My wife has a horse, he is kept on a yard with a dozen other horses. Last week one of the horses fell ill, everyone on the yard thought it was colic, however it turned out to be some major blockage in the horse's gut.

After several visits from the vet in the last week, the horse was deemed to be suffering too much and was shot today. Which is fine, I accept that because that's the quickest and most humane way to end a horse's life.

A quarter of a mile down the road from the yard is a Hunt stable, the dead horse was duly fed to the hounds minutes after it had been shot!

Apparently this goes on all the time! Barbaric eff or what!

Ergh. I was expecting a hunt joke with a word before ending "ck"

A quick google search:

Two Oklahoma Men in Jail Alleged to have Fed Horses to Dogs

According to 5Newsonline.com, an Oklahoma man and his grandson, Albert and William McReynolds, were arrested on animal cruelty charges after deputies found the remains of eight dead horses and two dead dogs on the family's property.

Live dogs were chained near the horse carcasses and had been feeding on the remains. In addition, horse remains had been put into hog pens.

Had to laugh at this before I read it properly, I first read it as "horses remains had been put into hog pies

The hunt always go round to farms where I lie picking up dead animals for their dogs.

I have always wondered what you do with pet cats when they die.....now I know.....

feed them to the neighbours dog.

Apologies for being so slow Ashers but you changed your post quicker than I could quote it, your response was "barbaric, the horse is dead" you're obviously not an animal lover which I haven't got an issue with. But yes, I think it's barbaric.

Totally the opposite. I have lived in the countryside for 30 years, my girlfriend is a farmer's daughter and they own over one hundred cows, pigs, sheep, dogs and cats.

I love animals, but have been brought up with this kind of thing around me.

So don't you think feeding a dead horse to a pack of hounds is barbaric?

Depends on the situation.

If the horse has just been shot as you said and is still in the form of a horse - Yes
If the horse has been sent away by the owner to a slaughterhouse to be disposed of properly and is then given to the dogs (not resembling a horse) - No, as the dogs need to eat and this is what they know.

Issue is that you are not meant to bury cows / horses in the ground due to foot and mouth, etc

Living in the countryside you would be shocked what you come across, especially when it comes to what foxes will do for food.

What was the owners wishes?

Lovely. Don't think I'll tell the old dear this, she thinks ducks are too pretty to eat.

agree with Ashers (from a countryside background with a mass of family still in farming)

She would not like to know about the old woman living next door to the farm that makes squirrel pie then. Don't worry they are grey squirrels.

Is this serious?

The horse is dead? The dogs are hungry?

What are you going to do? Bury if with full military honours?

Feed the dead horse to something else. Whether or not you agree with hounds and therefore hunting, why waste a good carcass?

Why is it barbaric?

The owner agreed to this to be honest, I just can't get my head around this being the right thing to do.
She probably hasn't got the money to dispose of the horse in a more humane manner, I would/have in the past borrowed money in a similar situation.

How can you dispose of a dead in horse in a humane manner? Borrow the money to send it off in a Viking longboat funeral?

You can get horses cremated, but it is not cheap.

That is the only real other option though.

Love this response! So if it was a human carcass, perhaps a relation! would you still feel the same? Feed it to the hounds....don't matter cos they're dead! Shouldn't waste a good carcass should we? The dogs are hungry afterall!

Cost me £700 almost 3 years ago

Horse Rendering

Even if you don't wish to recycle your horse's body via horse meat, you need not automatically rule out recycling it for other uses. Although their numbers have shrunk considerably (thanks in large part to a 1997 F.D.A. law regarding how rendered horse products could be used in cattle feed), there are rendering plants across the nation, and a plant located near you may be willing to accept horses. This method of horse disposal is very regional-dependent, so it's important to see if this is an option beforehand rather than just assuming a horse rendering facility is located near you.

Most rendering plants that accept horses will be willing to pick up your horse for a fee. Some will require you to transport it. Discuss the options and requirements with a rendering plant near you. Also keep in mind that horse rendering plants near you may have specific rules regarding drugged horses and/or the length of time a horse carcass has been deceased.

Horse rendering is a good option if it's available to you. Although it can be difficult to shake the emotional image of rendering a carcass if you're sensitive, ultimately it's an environmentally-friendly and efficient process, and since the rendering temperatures hit around 300 degrees Fahrenheit, it's also a great option for diseased horse carcasses.

Horse Burial

The most common method of horse disposal and the one that even the most sensitive of people are comfortable with is burying a horse somewhere on your property. Since this is the favored method for horse owners, I'll cover the subject in detail in another article. There are too many legal issues and important safety rules to cover to insert into this article, so if you would like to learn more about the topic check out our related article How To Bury A Dead Horse.

Leave The Carcass For Scavengers

This option will not be available to most horse owners for various reasons. First and foremost, it's illegal in some states and many counties since a horse carcass can invite disease, contaminate water supplies and attract vermin. Second, it requires a significant amount of acreage, because the last thing you want to do is leave a carcass near your home, a neighbor's property, or in an unwooded area. You don't want to encourage scavengers, pests and vermin to set up shop near your home.

If you do have wooded, unused acreage, it's certainly an easy horse disposal method; chain the carcass to a tractor, drag it to an isolated spot, and let nature take its course from there. But even with it being the easiest method of disposal, it's not one I recommend for most. Disease, water contamination, legality issues, pests and the potential for the decomposition stench to wander further than you anticipated just aren't worth it for me.

Horse Cremation

Cremation is a commonly accepted way to dispose of a dead horse, but it may or may not be an option for you depending on where you live. Some states have horse cremation services readily available, while in other states such as Texas, horse cremation facilities may be few to nil. Even pet cemeteries aren't always able to cremate horses, not due to unwillingness, but due to the challenges of a horse's size. Most facilities just don't have the machinery available to handle such a large carcass. If your local pet cemeteries are unable to handle a horse cremation job, contact some local universities or your state's Department of Agriculture; if they cannot offer the services themselves, they may be able to point you in the right direction since they'll be familiar with the whole carcass handling process.

How you handle the ashes will also impact how much you need to pay an outside facility to cremate your horse. Cremation fees generally run the gamut: anywhere from a couple hundred dollars to around 75 cents per pound, which adds up quickly. If you wish for your horse's ashes to be returned to you, expect to pay significantly more. And that doesn't necessarily cover the cost of transporting the horse carcass to the cremation facility, which can tack on a couple hundred dollars more to the cost depending on where you live.

If you wish to cremate your horse, I strongly recommend that you use an outside service. While it certainly is possible to cremate your own horse on your own property, be aware that many counties have strict regulations regarding the practice. Your county may only permit horse cremation on agriculturally-zoned properties, or areas located a certain distance away from neighboring property, etc. Even if you have plenty of acreage and think you're fine, I don't advise “going for it” without first checking with county officials. If your illegal cremation were to be discovered, you could be fined severely.

And it's not exactly far-fetched that your horse cremation would be discovered. The process is rather slow, and the unpleasant scent is extremely strong. On a windy day, you'll be surprised how far the stench can drift, so think long and hard about whether you wish to attempt to cremate your own horse.

I'm a good country boy but it doesn't mean I have to like stuff like this. Not barbaric but pretty horrible. If the horse had been my pet I'd be checking out cremation costs.

But it wasn't.

It's not though, it's a horse.

How about a meg sheep? A cow? They're not related to me? Do you have pets? What do you think they are fed on? Meat.

Can't dispute that, but it was an animal such as you and I. We must have more rights than them then!

Good old US of A are reintroducing horse meat into us market. So next time you are in US at wendys all you can eat, it really is anything you can eat.

I've actually eaten horse meat in Belgium, many years ago.

Apologies, don't know what a "meg" sheep is, a cow eats grass and yes I have pets......they don't eat meat, I do and love it!

Nice? What sauce does it go with?

Horseradish

A meg sheep is an orphan basically. Mother sheep (being a bit thick) doesn't know what to do with it. So we raise it on the bottle. It becomes used to humans. Mary had a little lamb and all that. then we kill it and eat it.

Don't get me wrong, I love my cats and dogs, My kids horse ride. But to throw away a whole horse carcass is criminal. They'll still go to heaven whether they're buried or eaten.

No, I don't eat cats....too sinewy