euthanizing horses who no longer have any use?
i have a TB mare, and she was sold to us as a safe ride but she is turned out to be quite dangerous under saddle and also older than advertised. i've retired her from riding as she wasnt happy being ridden and has also been all over the country being passed from person to person. we're trying to sell her on as a companion/broodmare but after being told that she is unsuitable as a broodmare several people have rudely advised us to have her put down cos 'she has no use'.
i dont think this is the right way - why would l have my horse, who i'm VERY attatched to, killed just because she wouldnt be able to do anything but live out her life happily in a field?
what do you think?
i'm not asking for what you think l should do. therefore l do not need this abuse saying ''take responsibility for your own horse!'' .. this is an upsetting subject for me so please be sensitive.
if it were my choice l would keep her but her livery is quite expensive and there is nowhere cheaper to keep her :/

Dont put her down. You love her and thats what counts. Just because she cant help humans in any way dosent mean she cant have a nice life.

l think its horrible. it sounds like she needs some exercise. have you even tried to put her in halter shows?its actually pretty fun!

Do not do that! If there is nothing wrong healthwise just let her live out her life. Let her be a companion to YOU! Do not listen to the rude people.

DO NOT but here down you could try halter classes with her

l am assuming that u can not keep her, which is why you're trying to find a home or otherwise be rid of her.

l hate to tell you, but unproductive horses r often sold as meat at auction after being bounced around from home to home. People will even respond to a for-sale ad, claiming to want her for whatever (pony rides, brood mare, etc.) & just turn around & sell her to a meatman to recoup her fee & make some profit. If they can get her for free, even better.

If u can personally investigate perspective owners thoroughly, u might be able to find her a forever home as a companion or pasture buddy. The odds r though, if she is a crabby, older, unproductive, hard keeper a suitable home that is willing to spend the money & time will be tough to find. You might try donating her to a teaching or college barn if she has a good demeanor in hand. They could use her as a teaching tool for kids learning to care for horses, or as an example of an aging horse for equine management majors.

If u feel she has had a good, long life, & u absolutely can not find her a suitable lifelong home, u might want to consider putting her down to save her the pain. It is the far more humane choice (compared to the horrors of being shipped out of the country to the slaughter house, & the stuff that they see there) if u really love her.



ADD- l know people love to look at the world through rose colored glasses, & in a perfect world we would all have thousands of dollars on reserve to properly care for an aging money-pit of a horse but we live in the real world. It is far kinder to ur dear friend to put her to sleep than to sell her to an owner with mystery intentions.


ADD 2- What a ride & the other people answering that its cruel to kill animals, what would u have her do? She said she cant keep her. She can not live out her days in the pasture she is currently in. She can not be donated to a rescue as they r already bursting at the seams with horses that people can no longer care for/do not want/are unproductive. Given the current financial situation, people r unloading anything that is a luxury cost, & unfortunately horses r a luxury for most of us. l know you'd like to believe that everyone has good intentions, but the truth is they don't. People lie. I've personally known people who have sold or given their beloved family pets to a 'retirement home', only to find out they were sold to slaughter because they r worth more by the pound than as an unwanted horse. If she can not keep this horse due to money, that horse will rot where it stands- either starve or die when it gets sick (no offense to the poster) because its owner can not financially care for it. Would that be a more humane end for a dear friend?

It is a tough world we live in & we do not always have all the options we would like, but the good, kind, responsible owners ALWAYS do what is best for their horses, not just when the right thing is warm & fuzzy & cute.

Retire her to pastyre for the remainder of her life, bring her in to groom her once in a while but do not put her down unless its crucial.

Put her in a retirement home . Do not just put her down, she is not living with any pain, she is fine . Just useless under saddle . You can still graze her occasionally, and groom her .

Do not put her down. It is not fair to her or you. It is not our decision to make anyway. She will go when she goes. in the mean time, groom her, hand-graze her & just spend some time with her. Just put her out to pasture with a shetland pony as a companion. You can buy goats or sheep for her to hang around with if u can not afford a horse as a companion for her.

If u can not love her & treat her better or just as good as someone who really would want her around then l would put her on equine.com for a low fee or even free if u just want to get rid of her.

If u do not want to sell her, just give her love. She will enjoy just spending some quality time with you.

If you are VERY attached to her why are you going to sell her ??

It is ur choice, so therefore, there is no need to put her down only because they say u should.
People keep telling me to put my mare down because she is 19, insulin reistant, & is a pony, so is going through her 4th home. People say she is suffering, even though she has not foundered in 4 months, l find that all horses have a use somewhere.
As for you, u can give ur horse to a rescue program. they would be happy to take her in & find a suitable home for ya. :)

l will not think ill of any person who accepts the responsibility for euthanizing a horse that they cannot assure has a comfortable, happy future.

It is nice to believe that horses that r too unsound/poorly trained/ill/old to be ridden or used for some purpose r entitled to a peaceful retirement in a sunny green pasture somewhere, but that is not realistic. Not everyone has the money to retire a horse that can not be used for riding or driving. Not everyone has a nice pasture where retired horses can loaf until the natural end of their lives.

I've known horses that were abandoned by people who could not afford to keep them & could not find them a good home. I've known people who gave their horse away to a ''good home,'' closing their eyes to the fact that the person they gave the horse to turned around & put it in a meat auction. I've known people who lied about the condition of a horse-- misrepresented its soundness, age, or degree of training-- in order to unload it onto someone else who then had to take the responsibility for euthanizing it.

My hat is off to anyone who will accept responsibility for euthanizing a horse they can not take care of themselves & can not find a guaranteed home for. l am lucky, lucky, lucky that l could afford to keep my Arab in a pleasant retirement situation after he could no longer be ridden. Not everyone is that lucky, & if they r willing to step up to the plate & be responsible if they can not provide for their horse themselves, l think they deserve praise, not condemnation. JMO.
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l hope every one of the people here who is condemning the idea of euthanizing a horse for which a home can not be found is donating money to support unsound or unsafe horses that homes can not be found for. JMO.

Killing anything cuz it is ''useless'' is stupid. Do not do it! Ignore those idots who tell you to put her down.
You could try to teach her to drive if you want to.

l think it is far more horrible to send on a horse who has no use - & if she cannot be ridden & is not suitable as a broodmare, l am afraid she has no use - than deal with the situation yourself.

What do u envisage happening? She can go to a nice retirement home & live out her days with someone who will care for her & ask nothing in return? People r not like that. You r not like that, or you'd keep her on & stop the cycle of being passed from one home to another. Why should anyone take a useless horse u do not want any more? Is not it better to make sure u know her future? What will happen in her future if u send her to someone as a pet?

If u r as attached to her as u claim, there would be no question; u would keep her as ur responsibility for the rest of her days. That is ur duty as her owner. If u can keep her to live happily in her field that is wonderful; if u can not, it is ur duty to make sure there is no harm in her future - u owe her that!

Personally, l always go for quality of life over duration of life.


Edit: The naive innocence on some of these is startling. ''Give her away to an animal charity'' - charities r full to bursting at the best of times. Throw in the current economic climate, & there r a heck of a lot more horses with uncertain futures. Charities r there to look after genuine neglected & abused horses, the numbers of which r on the rise. They simply do not have the resources to start taking in horses whose owners do not want them, can not sell them, & do not have it in them to have the horse destroyed.

Personaly I'd keep her but l have my own land & can do so.

However if circumstances mean that u cannot keep the mare & cannot loan her then having her PTS is in my oppinion the responsible & kindest thing to do.

You sell her & l can garentee she will be bounced from piller to post & either end up on a meat wagon or putting an even bigger burden on the already overwhelmed sanctuaries.

If circumstances ever ment that l couldnt keep my horses the young well mannered ones would be sold, my older well mannered horses who r in good health would be loaned to friends, & my very old ponies who r costing alot in vets bills or have problems (like one has a very nasty temper if he doesnt know you) would be PTS. l owe them too much to see them passed around or end up on a meat wagon.

I'd rather they were PTS at home with dignity & respect, quietly whilst in no pain & with thier heads in a feed bucket then have them face an uncertain future with the possibility of an awful terrifying trip on a meat wagon & an agonising drawn out death at the end of the trip.

l would personaly have ur mare PTS, if she is dangerous to be ridden, not good enough to be a brood mare & very few people want a companion & when they do it tends to be ponies they want, then the kindest thing would be to have her PTS at home. If u sell her u a condemning her to an uncertain future, once sold u have no control of what is done to her or who she is sold on too. u would feel so guilty if in a few years time u trace her & she has gone for meat (ie been transported to mexico for the american horses or to italy for the european ones, in mexico it is a horrible horrible death that awaits the horse if she doesnt die on the trip there).

If u love this horse as much as u say u do then u wouldnt condemn her to that fate.


edited to add - People who wont take the responsibility for thier horse realy annoy me. In this financial climate the horse will end up going for meat money, take responsibility, u cant afford the livery & u claim to be very attached to her, so give her a happy ending, either look after her & dont have a riding horse, or have her pts & assure that she will never have to go through any pain or terror.
If u dont then l dont think u deserved this mare, if u cannot or will not take responsibility for her death then u had no right taking responsibility for her life.

Ive had several ponies PTS due to old age, illness or temper problems. My conscience is clear because l KNOW those horses r no longer suffering, they have not been sold on to unsuitable homes or had to endure a trip to a meat factory or the very scarey experiance of a meat auction. When u bought this mare u took responsibility for her well being & her life & if u can no longer assure that then it is ur responsibility to make sure she never suffers.

l think very little of people who pass on thier problems & wont make nessecary decisions. If she were capable of light hacking or suitable as a broodmare i'd be all for finding her a new home but she isnt so it realy is the kindest thing to do.

If u can afford to feed her, r otherwise happy with her, if she is a good companion horse to any other animal (horse that u might own), if she is easy to handle from the ground, if she is in fairly good health, no major health issues, then why put her down?

The decision rests with u but if you're basically happy with her then there is ur answer.

PS.It is no one else is business what u decide to do with her!! The key word is, ''IF'' u can afford to feed her...if u can, more power to you.

Edit: l see the ''FUGLY'' wenches have made an appearance. A**hats.

Good luck.

l think its so wrong to put down a horse for such a stupid reason! Your so right, you should not have to put your horse down because some people think that she has no use. If you really can not keep her she can be sold as a field companion or possibly given away to an animal charity. And l agree that your horse should be able to live out its life happily.

Dont put her down please!!!!!!!!!!! Give her to a shelter or retirment home!!! l would personally keep her. l mean if l was passed around a million times, l wouldnt be pleased by being ridden. She does have a use. She is a companion & wants a perment buddy! You can be that buddy!!! Take advantage!

If horses r in pain then yes they can be euthenized but otherwise there should be no reason fo them to die. Horses may be extinct one day because too many were killed..for no reason!?

Well l think, she is your horse and if you want to keep her til she dies of old age then that is what you should do. As long as she is in no pain and is taken care of. l do not think you should try to sell her or give her to some one else to take care of. When my horses are to old or to injured to have the quality of life l feel they deserve then l have them put down. But l feel it is up to the person paying the bills.

Hello,

Euthanizing horses who no longer have any use? What a bad start for this question. Come on, what do u mean have no use? They r not cars or bicycles. They r living matter. You have no right to treat them in that way. Is it hard to understand, or what?

Anyway, u express ur feelings about ur mare, & what a strong bond u two have & l am not here to criticize you. l bet u will do the right thing.

My opinion is that no human being has the right to kill another.

That is it.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

So she is unrideable, unsuitable as a brood mare & u r having a problem in paying for the livery.
Why r u trying to unload this horse onto someone else ? Face the facts - that happy land of sunshine & rainbows just is not there. If u do manage to sell her she will be going to an uncertain future of possible mistreatment & neglect. If u r fond of her then either buckle down & be her happy rainbow provider or give her the final release.
As to the original question - my thoughts on euthanizing horses that r no longer any use r quite plain - I'd rather do that than send it on to who knows what.

give her or sell her for a very small fee, as a pasture pet or companion horse. there are many people who could use one. and there are always horse sanctuaries