What Do You Do With A Dead Horse?

After many years of friendship, the first horse I ever owned sadly died last week.

He lived to a ripe old age and we had many great years together, so while it’s of course very sad, we were all prepared for it.

What I realized I wasn’t prepared for, though, was what to do with his body after he had died.

Luckily, I managed to chat with some people who knew what to do, and collated my research here for anyone else who was wondering.

So, what do you do with a dead horse?

You will typically need to have a professional dispose of your horse. You can call a local equestrian vet who will provide a service of this kind, either burying, cremating your horse or bringing it to a landfill. Naturally, none of us can lift a horse—so when your horse dies, just call the vet.

So, in other words, you don’t do anything with a dead horse.

You let the professional handle it.

Disposing of a big animal like a horse is not just difficult, but is usually going to be affected by local ordinances in ways that smaller pets will not.

Let’s look further into this.

How do you dispose of a dead horse?

The simple answer, as I said, is call a vet. Let’s look at the problems of dealing with a dead horse on your own.

First of all, most horses are too big to be carried by any human.

Even horses that could potentially be carried due to their small size, are still only going to be able to be carried by the strongest people.

So, in other words, don’t try and move the horse yourself—even with help.

You will just injure yourself.

Even if you could lift it, there is the other problem of where you take it.

Rules about disposing of dead animals like cats and dogs are not especially stringent, since they’re quite small, and would not have a great effect on the local ecosystem.

Horses are huge, and so local laws will almost never permit you to simply bury it where ever you want.

It must be handled by a professional.

So, just think about how you want to lay your horse to rest and let the vet do it.

As I said, they will either cremate it or bury it, so just make your own decision and let them handle the hard part.

So, how much does it cost, then?

How much does it cost to dispose of a dead horse?

Well, the first point to stress is that it will always cost you less than any potential disaster associated with trying to do it yourself.

I can’t stress enough how dangerous this is with an animal as large as a horse.

Don’t do it!

The cost of the endeavor will vary depending on what you want.

Burying is generally cheaper than cremation, although it is less environmentally friendly.

Burials, all told, can cost $400-$500.

This does not include, however, the cost of moving the horse to and from the burial site.

Cremation is a bit more expensive, ranging from $600-$1000.

This will depend on your location and the current price of some essential fuels for cremation, like propane.

But, as I said, it’s always cheaper this way than trying to do it yourself and losing 6 weeks in the hospital with a broken leg!

What do farmers do with a dead horse?

For farmers, the rules can be a little bit different, since they likely will have sufficient land and equipment to bury the horse themselves.

Farmers typically do not cremate horses, but bury them or compost them somewhere on their own land. Assuming they have sufficient machinery to move the horse around, this can cost them nothing but time.

Of course, in the past, horses were often sold to be made into glue—but this is very rare today.

Mostly, they are composted or taken away to be incinerated.

Who takes dead horses away?

Most of the time, it is the vet who arranges the horse to be taken away, and either does so themselves or hires a mortuary service to do so for them.

It is the job of a vet to deal with dead animals, and horses are no different.

Of course, equestrian vets are often highly specialized—so this is the kind of vet you would need.

An ordinary vet would not be able to do what you needed.

Horses have been around wherever there have been humans for a very long time.

We have many, many uses for them even today, though a lot of us just see them as companions, now.

In any case, the last thing you want when dealing with the grief of losing the horse in the first place is having to stress about where to take its body. Just call a professional and let them handle it.