Why do race horses have to be killed once they brake a leg? Are they so helpless that they are better off dead

Question

Why do race horses have to be killed once they brake a leg? Are they so helpless that they are better off dead

Answer 1

Its not only race horses but all horses. Horses must use all legs all the rime. Because horses weigh so much, the horses must remain off the leg untill fixed.

Answer 2

It depends on the severity of the injury., but many times it is not likely that they can be saved,  because racehorses are traveling at 35-40 mph during a race, and weigh between 1000 and 1200 pounds.  Their bones bear a tremendous amount of weight and stress if there is a mis-step, and the bones shatter and cause a severe injury, as what happened with Barbaro.  It is extremely difficult for a horse to try to stand on 3 legs, and he cannot do it indefinitely, because of his size and weight.   Horses MUST be able to distribute their weight on ALL FOUR LEGS evenly, or serious complications develop.   In spite of advances in care for equines, some cases like Barbaro's simply and tragically cannot have a happy ending.  

     It may be that the owners of the horse either don't care or don't want to spend the money to try to save the horse.  The main cause for racehorses breaking their legs is simply that they are asked to perform when they are too young and their bones are not fully formed, and all that stress is put on them.

Answer 3

Wow.  I don't know where to start.  There are a bunch of very correct answers here but a lot of other misconceptions about why a horse is put down, what horses are all about and horse racing in general.  It's amazing that a thoroughbred can do what it does.  Consider 1000+ pounds being supported on legs with ankle bones the size of a person's wrist.  Then consider the running style of a horse (most four legged animals) at any given time only one foot might be in contact with the ground.  This means that 1000 pounds originally distributed over 4 legs has 4 times the impact on only one.  I'm surprised horses don't breakdown more.  Yes we probably race horses too young, but once a horse gets to 3 he/she are more than likely have satisfactory bone development.  The factors of a horse's weight, the inability to lay down for extended periods (more issues of intestine problems than anything else here...colicing and twisted intestines), blood flow, cost, value at stud all play into the decision to save or not save a horse with a broken legs.  Walmac International has a stallion, Miswaki who broke his leg in has paddock.  The devised a harness that took all the weight from his legs, he fully recovered, they built a $1million barn just for him with a oversized indoor stall and he only went outside with a handler.

Once a horse breaks it's leg the decision must be made quickly.  Controlling a TBred is tough enough but one that could do more damage and suffer more has to be dealt with in a timely fashion.

My 2 cents.

Answer 4

i never knewe they killed them just because a broken leg thats cruel and senseless

Answer 5

That is not true.  There is different breaks and some breaks are unfixable and the quality of life will be poor for the horse.  Sometimes money is a issue.  There is alot of fractures and breaks that are succesfully fixed that you are just unaware of when your not in the TB business.

Answer 6

Horses' legs are made different from ours.  All their muscles are up at the top, in the shoulder and the butt (I'm not sure what that part of a horse is called but you know what I mean).  Their legs are very bony.  When they break a leg it's very hard for it to heal because the blood flow is disrupted.  They can't just put a cast on it and tell the horse to stay off it, like we can with people. It gets worse and worse, and more and more painful for the horse, until gangrene sets in because of the bad blood supply.  So it's considered more humane just to shoot the horse to put it out of its pain.

Answer 7

It depends on the break.  Some breaks, like a hairline fracture, or the break that Charismatic suffered in the 1999 Belmont, would force a racehorse to retire, but should be able to heal.  A major break, like the ones Barbaro and Ruffian suffered, usually are bad enough to warrent euthanizing the horse.  So, not all racehorses who break a leg are euthanized.

Answer 8

no, smart one.

think of it this way:

the only thing supporting a horse are its four legs.

for a little while, not long, it can stand on three, or two, but for the most part, to live it needs all four legs beneath it to support it.

In the first place, animal injuries are very difficult, whether its a dog, cat, fish, or horse, because you cant tell an animal that it has to be on bed rest for a week, or a month. Horses naturally move by using their legs, a lot. Horses sleep much of the time standing up. A horse's legs are constanly under strain. Leg injuries are for a horse one of the hardest things to correct and heal. When they are so bad that the horse can't recover at all, or would only partly recover, or would be so miserable recovering that it would wish it wasnt, most owners choose to put them down because its kinder than letting them suffer, OR because the leg simply can not be healed. You might think this isn't kind but brutal, but if the horse was in the wild, and was not being meddled with, its herd would move on, and it would die with a broken leg.

Many advances have been made with horse leg injuries sciences, but its still a terribly difficult, painful, strenuous, and EXPENSIVE (like you would pay under $5 for a box of Advil that could last you, theoretically, weeks, where i paid over $16 for four days worth of pain-killer for my horse today).

And even if an attempt is made to save a horses broken leg, theres not even the slightest guarantee that it will work because theres millions of things that can and probably will go wrong.

and if the attemt fails, there will be more pain and longer suffering for the horse.

And trying to heal a broken horse leg can lead to many other health problems that could make the other legs useless as well.

And why racehorses? well, this applies to ALL horses. Its just that racehorses get hurt more frequently and easily because of the sport. and you probably dont hear about anything but racing horse injuries because those are the only ones that are publicized.

THAT is why they (meaning a fraction of the race horses who sustain broken legs) are put down.

Answer 9

There are so many delicate bones in a horse's leg, some are repairable some not. Always if there is a compound fracture where the bone pierces the skin euthanasia is best. Infection sets in so quick it's almost impossible to fight it off. There is also the concern of blood flow to the hoof itself, if blood flow is constricted the hoof will die.

Horses must remain on their feet for the majority of their lives. If they cannot get up their lungs fill with fluids rather quickly, hence a horse that gets cast in their stall for long periods can die. They can and do sleep lying down, but for much less time than you would imagine! Then comes in the question of weight distribution, uneven distribution can bring on Laminitis which ultimately was the downfall of Barbaro and Secretariat to name a few ( Sunday Silence also was stricken).

Answer 10

Race horses are killed once they break a leg because they can't race anymore and it would cost the owner too much money to pay for surgeries to keep the horse alive. In the case of Barbaro, or any other Pimlico, Preakness or Belmont Stakes winner, the owner will keep the horse alive to breed them because of the pedigree.

Answer 11

you cant keep a horse from staying off its feet....

Answer 12

Manny

Why? Because of thier digestive systems.Horses of all types must move to digest,or die.There exists no sling that  holds a horse for 24 hours. Dreamer was a movie,and hollywood loves broken heros.Real world? Some fractures are not to bad and some are tragic. It has little to do with leg size and everything to do with their mobile metabolism. So yes, they are better off dead if it is a bad type of fracture, as slow death and horrible complications are the only options.

Answer 13

They don't euthanize all racehorses just because they break a leg, and they never have.  A lot depends on the kind of fracture the horse has, the value of the horse, the willingness of the owners and/or insurance company to try to save the horse, and the horse's temperament.

Horse of the Year Swaps, all the way back in the 1950's, suffered a broken leg and had to be kept in a sling for weeks to keep the weight off his leg.  Swaps had an exceptional disposition and his owners were willing to do what was necessary to save him, so he recovered and eventually went to stud, where he sired Kentucky Derby winner Chateaugay, among others.  Off the top of my head, other horses that were saved include Graustark, a son of *Ribot who went on to become an important sire;  Personal Ensign, who recovered well enough to return to the racetrack and win the Breeder's Cup Distaff;  Your Host, who was saved to sire 5-time horse of the year Kelso; and many others.

A lot depends on the extent of the fracture.  If the ends of broken bone have pierced the skin and dirt has gotten into the wound, the outlook for the horse is very poor because of the certainty of infection.  Also, if the "support structure" of tendons and ligaments in the lower leg has been disrupted, the prognosis is poor because even if the bone heals, the rest of the support structure might keep the horse from bearing weight on it.

What is also true is that the economic practicalities of racehorse ownership might keep someone from trying to save a horse.  If a $10,000 claiming horse breaks its leg, and the vets tell the owners that it might cost $50,000 in vet bills to try to save the horse-- with saving not a certainty-- and that the horse will never be anything but a "pasture pet" if it is saved, most owners just can't justify the expense.  It's sad but true.

I think that the recent break-down of Barbaro and the memory of Ruffian and other horses that have broken down has caused a lot of people to think long and hard about how we can prevent such injuries from occurring.  Polytrack and Cushion Track installations, some of the movements to ban certain kinds of medications for racehorses, and other changes that are taking place are all helpful.

Many horses that break down are saved.  But it's sad that more can't be saved, and even sadder that their breakdowns couldn't be prevented in the first place.

Answer 14

Because you cant keep a horse from staying off its feet....it doesnt ever heal.

Best to just kill them