When time came to euthanize my favorite old endurance
horse, who at 27 had emphysema so badly he could hardly breathe, our vet
and I walked the horse slowly down the hill toward a site where we had dug a
deep hole with a backhoe. I couldn't go all the way with them, so the
vet led the horse the final short distance and I turned and walked
home. I have a way of remembering an animal or person the last way I saw
them, and I didn't want to remember my beloved horse falling and being pushed
into a hole. His resting site is marked by a headstone created by a
neighbor who sculpts in metal and stone, and I had a bronze plaque made for the
stone. I surely miss the dear animal...he was so reliable, fast and
fun. "From his back, I discovered the world."
The Oroville
rescue will pick up your horse if you can't get it there. They only charge for
fuel to do this. I think most owners would want to have the horses euthanized
at the clinic where they won't have to deal with watching a truck come and
drag them into it and take the body away. I saw only the first step of that
process when another neighbor's horse died, the neighbor was away and I had to
take care of it. I wasn't even bonded to the horse and it left an ugly memory
in my mind. I couldn't imagine letting my own horses go that
way.
