Why can't they save horses with broken bones?

Question

I would think veterinary medicine is advanced enough to save a horse with one or even two broken legs. Why not?

Answer 1

They sometimes can, and considering the incalculable value of Eight Belles as a brood mare (after being only about the third girl to win the Derby in 134 years), no doubt the owners would have spent anything to save her if it was humanely possible.

Many broken bones in horses can be repaired, at least enough for the horse to live a long, happy life.  I have  horse who broke a cannon bone, it was fixed nicely, and that was over twenty years ago.  Horses have even been fitted with artificial legs.

However, with TWO ankles involved, and one of them being a particularly nasty compound fracture with the skin broken, the dirt in that wound almost guarantees an infection, which makes treatment immensely more difficult, painful, and far less likely to succeed.

A really mercenary owner, thinking only of profits, might have opted to try some heroic veterinary adventure that would have been extremely hard on the horse -- and probably would have only prolonged her pain.

Putting her down was unavoidable, and the only right thing to do in this case.

Answer 2

Are you kidding me?!?!!?

-----How would the horse Stand up or Sit down?------

The only i[2]! things i could think of are either:

Getting the horse to lie down on it's back for 3 months

                                     or

give the horse robot legs, but that ain't veterinary medicine, isn't it; No!, it's robotology or something.

Answer 3

We can't build casts strong enough to support their  entire weight when more than one leg is broken.  Horses can't lie down very long without suffocating - the pressure of their own weight on their ribs makes breathing very difficult.  They can't be suspended in slings for the same reason.  

If the horse has only one broken leg, it can sometimes be fixed.  Surgeons can insert pins and apply a cast, just as with humans, but the horse must remain calm and be intelligent enough to take it easy with the cast - many aren't, and end up undoing all the work.  Even then, it takes a lot of luck.

Answer 4

Because a horse that can't put weight on one leg is at high risk for developing laminitis (a painful and debilitating disease of the hoof). Laminitis is ultimately why they had to euthanize Barbaro - his bones were healing.

A horse that can't put weight on EITHER of her front legs is not only in incredible amounts of pain, the chances of recovery are so slight that it's more humane to euthanize than to force her to endure months of "recovery" from not only the broken ankles, but also the laminitis which is highly likely to develop in her hind feet as a result.

The way a horse is built, they need to be able to bear weight on their feet. It is part of the way their circulatory system is built - they need the pressure on their feet in order to get blood return back up their legs. A horse who can't put weight on its feet is a horse who is going to end up with necrotizing tissue in his feet, inflammation, laminitis, severe pain, the toe bone sinking out through the sole of the foot, and ultimately death.

Horses are not built like dogs or cats or humans. They can't lie down for long periods of time. They can't stay off their feet for long periods of time. Their anatomy and physiology DEMANDS that they bear weight on all four legs, and at a relatively even pressure across all four of them. You take that ability away - by breaking two of the four legs - and you condemn the horse to a slow, painful, hobbling death. Unless you do the humane thing and euthanize it.

**Taken from Nandina's post from earlier topic**

Answer 5

They can and do but it is a big risk often not worth putting the animal through 6 months of being in a sling and then having to put them down because breaks rarely heal properly for a horse. Stud service is big business and if an owners sees a chance to make a dollar he will go for it but the vets often have a big part in the decission

Answer 6

i think they cant do anything is becuse 1 its to hard to fix 2 and if fix the animals life will be hard

Answer 7

i honestly don't understand either, i am sure if there's a will there is a way, particuarly with today's technology.  I am sure some kind of suspended harnest or support cart that can withhold the horse weight for 3 months should be able to develop.  i think people just stock with how they deal with the problem and fail to progress to find new solutions.

i am no vet, i just feel really sorry for the animal, they didn't sign up for this, they did their best and so the reward is if you break your legs, you lost your life??

i think only because once the horse broke its legs, it can never run the way it used to be, therefor, it becomes useless and burden to the owner??

Answer 8

Because the bones in the legs are quite thin and the horse weighs 1000 pounds or more.

Because of that, the horse would be required to lay down until the bones are healed, something the horse can not do without having further medical problems.

Answer 9

It can occasionally be done with intensive medical care and only one broken leg.  Horses are terrible patients.  They insist on putting their feet down and putting weight on all four legs.