I’m lucky in having a farmer neighbour who will bring his digger over.
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Same; it was dry season though so maybe that helped. But definitely not anything another horse could have fallen into.
I personally cannot imagine having a big hole anywhere near where I am asking the vet to euthanize, or making a plan to drag a dead horse to the hole. I have always walked the horse to the site in the pasture, covered them with a blanket until the excavator arrived (same day; pre-scheduled).
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- Yes, don’t bury near wells. The increments vary from state to state so check your state’s limitations.
- Dependent on your property. Wet areas decompose faster as a general rule. Some machinery may not have an issue digging through this.
- Definitely pick a spot that is heavy equipment accessible - if possible, also pick a spot you won’t need to drive a fence line or any sort of foundation in for the next ~10 years.
- Should not be an issue. I’ve buried within 15 ft of tree line, minor disturbance of roots.
- Varies from state to state, my state it is 200 ft.
- Pick the spot that has the easiest digging. Flat / hill does not matter, but whether there is ledge underneath does.
- Depends on the substrate. Clay / silt heavy soils may settle faster.
I did not leave a mound for my last burial and it did not settle at all - but we tamped it down as we went with an excavator. It has been ~8 years. I buried him by the property line where our bridle path starts. It was one of the only places on the property you didn’t hit ledge or bedrock 2 feet down. I ride over it regularly (sorry Cody! I don’t think he minds).
It should be safe to walk over immediately, but try to pick a place there is not much foot traffic. In some places that is just not possible.
If there is any possibility of having the hole dug first and euthanizing next to the hole, do it. It’s very easy to roll them in after - have them do it if you don’t want to hear the noise of their body hitting the ground.
If burial isn’t immediate, make sure to tie their legs together and fold their neck down towards their elbow/side. Use bailing twine to fold them into a fetal position. This makes transport and burial easier.
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On the topic of getting the body into the hole - Hire someone who cares and knows what they are doing. Ask around and find that person.
The guy we hired had done a bunch of these and though he was not a horse person, he is a caring person. He had to move my horse a bit of distance to get the body to the hole (unplanned euthanasia). He was so careful with that body and set it in that hole like it was the most delicate thing he had ever handled. He asked which way we wanted the body facing, etc. He buried the body just as carefully.
He was not cheap ,he was there for hours. But I think he was worth it seeing how he took care of something that he knew was so special to me.
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I will try to get out there and really walk the property this afternoon bearing all of this in mind. I wonder if there’s a little corner of some pasture I can fence off. Maybe I will get some fencing panels.
How large should I expect the area needing fencing to be? 20 x 20? And if it was a triangle, would a 20 foot side on each side be reasonable?
I’ve never had to fence the site off. The ground will be a bit of a mound but the backhoe should “walk” across it to compact the earth a few times. My horses shied away from the scary, bald spot anyway. Silly buggers.
Burying on property or having the body transported away costs about the same. At least in my experience. Each were $$$$.
It’s good that you’re planning now, having to do everything in a rush is terrible. A friend couldn’t get a backhoe in for three days. It was summer and by the second day the smell was ghastly. (And the trauma my friend went through was so horrible)
You do not need to build or erect a fence around the burial area (unless you want to for your own personal desires). The ground will recover, and grow grass, and look exactly the same as it did before the burial. I have one buried out in what is now a hayfield, and another buried in the area between my outdoor ring and the round pen… basically just grazing area around my paddock system. No problems. I know they are there, and think about them when I am nearby,
Try to not “torture yourself” more than is absolutely necessary about this. Accept it as a part of life. It’s the final part of the joy of owning a horse. It can’t be avoided. Remember the good times, and feel fortunate to have owned a horse who has given you such joy. Not all horses are as lucky as one who has been well loved and grieved in death. Take what that horse has taught you, about being a horseman, about trust, about communication, about dedication to a work ethic, and carry on as a better human due to what that horse has taught you. This is not a time to beat yourself up. Grieve as you must, but know that you are richer because of what you have had with that horse that you care about.
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Yeah… I actually thought she was going to have to be PTS two years ago. To the point that I took on a starved foster horse to take her place, and as a way of “giving back” to horses. She lived, and I got too attached to the foster horse to let him go, so now I have four.
But the mare… sometimes she’s fine for days or weeks, then she feels bad, then she’s OK again. But, gradually getting a little worse each time. Aside from a catastrophic injury, which is completely possible given her physical condition, I am having a hard time knowing when it’s going to be the right time. So that’s a whole other thing. At least I can have all of the practical stuff figured out beforehand.
We have buried 6 horses on our property in the 25 years we’ve lived here. My advice is: 1) dig the hole before you need it (we have our own backhoe so had more flexibility there); 2) make sure the site you pick is accessible to the equipment and not too wet; 3) if your horse is being euthanized by injection, be sure it is dug really deep so no animals/wildlife can get to it; 4) definitely mound the site; it will sink in, just very slowly. Also, when possible, we had the horse euthanized near the hole which made it easier for the person burying it.
We chose not to bury any horses in our pastures, mostly because other areas were more convenient, but would have done so if needed, and would not have felt it necessary to fence it off.
I feel like burying it appropriately deep applies no matter how you euthanize it. No one wants to come out and find their beloved horse has been dug up by a pack of wild animals.
The main reason I wrote that was not because of the ick factor of animals digging up the remains, but because the remains are toxic and can be fatal to any animal that eats it. I have a friend who lost a household pet (dog) that ate part of a carcass of a euthanized animal. Despite rushing the dog to the vet it could not be saved.
Well I found the guy who will do the work for me. He’s someone I already knew, I just didn’t know he did this kind of work. He only charges a few hundred dollars. He’ll walk the property with me at some point so we can figure out a spot.
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I know how terribly hard this decision is, but for what it’s worth:
I try hard to make the call when I see that the general direction is down, even when they have “good days.” I ask myself…how miserable do they need to be before it “feels” okay? Is that for me or them? And really, I’d much rather let them go when they feel GOOD. What an incredible gift.
We have the amazing ability of foresight. And when we know that things are getting worse…when the general direction is down…why would we want that for them. Why would we want them to suffer.
I know there are a lot of people out there who wait for the animal to “say” it’s time, but I don’t quite get that. It takes an awful lot of misery for a horse to want to die. Personally, the euthanasias that weigh on me, the ones where I feel like I failed, are the ones where the horse (dog, cat) were in such bad shape that they were looking for death.
I’m just so sorry you’re at this point with your girl, and hope you can find peace in whatever decision you make 
Don’t bury them where other horses can walk over the grave and have the ground open up under them. That means outside the pasture. The grave we had opened up to let gas escape and the ground wasn’t solid for about 2 years despite me filling in the holes that opened up. It’s about solid now but it did take what seemed like a really long time to stabilize.
If you really want to help stabilize the ground, plant a tree on top of the grave.
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We have cherty, clay sort of greasy dirt here. Digging deep creates a mess of slippery dirt that holds water and grudges. That’s why I said fence it. If you have good dirt that’s different.
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That’s good to know. I’ll talk to this guy when we walk around and get his take. He is one of the guys who built my fence, which took ages, so he’s pretty familiar with the land.
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I just buried my first horse since I moved to Oregon a couple weeks ago, But I buried plenty in southern california, I always go down 8 ft minimum and add a bag of stall lime. They typically settle a bit after a week or two, then in california the next time it rained (normally the next year) we would get a decent amount of settlement. I would not ride horses over the resting spot but I typically never had problems driving over them. That being said it depends greatly on the size of the equine, I have clydesdale horses, so you probably would not notice it so much with a mini.
As far as water I would not worry about it it unless you are very near a small natural body of water, I typically like to bury them 10-15 feet from a tree where they have a nice view and I have never had a tree die from what I suspect would be the result.
One other note, I find it very helpful to tie all 4 feet together when you are moving them, I typically use my forks as I dont have a tractor that they will fit in the buck, and it is never a fun job but having to keep picking them up.
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All good points, but I thought I should link to the ever useful COTH thread here… ‘folding a horse’
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We said goodbye to Miss Mare three weeks ago.
A long, wonderful life. How I appreciated her. Can’t say the feeling was mutual. She perfected that “Ah. Something I can, ah, help you with? At all?” oldster-mare non-greeting thing while I was all, “Hellllooooo, my beautiful! Smart! Big! Girl! Come over, my sweet boo! I have nom-noms! Nom-noms for Big! Girl!”
Anyway: Thank you to those who are talking about this … process … so openly, factually and tactfully. It’s been healing to read about the gentleman with the excavator who showed such caring. All the tales about saying hi to them when you’re near the burial site. Even details on cost and hauling. And, well, the folding of … this ‘n’ that. Another — I don’t want to say good thing to know — but, yeah, a good to know. Sigh.
Horse girls are so, so strong in so many ways. We’re also absolutely, terminally bats. Like, 51% strong, 49% bats.
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We buried ours in the corners of the field that will eventually become a deeded rural bldg lot at some point bc of proximity to the road. No one will be disturbing the corners in the future - no drive access no house building in the corners… I have 4 buried here. Long thread from some time back so I can’t remember if I posted.
Sad reality of ownership. Glad you saw your way thru it with help from the forum here.
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