Equine disposal expert

Mark Bycroft on why 20% of his work is about putting horses down and 80% is dealing with their owners' grief

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I grew up on a farm. My father was a hard taskmaster, and I learnt on all kinds of horses. I worked at the hunt kennels, exercising the hounds and horses in the morning and collecting fallen stock for the knacker's yard in the afternoons.

In 1987, I joined the Old Surrey and Burstow Hunt as second horseman and kennelman. I hunted hounds for 28 years, then eight years ago, I retired from hunting to run my own business.

There comes a time in a horse's life when it starts to get old, drop condition, ribs show, and feet and teeth deteriorate. No matter how much food you pump into it, the body is shutting down, and the kind thing to do is euthanise the animal.

Some thoroughbreds get to around 20, then age fast, whereas others can go on for years. I work with an RSPCA vet and often an animal has been neglected and needs to be put down because of an owner's ignorance rather than deliberate unkindness.