Last week we discussed the general subject of disposal of equines–a sad and sometimes frustrating job for any horse person. This week we will look at the scene and think about some of the challenges of physically dealing with 1,000 to 2,000 pounds of dead horse to be disposed of before it bloats, rots, and generally becomes even more frustrating to manage. Some situations are far more difficult to deal with than others.

What do you do if you are an emergency manager for a county and suddenly someone calls you and says “Hey, there was a trailer accident on the interstate this afternoon and there are two dead horses laying on the side of the road. What do we do with them?” Most emergency managers are not horse people or tied into the equine community–are they going to be aware of the issues involved in carcass removal, disposal, and safety? They may need a resource list to be provided of landfills, renderers, and dead animal equipment operators for your community.

If you had a horse die trapped in a tree after a flood or it fell off a cliff on a trail ride, how would you handle these issues? What if you live in Minnesota and a horse dies when it is -12 degrees F in January? Is it a problem to wait until the ground thaws out to bury it? What questions should you ask yourself before this happens so that you can more professionally and rationally deal with the situation?

First of all, call a local backhoe operator, emergency equine ambulance, or dead-animal rendering company. This is a good phone number to have available at all times, in case your or a friend’s horse dies you want to be able to easily access these types of information. Make sure you know how much they charge, what their services actually entail, and think about how much money you can budget to have your horse disposed of in a manner that makes you feel better about the loss