Horse lays down for a couple hours = start digging grave?

[SmallChange]

A friend told a story about an old horse laying down on the ground, so somebody sent for a backhoe to dig a grave for it. But when the backhoe started, the startled horse jumped up, and lived for another year or two.

It's good to be proactive, plan your work, etc etc. But isn't this kind of rushing things?

 

[John0829]

Yeah, it is. Horses lay down all the time just usually when we don't see it. My last horse it was no big deal to walk out to the barn and see him laying down in his stall. Most of the time I would go in, pet on him, rub his belly or whatever and he would just lay there and doze. After a while there would be a little snort or grunt and up he would pop. Had him for 32 years, Damn I miss that horse!

 

[grsthegreat]

My fjords lay down every day, usually after breakfast. Have since they were little . Not a real issue. Only dumb horses stand all day long.

 

[RandyT]

Carcass time

 

[D&D]

A friend told a story about an old horse laying down on the ground, so somebody sent for a backhoe to dig a grave for it. But when the backhoe started, the startled horse jumped up, and lived for another year or two.

It's good to be proactive, plan your work, etc etc. But isn't this kind of rushing things?

As with other things, some regret the day they get something and then can’t wait to get rid of what they “had” to have. Optimistic vs procative?

 

[dodge man]

It’s been years ago but there was a debate on Ann Landers if cows ever lay down or not. There was an amazing number of people that thought cows were dead or dying if they laid down. Anybody that lives in the country knows that cows and horses lay down all the time, but I expect some people don’t know otherwise.

 

[MarkMac]

There are other factors, but not wanting to get up is a significant one.

We put down my wife’s childhood horse this May. She was 26 years old, had been unrideable for 8 years, had trouble getting up (often needed assistance) for 4 years. She was a tall saddlebred. Her conformation was very ‘leggy’, which was part of the problem. She was way down in the pasterns. We had to feed her a lot of sweets & alfalfa to maintain weight. A couple times in the past she had lain down for extended times and suffered pulmonary edema and would ooze a gallon of mucus from her nose after we pulled her up.

The day we ‘decided’ started with me having to pull her to her feet, and moments later she went back down. She didn’t really try to stand. So I let the herd into the fresh grassy pasture, and the old mare didn’t get up. I fetched the wife and we both pulled the old mare up. Then the mare walked into the center of the pasture, and plopped down again. This time we couldn’t raise her. The pasture is a major treat, and she wanted none of it. I brought her some sweet feed and she ate laying down. She wasn’t off her feed. She wasn’t in colic. She was saying she was done.

We called the vet, he pumped in a couple 60cc syringes of the nigh-nigh-juice and she passed in the middle of a grassy pasture on a May morning. It was fortunate because the disposal guy had plenty of room to remove her, unlike many who die in the back of a stall inside a barn. The poor mare also didn’t have to endure another miserable Phoenix summer. I hate putting my horses through the Phoenix summers.

BTW, the horse carcass disposal guy charges a minimum of $450/horse, and gets 10-12 horses spanning a 15 hour work day. His overhead is a 20 year old Super duty diesel and a heavy duty trailer with a hydraulic lift. It’s dirty work, but he’s making $$$.

 

[Sprinkler Fitter]

It’s been years ago but there was a debate on Ann Landers if cows ever lay down or not. There was an amazing number of people that thought cows were dead or dying if they laid down. Anybody that lives in the country knows that cows and horses lay down all the time, but I expect some people don’t know otherwise.

You would think the city people would at least drive into the country now and then.

We have a farmer with a couple hundred head of cattle across the highway, they seem to lay down when they want to. Same with the horses a couple blocks down the road.

 

[chim]

Had a lab/newfie mix that at around 16 years old got very slow. One Saturday we were cleaning up in the garage and he came in to lay on the cool concrete, then had trouble getting back up. I said we should prep for a one-way vet trip. On Monday Wifey called me at work and said he had disappeared. Our SIL who lives nearby said she heard some yelps in the big cornfield behind us. We searched but never found a sign of him.

 

[Jstpssng]

We were on a bus headed for a tour years ago and a classmate commented on the "sick horse because they don't lie down."
When we returned later that day it was standing in the pasture grazing with the rest of them.