England Channel 4.

I have just observed a farmer on channel 4 in England shoot his mare in a field in front of her sibling and child. Do you think that this is correct horse owner behaviour? The other horses went crazy, understandably, they must be absolutely traumatized? Do you think that they will ever trust another human being again? He should be prosecuted for mental abuse. I understand that the mare was extremely ill, but what right does he have to inflict such trauma and grief upon the others whom don't fully comprehend? I would like some feedback before I make a severe formal complaint. I feel that this is undeniably cruel and unjust, what do you think?
Regards Lisa.

Does no-one have anything to say about this!

Hmm.
That's tough. If the mare was very ill, I think he did the correct and humane thing to do. Making the mare suffer a prolonged life of illness is very cruel in my eyes. As far as the other horse's reaction, I doubt they fully understood the gravity of it. They don't have a concept of death, so the situation isn't as overbearing to them as it is to us. They probably spooked most over the sudden noise and the farmer's behavior/emotions. I would think that in some way, the farmer did care. He went to end her pain.
Will the horses trust a human again? Yes, I think so. I don't believe horses can make the correlation of gun = sound = dead horse. I'd be more prone to believe a horse would be weary of a gun due to the sudden scary noise, but even then I wouldn't be sure. I don't even know if a horse would make the connection to the gun making the noise. After all, the gun didn't move or project any body language. Instead, it was held still. If the gun were fired multiple times, yes, I think the horses would understand the gun is the cause of the noise, but even then, they may become desensitized to the noise and not care.

VET?

I hope he was licensed to do that.

It is a bit thoughtless not to move the other horses out of sight, but you at least have to respect the fact he did the best thing for the mare.

No, the horses weren't traumatised. As Kristy said, they don't have the mental capacity to understand what happened. My husband has had to do the same thing and the horses were fine. He took the mare to the spot she was to be buried and did the sad deed, but, there were horses still around, when ever they see us they will follow us for the most part. They horses were probably startled by the noise. We've also had to kill animals that got into the barn (opossums, racoons etc) and the horses "jumped a bit" from the noise, but a minute or two later were fine.

I think the owner did the responsible thing by putting the mare out of her misery. Too many people are unable to do it and utlimately the animal suffers.