Why did they have to kill horses after they injure their legs?

Question

the past 2 years they had to kill really fast horses becuase they hurt themselves how come the cant rehabilitate them

Answer 1

The horse can not walk on broken legs. The are pretty much usless.  I think there is an issue with blood flow to the ankles. The animals will suffer tremendously. I have heard it is cruel to keep the horse alive.

Answer 2

Depends on the injury and there are complications if the horse can not be on it's feet.  Pressure on the heart and lungs, other organs fail, infection.  She would have had to be in a sling and if they didn't heal properly wouldn't have been able to walk.  There would have been a rehabilitation factor too, could it even be done, due to the weight of the horse and how long before her muscles became too weak to support her.  Horses often sleep standing.  With two badly broken ankles she would have only suffered.  I hate it but sadly it was the best for her, I read the bone was through the skin so it was a bad break.  And yes something needs looked into, this is too sad but it happened every day at the small races, people only notice now because these were two big televised races and now people know.

Answer 3

horses, in order to be rehabilitated, need to be off of their feet and legs while the legs heal.  The only way to do this is to suspend the horse above the ground by a crane/pulley type system.  This is not feasible because a horse can't live like  that... the horse needs to be able to move around.

Also, the horse develops other problems if it is suspended above ground for too long, including bloat, possible stomach problems, etc. (Vets suspend horses during operations on horses FYI)

Horses are actually quite a poorly made creature, massive muscles and weight on tiny stick legs.... the legs are the horses LIFE...  they break, the horse unfortunately can't live well anymore.

I agree it MAY be possible to rehab a horse with a broken ankle or leg to walk again, even slightly run.. never race tho

Answer 4

A horse with two broken ankles could not possibly recover. It would involve forcing the horse not to put weight on it's two front legs for months and months. If you have ever been around a horse, this is nearly impossible. Unfortunately a terrible accident happened, the veterinarians and owners made the right decision to put their filly down.

Answer 5

Because that's not the way horses work, they attempted to fix help Barbaro, but ultimately it failed. A major issue is the mere weight of the horse can very easily prevent healing, it's considered inhumane and unethical to let a horse live with three functional legs even if a horse could be rehabilitated.

Answer 6

Leg injuries are usually quite devestating to the horse for two main reasons: the legs of a horse don't have great blood flow, and in order for a horse's internal organs to function properly, the horse has to be able to move about.  In the case of Barbaro, he had broken one leg, so they tried to use a sling to help his recovery.  Sometimes it works, but many times it doesn't.

With Eight Belles, she broke both her front ankles.  There was no way she could support herself to get splints on her legs, much less get into the equine ambulence.  It was in her best interest to euthanize her, as they did.

Answer 7

it is sad and makes me sick, however the horses would suffer more if they were kept alive. Horses have thin legs and are unable to hold 1, 000  pounds with broken legs.

Answer 8

its just not possible to rehabilitate the horse, and it would be so painful for the horse to keep on living that they are more or less killing the horse to keep it from suffering

Answer 9

The horse would not be able to walk, and no one wants to push around a horse in a wheelchair