Well -- I've lost several of my best (equine) friends over the years, and
would tell you from having had the responsibility of euthanatizing them
when the time came, that what you describe is more or less exactly how
they go down when they are killed by some means that causes them to lose
consciousness before they actually die. They slump backwards over their
spraddled hind limbs as they sink down to rest on their chest. They may
fold the forelimbs or leave them extended out to the front. Chemical
euthanasia is one means of killing that causes them to lose consciousness
before they die; in older days the same effect would have been obtained by
pinching the horse's nostrils, an easy means of suffocation. This would be
in contrast to whacking them between the eyes with an axe or mallet,
shooting them with a gun, or whamming them over the top of the head with a
club or a two-by-four, all of which produce almost instant death with no
long, slow preliminary period of unconscousness. Also, the latter methods
tend to be precipitated by a fight, because unless the executioner is very
skillful the animal tends to see it coming. -- Dr. Deb


> Perrine,
> what is the nature of the burial? The position you describe would, in a
> ecological/geological context, be reminiscent of an animal that had died
> by
> being trapped in mud. The German palaeontologist Johannes Weigelt made
> several observations of this type of death position during his field
> research. This would depend on the context of your animal however.
> Regards,
> Don.
>
> On 14 March 2016 at 15:33, Perrine GAMBIER <[log in to unmask]>
> wrote:
>
>> Dear All
>>
>> I'm studing a horse' skeleton found in this unnatural posture : on the
>> stomach, posteriors member on each side of the body, forelimb folded up
>> under the nose.
>>
>> Does someone have already seen a similar posture?
>>
>> I'm wondering : is this posture have a link with the slaughter's method?
>>
>> I’m looking for a paper or some works about horses' posture (or another
>> animal husbandry) at the time of slaughter.
>>
>> Does someone have something like that?
>>
>> Thank you !
>>
>> Perrine Gambier (CD08)
>>
>>
>