Departures 2009

I always think how ghastly that has to be for the person riding work on the horse. Then ages for the vet to get out, shoot the horse, and for the carcass to be taken away. I wonder if it has to wait until a knacker van arrives for it, or whether the vet comes ready equipped when he knows it's going to be a fatal job?
 
If an injury was known to be fatal like this one would someone not be able to come out from the local hunt kennels & deal with it?
 
If its terminal they won't bother waiting till the knackers can come, he will be put out of his misery ASAP. My friend had to wait 3 days in Feb this year for them to collect her boy, he had to be destroyed in his stable and, god this is horrific, they had to cut him up to get him out the stable :(

I'm not sure on the rules re huntsman, if the horse is insured it might need a postmortum before paying out.Or the owners might prefer for the horse to be cremated or buried on their property.
 
Usually the vet gets there asap, assesses the damage and makes a recommendation as to the outcome.
Only this week I saw a horse out in a field sitting on its haunches which didn't look right to me. Later when I drove back again it was standing with a hind leg dangling. So after much local enquiring, I found the owners mother who told me her daughter was told 2 days previously the horse was badly lame. I said it needed a vet immediately. A horsebox was later seen collecting it that evening but I don't know the outcome. Had it still been in the field today, Iwas going to ring up the RSPCA to speed things up. (I'm not a fan of them but these people have already been prosecuted by them in the past). I think it had probably been badly kicked and suffered a fractured hind leg.
 
So, once the vet had assessed that the horse in question had broken its leg, what happens then, jinny? He shoots it or 'puts it to sleep', and it lies there on the gallops under a tarp until a knacker van - private or hunt - collects it? By the way, do hunts feed knackered horses directly to their hounds, or do the carcasses have to go through an abattoir process (i.e. being cut up) first? I guess, while we're on the subject, I might as well ask these questions. One hears airy statements about hunts using horse carcasses, but I've never quite got the process in my mind. I know that at Folkestone, where the course is fairly close to Port Lympne Animal Park, 'Arry 'Awkins the knackerman will take any dropped horses to the park, where they are butchered at the park and fed to the big cats. (Unless the owners can dispose of them otherwise, of course.)
 
Horses are usually shot unless the owner requests an injection. However if you inject then there will be an increased fee for carcass disposal. Hunts pick up the "fallen stock" and usually charge about £100 -120 per horse. It will then be skinned, chopped up and fed to the hounds. The reason for the costs is a) the collection of the carcass and b) the remains such as bone & the other bits the hounds don't eat have to go off to be rendered down.
Horses will go to abbatoirs alive to be put down and in these cases, owners are paid for the "live meat" - but obviously they are not allowed to have had any medications prior to this - all horse passports have pages in them in which you are supposed to detail any medications which may affect meat consumption.
 
Thanks, jinny - it's a morbid subject for some folks, but I think it's important to know what the end process can be, as much as admiring pictures of cutesy foals or discussing the prospects of next year's winners at Cheltenham. Good stuff.
 
BALLYGOWAN STAR, when exhausted and tailed off out of contention, in the 2.00 Chase at Folkestone. Philip Hide should've known far better than not to have PU earlier, imo. Only 7, so plenty more years in the tank if treated a little more cautiously - there was no hope that he'd place by then, and he'd been flailing about for the last quarter of the race.

Do we need to nanny jockeys even further in jumps racing, and rule that they must PU in low grade, novice and beginners' chases and hurdles when clearly out of any hope of placing? I'm sick to death of seeing animals whacked over the last hurdles and fences by jockeys insistent that they complete, even when they're two distances off the 4th. I'm surprised that Hide didn't know better today, being an elder statesman of the scene - I could just about forgive an over-keen claimer, but not such an experienced horseman.
 
krizon said:
Do we need to nanny jockeys even further in jumps racing, and rule that they must PU in low grade, novice and beginners' chases and hurdles when clearly out of any hope of placing? I'm sick to death of seeing animals whacked over the last hurdles and fences by jockeys insistent that they complete, even when they're two distances off the 4th. I'm surprised that Hide didn't know better today, being an elder statesman of the scene - I could just about forgive an over-keen claimer, but not such an experienced horseman.
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That is a rule that should be enforced in some of the jockeys at point-to-points I've been to and a lesson that should be learned long before they ever get to a racetrack.

How stupid do they have to be? The most recent incident witnessed being unfit tail enders exhausted after the three mile drudgery, gasping like a train with a half furlong to go and still forced over the last, two taking crashing falls when the winner, placed and others have already been dismounted. What is going through the jockeys head.
 
IS: I saw Gary Moore at Lingfield today and he reported that BALLYGOWAN STAR broke his shoulder, which was why he was unable to rise, being destroyed on the ground. I heard from a colleague working at Folkestone that Gary lost a second horse at the track, and that a third one had also been destroyed following a fall. I can't yet verify any of that, as she couldn't remember the horses' names. Commiserations to Star's owner - it surprised a lot of people that the meeting went ahead, given the long stretches of standing water, and the extreme heaviness of the going. Of course, if horses are entered and trainers don't take 'em out, then the meeting will go ahead. The horse looked as if retirement would've been a welcome option for him, as he was so out of it.
 
Captain Aubrey broke his pelvis and was dead by the time he hit the ground.
A very sweet horse who didn't deserve that nor did his connections.
 
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Just been reading that Back Among Friends (also Jim Olds') got loose in the parade ring today and then sustained a fatal injury.
We also lost Russian Trigger today in the London National (broke fetlock).:(
 
Yes, Luke Harvey on ATR said that BACK AMONG FRIENDS dumped Mark Bradburne, ran into some rails, then took off and ran 'into a lorry', sustaining serious injuries. He was pts at the course.
 
Into happy retirement, the nice old boy PAUNTLEY GOFA. Gorn huntin'.

Doing well being re-schooled at HEROS, GLENCALVIE. Made his feelings about continuing to race known to his syndicate, who wisely retired him after he barged the gate at Lingfield earlier in the year. He'll be available soon for a permanent re-homing.
 
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Not so lucky as the happy retirees: SHROPSHIRE GOLD, dead at Sedgefield today in the selling hurdle. Only a 3 y.o., having his third run.
 
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