# Horse disposal.. how much?



## Bounty (11 February 2008)

Just out of interest...

How much does it cost to have a horse dispatched by the local hunt?

and.........

How much would an abbatoir be paying out for a 450kg (ish!) horse?


Slightly morbid I know!


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## Morrigan_Lady (11 February 2008)

Personally I would NEVER do either.

Marsden was cremated and although the insurance paid for it, it was about £500.


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## henryhorn (11 February 2008)

It used to be 30 p a pound, but not sure nowadays. 
We have the vet do it and then pay a cremation firm to dispose, vet is around £100, they are about £150.


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## Bounty (11 February 2008)

QR 
I should probably say that I'm not considering any of the above for any of my horses! 
	
	
		
		
	


	





I'm considering taking on a filly who will most likely be going to the kennels... and obviously I don't want to be paying over the odds for her


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## luckilotti (11 February 2008)

I know its not quite what you asked by my mare that was recently PTS and collected, its costs me the following:-

Vets Call Out/Examination/PTS - £138.34
Cremation and collection - £333.50   (think collection part was £25, that was the all in price)
(inc VAT)

She was a 16.1 ISH. 

I think it was really reasonable, i did and didnt want an individual cremation as i thought if i had one, i would get the ashes back, and never let them go so decided a shared one was best.


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## Haniki (11 February 2008)

I know someone who sent a 16hh, 16/17 yr old TB to Potters this time last year and got £350 for her.


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## BeckyD (11 February 2008)

Cass's remains went to the local hunt (in 2001), I think it cost £35 (or it might have been £70).  I know it was one or the other, I just can't remember whether I paid it all (and thus it was £35) or whether mum and dad paid half as well (and made it up to £70).  

I wanted cremation but couldn't afford it


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## luckilotti (11 February 2008)

Bounty how come she may be going to the kennels???

If you look at my post, thats prob the very max you should consider paying!
i always was under the impression (from others that have used the service) that when a hunt collect, they dont charge as after all, they get the meat for the hounds and i've also heard that they often leave a huge mess behind them :S


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## the watcher (11 February 2008)

Last time the hunt came out to one of mine it was about £25 to dispatch and take away, Potters would give £300-400


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## Paddywhack (11 February 2008)

I would never do that either....Mine has all been cremated,just the thought of anything else makes me feel .....


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## Bounty (11 February 2008)

She's failed on the track, and is a windsucker, and chestnut.... the list goes on!  
	
	
		
		
	


	






Owners originally wanted £500ish, or offers... but I'm ideally wanting to spend £250 at the very max as I'm not sure she'll be that easy to sell on


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## LadyLuck1 (11 February 2008)

I wouldn't do either. I had to put my mare to sleep ladt July. I was £300ish in the vets bill and I was lucky enough to be able to bury her as I had my own private land.


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## ReefurG (11 February 2008)

In my neck of the woods, if a horse is described as being worth "meat money" it is worth £300. So you are probably not far off with £250.


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## The Virgin Dubble (11 February 2008)

Turners _were_ paying £1 per kilo a couple of years ago, but apparently that was an all time high due to supply falling 
	
	
		
		
	


	





I would class 'meat money' for a horse that size, as around £250 - £300...


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## Bounty (11 February 2008)

Thanks all. 

I had no idea what current meat value is... I just had suspicions that it may have taken a nose-dive in the same way that sheep/cattle prices have  
	
	
		
		
	


	





I'll stick with my max bid of £250 then


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## Lindsay1 (11 February 2008)

It is about £150 for horse disposal by a Hunt (dependent where you are) and they are totally professional (and very kind) about the whole procedure.  There is no easy way to put down a horse!

Good luck with your filly - if they are disposing of her - you should get her for nothing!


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## Zoobie (11 February 2008)

I heard a sad story at the weekend. Vet was asked to come and shoot horse ( owner didn't want to use the meat man ) Vet did it ( not very well ) and when the meat man turned up said that vet had called them earlier to ask which bullet to use!!!  
Something I hadn't even considered before but the meat man has more experience at this on a daily basis than the vet so which is better. It just  raised some interesting questions at the yard at the weekend

Ally


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## Bounty (11 February 2008)

Well, you'd think so wouldn't you.. but unfortunately not the way it works! 
	
	
		
		
	


	





I'm very lucky with our local hunt, they are very caring and professional (though not used them personally, but used to live next door and saw/knew plenty of horses end their time there) and seemingly quite cheap too. 
I thought it may just be that I am spoilt having them and the rest of the country might not be so lucky!


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## Amymay (11 February 2008)

I paid £175 for the hunt to come and put Amy down.  They also disposed of her.

Meat money is around £300-400 mark - not a route I could go down personally.


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## Bossanova (11 February 2008)

About £300- £350 meat money.

I suppose it depends how sentimental you feel about the horse.


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## Tharg (11 February 2008)

Don't understand cremation, bad for the environment.


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## Janah (11 February 2008)

Presumably the hunt can't use the meat if drugs have been given to the horse?

Ditto Potters.

Jane


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## Amymay (11 February 2008)

[ QUOTE ]
Presumably the hunt can't use the meat if drugs have been given to the horse?  

[/ QUOTE ] 
They can if it's Bute or Danillon, not sure of others though.


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## Maesfen (11 February 2008)

It might sometimes depend on whether you are a subscriber/member/farmer or just someone living in their area that doesn't have anything to do with hunting, how much a hunt will charge.  For some it will be free, for others a nominal charge.  Whatever they charge, it will be done properly, with kindness and dignity for your horse and yourself; they are true professionals and I would use them every time.

For who ever it was that posted, yes, shooting horses can be messy, there's no denying that; the trick is knowing where to do it safely and the easiest place to clean up.  Don't do it like me and have a mare that it gushed out of, then it started raining hard and it all started rushing down the drive just as the neighbours drove home! 
	
	
		
		
	


	




  To cap it all, the winch got caught and the  two of us ended up heaving and pushing this enormous ginger beast round the gatepost and onto the ramp amid a lot of cussing and hysterical laughter.  We weren't being callous, the old mare went out with a bang exactly true to form for all her life; if she could make things difficult for you, she would so why should she change just because she was deceased?! 
	
	
		
		
	


	




  We still laugh about her today but she was the only one I wept buckets for.


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## virtual (11 February 2008)

[ QUOTE ]

i always was under the impression (from others that have used the service) that when a hunt collect, they dont charge as after all, they get the meat for the hounds and i've also heard that they often leave a huge mess behind them :S 

[/ QUOTE ]

Many hunts will incinerate the remains. My local hunts collect far too much dead stock (cows, pigs etc as well as horses) to feed to the hounds, and from what I understand, horses are much more likely to give the hounds the runs, so they're the least likely to be fed to them. 

I've only known hunts been extremely professional, but as with everything there are probably experiences all along the spectrum.


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## Hayleycob (11 February 2008)

It may sound morbid to discuss this, but I think it is a good idea to think about what you will do when the time comes, rather than rush into a decision when you are upset and stressed.


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## YorksG (11 February 2008)

We paid £200 for our local horse slaughterer to dispatch and remove our old girl in October 07. They were excellent and the job was done well and sensetively. Three years before the hunt came and did the same for another old lady and charged about £50 less, they were also excellent and dealt well with her. Both events were obvously sad, but the trauma was lessened by the excellent service we had both times.


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## Donkeymad (11 February 2008)

[ QUOTE ]
I wouldn't do either. I had to put my mare to sleep ladt July. I was £300ish in the vets bill and I was lucky enough to be able to bury her as I had my own private land. 

[/ QUOTE ]

It's not always easy getting permission to bury on your own land, and can't be done if it's a sudden death.
I too was lucky to get permission to bury on my own land.


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## JanetGeorge (11 February 2008)

[ QUOTE ]

i always was under the impression (from others that have used the service) that when a hunt collect, they dont charge as after all, they get the meat for the hounds and i've also heard that they often leave a huge mess behind them :S 

[/ QUOTE ]

Um - you're not 'up with the times'.  Since BSE, piles of new regulations have been heaped upon hunts with regards to deadstock collection and the cost of disposing of 'offal' have shot through the roof!  The hunt my OH is Joint Master of USED to run two incinerators - the new regulations meant a required upgrade to the better incinerator would have cost in excess of £75,000!!!  So instead, they have to use skips and the disposal runs to - from memory - £150 a tonne.  There's the cost of running a suitable vehicle (far more expensive now due to new regulations requiring extensive modifications to vehicles used), staff wages for time taken to collect and deal with the dead animal ... very few hunts even break even on their deadstock collection and would be better off financially if they bought all the meat for the hounds.  

MOST hunts will charge around £150 to despatch and remove a 16 hh-ish horse - and I certainly have had NO complaints about the service given.  A friend of mine was unfortunate enough to have a horse do down on Christmas Eve - distressing at ANY time - but she was hugely impressed and grateful for the sympathetic and efficient service provided by her local hunt.


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## luckilotti (11 February 2008)

When i say i have heard they leave a huge mess, basically, the lady i got my mare from, her friend had sadly lost her horse and wanted the hunt to have it, her friend arranged it and said she would be there.  It wasnt the shooting that was the messy part.
Apparently they came in a very small van, and wellllll, had to errrr, make the horse 'smaller' to get it in a van - i'm sure people know what i am getting at without me putting it in writing as i dont want to upset some people.  The owners friend was the one who was left to clean up the mess and she said she had never realised how it was done - this may have just been the one place thou, it would have been prior to 2006 when this occured.


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## MagicMelon (19 February 2008)

I would also do neither. Id have mine PTS and buried at home on our own land.


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