This is no doubt one of the most stressful things in the role of owning horses.
As a veterinarian, we are often called to put horses to sleep, and it is never an easy job emotionally, and never one to be taken lightly.
The stimulus to write this article a few years ago was when I had the unpleasant job of euthanising a stallion who had really won my heart over. I had cared for him at our clinic for weeks trying to help him recover from illness. It wasn’t to be, and it really highlighted how amazing horses are, and how they get into our hearts and inspire us as owners and veterinarians to go above and beyond to try to keep them well and healthy.
This stallion had amazing owners who did absolutely everything possible for him, which made it even harder saying goodbye to him. On top of this, he remained extremely stoic and kept bouncing back with positive energy from each setback.
One thing owners need to realise is that there is usually not an absolute right or wrong time to say good bye and put a horse to sleep.
Sometimes it is clear cut, such as a horrendous injury with fractured bones exposed in the leg etc, but more often, there is a decision to be made, and the dream of the old horse just dying in its sleep is unfortunately not too common.
When deciding when to make the call, there are many factors to take into account such as:
- the pain the horse is currently in,
- likelihood and time of recovery,
- age of the horse,
- other co-morbidities challenging the horse,
- future potential use of the horse,
- how much pain the horse may experience,
- the emotional attachment by the owners,
- the budget of the owners,
- disposal (burial/cremation) of the body etc.
One thing to remember when considering euthanasia, is that, so long as it is done correctly, then the situation is a lot more stressful to the owner than the horse!
Your veterinarian can often offer good pain relief to allow time to make an informed decision, and you may be required to sign a euthanasia consent form to give your written permission to proceed.
Grieving is a normal emotional path for human beings, and in this process, we as owners may experience emotions in an order such as:
1) Denial – where we cannot accept that the end is near for your beloved friend,
2) Anger – maybe at yourself or at others, thinking that the situation could have been prevented,
3) Bargaining – where you will do anything to prevent your horse from having to be put to sleep,
4) Depression – the sadness of realising that they are gone and,
5) Acceptance – when you have dealt with the loss and ready to move on.
Do other horses grieve?
I believe so. We will probably never be able to prove this, but some herd mates certainly do become stressed when seeing a horse going down onto the ground through general anaesthesia (when needing to lie the horse down for surgery) or euthanasia (putting to sleep forever).
I personally witnessed a 4-year old mare of mine, who was present for the euthanasia and burial of her dam, stand at the grave for 3 days. Exactly what she was thinking will puzzle me forever.
Techniques to euthanise a horse include lethal injection, captive bolt, use of a firearm, lidocaine injection into the spinal cord, and severing the aorta per rectum.
Your veterinarian will usually prefer one over another, depending on your circumstances.
Any of these methods are fine if done correctly, and the horse will know nothing about the process.
It must be remembered that if lethal injection (an overdose of anaesthetic) is used, then the body needs to be buried or burnt immediately to prevent predators such as eagles, dingoes, neighbours dogs etc from eating the carcass and ingesting the lethal medication in the process.
Preparation for the euthanasia.
Consideration needs to be given to things such as how will the remaining horses in the paddock be, who should be present at the procedure, when should it be done etc. It is ideal to co-ordinate a backhoe operator to dig the hole prior to putting the horse to sleep or immediately after it is done, then bury them as soon as possible after they are put to sleep.
Who and when should be present.
This varies a lot between owners, and there is no real right or wrong. Sometimes children are present too, so long as good communication is engaged to explain things to them. It can be a real-life lesson for them, and a “dress rehearsal” for the inevitable pain and grief of losing a loved human family member later on in life.
I like to have the horse as stress free as possible when putting them to sleep. I often either sedate the horse first or allow it to eat a bucket of its favourite feed or carrots as I inject the lethal injection through a large bore needle or catheter. I use a muscle relaxant as well as the anaesthetic overdose, which means the horse is unconscious before it collapses, and then usually doesn’t move after it hits the ground.
Saying good bye to your beloved horse will never be an easy process, and it will always be harder on you than it will be on the horse you are protecting from further suffering which is unfortunately inevitable with ageing.
Owners will always miss their horse, but often they feel great relief once they have said goodbye and grieved for a period of time.
One of the greatest pains we can feel as owners is the thought that we left making the decision too long and should have done it earlier.
About the author – Dr Oliver Liyou is an equine veterinarian of 30 + years in Grafton, NSW, Australia.
Pictured here with his 2 standardbred geldings in 2024.
– Raffa 1 yo on the left and Leroy 30 yo on the right, who he has already considered saying Goodbye to, but Leroy happily agreed to being fed mash and teaching 2 kids to ride on a friend's farm instead!
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