Euthanasia is a humane way of taking an animal's life. A barbiturate is injected in into the animal's bloodstream, a large dose so in fact it is like an overdose. The drug will stop the brain's function almost immediately and the animal loses consciousness, stops breathing and then the heart stops beating. The drugs act quickly and effectively. However, not all horses respond in exactly the same way. If you plan to be present when the lethal injection is given, keep in mind that the horse may simply drop, or could draw a deep breath, shudder, paddle, or show other signs of distress before succumbing.
This is a word that horse lovers will avoid using at all costs, but at some point in your life, you will have to cope with losing your horse by way of euthanasia, either by injection or shooting. Making a decision to put down your animal is extremely emotional and a very hard thing to do. You feel like you are murdering your beloved horse yourself. How can we humans decide like God to take a life? This kind of decision is normally traumatic and upsetting.
The decision to euthanize, or induce a painless death, should never be made without careful consideration. The right choice is clearly the one that is in the best interest of the horse and the humans who care for it. Without you to make that decision, your horse will live with pain and feel miserable. Isn't it better to let him die in peace and with his dignity? I think it is the same with us humans, if you are in that position, what would you choose? It will be one extremely hard desicion, the hardest one any horselover will have to make, but at some stage in your life you will have to decide. You will have to put yourself in your horses position and think would I like to live out my life in the pain he/she is suffering.
Losing a beloved horse is a painful experience, especially if you made the decision to have your horse put down. The feelings of loss, sadness and profound guilt will overwhelm you. You will get people telling you to, "Get over it already." How can anyone be so unsympathetic, even if they don't feel the same about horses as others do? If you experience the death of your horse try and be in the company of people who understand and can console you and feel with you, other family members, close friends or fellow horse riders. Any animal lover will understand what you are going through.
There are a wide range of circumstances under which euthanasia may be considered. Among some of the most common are:
Whether you are dealing with an emergency or a long-term illness, discuss the following questions with your veterinarian to help you decide what is right for you and your horse:
THINKING AHEAD
Unfortunately, your horse, like all living creatures, is not going to live forever. If your horse remains healthy and happy into old age and dies a peaceful, natural death, you are fortunate. However, by thinking about what you would do in an emergency, or how you would act if your horse's life became painful and unbearable to watch, you can be prepared for whatever happens. And by sharing this plan with others, especially those who care for your horse in your absence, you assume the ultimate responsibility of ownership by easing the decision-making process for everyone. Finally, you show the ultimate respect for your horse by relieving it of unendurable pain or disease.
THE STAGES OF GRIEVING
The process of grieving is always the same, regardless of the cause.
The stages are:
The person's first reaction to the death is SHOCK and disbelief. This is the time when people seem to be numb and unaware, unable to take in the news, unable to process the information, unable to understand that their best friend is DEAD. This is a perfectly normal mental reaction - the mind, like the body, has ways of protecting itself.
The next two stages often occur very close together. Once the mental shock and numbness begins to wear off, the next reaction is typically ANGER. When a horse-owner is in this phase, she may be furious with everything - even with the universe itself - for allowing the horse to die. She may be angry with everyone at the barn, with everyone at the vet clinic, with her parents, with her teachers, her work collegues, but mostly with herself. Again, this is normal - and it doesn't last forever. It often very quickly shifts into the next - also usually brief - phase, which is to lose interest in the other people and horses at the barn, the veterinarian who used to look after the horse, her parents, her teachers, work mates, her friends at school... at this point, the anger has left the person exhausted, and everything seems very fuzzy and vague and unreal - this is normal.
After this, when the person begins to come out of the exhaustion and alienation, the next step is DENIAL. When an animal dies, it's important for the animal's owner to understand that there is nothing that can be done - the animal is dead, it won't come back, it can't come back, and there is no way to create a more satisfactory conclusion to the animal's life. It's gone.
GUILT is the next step - and perhaps the hardest one to deal with, both for the horse-owner and for her family. It's normal, but heartbreaking, to see your daughter or friend beating herself up over what she thinks is her responsibility for her horse's death. If she had to tell the vet "Please put the horse down so that it won't be in pain any more" - as is often the case when a horse has a terminal infection, or a bad accident - then she is likely to feel even more guilty, constantly asking herself how she could have "let" her horse die, and constantly wondering if she could have saved it if she had done something differently in the days or weeks before it caught the infection or hurt itself.
This is a crucial stage of grief, because it's during this stage that the person in question will need to find the courage to forgive herself. Humans are only humans - not one of us can make a perfect, accident- and illness-free life for our animals. We can do the best we know how to do for our animals, and that is ALL we can do, and sometimes it simply isn't enough. During this stage, you won't help at all by telling her "It was just a horse". If you must try to comfort her, don't push - let her know that you know she was a conscientious, caring horse-owner who always did the best she could for her horse, and that horses have delicate digestive systems, and that colic is the number-one killer of horses, or that the horses immune system was just not able to fight the infection off, etc, and that SHE DID THE BEST SHE COULD.
The final phase of grief is RESOLUTION - that's when we - all of us, finally realize that death is part of life, and that there is no way to give a piece of your heart to another being, human or animal, without risking the desperate sorrow that comes when that other being dies. THIS is the stage during which the grieving person will be able to pull themself back together and move on - but you will need to be realistic about your expectations.
Never expect her to forget about her horse. She won't. She will always love that horse. You have probably lost beloved family members - perhaps your grandparents. Did you stop loving them when they died? Of course not. "Pulling yourself together" means accepting and living with the loss of a loved friend, NOT forgetting about the friend or denying the love. "Letting go of the past" means not blaming yourself for being unable to prevent the loss of the loved one, NOT forgetting all about the loved one.
Please visit Kate's Tribute page and pay her your respect. She was a great mare who got bad colic and was unable to be saved. She was put down back in May 2003. You will never be forgotten KATE!!!!!!
