Horses don’t go peacefully, they just don’t the biggest myth perpetrated on the equine community is that your horse will go peacefully when it’s time. They don’t horses are flight animals they panic when they are vulnerable. I see it everyday with Revenge multiple times a day the sheer panic in her eyes when she realizes she has to turn around. Older horses don’t just lay down and go, they will thrash too week to stand up, their body just gives out and down they go to panic and thrash about until the heart stops or is stopped (medical intervention).

Revenge won’t even go peacefully even though her final moments are planned, she will still panic but she will have her family there to help her along her journey. Crackhead will be right there across the fence, the mares across the driveway, and I will be holding her head as her vet gives her the meds. But she will still panic because the others will, we try to make it as peaceful and calm as can be but they will know somethings different.

I’ve been a part of both, the frantic emergency caused by organ failure and the planned crossing. The planned crossing in my opinion is worse, the canceling of autoships, the canceling on the shoe resets, the realizations that this will be the last ______ that you will buy for this horse or for a while until a new horse arrived that needs the same thing. Emergency panics you can better yourselves to try to prevent, get a consulting nutritionist, replace fencing, etc. But a planned cross over you can’t because that means the damage is irreversible or the disease will progress to a point it will be an emergency.