Not sure where to post this but here goes Had a customer call me to bury their horse, normally don't do that sort of thing but hey, not rocket science right? I ask the woman where is the horse and mention I will need to have locates done so It will be a couple days.. she starts tearing up on the phone saying "I just want him to be properly buried and don't want him just laying there any longer" :crying, and she states the horse is lying in the middle of an open field pasture... Ok mam I can take care of it this afternoon. I show up (after being lied too about where she lived, which was actually 45 minutes further out).. whatever, lets get it done, as I can't be having an unburied dead horse on my conscience....So I arrive, :Banghead finally, look in her yard and would'nt ya know her (now very bloated:throwup) horse isn't in the pasture but has been clearly dragged out behind her house? Hmmm that's strange? So she starts getting all misty eyed :crying up again and says "O just bury him right here"... Hmm? I take a look around. Trying to be polite I say "mam your horse is lying on top of your septic field".. she responds straight faced "there's no septic field here"!! after a bit more conversation which was going nowhere and realizing what she was trying pull. I politely respond, I'll be right back, walk to my truck and unfortunately had to leave her standing there next to her very dead :deadhorse very bloated :deadhorse and very unburied horse :deadhorse
You have got to give the woman credit for one thing. When life handed her a lemon,she tried awfully hard to make lemonade
Lol. Welcome to the Redneck horse mortician club ! Had a horse farm that called me all the time to bury a horse. My friends rib me about being a mortician. Seriously though , i won't bury horses any more. Too many people think you should do it for nothing and the famous " Oh ,there's nothing there ". Well , now you know you're not alone !
I'm confused, maybe just not seeing the obvious? ointhead If she lied about the address how did you find it? Or was it just a miss communication on destination. I have given my address before and had folks show up mad because they thought I lied but later found out google maps was giving the wrong address. I've even told folks ole style directions to have them cut me off and say I'll find it....:Banghead Not sure why this would be strange, not many folks want a loved dead pet sitting in there front yard(in this case out in the open), did she have it moved so she didn't have to see it? Was she covering up something? Not doubting your knowledge, but how did you know it was her septic field? Did you install or talk with the installer? Did she show proof it wasn't? Did she offer another location for burial? She is the owner, did she know this or just guess at it? Did she have a map of the system, I always tell folks to find out about their system and at the very least draw up a rough map. Here is where I am confused, what was she trying to pull? You leave a lot to be questioned, not disagreeing with you but your whole post is blank statements. How was this polite? You were there none of us were, and I'm probably missing something but your post doesn't really show where she was shady. Catman 305: I am not disrespecting your post just trying to understand. There is always two sides to a story, but you mention nothing here about how she was being "shady" just that she was very upset, then you say you left her standing there
In dryer parts of the country a septic system sticks out like a postage stamp. That might be how he recognized it. If he "accidently" dug into it he would probably feel some obligation to fix it or do it at a lower rate as a horse burial would have a lower price expectation than a septic repair. The lesson here is you have to be careful with every job. The little old lady that brings you homemade pie is capable of bending you over and telling you to squeal like a pig. That's my interpretation.....
I have been called twice by the same horse person to drag a dead horse out of the paddock and put by the edge of the woods for bait so he could shoot wolves over it. Recycling is in.
Experience teaches you a lot. He may have been there to bury a horse but smelled bull***t instead. Some times you can just read people if you've seen it enough.
The way I read it....she needed a new septic field and was going to get it by having 305 dig it up "accidentally" of course.
she told me on the phone she lived right in town and she when I got close to give her a call and she would give me directions to her house (because It was really tricky to find) ... she lived 45 minutes further out into the country and wasn't hard to find at all but not even close the the city she said she lived in.. On the phone she said she wanted the horse buried out in the pasture, but when I showed up it was clear somebody had dragged the horse to right behind the house. So now I've been lied to twice. The way she straightened up and told me that there was nothing there let me know she was hiding something. It was obvious where the septic field was. on the phone she asked if we where licensed and INSURED.. Some people spot that huge insurance policy and will take your ass for a courtroom ride. I've had people pull right in front of me on the expressway (twice now) in the far right lane and lock up there brakes for no reason whatsoever. I've heard my share of horror stories from fellow contractors what people will do for money.
You were wise to move on.....she definitely had an agenda that involved more than just burying her dead horse.
Yup ^^
That's why the horse was bloated!!!!! Maybe you you were not the first one to say "I'll be right back":notworthyGood call!
when the hair on the back of your neck stands up you had better listen to it because it hardly ever lies to you. every time I don't listen to it I always regret it
I have not smelt anything worse then a decomposing horse...
Reminds me of a story a good friend told me. Him and his guys were all partying on a sunday afternoon. One of the guys brother calls up and needs them to bring the tractor hoe and bury his wifes horse before she gets home. She goes away for the weekend and her horse dies. Any way they are pretty full but say ok, its only 5 miles down the road. Get there and dig the hole. Just as they were finishing it blows a line. Now it is dead. They guy says he will push the horse in the hole with his skidloader. He pushes the horse in and the hole isnt big enough,the head is still out. They figure in their drunken mentality that it is easiest to just fire up the chainsaw and cut the head off. That way they can throw the head in the hole and push the dirt in. All good in theory..... but half way thru the amputation the wife pulls up. I guess it was a long time till the wife cooled off!
I agree fully!!! you done the right thing by getting in the truck & leaving making sure not to get off the drive or leave a mark on anything!!! shame there is not a web page where these people can have their names placed & what they tried to pull... before somebody else falls for it!!!!
Catman I think you're wise for peeling out of there and I heard everything you were saying right through your words. When something smells fishy, there's a fish somewhere.
Thanks Catman305; Like I wrote, your post didn't explain much. I completely understand what people are capable of, I'm up there in years, and drove tractor trailer for many of them, even moved furniture for a while. I've been in every state except Alaska and Hawaii and even a few different countries while in the military. The stuff people would try and pull when I was over the road was crazy. I've also done many excavation jobs and even buried a black bear once(won't go into that deal). At the same time people are people and believe it or not, there are shady ground movers looking to make a quick buck off uneducated home owners.
I wonder how the horse died. Maybe she needed some bacteria in there to open up a clog.
I know a few get'er done type of country boys but I think this story takes the case!
I had a similar experience with a cow once.
Back in yesteryear folks would put road kill(or any type of dead critter) in their septic tanks to keep them working properly.
I did a job once that required a storm water sump, and the owner told me, "We can put it anywhere except over there. That's where the horses are buried."
The first cow I buried was struck by lightning and had to lay in the field for several days so the vet and insurance people could look at it, by the time I got there see was bloated up tighter than a drum skin. so I set up in the handiest place and dug a hole that I figured was lots big enough for her, soooo any way it wasn't, I shoved her in and she landed in the hole on her nose and half her body was still above ground, the hole was lots big, she was just so bloated up and stiff she wouldn't lay down. The farmer looked at me and I looked at him, now what are we gona do ? I said to him you may want to go back to the barn because I'm gona have to break her up a bit to get her laying down, he spit out a big wad of tobacco and drawled, yep I might just do that. Sooo mistake number two, for future reference set your machine up wind under these circumstances. when I set the bucket on her ass to shove her in the hole she exploded there was nasty foam all over and it nearly took my breath away. now when I bury cattle or horses the hole is twice as big as I think it should be and if any body comments on how big it is I tell them exactly why its that big:deadhorse
took me 2 attempts to read this,:throwup had me gaggin lol.
I was subbed out to dig for a sewer cleanout install on an apartment complex once. The plumbers went to every door and asked them to not use any water or toilets for the next 30-45 minutes, needless to say nobody listened which in turn convinced me that I will never work at an apartment complex ever again. Felt damn bad for those plumbers. That job was chitty
Awesome! Loved it! So when my neighbour calls me to bury ANY animal, my answer will be NO! Andrew
I used to bury horses for friends, usually their roping horse, or barrel horse. Sometimes a pet horse more than anything. Back then, fuel was cheap, and I didn't really charge anything. (think 20, 25 yrs ago). Then it got to where I'd get phone calls, "so and so told me you have backhoes, can you bury a horse for me". I'll still do one occasionally, if it's someone local, and I have a machine close by, but otherwise, I just tell them, If I have to go haul a backhoe in, it's going to be a 4 hr minimum charge. Why don't you call so and so, who is right up the road from you... I had one call last year, when the backhoe was on a job about 90 miles from home. He said "don't you have trackhoes too?" WELL... I'm not going to move a PC200 to bury a horse for under about $500... Sorry... Had a brother in law, who lives about 15 miles away that I think I buried a mule and 2 horses for one winter... Never could get it thru his head that if he'd break the ice around the edge of the pond, they wouldn't walk out on it trying to get a drink and fall thru... Worst one ever, guy calls and said vet just put their horse down. I take that to mean, hour or two ago. Said we could dig a hole right there by it. It was about 5:00 PM, hot August day... Haul the backhoe out there, and the dead horse was up in the pens by his barn... He wanted to bury it ACROSS the pasture from there. And it WASN'T a fresh death. I'd say it had been laying there at least 2 days. We were afraid to try to drag it, so tied a chain to it's back feet and picked it up. This thing was RIPE... Had all the windows closed up on my 580 SM, with the A/C on, and it was about to gag us (my step son went with me, don't think you could pay him to go on another horse burying adventure...) Anyway, had to go thru 2 gates to get to where we were going. At the second gate, my partner who had met us out there, was opening the gate and the hooves came off the back legs it was so rotten... I'm surprised it didn't explode when it hit the ground... We finally managed to get it hooked back up and carried to the spot. I could tell it was an old home place, from some nearby footings. Well, almost done digging the hole and hit a old lateral line... So finished digging with water running in from old septic system, and broke a speed record shoving horse in hole and backfilling... I can still vividly remember the smell of that horse to this day...:throwup
Horses and those that own them are a special group, of all those animals I've buried over the years, I've learned one important thing, go in your pickup first.............you know, just to have a look see what it is you maybe getting into, if the hair on the back of your neck stands up, it saves having to haul around the machines for nothing. I'm shocked nobody has stated the price is paid in cash up front, you know, just so I actually get paid, another reason I no longer bury horses. Two of the best one's yet about horse's I've had over the years, the first one was a complete crook, I knew them and they'd never pay, even if taken to court you'd still never get a dime, so I went to look with my pickup, just for a laugh on an slow day, with no intentions of ever burying it, and told them it had to be pulled up from the pasture so it was closer to the house and away from the creek in case it would rain, I might not be able to get in and dig the hole. I'd be back in an hour or so, and if it wasn't where I told them, I wouldn't unload the machine to bury it. It took a few drive by's with the pickup to make sure it was where I told them to put it, then called them to say, an emergency waterline repair needed to be done, be there right afterwards............................ two days later they called again, told them it was a hectic weekend and still on repair jobs. Took the idiot a few more days still to figure out I hadn't been there yet, and a few calls to me again, stating it was stinking and it smelled, well after a week and a half, I told him I needed to be paid in full first...............got quiet on the other end but he finally said, ok, he had cash in hand....................and I said great bring it over, which he was dumb enough to do and that same afternoon, he called and was beyond upset I wasn't there, that's when I told him the amount he paid, was for the bill he screwed me out of decades ago, he now needed to pay to bury the dead horse...........................................................never heard from him again. That's how to collect on old accounts, and have the moron who screwed me over, smell his own dead horse for almost two weeks and by then it was impossible to move in one piece and nobody on earth to ever hire to bury it for him, was told it took a long time to dig the hole in his yard with a shovel, sorry I missed that part but it stunk pretty badly to even drive by to watch the progress. The second one was a horse owner that called to ask if I'd bid on burying his dead horse..............................................................after a few minutes of silence I told him it would be cheaper to auction the dead horse off on ebay or try to sell it on craigslist.
Randy88 .......LMFAO!!! You are my new HERO ! :notworthy:drinkup ointlaugh:falldownlaugh
I'll second that motion! One for the HEF archives for sure!
Everyone seems to be worried about how big to dig the hole, I'm always far more concerned with how deep to dig the hole to bury anything, I once buried a dead cow for a lady, it was a pet or something, didn't really get an answer on how she came to have a cow, she certainly wasn't a farmer by any means, but anyhow I dug the hole, being supervised the whole time, so I got the final resting place just right I guess. The cow was only hours dead so no smell whatsoever involved, which I thought at the time was a good thing, placed Bessy in her final resting place, yes, there was a ceremony of sorts for her, with me hat in hand listening, then given the go ahead to cover her up, which I did and proceeded to go home. Maybe a week or so later I get a call again, seems the dog missed his friend and went to dig her back up again, bloating set in due to the shallow burial and now the top portion of the cow was exposed, the smell was unbelievable when I drove there in my pickup to have a look see. Well to make a long story short, lesson number two about peoples pets would come around shortly to be learned the hard way. I assessed the situation and had a solution, fast cheap and easy, part of lesson number two, never state the obvious about a prior pet, no matter how much they stink at the time of discussion, so the lady had a skid steer on the property and I had a shot gun in my pickup, grabbed the gun, some deer slugs and when about shooting the cow to deflate her, then planned on covering her up with more dirt, and my plan was to tell her to keep the dog chained up for a few days. Looking back, the whole list was a really bad idea from the git go, the lady came unglued when I started shooting her dead buried cow, the stink hit as the cow deflated, the dog went nuts, cause I was shooting his friend, almost needed to shoot the dog to make it back to the pickup, after an irate woman got done screaming at me and had calmed down, I got into the skid steer and dug up some dirt, when I finally had the go ahead to do so, and proceeded to cover the cow deeper with dirt. Lesson number two about peoples pets, don't ever drive on the grave, not only does the owner get upset, bessy let out some more air and I about gagged, but worse yet the skid steer sank into the now mushy hole and I got it stuck. Now, this is the very last time I'll ever make the phone call back to the shop with a conversation that went like as follows, I need an excavator out to so and so's, now, I got her skid steer stuck..............they all knew why I drove out there in the first place......................so after what seemed like hours, came the question, where did you get it stuck, how and is there any smell.............................................some thought was involved here while pondering the question and after some time I said, its a long story, just load it up, bring it out and we'll be done with this job once and for all..............................after a long pause, I was told no, that wouldn't be happening unless I answered the question first, so trying to be diplomatic, since I was in the lady's house, she was crying in the background, her dog was barking on the front step, angrily I might add and the smell was more than I could take, the cows burial plot was upwind of the house. So after some discussion I was informed they'd do most of what was asked, and bring the truck and trailer to the road, but no farther, and would not be sticking around to help with any of it, which was fine with me at the time. I got the skid steer out, dug some more dirt beside bessy's hole and used it cover up the grave, much deeper, which helped with the smell considerably and then had to wash off the skid steer for her with a garden hose and loaded up my machine and went home, the crew that brought the truck took my pickup home, but waited till the smell died down enough to go get it out of the yard and that ended the last burial detail I've been involved with in years. Moral of the story, dig it DEEP, like about as deep as the machine can reach so the hole is deep enough to bury the whole herd in if need be, then cover it up and don't look back, the next moral is this, don't bury peoples pets, even if they are cows, horses, dogs or whatever, especially if its just you and the pets owner, bring along a clergyman or someone else to help hold their hand if nothing else, preferably not out where your working, ask if there is going to be a ceremony or any last words spoken at the grave site, if so, take along a few helpers, to distract the owner enough to do the job right the first time around and lastly don't ever shoot a dead family pet to deflate it, I can't say enough how bad this idea is at so many levels, none of which will be obvious at the moment you come up with it, but will be crystal clear when to go to take the first shot and then reload multiple times. And when people ask, so how did your weekend go I can tell them ...................................................................................................................
randy you let yourself get into messes like I do!!! LOL however I can say I have NEVER shot a dead cow or horse!!! I was told a year or so ago there was a law passed here in Indiana that you could no longer bury a horse!! never saw it in a book but it makes a good excuse not to do it anymore!!
Mate that was hilarious I have buried a few horses in my time and the hole always looks big enough until you put the animal in, Mine always seem to land body down with the legs sticking out of the hole I always wanted to bury one like that and stick a table top on top of the legs, Be a nice garden ornament and a great tribute to the animal Nothing worse than having the owner there crying while you are trying to work out whether to take the thing out and dig the hole deeper or just break it's legs and move on I had a friend overhear a woman talking about a horse I had buried for her and how insensitive I was because I just drove up and dug the hole and buried the horse without saying a few words in it's honour I was tempted to ring her up and tell her that if she hadn't ridden the unfit horse up a very large hill on a stinking hot day it would probably still be alive Meh, I still got paid Another one was a lady whose horse had died across a ways from where she wanted it buried and I had to chain the legs so I could lift it with the front bucket, She wouldn't let me chain one particular leg because it was his "sore" leg Some of those horse owners can be quite special at times
Fservice, if you can't bury them anymore, its basically illegal to butcher them, rendering plants can't pick them up, just what is supposed to happen to them, prop them up on some hay bales at the end of the driveway and use for a yard decoration? Most area's won't allow them to be burned, they have to be incinerated and most don't have an incinerator large enough to put them in, its illegal to leave them lay and rot, around here if anyone does that, they'll get turned in for spreading disease, what disease I have no clue, but am told its illegal. So by passing a law not allowing burying, does that mean no more horse's will die? The crook in my first post, didn't pay me decades earlier for burying his horse then, claiming I was insensitive and my equipment was offensive and degraded the spirit of the burial, ceremony and all, as he placed the 1500 dollar saddle and tack in along with the horse or so that's what he said it cost, of course it was fine the horse died on Monday and he got around to calling me to bury it on the following Sunday, which is the day I pulled a machine off a jobsite to bring out to his place, me not having a day off in months, probably hadn't shaved and showered in a week, cause I was told it had just died and needed burying right away.......................................... But the upside the second time around, I hope he dug the hole by hand in a suit and tie, you know in order to respect the recent deceased which I believe again was on a Weekend and then he could look at the dearly departed for decades to come, actually his wife put a flower garden there for years in order to hide the burial spot, either way, they haven't called me back, but I can sympathize with the anger he had, I recall I was about as mad over not getting paid the first time, and I laughed it off about the same way he did when I was mad, you know what goes around comes around, it just may take a few decades. Yes I get into a lot of those situations, less the last few years, maybe because I've gotten to the point I actually listen to the hair on the back of my neck, the other one is, I go drive to look with my pickup first, and last I demand money up front on any job I think I might have trouble collecting, most will refuse and I'm out of there. Most are not funny at the time, but looking back after the fact, someone usually won't let me forget them, the same people that thought it was hilarious at the time, but didn't want to right out laugh at me then. The biggest problem with burying someone's pet, no matter the size, they feel it should be done in the same manner a person's funeral should be done, but when heavy equipment is involved, I'm not thinking the same principle is applied or can even be applied, but most can't see that, let alone understand it. Farmers on the other hand, have a pretty good grasp on what is involved with burying any animal, and those tend to not give much grief, they just want the job done, and will keep the family at bay till its done, then respects can be given later, when I'm gone and nobody see's the process. I'm not completely insensitive or without heart, like some might think, but I now take it case by case, the last pet we buried was a dog, owned by an elderly lady, great lady by the way, but I had enough helpers there to distract her and get the job done fast, and left the help there to console her long after I left, and someone to do the finishing touches with a shovel and a rake to clean up quite nicely, but unless I know the person, no more horse's, not wanting to stereotype any group, but lets just say, they are more grief to me than its worth. But its nice to hear I'm not the only one who's been in these same situations, as they say misery loves company. I would have never guessed buying a machine to dig in the dirt, immediately qualified anyone to be a mortician, nowhere in the operators manual was that ever stated, and never yet had a salesman tell me that outright either, what ever happened to that labor of love and using a shovel yourself to dig your own hole?? its what I had to do as a kid, but then again maybe that's why I never had a pet elephant as a kid.
You are not alone brother Randy ! We few that belong to the " Horse Mortician 's Union ". Now I just shoot a ridiculous price and say I'm too far behind.
randy while I was rabbit/quail hunting this fall I came across several horses/cows in sink holes or draws that had been "placed" there as their last resting spot!! so there must be some truth to the burying dead horses, & I have not got a call to burry 1 in awhile!!
Horse people are difficult to deal with in any case. One big problem here is when they are buying hay. The number of local guys who sold hay in the past were given bad checks. One guy sold some, helped load it. An hour later got a call "we did a stop payment on the check cause some of the bales fell off somewhere on the way home, We will issue a new check when you bring us replacement bales". It's to the point now that most farmers around here will not make small squares and they demand cash up front. Then of course that darned horse or horses are their babies. I don't sell hay to horse people and only make big round bales. Darn sure don't bury them with the backhoe. IMO most of those people are nuts. Rick
Randy, that's quite a story. I will be sure to cover my six if I ever get called to do that. I have had the unpleasant experience of digging into a recently buried dog on a water line repair. I can only thank the Lord that my front windshield in my excavator was closed. The explosion of the fluids and the smell was more than my helper could handle. Needless to say he doesn't like standing near the bucket. Lol.