EUTHANASIA AND THE HUMAN-EQUINE BOND

Knowledge about the human-horse bond and all that it may entail, and o f the ways that bond affects the euthanasia process, gives equine prac titioners a critical role in the client-veterinarian relationship. The performance of an equine euthanasia is not only a heavy responsibilit y, but a complicated one, for almost invariably the veterinarian must respond to the client's emotional feelings as well as to the patient's medical problems. While so many professions have become routinely mec hanistic in approach, veterinary medicine provides opportunity for the special enrichment that comes from compassionate participation in uni versal issues of life and death.