07/10/2025
As part of our work in Bluebonnet, both our Fostering Coordinator and I end up counseling a lot of people about euthanasia decisions for their horses. It is a hard decision to make, and so many people struggle with it. I want you to know that there’s no shame if you:
• Euthanize your horse because you cannot keep spending mostly on costly treatment.
• Euthanize your horse because the cost of initial treatment, for example colic surgery, is beyond your means.
• Schedule your horse’s euthanasia around your vet’s availability. For example, I scheduled my personal horse, who had several health problems, to be euthanized before my vet left on a trip. I did not want her to crash while my vet was gone and leave me scrambling to get her help.
• Decide to euthanize an older horse or horse with health challenges rather than move them.
• Euthanize two horses at once because one horse needed euthanasia and the other horse would be lost without him/her.
• Euthanize a horse because of dangerous behavioral problems that you cannot reasonably fix.
There will always be people willing to question or second-guess your decision to euthanize your horse – we face it here a lot. “Why didn’t you try this?” or “XYZ treatment worked for me.” Or (my favorite): “Just take out a loan to get that colic surgery.”
Euthanasia decisions are personal. They’re ones you make with input from your vet, although we’re happy to help counselor when people ask for our help – ultimately the vet will have to sign off on your decision, though, so after talking to us we recommend you discuss with your vet.
If your horse is very old, ill, injured, lame, or has dangerous behavioral problems, it is better to discuss euthanasia with your vet rather than ask someone, including a rescue, to take them. People will lie to you that they’re willing to take on your horse with those problems only to turn around and dump them at auctions (it happens too often). Rescues are full and often struggle to handle the neglect cases who need them.
Putting your old, ill, injured, lame, or dangerous horse down at home, where they’re comfortable, in surroundings that are familiar, with the people who love them nearby is hard, but it is true compassion and love for your horse. It is so much more stressful for your horse to travel someplace new, have to learn new routines, have to integrate into a new herd, and get used to new people, only to soon after be euthanized (or worse).
Euthanasia decisions are kind.
Euthanasia decisions are compassionate.
Euthanasia decisions come from a place of love.
