Why are horses euthanised when they break a leg?

Question

http://sports.yahoo.com/rah/news?slug=reu-racingbreedersclassicdc&prov=reuters&type=lgns

Answer 1

Well for one horses are quite different from humans. See when a human breaks their leg they can take it easy and have bed rest, use crutches, exsetra. But horses cannot do that. A horse cannot lie down for hours because if they do there is a great risk of their organs failing. Horses also need to keep their weight evenly balanced, and if they have a serious leg injury they cannot do that, which results in laminitis, which it very difficult to treat. If your refering to George Washington there is one more factor that resulted in him being euthanized. With George Washington his bone actually broke through his skin. Those breaks are ALWAYS very difficult to treat because the risk of infection is incredibly high, especially since he had been running on the track. The famous filly Ruffian suffered and injury somewhat similar to that, where she broke her bone and and ripped through the skin. While they did try to save her, they in the end had to also euthanize her because of the pain she was in.

Answer 2

Sometimes a horse can be saved, but often it can not.

A horse can not support itself on only 3 legs, it can not breath for a long time lying down, and while supported in a sling.

So even with modern medicine and science it is not always possible to save a horse from death.

Answer 3

Not all horses are euthanized when they break a leg. They only euthanize a horse if the broken leg is serious, meaning the horse will not recover enough to live a useful life. The bones in a horse's legs are hollow and if a bone breaks, it can shatter. These bones really don't heal well, mainly because a horse is forced to put a lot of weight onto their legs. Another issue that arises is infection. These infections can kill a horse and are hard to get rid of.

If you remember Barbaro last year, you will remember that they tried to save his life. He was euthanized in the end because the doctors felt that he would not be able to live a healthy, pain-free life, despite all the effort they put into trying to save him.

Answer 4

As has been said, only those horses whose injury is too severe to repair will be destroyed.  Many horses suffer minor fractures on the racecourse and they are perfectly saveable, but sometime the injury is just too bad.

Firstly you have to know some basics about the anatomy of a horse: a horse's front legs are his weakest point, but they also bear the brunt of the horse's weight when he is galloping and jumping.

Secondly, you need to understand the pyschology of the horse.  He is a flight animal which means his instinct is always to run from danger rather than stay and fight it.

When a person breaks a leg you can tell them to stay still as much as possible and to keep the weight off the affected limb.  You cannot do this with a horse - his instinct is to stand up, alert for danger and ready to run at a split-second's notice.

It is not just the fracture that endanders the horse's life, but all the things that can happen afterwards: the horse can die from shock, develop a severe infection, or (as in the case with Barbaro) develop laminitis in the non-fractured legs.

In the case of George Washington yesterday he suffered a fracture of the cannon bone (the long slender bone below the knee) and a dislocation of the sesamoid bones (which make up the ankle).  The bone had also broken through the skin, so the kindest thing to do was put him to sleep.

I know a lot of people think that the fact that horses are put down is cruel, but believe me we do it for the horse's welfare, not to save money.  These horse's are our lives and we would give anything to see them come home unharmed.