Burying on your property

[dangerranger]

We have a mini whos time is getting short, and Im weighing having her buried at our home or having her rendered. When our big horses have passed there was not much of a choice, I just could not dig a hole that big or manuver a body that size. But with the little one I can. For those that have buried at home is there any down side? We live in an area where Coyotes and dogs roam freely , So Ill have to cover the grave to keep them from digging. But thats the only negitive I can think of. Is there anything I'm missing?

Thanks DR.

PS if this is posted in the wrong place feel free to move it. DR

 

[chandab]

You'll need to check with county ordinances and/or community ordinances depending on what applies. Some states and counties don't allow burial at home of anything. It could affect ground water, or so I've been told.

I live in the middle of nowhere; we've buried my dog and my half-Arab gelding on the property. We have coyotes, but buried deep enough, they weren't a problem.

 

[horsefeather]

Depending on how much land you have and how close to town you are. We did have 10 acres, was 5 miles from big town. We always buried our horses, dogs, etc. on our own land. Bury deep and cover with sheet iron if possible, at least for several months. We now live on 60 acres and have all kinds of animals. There was a horse (old, old) here when we moved in. He probably should have died several years ago, but bless his heart he's still here. Don't think he will make the summer. Have money put away to hire a backhoe (rocky here) and bury him here.

Pam

 

[dangerranger]

We are about 7 miles from the nearest thing that resembles a town and over 30 miles from a large city, So no problems there. The county says that I need 50 acres or more to bury livestock, But I can bury pets on any size lot. The nearest well is over 1000' away, So Im thinking we are OK. Id really rather keep her here. Thanks all for the quick replys DR

 

[Minimor]

We have buried horses, large & small, here. Our municipality has rules about livestock burial--it must be 100 feet or more from any well, and must be a certain distance from the property line, and must be buried a certain depth--I forget if that is 2 or 3 meters minimum. The backhoe guy I hire usually digs a hole 10 ft deep--once that is covered over there is no way that any animal is ever going to dig it up.

 

[AngC]

We bumbled into horse ownership a couple years ago. We bought at auction from some rich folks that had disintegrated to hard times (bankruptcy auction.) Our little mare got sick quick, in less than 3 months. From the time we noticed symptoms until the vet arrived was a few hours. Within less than 24 hours she had degenerated to the point where ‘we/the vet’ decided to put her down.

So there it is around midnight; my husband and I are crying and snotting all over the place; he has to work the next day. We were totally unprepared to deal with this. Our vet explained all the options; my husband’s “knee-jerk” vehement reaction was against calling the rendering truck. I don’t know what the legalities are; we live in an area of mostly 5 acre plots. We do have an area where we could have buried her that is well away from anyone’s well (and apparently other people have laid a horse or two to rest in the area) and we have a tractor that has a large enough front end loader to dig the hole.

I fled when the vet administered the lethal dose; my husband removed her from the stall and put her in a spot that would be shady the next day and put a tarp over her and weighed it down with rocks to deter crows.

Then my husband told me that he just couldn’t do it. [she only weighed maybe 300 lb, so we could have winched/hoisted her into the tractor bucket.] But she was his “sweet-ums” she’d wait at the fence for him to come home; she knew the sound of the diesel engine on his truck. And he told me that he just didn’t have it in him to get her in the tractor bucket and bury her.

The rendering truck (which looks like a garbage truck) only came the following day and after that it would have been 4 or 5 more days. They showed up early; but by then she was getting pretty ripe and stinky. Nicky was going nuts. We had placed her as far away from his area as we could without stinking out the neighborhood, but Nicky knew and he could smell her and he was inconsolable.

These are some bad memories for me, but I’ve been thinking about it some. I just can’t envision myself putting another animal on a rendering truck. From reading here at the forum about what makes an animal valuable, I don’t guess my Nicky would be perceived as very valuable. But he’s the oldest and before I get too old and gimpy, the bullet is going to come from me and (legal or not) my guy is not going on a rendering truck.

Edited to add... If I had a do-over, I would have taken her to the vet hospital to find out what was wrong with her. (Not sure how we would have handled the logistics of that.)

 

[Matt73]

We buried Lex here, in February. 7 feet down (we have the machinery).. She was euthanised due to chronic, severe founder

.

 

[shorthorsemom]

Hire a back hoe guy or rent one. Make hole deep but with slope entering if horse is alive and you can have option to walk them down the slope and have the vet do the euthanesia right there in the hole. Easier mentally than watching them drop and be shoved into hole, but obviously not always an option. Or keep a tractor handy to shift the body after horse is put down or has died on own. Dirt is heavy and a few feet on top should keep varmits from smelling and digging. You can also place some large rocks on top to keep varmits from digging too and use them as markers so you know where horse is buried. rendering truck gives me the creeps. Pick remote place to dig hole away from wells and streams. In our state the recomendations is to compost large animals, but digging a hole and burying is like composting. Dont ask, don't tell, just do what you feel is right and use good common sense and you will be fine. Minis aren't like burying a cow or full sized horse, not much more than a great dane in size, so might class more as pet than livestock in my opinion. good luck, just do what you feel is right and me, I would keep what I did private so you don't get negative feedback for touchy subject, just take ideas from this string and go with your heart. take care... best wishes..

 

[Carolyn R]

I have buried here and have had vets office have remains cremated. Truth be told, cremation is not that expensive, under $200, And burying the ashes is a breeze. Would go this route every time if I have the option, so much easier. Our tractor is not enormous, we can do a hole for a small mini and make it deep enough, but we need to ask our neighbor to dig the hole when it comes to the big horses. No way I could get a rendering plant to haul off large horses I had from childhood, way too emotional.

 

[Barnmother]

I ran a boarding stable for biggies many years ago, a lot of these horses were geratric some suffered from long term illnesses. They ended up at our stable because we knew how to take care of them and were willing to medicate, do special feed etc. We even housed some as "aftercare" for a local vet and had the capabilities to do IV monitoring, etc.

We also trained show horses and had a lot of athletic fit horses in the barn. Horses do get sick, horses do die, I get that. However watching a horse that was a majestic show animal or a family favorite being winched and pulled into a rendering truck was always a horrific experience for me. When my daughter's first gelding passed, he died in his stall. Another trainer and I managed to manipulate him (he was 14.2) out of the stall but getting the tractor and puling him down the barn aisle about did me in. Watching his lifeless stately body being towed later up the ramp into that truck with dead cows and horses in a tangled heap about finished me.

We moved to Montana (eventually) with our two retired show horses. They passed away about a year apart after having enjoyed retirement and pasture/barn life for about a year and a half. The gentleman who did our septic system had told me that if I ever needed a backhoe to call. (There is no rendering truck where we live.) i called on him both times and both of the elder statesman are buried on our property.

Moral to the story is if you can bury on your property I would certainly do so, it is a much more dignified end for a beloved horse. I feel blessed that I have that option. I worried that it would make me sad knowing they were there but it is ok, the sadness passes and it is nice to know they are close. So much better that the last memory that I have of some of the other horses I have known, loved and cared for.

We now have a tractor with a backhoe attachment and it is perfectly capable of digging such a hole!

 

[targetsmom]

We have buried here and paid someone to it but found that sending animals to the state lab for a necropsy and cremation may be even cheaper. You might check into that. Our state charges by size.

 

[REO]

DR, I enjoyed our talk by PM

 

[susanne]

.
DR, I'm sorry you're facing this situation.

Be aware that, depending upon your state or jurisdiction, your vet may be required by law to report the euthanasia and you may not be allowed to bury on your property.

When Thelonius died, our vet arrived approx. 10 minutes after his passing, and told us about Oregon's laws concerning toxic substances going into the ground. As it was, she helped us get him over to where the other horses could say goodbye. Keith then dug the grave by hand; our neighbor offered to use his tractor, but the hard work helped ease the grieving process.

 

[Kim~Crayonboxminiatures]

DR- thinking of you, it's never easy.

I would advise anyone who owns a horse big or small to think through these issues and make a plan and/or work on several plans, because circumstances can change quickly and you can be faced with having to make these decisions during a stressful/grief filled time when you aren't thinking clearly.

A mini I lost here unexpectedly a few years ago we did compost here, it hurt my heart to have to dump my wheelbarrow at the pile for months afterwards, but sometimes you do what you have to do in the given circumstances. It's a good reminder I wanted to look into what would be involved in having one of my special heart horses cremated when the time comes. There are things involved to think about like transport for cremation if it's not provided, equipment rental if needed to dig, etc. It's hard, but nice to be able to plan ahead and know it's coming, but that is not always the way it works out.

 

[Carolyn R]

Okay, I will lighten the mood a bit, hopefully you all take it with a sense of humor and yes, it does in a round about way pertain to planning for the burial of a large animal......

My aunt that lives on the far side of our family's plot of land has always had a wild streak for semi exotic animals. She had an enormous chainlink fence installed for some whitetail deer she purchase. The fence is 10-12 feet high and covers about 1/3-1/2 of an acre. The deer were smarter than she gave them credit for, the buck learned to open the toggle on the door. The buck took off, the doe hung around and she was able to coax it back to to the enclosure. Come spring she had two lovely fawns, the doe escaped again, she bottle raised the fawns. The neighbors dogs came up and ran the fence line until the fawns were so worked up, the crashed into the fence and passed from head trauma/internal injuries. Then......she got a bottle baby elk. Yes, an elk. We all know how the females in many species go for more money, so they naturally purchased a male

well, they never bothered to have him castrated, once he hit two, hormones were raging. It looked at her as it's mate, would go after her husband and even managed to throw him a good ten feet with its antlers. She managed to saw down it's antlers a bit, but still didn't follow our advice on snipping him.

She is bit oblivious about the danger on how some things labeled all natural can still be dangerous and purchased a tube of calmex for it. Once again, intended for horses, labeled all natural so she thought why not, didn't think that it would hurt a ruminant. Called up very upset about her elk acting wierd, my father went to check things out. He exclaimed, "it's sitting like a dog and looks stoned, what did you give it?" she showed him the empty tube. He asked how many times she dosed him, she said once. She gave him an entire tube ment for a 1200 pound horse! Well, he passed away. Once again, unfamiliar with large animals, she did not know that in most cases, you must tie their legs in prior to rigor....easier to bury. My husband tried to gently pull it into the woods as it plunked off of every object it came in contact with. He helped her roll it into a shallow grave after he made the remark, "are you sure you don't want that hole deeper?" she said no and declined his help, needed to do it herself to help the heeling process. She buried him, legs up,stacked the grave with rocks but ran out when she got to his knees! Her son was home from the military the fallowing weekend, told her it was attracting wild animals. She in turn told him to do what he needed to do.......off to the garage for the chainsaw he went! You don't get much more redneck than that, we all have a chuckle about it now, but it was very traumatic and very poor ownership and planning all the way around.

The story is told the best by my father.....he befriended some French Canadians while in Hawaii one year. Told them the story, and before he got the words out of his mouth about my cousin going to the garage, the French man exclaimed, "no, not le chainsaw!!!"

As said by Kim already, and Just the fact that you came here to ask is great, a plan and a good back up plan is sound advice. Least traumatic and easiest by far has been the cremation route for me.

 

[HGFarm]

Go deep- that's all I can say, and it will prevent coyotes and dogs from digging. We buried a few on the ranch too over the years but always made sure it was really deep. Sorry to hear you must make that choice soon- it's always so hard.

 

[wingnut]

Lime is also needed in home burial situations as it helps to not attract wildlife to the burial site We learned the hard way on that point...not horse in that case, but our dog.

{{{ hugs }}}

 

[susanne]

.

We went with both the deep hole and lime. There was no evidence of any digging.

 

[Marty]

WE hired a backhoe to bury all my horses on my property.

However, I did hear about the problem with the water and toxic substances in the drugs used to put your horse to sleep.

I have always poured several gallons of amonia around the burial sight.

 

[Magic Marker Minis]

We've had several horses die on us over the past few years. The first was a Mini that my daughter had. She ran into a tree and broke her neck. We buried her on the equestrian facility we were living on... (Didn't ask, just did, didn't know any better). That was summer 2010. In summer 2011, we moved onto 40 acres in Brighton, CO. My daughter's other Mini got out onto the highway and was hit by a truck and a car... He was picked up by the renderer. We took in a neighbor's elderly Arabian gelding (he was 30 years old) in the fall... A cold snap hit and (we think) caused him to colic and die. He was picked up by the renderer... Then, we adopted an elderly Percheron mare (25 years old) for my daughter because she was 'done' with Minis... She 'broke down' in the pasture and we could not get her up. She was not colicking... I later found out that draft horses get a hip disease that causes their hips to give out when they get old... She was also picked up by the renderer...

One thing I did note that is different from some of your reactions to the renderer... Once the horse has died and it's 'essence' is gone, I didn't have the same reaction of grief... My grief happens immediately before and immediately after whatever causes the horse to die... By the time the renderer got there for the draft mare, in particular, it was so much 'meat' and I didn't associate the dead body with the living, breathing horse it had been... Maybe it's a defense mechanism... I know my poor daughter was still heartbroken afterwards and couldn't watch Molly being picked up.

Our next deaths occurred when we lost two foals the following year (2012). We buried them on the property we were living on... Early last year, another of my daughter's horses (Mustang/QH cross) broke her leg and we had to put her down. We buried her on the property in Missouri... Then, last summer, after we moved to Tucson, Toni lost four pregnant Mini mares to colic and we buried them on this property.

This spring, we lost two of our foals due to redbag deliveries... This time, however, we took the bodies out to the desert and laid them to rest under a mesquite tree on two different occasions... I actually preferred this method because the foals 'went back to nature' and their bodies were not wasted in a hole in the ground...