The two-legged horse
But this is the true story of a horse with no legs.
It’s sad when a beloved horse dies, but funerals for dead horses are expensive, involving backhoe’s and other heavy equipment, not to mention the cost of a horse casket:
Horse caskets are large and expensive
North Carolina is horse country and there are many services for dead horses:
- If your horse dies in the NC State horse hospital (the "horspital"), they offer a cremation service, largely because a traditional funeral is a big undertaking.
Do not try to cremate a dead horse
- In North Carolina you can get a necropsy from the Rollins lab in Raleigh, a low cost service that includes disposing of the dead horse. The cost for an equine necropsy is currently $75 plus a necropsy carcass disposal fee based on weight of the animal: $15.00 (0-100 lbs.); $25.00 (101-500 lbs.); $50.00 (over 500 lbs.). Necropsy fees include ancillary diagnostic tests necessary to obtain a diagnosis.
It’s a fascinating lab, but it stinks to high Heaven, with the stench of rotting flesh that would gag a maggot . . . .
Just like a Medical Examiner’s office and you need to dab your nostrils with Vicks Vaporub to tolerate the stench of decomposing equines.
If you ask, they will let you watch the horse autopsy, fascinating to see what’s inside. . .
The outside of a horse is good for the inside of a person" - Teddy Roosevelt
Unfortunately, this low cost horse necropsy is abused by cheapskate horse owners who use the service as a funeral home for dead ponies.
I knew one lady who lost a nice mare to founder and called the NC Rollins lab, thinking that they would dispose of her dead horse at little cost to her.
But the lab is wise to this game . . .
Because founder is a disease of the hooves, the body is not needed for a necropsy . . .
So, instead of accepting the corpse, they just took a hack saw and cut off the horses legs!
Imagine her surprise to see that she was left with 1,200 pounds of rotting horse with no legs!
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(1)- “Where do you find a horse with no legs?” – Right when you left him!