(no subject)

[which_chick]

The black and white pinto filly died -- apparently pneumonia. She was fine one day, breathing with a death rattle the next, dead before we could get the vet out. They're not very sturdy at three days old. Naughty' s baby (two days older) and Chessa's baby (a week older) were in the same field in exactly the same weather and they're both fine, hale and hearty little buggers. *sigh* The weather hasn't been obscenely bad or oppressive for new horse babies -- it's just the breaks. These things happen.

Damn it all.

Comments

[sara-merry99.livejournal.com]

Oh, my god! That's so sad!! Well, it really is just the way things happen, baby animals are terribly fragile. But still, she was so adorable. *sniff*

Can we get pictures of the other babies, so I can picture them?

[gwangi.livejournal.com]

Perhaps photographing the first one was what killed it. Stole its soul and whatnot. Are you sure you want the deaths of two more baby horses on your hands?

[sara-merry99.livejournal.com]

*sniff* Well, that's an interesting point. I hadn't thought of that. Perhaps they should get a little older before they get photographed....

What do you do with horses that die?

[ardvaark99999.livejournal.com]

This is not meant to be heartless, but do they get buried? Hauled off somewhere? Just curious.

Re: What do you do with horses that die?

[which-chick.livejournal.com]

Dead baby horses and dead adult horses generally get buried. Failure to bury them results in turkey vultures and the attention of the neighbors.

Heavy machinery (backhoe, bucket loader, etc.) is used to dig the holes and fill them in afterward. Small dead horses (foals born dead or dead in a couple of days) can be moved around pretty readily by a person. They don't generally weigh more than a hundred pounds and it's easy enough to grab a back leg and drag. Large dead horses are moved by a chain and heavy machinery.

In the event that a horse has to be put down (like when Pro came out of the field with a front leg dangling at an impossible angle), if the horse is still capable of moving, generally you ask the horse to limp or hobble or stagger or whatever to where you plan to bury him before you put him down so that there is not so much dragging involved.