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Preventable deaths

3K views 18 replies 15 participants last post by  Dreamcatcher Arabians 
#1 ·
Let me tell you a little story...
My friend goes out to her barn this morning and finds two of her horses are out next to the road...her third horse is missing....frantically they search everywhere for it, and eventually they do find the horse about 3 miles down the road.....But it was too late... the horse was laying on the side of the road, with its back legs smashed and a pool of blood beneath her head.

She had wandered out of the broken fence and run down the road... where at some point during the night she had been hit by a car....thed driver of the car was nowhere to be found and she had been laying there in agony for at least 4 hours based on the size of the pool of blood beneath her. A sheriffs deputy doing his regular patrol found her thrashing on the side of the road and realizing she was beyond help shot her in the head giving her a mercy killing... He did not know who the horse belonged to so all he was able to do was pull her carcass the rest of the way off the road and go to the station to write his report.

My friend was the one to find her body this morning...She called her mother, grandfather, and my father and they went and loaded her body into the trailer...

Now I understand, these things happen...Animals break out, people cant react fast enough to stop in time...

:evil:WHAT I WANT TO KNOW IS WHERE THE HE** the person that hit the horse went? is it so freaking hard to stop, get out and check on the animal and CALL FOR HELP?!
Or even if they were nervous out on the dark road alone call someone and say "hey i just hit a large animal. i was driving on such and such road, near whatever and its still there. I didnt stop because i was really nervous but can you send some one to check on it and give help or mercy killing to it?"
Obviously they would had to have been stopped at some point cuz most small cars(the report said it was a small 4 door car) are gonna stop pretty quick when theyre front bumper kisses a 1300 lb animal?
are they really so inconsiderate of the animal that they cant even call the sheriffs department, or animal control or ANYTHING to get some help for the horse or at least move the body?! did they pause for one second and just think "holy crap i just took out a horse! i wonder if its alive?" or even look in their rearview mirror and see the horse thrashing around bleeding everywhere? did they really just keep driving without a thought to its life?

:cry:so PLEASE PLEASE if you are ever in this situation PLEASE call the sheriff, police, animal contro, or go to the house next to the stricken animal for help...it could save alot of heartbreak and alot of money...dont be the one that my friend will now hate forever for leaving her horse laying there alone in agony to die slowly.....
 
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#6 ·
I'm so sorry for your friend's loss. I'm tearing up just reading about it. My sister's horse was hit by 2 cars when it broke out one night. Unfortunately the drivers came forward later to sue my dad for damages. They didn't contact the authorities at the time though. Breaks my heart to think about her last moments... I'll rant on right next to you on this one.
 
#7 ·
Aw man, that is so friggen horrible. So sad for your friend and her horse. I saw a squirrel get hit once and saw he was still trying to get out of the road, obviously paralysed but not killed. I am a complete bleeding heart when it comes to animals in pain and didn't know what to do, so I turned around contemplating my options (like I really had any). Ended up it was dead by the time I got there so I just pulled it out of the road so it wouldn't get smushed completely.

CANNOT imagine what those people were thinking to drive away and not do anything. The easy answer it they were drunk, but sometimes people just suck without having alcohol on board. If I were the horse owner, I would be poking around local body shops like no one's business trying to find the suspect. Wonder how the police knew it was a four door car? Good on them for making the decision to put the poor horse out of his misery. I wouldn't want to be the one making that decision.

Condolances for your friend. Karma to the driver.
 
#9 ·
They probably didn't stop because they would have had to pay for the animal. At least that's what would happen where I live. As far as the police identifiying the type of car... You have more faith in them than I do.
 
#10 ·
That's strange the driver didn't stop because I am pretty sure that horse damaged his vehicle. Not sure of your laws, but here if my horse gets out & you hit it, I pay for the whole sha-bang and you can sue me for more.
 
#13 ·
Ditto,
the blame,charges & fines etc goes to the horse & property owner,that is why you need liability insurance:cry:
The person may have been impaired driving,hence a reason for not wanting to stick around or report the damage to vehicle,then he's in some doodoo not because he hit a horse....:-(
 
#11 ·
just found out theyre placing blame on my friend for not "keeping her livestock penned up" but she cant figure out how they broke out...
yeah waresbears pretty sure that persons gonna be needing lotsa tlc for the front of their car. its gotta be hard to explain the chunks of horsehair, flesh, and blood that are probably on their bumper....
 
#12 ·
About 35 years ago someone cut our fence to go dirtbiking on our property, horse got out, my sister's horse was killed on the road. Our homeowners insurance bought the person that hit our horse a new car, we were lucky she did't sue us for anything else. In the state of Missouri unless it is open range the horseowner is libable for the damage their loose horse causes.
 
#14 ·
Maybe the person that hit the horse was Talking or Texting on the phone and Not Paying Attendion to driving.
This is the Major cause of accidents today, Put the phone down & drive.........
To bad the horse had to get hit, but it is also the owners fault for not checking the fence and keeping it in good repair, so the animals couldn't get out.
Where I live the owner of the animal would be liable for damages...
 
#16 ·
oh my. this just breaks my heart ...I can't stand hearing things like this, but it's so sad because it does happen. I remember when I was about 7 my dad and I were driving down a sort of back road, it was still a road that had cars enough though. Anyway, we see two horses galloping alongside the road! My dad pulled the car over and caught them, the owner then shows up and thanks him.

I would be just a wreck if one of my girls ever got out ...
 
#17 ·
Hillside she still doesnt no how they got out. She went and walked the line that morning and didnt find any holes and the gate was closed. But they do have a really bad ptoblem with dirt bikers cutting the fence and leaving it down and then rewiring it when they leave...they think yhat may be the case.
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#19 ·
Unfortunately, here the driver would be able to sue and would win. This is why the old horsemen always say to have 2 fences between your horses and the road and if you look at really well designed horse property, it will have a perimeter fence and then pastures or paddocks fenced for the horses.

I'm sorry for your friend. It sucks that someone would go and leave an animal in agony.
 
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