Barbaro the race horse, what makes their legs break ?

Question

I know nothing about race horses except I know they have intense drive. What possibly made his leg break so badly, it says they are raised for speed rather than durability so do they have "weak bones" or do they just push beyond what their physical bodies can endure, NOW REMEMBER, I LOVE ANIMALS BUT KNOW NOTHNG ABOUT RACE HORSES OR HORSES FOR THAT MATTER, SO BE KIND :)

Answer 1

Well what causes a lot of horses' legs to break in a race is just simply have a "mis-step".

It's like, say when you go for a jog or run or something and you just like  twist your ankle and it bends weird because you had that "mis-step". That's what its like for race horses/horses only usually they are carrying so much weight that once it will do that awkward bend, they whole thing will just collapse. Causing the horse to break its' leg.

-mel

RIP Barbaro♥

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Answer 2

Horse's bones are not weak per se.  The problem with the way a horse is designed is that the power comes from the back end but the force of impact is absorbed by the, comparably, weaker front legs.

Barbaro suffered a catastrophic fracture of his hind leg where the bone shattered into dozens of pieces.  If it had been a clean simple break then he may have been able to be saved.  However the complex surgery and long recovery required from such an injury was his undoing.  

Your average racehorse weighs about 3/4 of a ton and that weight is meant to be distributed evenly over all four legs.  If one leg is unable to carry weight the other three are put under extra strain and can become damaged, as with Barbaro.

There is no known reason why horses break their legs in such circumstances - some may have a minor hairline fracture that has gone undetected, others may take an awkward step.  Thousands of horses race every year and the number of catastrophic breakdowns is something like 1 in every 1000 horses, which is actaully not a great number.

It is always sad when a horse breaks down like this, but quite often the kindest thing to do is to put them down on the spot.  Barbaro was kept alive for months after his accident and his story shows that no matter how much time and money you spend the horse cannot be saved.

Answer 3

they are raced to young,,a horse grows until thay are six years old,,so think about what were you like at 2 or 3 years of age,,