Killing a horse humanely in medieval times

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ssbittner

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I'm writing a fantasy novel set in a medieval setting, and I've come to a scene where I need to kill my main character's horse. The horse has been taken by starving bandits who are killing it for food. Although actual bandits would probably not care if they made the horse suffer and thrash around in its own blood, I would like the scene to be as non-horrific and painless for the horse as possible. The bandits have knives, swords and crossbows available to them. I could probably justify giving them other medieval weapons if those would work better, but not guns.

Thanks in advance for your help!
 

CWatts

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Isn't slitting the throat the traditional way to slaughter an animal?

Note that it's in the bandits' best interest to get the horse down as quickly as possible. If it's thrashing around it could easily kick them hard enough to break bones or even kill. If this is a knight's warhorse, they would go with the crossbow as they wouldn't want to get anywhere close to a one-ton killing machine trained to bite, kick and trample foot soldiers.
 

lonestarlibrarian

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A homesteader friend of mine prefers to dispatch rabbits by cutting their throat. One person holds, the other person cuts.

For a strong animal, like cattle or a horse, I would expect the animal to be physically restrained first, and then possibly stunned, before actually doing the deed. I didn't see any descriptions of the actual butchering in any of my husbandry manuals, but in some 18th-19th c art, you can get an idea---

slaughterhouse-in-chicago-circa-1880-hand-colored-woodcut-ABJM8M.jpg


Diderot%27s+Encyclopedia+18th+century+butchers+tools.+3.jpg
 

Alessandra Kelley

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The methods of historic animal sacrifice I’ve researched involved keeping the animal as calm and placid as possible, stunning it with a hammer blow to the head and then rapidly cutting its throat with a very sharp knife. Frightening or alarming the animal or killing it in a messy and prolonged way is said to produce stress products that make the meat less palatable.
 

Chris P

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The cattle I saw slaughtered in the villages in Uganda involved restraining the animals as shown in the linked illustrations above and cutting the throat. I didn't see them stunning with a hammer blow, and from what I've heard it's too easy to do this wrong and end up with an enraged animal.
 

ssbittner

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Thanks, guys. Unless someone else has a better suggestion, I'll probably go with just cutting the horse's throat, since I'm not sure that the bandits would take the time to try stunning the horse. Do any of you have any idea how long it would take before the horse became unconscious from blood loss? Thirty seconds? Less?
 

CameronJohnston

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Historically, there are a lot of images of pole axes being used on cattle and pigs - the blunt end stuns them and then the slit the throat. But I would just go for slitting the throat for ease. Not sure about throat-cutting of a horse specifically but it's as little as 10 seconds in a human if the blood flow is cut off to the brain (strangulation etc).
 

lonestarlibrarian

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I don't know about unconscious-in-a-horse, but I do know that unconscious does not equal limp. If they're like smaller livestock, the animal will convulse even after it's dead--- it just doesn't know that it's dead yet.

So that's one of the reasons why you try to restrain an animal. Cutting its throat is good, because it desanguinates the carcass. But living things prefer to stay alive, and it will put up a fight, and its body will continue to fight even after its consciousness isn't there--- or even after its head isn't there, for that matter. A lot of it is probably reflexive.

I've never timed it, but for a rabbit, if I had to guess a random number, it might be 45-60 seconds before I'm confident enough to release my grip on it. For a larger animal, it might take longer-- because it has more mass to it-- or it might take the same amount of time-- because the wounds are proportional. So I couldn't make a guess there. I don't do the cutting, but I do find that even though rabbit skin is thin compared to horsehide, it's not easy to cut through, even with a sharp knife, because of the fur. So if your bandits have good weapons that are well-cared for with a good edge, they might be able to make their cut with one good stroke. But if your bandits have dull, nicked blades--- it's going to be a process.
 

veinglory

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In the realm or 10 -30 seconds. Even when they die quickly horses make a dramatic thump when they go down and the legs kick out
 
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