How did they kill Eight Belles after she broke two of her ankles in the Kentucky Derby? Shotgun? Drugs?

Question

All the media just says she was euthanized, but I just want to know how they kill horses these days.

Answer 1

In today's world they use drugs, they use to shot the horse but thanks to medications and so on for horses they are able to do it with an injection. What people need to know is that having to put down a horse like that is almost like having to put down a family member. The owner(s) usually always and the trainers become very close with the horse so it's never an easy thing to do.

Answer 2

At my track, we shoot them. Usually with a shotgun, but the track's independently owned and operated - not one of these "elitist" tracks like the Kentucky one with their euthanasias or whatever.

Answer 3

Why do people think they shot her? Thats inhumane. It was lethal injection. But what is also inhumane is RACING!

Stop horse racing in Isreal:

http://chai-online.com/en/campaigns/raci...

♥ My real name on here is Jennifer Jeter but until 1:05 tomorrow I am "Eight Belles" in honor of the beautiful horse that died yesterday ♥

Answer 4

They gave her drugs.  If they used a gun, you would have heard a gun firing at the Derby.

Answer 5

In most situations, on track, or local barn, veterinarians will inject a very potent barbiturate, that causes immediate unconsciousness, and very quickly afterwards, the heart stops beating.  The animal feel no more than a prick of a needle, and a dizziness, before unconsciousness.  It take less than 15 second in most cases.  This is the same feeling they experience if they are gelded, or undergo any other surgical procedure with general anesthesia.

There are still many ranchers, and some rural vets and rescue workers that will use a gun, a slug, straight to the brain, in situations where a very quick solution is needed to a desperate and agonizingly painful situation.  

Other than people that are absolute sado masochists,  or a slaughter house, no one "kills" a horse for reasons other than humane intentions, to end suffering.

PS:  I think we will find that in the case of eight bells, she was dead or dying before her legs broke. (heart failure or aneurism possibly)   If you look at video of her down on the track, she was absolutely motionless before the ambulance got to her.  Breaking 2 legs, as severely as has been reported,  after the end of the race, would be an extremely unusual event.

Answer 6

drugs

Answer 7

First pain killers and a sedative is given to access the injury then if euthanasia is done small doses of anesthetics is given intravenously.  This slows the heart rate and breathing.  Then after the heart and breathing rates have dropped considerably then more is given until the heart has stopped beating.  If she had only broken or shattered one of her ankles then they could have possibly have done surgery and maybe saved her to live her life out as a brood mare because she would have had the other front leg to stand on while the other one was healing.

When the injury occurred the filly had some pain.  But because of her heighten state of adrenalin they generally don’t feel the pain for the first 20 minutes or so.  By the time the 20 minutes or so is up then they are either stabilized and on pain killers or they euthanize them.  Sad, yes it is to have to put them down.  But animals to a certain extent don’t have the ability to reason.  We can tell a human patient be still…keep the injury elevated…do this or do that….a horse is a big animal and their instinct  (no matter how domesticated we as humans would like to think our animals are they are in the long run still animals) tells them to either fight or flight.  Horses are normally preyed upon animals in the animal kingdom.  They will when confronted and scared either fight or flight which is leave the area.

Because of the size of most horses prognosis’s is usually not very good.  Structurally injured horses don't do well on a limited movement life style especially after being trained and conditioned most of their lives to be athletes.  There are all sorts of problems that occur when a horse is “lame in one foot” and putting all of their weight on the other three feet.  Problems begin to occur in the other three feet.  The downward force and pressure that a running horse puts on their front leg while running is more than one ton of force….that is a lot of pressure on that one leg while it is in the down position.  You might try doing a handstand on only one or two fingers on each hand….this might give you some idea as to the kind of pressure a horses leg has on it while they are in motion.

This type of injury can occur while they are out running in the pasture just being horses….but horses out running in the pasture that catastrophically injury themselves never make the news….and wild horses who break legs die out in the wild and end up being a meal for the rest of the food chain.  Injuries to horses will continue to occur whether or not racing them was stopped or not.  If I had something to change about the racing industry I would say….stop training then as yearlings and racing them as 2 year olds…I would say that they must be 4 years old before they are raced for the first time and 3 year olds before training could be started.  That way they would be more mature and their bones and joints would be better able to cope with what they are put thru when they are far too young and immature to be doing what the racing industry does to them at such young ages.

Indecently just shooting them with a gun euthanizes them much faster than the drugs do and they are out of pain faster by about 20 minutes or so.  I say 20 minutes to euthanize a horse that has been competing because sometimes the drugs work in reverse and just excite them more causing much more pain and harm to the injured animal than the original injury.

Answer 8

3 drugs are involved. Sodium thiopental, Pancuronium bromide, and Potassium chloride.  The first knocks you out, the second relaxes your muscles including respiration and the last drug stops the heart by taking away its electrical conduction properties.

Answer 9

lethal injection...sorry, I gotta ask, did you REALLY think they shot her?

Answer 10

They give an overdose of a drug that stops her heart immediately.