I've spent several days debating if I wanted to write this post or not. I didn't want to but knew I should, to inform a few horse owners or potential horse owners of this big problem while owning horses. What do you do when that beloved, but very large, horse dies. This could also apply to owners of pets of any size. I'm sure I'm not writing this in the proper way but I'm not sure what that would be.
I knew what I wanted to do with Sunny after he died but there was the matter of cost. It cost a lot to dispose of a dead horse. I called the pet crematorium that had taken care of another horse I had that died. But I also called around to other places to find out the cost. Being a Sunday morning it was impossible to get ahold of anyone else that could do that job. For what ever reason my horse was starting to blot and smell in less than 24 hours after he died. It was a matter of having to take care of the problem as soon as possible, especially as the day was going to be a warm one. (A hot summer day would have been worse.)
We could have had the people from the pet service that cremates animals come get him but it would have been an extra cost to get him out of the small pen he had died in. So hubby and a good neighbor took down one section of fence, drug the dead horse out into an open area where we could back our flatbed hay trailer to him and used a wench to drag him onto the trailer. (I couldn't watch them do it. I was just glad that they could do it.) Then we put a tarp over him, and took him to the crematorium place. It cost us $400.00 with tax and would have been almost $600.00 if they had come to get him.
A few days later I did contact a couple of livestock carcass removal places. They said they could do it for between $200.00 and $300.00 to come get him. But remember it was a very warm Sunday morning and they don't do Sundays. Also this way it requires a death certificate by a vet saying the animal didn't die from an infectus disease. We had this but there are times like with my other horse when the horse will die before the vet can get there. Or you might just find it dead one morning. Again being a Sunday or a weekend or after hours it can be hard to get a vet to come out.
I found out that the only people that can put a dead animal of any size in the landfill is the carcass removal people who have a permit to do so. Most animal control or welfare organizations have these permits as do zoos, and the carcass removal companies. My local animal control said that I could bring dead dogs, cats or other small pets and pay a fee of $25.00 to have them take care of the pet, but not livestock animals like horses, cows, lamas, goats or such.
My local dog and cat vet has had to put down several dogs and cats for us when they were old and he charges a fee for doing this that includes sending the pet to be creamated. Possibly at the same place we have sent our horses to. This is the way that I prefer to handle things.
Although it is a job that I wouldn't want and don't know any one that would want it, it is a service that needs to be done. The people were very nice. They offered an additional service at twice the cost if you should want to have the ashes of your pet returned to you. Personally this idea is as horrifing to me as the lost of the pet is.
- Anyone that owns a pet, especially a large pet like a horse should find out what can be done to dispose of the pet after it dies.
- It is best to do this before the death happens so you don't have to do it when you are morning the pet.
This bridge used to be the bridge that vehicle traffic used to get from one side of the Rio Grande River to the other side. It is known as the Alameda Bridge. There are several bridges across the river in the Albuquerque area. The Rio Grande Bridge, and the Bernallio Bridge are the oldest. I know they were there in the 1940's but not sure of exact age. The Rio Bravo Bridge was built during the 1960's and the Alameda Bridge I think. I could be wrong on all of these. Probably could have looked up exact dates but I didn't. And the newest one is the Paseo del Norte Bridge which was build in the early 1990's. Of course all except the Paseo Bridge had been rebuild at some point. That is why we were able to walk out on this bridge. The Alameda Bridge was rebuilt in the early 1990's and someone had the good idea of leaving the old bridge for people to walk across on. People on bicycles, horses, and skates can use it, also. Anotherwords non-motorized traffic.
This little bridge that was on the pathway to the river trail is over one of the main irrigation ditches that take water to irrigate the small farms along the Rio Grande River.
Most of the trees along the Rio Grande River are mature and aged trees. Most are 40 to 100 years old and the tallest are about 80 feet tall. The trees are not naturally reproducing as they used to due to non-native trees like salt cedar and Russian olive trees taking over. The non-native spices are being removed from this area. Plus the river is damned at a few places and drained off into irrigation ditches for farmland (including the hay I buy for my horses) which means there isn't the flooding along the banks of the river anymore to help seedlings and young trees grow. Much is being done to help the cottonwoods reproduce and not die off.
Cottonwood leaves with interesting little spots on them. I'm not sure if it is from cool weather or insect damage. The red leaf is from Virginia creeper vine that just turned.
We took a trip to the Jemez Mountains last week to see if any of the aspen trees leaves were turning that nice shade of yellow they turn in the fall. there were lots of beautiful trees. And there was one squirrel that wanted his photo taken. These squirrels are called Abert or tassle eared squirrles.
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