06/10/2019
Sad. Beautiful. Important reminder.
We are asked almost daily if we can take in someone’s older horse that they can no longer keep or care for. We get calls asking if we can take the navicular mare, the old blind pony, the 35 year old gelding that can’t hold weight. I always tell them how no one will ever love their horse like they do, and that the best place for it is with them, even if it means having it euthanized.
I want to share this experience because it has helped me see euthanasia in a different way. In the picture you can see a backhoe in the back of the pasture. This is our 80 acre sanctuary that can have up to 40 horses, most waiting for a spot with a trainer, but several that are not adoptable. The volunteer in the picture is leading two horses to be put down, one with heaves, the other DSLD. Two horses had already been put down and are lying next to the hole. Sounds horrific right, to think their buddies are there watching. It was muddy and the field we usually bury horses was unaccessible so we didn't have a choice. I don't handle euthanasia very well but who does right? The grulla mare in this picture was especially hard for us. She was totally wild and untrusting when we first got her over a year ago. We had finally earned her trust and she had become one of the sweetest and first to greet us. She trusted us, so how could we do this to her? She had heaves through the summer and we had discussed trying to move her up north but she's older, untrained....we made the decision to let her go.
This is the part I want to share. We walked the horses down to where the vet waited. All the horses by that time had gathered around and were busy checking out the vet's truck, the back hoe, some were grazing, but none seemed to know or care what was going on. Those that we handed over to the vet were calm as well. He sedated them, they went down just as if they were going to have a procedure. Then the medication was administered. They went to sleep. The grulla's best friend is the black horse that’s following her in the picture. As her friend was sedated, she continued to graze, no fear or concern for her friend. Another horse on the list with ring bone gimped over to me as we watched a horse be pts. I scratched his neck and loved on him. The vet handed me the halter and he continued to just stand there as I put it on. The vet sedated him and like the others, he just went to sleep. It occurred to me that this was so peaceful because they trusted us, they were in their safe place, not at a vet clinic or at an auction somewhere. I've seen horses euthanized that were severely injured or frightened and it was a traumatic experience for all involved. They are hypersensitive to what’s going on around them and it’s like they know. These horses did not. There was no fear. That is what gets to me the most about horse slaughter. Imagining the concern they have as their buddy goes before them in the chute, the horror is incomprehensible. If only they could all be saved the cruel treatment that horses endure beginning at auction. Letting them go peacefully where they feel safe is ultimately the best gift we can give them.
If your horse is advanced in age, unsound, or infirm, and you can no longer keep it, please consider one last gesture of caring.... letting it leave this earth in the comfort and serenity of its home.
