Battlefield Horse Carcasses

Pat Holscher
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by John Fitzgerald</i>
<br /><blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Pat Holscher</i>
<br />As sort of a gross footnote to this, I wonder how the presence of all those dead things impacted the horses.

Horses fear dead things as a rule. Some other animals do not. Cows find dead cows fascinating. Horses fear them. Earlier this year I was driving cattle past a long dead cow, and all the cows ran up to sniff it. That meant I had to ride up to drive them off, which was extremely frightening to my horse. I had the horse under control, but clearly he wanted to bolt.

Several years ago I had the experience of riding for several days in a row past the same spot in the woods. Every time I did this, every horse came to an abrupt halt and was difficult to get to move forward. It happened every time. I never saw anything, and I never smelled anything. But clearly there was something there. There were a lot of mountain lions and bears in the area, and I suspect a lion or a bear had killed something in the woods. Given as they were the unfriendly bears, I never walked in to see what it was.

Probably most riders in the west have seen somebody try to get a dead animal on to a horse. Horses can and are routinely used to transport game animals, but one that hasn't done it before can be violently opposed to it. At least at one time it was common to tie a horse up so tightly it couldn't buck in the process, in order to get it used to it. Recently I've heard of an example in which a person was introduced to a horse, a very gentle horse, just after he'd butchered a game animal. The horse went berserk, and the horse remembers who he is. The horse will not allow him to ride him, but has no problem with anyone else.



Pat
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In this area, when packing elk, it is common practice to rub elk blood on the nose of the pack horse if he balks. It works pretty good too.

John Fitzgerald
Eagle County, Colorado

Ride'm like you stole'm
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That's common here too. I'm told that this means the horse can't tell where the smell is coming from.

Pat
wolfcoln
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There is a book / diary that was writtn by a soldier that was in a New York regiment about the civil war. One of his more commical passages was about them burying dead bloated horses. He relates an insidence where a fairly new recruit tripped and fell face first into the corpse. I am in the middle of moving so when I get done I will tell you all the name of the book.
Terry
browerpatch
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For years, we had the same fellow with a backhoe bury horses for us here on the farm. I guess, between about 1972 and 2000, we probably had 10 or 12 die on the place (my sister used to call this the equine geriatric ward, because she had so many old horses people had given her, so they'd have a place to die). My sisters Arab gelding, Sandeen, came to the farm when he was 5 years old, in '72, and stayed with us until he got down in 2002. He was a people horse, and was friendly toward everyone. He never kicked or misbehaved in anyway that I know of. Except when Jack came to bury a horse, or when he came to grade the road, or build a dam, or deliver gravel, or do any bulldozer work. We had to put Sandeen in a stall whenever Jack was here, because Sandeen absolutely hated that man. He would back his ears, snake his head on the ground, try to bite him, try to kick him, and would even attack his machinery. He associated Jack with death. Needless to say, when Sandeen died, we had someone else bury him.

Frank
Todd
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by browerpatch</i>
<br /> He would back his ears, snake his head on the ground, try to bite him, try to kick him, and would even attack his machinery. He associated Jack with death. Needless to say, when Sandeen died, we had someone else bury him.
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">Death rides a yellow horse, whose name is Caterpillar...
tmarsh
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A little bit of topic but has anyone expierence with composting dead animals? Our local extension service is recommending it for horses. They say it works rather well. Tom
Pat Holscher
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by tmarsh</i>
<br />A little bit of topic but has anyone expierence with composting dead animals? Our local extension service is recommending it for horses. They say it works rather well. Tom
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Wow. I keep a compost pile for the garden I usually plant (which I've found is a favorite place for bull snakes to hang out), but the topic of dead horses and compost piles brings up the oddest mental images.

I'm afraid the neighbors would object!

Pat
Todd
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I'd think anyone with nasal passages would object!
wkambic
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Every now and then the Extension Service needs a "reality check." Composting old coffee grounds or rotten lettuce is one thing; 1000 pounds of dead meat is quite another. [hno]

When we need to put one down we have "boneyard" in the back of the property. My neighbor digs me a hole and try and put the horse down in the hole. That makes life easier.

It's amazing how many horse owners don't consider "end of equine life" issues.



Bill Kambic

Mangalarga Marchador: Uma raça, uma paixão
kerry savee
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">There is a book / diary that was writtn by a soldier that was in a New York regiment about the civil war. One of his more commical passages was about them burying dead bloated horses. He relates an insidence where a fairly new recruit tripped and fell face first into the corpse. I am in the middle of moving so when I get done I will tell you all the name of the book.
Terry<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Terry,

Would that book be Saddle and Saber: Civil War Letters of Corporal Nelson Taylor of the Ninth New York State Volunteer Cavalry?

Kerry

<i>"ride your horse forward and set him straight"</i> Gustav Steinbrecht
Pat Holscher
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by wkambic</i>
<br />

It's amazing how many horse owners don't consider "end of equine life" issues.

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To include, presently, the majority of the House of Representatives, based on recent passage of at least one bill sort of related to this.

Pat
John Fitzgerald
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Killing horses is an emotional thing for me. I just hate it. I usually get pretty drunk afterward. We have a young gelding that has a serious stifle injury resulting from a bad wreck. The vet says he'll never recover. The rider was injured too. His time (the horse) draws near and I dread it.

John Fitzgerald
Eagle County, Colorado

Ride'm like you stole'm
Pat Holscher
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by John Fitzgerald</i>
<br />Killing horses is an emotional thing for me. I just hate it. I usually get pretty drunk afterward. We have a young gelding that has a serious stifle injury resulting from a bad wreck. The vet says he'll never recover. The rider was injured too. His time (the horse) draws near and I dread it.

John Fitzgerald
Eagle County, Colorado

Ride'm like you stole'm
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There's a great WWI vintage British poster depicting that, which the USCA used to have for sale in their store. I wish I'd bought it. It has a dramatic scene of a soldier hugging his horses neck, and saying something like "Goodbye old pal."

In a less dramatic, and more lighthearted vein, there's Bill Mauldin's classic cartoon of the old cavalry sergeant, with a tear in his eye, putting down his Jeep with a broken axle, .45 to the hood.

Pat
Pat Holscher
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Pat Holscher</i>
<br /><blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by John Fitzgerald</i>
<br />Killing horses is an emotional thing for me. I just hate it. I usually get pretty drunk afterward. We have a young gelding that has a serious stifle injury resulting from a bad wreck. The vet says he'll never recover. The rider was injured too. His time (the horse) draws near and I dread it.

John Fitzgerald
Eagle County, Colorado

Ride'm like you stole'm
<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

There's a great WWI vintage British poster depicting that, which the USCA used to have for sale in their store. I wish I'd bought it. It has a dramatic scene of a soldier hugging his horses neck, and saying something like "Goodbye old pal."

In a less dramatic, and more lighthearted vein, there's Bill Mauldin's classic cartoon of the old cavalry sergeant, with a tear in his eye, putting down his Jeep with a broken axle, .45 to the hood.

Pat
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Goodbye Old Man.

http://www.powell76.freeserve.co.uk/asoldierskiss.htm

Pat
Todd
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Wow - that IS maudlin.
mattbody
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I have a photograph fromt WW1 of I believe a saddled German horse absolutely caked in mud standing with a faraway look with the reins still clutched in the hand of his dead rider laying in front of him. it came from a book published a couple of years after the war to show later generations how nasty it was and this particular picture somewhat struck a note for me.

Matt
Pat Holscher
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by mattbody</i>
<br />I have a photograph fromt WW1 of I believe a saddled German horse absolutely caked in mud standing with a faraway look with the reins still clutched in the hand of his dead rider laying in front of him. it came from a book published a couple of years after the war to show later generations how nasty it was and this particular picture somewhat struck a note for me.

Matt
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Is the publication date 1919 - 1920?

Pat
kerry savee
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote">Goodbye Old Man.

http://www.powell76.freeserve.co.uk/asoldierskiss.htm

Pat<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"></font id="quote"></blockquote id="quote">

Damn! That poem made me misty-eyed! You know that that was the reality for hundreds of thousands of those noble beasts. They were considered an implement of war and when they were no longer useful they were discarded. Even after the war many of the horses were turned out because it was not cost effective to bring them home. I watched a program on one of the educational channels or maybe it was a film short on a recent animal rescue effort in Egypt for the descendants of English horses left behind at war's end. These horses were in deplorable condition because their owners did not possess either the knowledge or the means or both to care for them properly.

Kerry

<i>"ride your horse forward and set him straight"</i> Gustav Steinbrecht
mattbody
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The book I refer to was printed around 1920. It was very graphic even by modern standards so must have been quite shocking in it's day. Have you seen the book I refer to? I forget the title.

I also find that poem to be hard to read without getting upset. I think it would have that effect on anyone who has spent time with and loves their horses. In one of the volumes of The history of the british Cavalry (I forget which) it cites the example of a young lad who opted to stay with a horse like this and was found laying dead alongside the horse in the morning.

For those who consider reincarnation a possibility, would horses reincarnate to be with you again? would they be with you in an afterlife? I jolly well hope so!

Matt
Pat Holscher
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A really good copy of the Goodbye Old Man poster.

http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/art/Posters/ ... _Horse.jpg

Pat
Pat Holscher
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<blockquote id="quote"><font size="1" face="Verdana, Arial, Helvetica" id="quote">quote:<hr height="1" noshade id="quote"><i>Originally posted by Pat Holscher</i>
<br />A really good copy of the Goodbye Old Man poster.

http://www.army.mil/cmh-pg/art/Posters/ ... _Horse.jpg

Pat
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Whilte that's an American agency that produced this poster, that depiction has to be of British troops, isn't it?

Pat
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