Why do they always have to resort to shooting a horse after breaking a leg?

Question

I never understood that....can't they just wait for the bone to heal?

Answer 1

A lot of the time, critical condition leg breaks in horses are related to the cannon bone, which is akin to the human shin. Although this bone is small in comparison to others, it carries a huge load of the weight of the standing and moving horse. Because of the immense load this bone in under, it is almost always impossible to keep such a large, energetic animal in quarantine for the amount of time it takes for this fragile bone to heal. Not only would it be a sorry and painful existence for the horse in question, the chances of it ever being able to be utilized again without a recurring injury would be very slim. Putting the animal out of it's misery is usually the most humane way of going about this type of injury.

Answer 2

cause people dont realize how dam good horse tastes, stop the senseless violence. BBQ the dam thing MMMMM now dats good eatin's there folks YUM =)

No joking, ok the truth.

Horses Don't lay down when they sleep they have to stand up, Horse dog cat human whatever, its impossible for any animal or humans legs to heal if they had to stand on them all the time. even when horses do lay down thay only kneel down and lay on their front legs their hind legs remail tenssioned, and thus weather they stand or sit their legs would never heal its just not possible.  (find them a good home.. LMAO, that dude dont know **** about horses. HAH this aint a puppy dog.)

Answer 3

If there are no bones left to heal it is almost impossible to try to heal it.  Many times the breaks are more of a shatter type.

Check some of the other answers - if your leg was in this condition would you want to be kept alive - in terrible agony?

I don't think so; if it were me - just put me down.

Answer 4

Remember that horses live on their feet. When one leg is injured to the point that it is painful to bear weight on it they tend to favor it. This means that they avoid putting any weight on the injured leg thus placing the remaining three legs under extra strain. This is similiar to when you sprain your ankle and hobble around to avoid the pain associated with walking on it. As a result of the added pressure put on the remaining legs, horses tend to develop laminitis in the uninjured legs. Laminitis is a disease where the bones in the horses foot eventually protrude through the hoof into the ground causing a very painful existence. Euthanasia is done to prevent a life of pain for the animal.

Answer 5

Some breaks are just too catastrophic to even fix especially when broken skin is part of the equation as infection due to wound contamination is almost impossible to keep at bay. Recovery is also a long slow process and the more complex the injury the greater the chance for secondary problems such as colic and laminitis to occur and ultimately cause the horse's death. Also often supporting soft tissue is damaged beyond repair and these structures are vital in supporting the skeletal structure. The toughest thing about racing is that when a fracture 1st occurs it is the time it takes to pull the horse up that ultimately causes the most damage often rendering the leg beyond repair. Personally I believe even if Barbaro had survived the entire recovery process his life would probably have been extremely monitored especially until assessments where made on just how much and how large a turnout area he would have been able to enjoy. It would of been a sad thing if the rest of his life had been limited to an area the size of a round pen. It is also hard to say if the leg would of stood up to anything but a very limited breeding schedule. Although it was still worth it to try and save him the cost of doing so with a injury as bad as his was is way beyond the scope of the average individuals pocketbook.

Answer 6

Horses legs are different anatomically.  While human legs may be healed easily, horses legs are so delicate that they may never heal.  Horses are stuck in much pain when their legs are broken, and often the most merciful thing to do is kill them.

Answer 7

Horse bones don't break like ours, they tend to shatter like chicken bones, in which case they can't just heal. Even if they do just have one clean break, when a horse bears excessive weight on the other unbroken limbs, laminitis sets in, which is very painful and unfortunately most of the time untreatable. Some fractures can heal and the horses can either race again (i.e. Brass Hat) or be used as trail horses or therapy horses, but with a compound fracture, euthanization is the best resort.

By the way, they rarely "shoot" horses anymore, they usually euthanize it, the same way they would a cat or dog.

Answer 8

Cuz it's too much of a hassle to teach'em how to walk again. If you  think about it when skaters break a leg they have to practice how to walk again. With Horses, they'll just be unwilling to face the pain and then they'll ether hurt themselves again or they just sit there

Answer 9

THEY GIVE IT A NEEDLE AND SAY..GOOD

NIGHT....

Answer 10

In the US, very few horses are shot.  Instead they are given a large 2 large doses of sodium pentobarbital, "blue juice."

The first injection induces unconsciousness, transposthe horse from wide awake to a deep sleep.  The second dose stops the heart.  There might be some spasms, leg twitching or other muscle movements, but they are NOT a conscious action.

Horses are almost always put down for the following reasons:

     *An obvious fracture of a weight-bearing long bone. Even under ideal conditions most adult horses with a broken leg are euthanized, even if the owner has limitless funds and access to a top-notch veterinary orthopedic surgical team. If internal bone/joint components are exposed (and therefore contaminated), even immediate expert care usually is unsuccessful.

     *An obvious breakdown of supporting soft tissue in a long bone, such as a laminitis "sinker," or a ruptured ligament in a horse with degenerative desmitis.

     *Violent, self-destructive thrashing due to relentless pain, mental disorder, or severe loss of equilibrium due to a condition for which treatment is unknown, unreliable, unavailable, or likely to be associated with a long, painful recovery.

     *External evidence of shock: Muddy-colored, brick-red, gray-blue, or ghostly white gums, prolonged capillary refill time (4-6 seconds), heart rate at rest consistently over 80 beats/minute, ice-cold extremities, and deepening mental depression.  

     *Abdominal contents exposed and/or contaminated due to rupture or laceration of a body wall, or breaking-through at a recent surgery incision.

We put them down because it is more humane.  A horse will NOT heal from these injuries.  Are you so selfish that you would subject any animal to all of that pain, when the end result is going to be the same?

Answer 11

First of all, they don't shoot them anymore. Horses are euthanized by drugs administered through an IV.

Horses legs are very complicated. They are tiny, thin legs that bear the weight of a huge horse. The blood supply to each leg is easily cut off and can be damaged by a broken bone and then the bone and leg will die from lack of blood circulation. On top of that, a horse really needs to bear weight evenly on all four legs and be able to walk and trot around every day. When a horse injures one leg, the other legs are all at risk for laminitis since the horse will bear more weight on the good legs when the bad one hurts. In laminitis the laminae that hold the foot to the hoof start to separate and, in extreme cases, the coffin bone in the foot can come right through the bottom of the hoof. This is very serious because the horse is in constant, severe pain. Laminitis, by itself, can result in a horse being euthanized. Barbaro, who fractured his leg in the Preakness last year wasn't put down at first. His owners spent months and huge sums of money getting him the best medical care available. The surgeon was able to use plates and screws to repair the broken leg but Barbaro developed laminitis in his three other feet. So, that is why he was put down. A broken leg is just not simple in horses.

However, not all fractures result in the horse being put down or even retired. The filly Winning Colors won the Kentucky Derby with a repaired ankle fracture. In other cases, the horse can be ridden lightly or at least can live out his life comfortably in a pasture.

Answer 12

They dont always if they can find it a good home they dont but they can never be ridden again or raced thats why the used to always do it now they try not to put it to sleep

Answer 13

Oh good, it's time for the "broken leg" debate again.  This question has a habit of resurfacing every few months!

Not all horses with a broken leg are destroyed (by the way most of them are put down by lethal injection these days), it all depends on the severity of the fracture.  If the fracture is a clean break it can quite often be pinned back together and the horse can at the very least be retired to stud or live out their lives in a field (Mill Reef was a classic example).

If the bone is shattered then there is little hope of it healing correctly.

It is not a matter of money being spent on the horse either, look at how much money the Jackson's spent on veterinary treatment for BARBARO and it didn't help him did it?

When a person breaks their leg you can tell them to keep the weight off the leg and not to do too much for the time it takes the bone to heal.  You cannot tell a horse to do the same thing and quite often they will end up making the injury worse by trying to stand on it.

It may seem harsh, but ultimately it is the kindest thing to do for the animal.

Answer 14

Alot of times this is just meant for racing horses.

When they break the leg, tendons get ripped and basically that heving body that was born and bred to race is now an impaired creature that will never run again.

Though many times in life, they have risen back after getting rescued, ie..  Seabiscuit.

Sometimes, their legs are so fragile that when they do break, it is impossible for them to heal correctly.

Like why the famous racing horse Barbaro died, they just couldn't fix it.