Good Bye is Never Easy

Heart-wrenching pain, a surreal emptiness, the loss of an equine friend is a difficult and tearful experience. None of us think about the day we will have to say good-bye to them, we think of our yesterdays, we think of our tomorrows but we never let our minds wander to life without our beloved steeds. It is a hard subject to talk about, let alone think about, I recently have been doing the unfortunate task of looking at my options for when the time comes. I want to share what I have found with you in hopes that you will read it and be able to have an idea of what to do when the day does come that you have to say good bye to your horsey friend.

The first option I found is pet cemeteries who offer cremation. These facilities will take your horses remains and cremate them for you. The intake fee of a large animal can be up to $350 with an incineration cost of $1-$1.50.Depending on your situation and location from the facility from your horse’s home, some places offer pickup at an additional charge. If you can transport your animal to the facility it cuts some of your cost. These facilities offer care and compassion from start to finish, if you need help arranging pickup or drop off for the remains down to picking out an urn that best honors your horse. Urns are a beautiful way to honor your horse’s memory. If you chose cremation it gives you the ability to spread your equine partner where you wish like a mountain trail where you often rode, the home pasture, or get a beautiful urn and place them on the mantle next to a picture of the two of you.

A formal burial for your equine partner at a pet cemetery may prove to be very difficult considering the space needed and cost of the matter. I recently read about a farm where you can take your horse to be buried. The article was about a beautiful farm near the Oregon Coast, there are a few other farms like it in New Jersey, Massachusetts, Montana, Nevada, Colorado, Texas, New York and Florida. An extraordinary couple, David and Marta Hedit, have started a business of providing eternal resting places for horses. It is a piece of mind for the owners knowing their beloved horse is laid to rest in a beautiful valley where other horses graze. Each grave is marked so when the horse’s owners come to visit David can take them right to the spot. This is a beautiful idea, personally when my geldings die this is what I would like to do with them. The cost to bury your friend at Omega Farm varies because each owner and horses needs are different you are more than welcome to call and get a personal quote for your needs by contacting them at (541)935-1588 or visit their website omega-farms.com.

Other options available to you when the dreadful day comes if your friend has already passed some other options are:

Landfills- a few will take carcasses but for an extra fee.

Do-it-yourself disposals can be difficult and you must follow laws regarding handling and disposal of carcasses some options are:

Natural Disposal- It is usually legal to “let nature take its course” if large animals die on rural acreage.

Open Burning-This practice is only allowed in emergencies when animals are diseased or after natural disasters.

Bioprocessing (Composting) – This method requires proper equipment and a facility in which to do it, it can be complicated and requires vigilant monitoring of equipment.

Farm Burial -Even when burying your horse on your property has restrictions.

At humansociety.org you will find a guide of disposal regulations by state, a list of euthanasia programs, renderers, pet cemeteries and other related resources.

I hope this information will help make the death of your equine best friend a bit easier. It is difficult to think of our lives without them but it is also important to know how to handle the situation when it does come.


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