Page 1099 - The Veterinary Care of the Horse

prevention of suffering, e.g. with an incurable and painful disease or following a serious
• injury

VetBooks.ir • ending the life of an old horse or pony

•
economic considerations, e.g. when the horse is no longer capable of being ridden or
fulfilling the activities for which it was purchased and keeping it in retirement is
financially prohibitive.

How is it carried out?

There are two methods of euthanasia commonly used.

LETHAL INJECTION

The horse is given an overdose of anaesthetic-type drugs. An intravenous catheter is usually

placed in the jugular vein and the horse may be given a sedative. Once the sedative has taken
effect, the lethal injection is administered. The horse will collapse and quickly become

unconscious. Death occurs shortly afterwards. Sometimes the horse will gasp once or twice
which can be disconcerting if you are not expecting it.

SHOOTING

One of 2 methods will be used.

1 Free-bullet humane slaughtering pistol

This method of euthanasia results in instant death of the horse. Again, a sedative may be
given first. The muzzle of the gun is placed on the horse’s forehead. The horse will fall

down instantly with its legs extended and blood may pour from the nose. With this
method there are involuntary movements of the horse’s legs and occasional gasps for a

short period of time after the horse is dead. These look alarming but are just normal
reflexes that occur after death. The muscles then relax. The horse will be brain dead
although the heart may continue to beat for a few minutes.

2 Captive bolt stunner

The horse is stunned and becomes unconscious by the firing of a retractable bolt into the

brain. This is followed by a procedure known as pithing whereby the brain is destroyed
by insertion of a rod through the bolt hole. This method can be used in situations where it
is not safe to use a free bullet.