums that do group cremations…they pile up a few dogs or cats and they are cremated together. You get a little scoop and off you go. It’s weird, I don’t agree with it and would not opt to go about any cremation that way, but it is an option some places offer. I hope they legally can’t do that unless disclosed. The crematorium in our area will allow you to be present for cremation if you so choose (not me!) and so you can verify that it’s just your animal being cremated.
This guy took Yo and composted him [a bit different from burial]. He later exhumes and reassembles them.
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With small animals, one can request a private cremation, and receive the cremains of only that animal. Unless specially requested (and billed), most facilities for pets will cremate a group of animals together. At least IME.
One Two Three, you are a good friend. I hope the experience will bring your friend the peace she is seeking.
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I’ve had two horses cremated , the first was a 16.3hh TB roughly 1200/1300lbs and cost around $700 if I remember correctly. The second was a 18 month old large mini, I’m guessing he weighed 250lbs maybe a bit more. His cremation cost just over $200, but was the last full body private cremation they were doing. They informed me they are no longer doing full body private cremations for horses due to the time/cost I believe. Lucky for me I had a friend who worked there and they cremated my mini anyways, it was a shocking death of a young horse who I had expected to have for another 30/40 years, if I had arrived with him only to be told they would only do the head/heart/hoofs I’m pretty sure I would have had a full blown mental break down right then and there.
So now that the only option is a head/heart/hoofs cremation I’m not sure I want any future horses cremated…
And yes the full sized full horse cremation came with a lot of ashes.
Sorry for your friend, this can’t be an easy decision!
If you have time, it sounds like getting some archaeology students out for a “dig” would really be the best. Maybe get the backhoe just to go to 4-5 feet and then carefully have people remove the rest of the soil.
I just can’t imagine that a backhoe bucket crushing through the bones is what your friend wants or is picturing? 
:no:
OP, I’m really curious to hear about how this goes. Echoing the others to say that you’re a really great friend to be there to support.
As I’m reading about the cremation and traditional burying over head/hoofs/heart, I can’t help but think about (and quite frankly be disturbed by) the idea that someone has to remove those parts of the body from a recently passed horse. Who does that, and then what happens to the rest of the body? Why not bury the entire body?
I am very fortunate that in my almost 20 years of horse ownership I have only had to put down 1 horse. She is buried on my family’s farm and because selling it hasn’t come up yet I never considered moving her.
Oddly enough I had a dream last night that I had to put my mare down and I woke up crying today, so I guess I’m thinking about this a little more than I may on a normal day.
The level of decomposition varies a lot depending on soil composition/ climate etc. So it’s hard to predict.
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Someone at the crematorium does it, if you bring the whole body. Your vet can also do it if you’re just sending those parts.
The rest of the body likely goes to a landfill or renderer, as I imagine most places don’t have the land to be burying or composting the volume they take in. It’s something to keep in mind (how you’ll feel about knowing that was the final fate) when you are considering end of life options for your horses.
I am lucky enough to have land to bury my horses on. Not everyone has enough land, or the right type of land (too close to the water tables, etc.)
I had to bury two horses last year.
For whole horse burial, you have some regulation that needs to be followed, such as 6 feet under, and certain feet away from water source. For most burial, the horses are buried at landfill. I couldn’t bear the thought of putting my boy in the landfill so I opted to have him buried at our farm. It is not feasible for everybody though. It also took us some serious calling around to find someone who could do that for us.
For cremation of the whole horse, it takes a much bigger machine to do it. Most crematorium does not have the machine. For the mare, we were able to find a crematorium that does cremate horses. It took full day of firing, and two more days of cooling I believe. The resulting ash was put in a regular big dog casket. We then buried her next to the boy we had buried earlier. I don’t know whether it was my imagination or not, but on the day of firing, I kept smelling burning while sitting in my sitting room.
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Today is the day, everyone.
She’s still not changed her mind, and i’ll be heading there after work this afternoon. It’s supposed to rain a little bit at some point today, hopefully it holds off so she can just do this and be done.
It seems the man’s plan is to dig about 5ish feet down, and to stop and allow a chance to hand dig/inspect the area to see if we’re close or if he can use the machinery a bit more. He’s going to try his best to not crush the skeleton, but obviously machinery of that caliber isn’t exactly gentle, and it’s not an exact science. We shall see.
I swear I’ll be back to update either tonight or tomorrow morning. Keep fingers crossed for no rain! Or maybe rain is helpful to soften the currently hard ground. I don’t really know.
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If your friend drinks (and is not driving) bring a little ‘liquid anesthetic’.
Jingles
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Please do update! While I dont forsee me digging up my three, I am quite interested in whats left!
I know most of you believe that animal communicators are a hoax. So for what it’s worth, one says that there is more of their “essence” in their hair, so if you save a forelock or tail, it’s more “them” than what remains in their ashes. I can understand how your friend feels about leaving her beloved horse’s body behind, but it was just a shell.
A few years ago a friend had her horse cremated. She now has a wooden box filled with almost 150 lbs. of ashes.
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Hoping things went well last night!
