Why do they have to kill horses when they get injured during a race?

Question

Why do they have to kill horses when they get injured during a race?

Answer 1

Because they don't want the horse to suffer

A horse needs 4 legs, not 3

It is not very common that a horse can recover from leg injuries

But if the injury isn't to serious they will try their best to save him or her

Answer 2

These horses that are injured do not always have to be put down, but sometimes the injuries are so severe that the long term outlook is so much in - columun it is in there best interest, I'm sure there are people out there who are seriously ill, if they know they have no chance to recover, would they want to be put thur days and days and maybe months of suffering and the outcome is the same, money is not object although not everyone can afford the expense of medical care for themself or there horses, but sometimes these decisions need to be made and it is not pleasant.  I wished it had not happen to George Washington or any of the numerouus others.  Have you ever seen a horse put down because of injury or illness, it is horrible. not pleasant to watch, when you take care of a beautiful animal for 5 years straight and they have a serve stroke and they can't even hardly stand up only for short periods of time, you holding them comfortabling them, insuring them everything will be OK and you tell them for the last time how much you love them and they drop dead in front of you, it will haunt you for the rest of your life.  This happen over 3 years ago with 22 year old mare and a day does not go by and I don't think of the sweet face with her looking at me with the trust in her eyes searching for relief, it broke my heart, and I have to live with it , I did not make the decision as she did not belong to me but I was with her every day rain or snow or sunshine and I was with her when she took her finally breath so it is not always for the money.  To all our equine heroes  who have fallen you are all loved and remember by me forever may you all rest in peace and we will all meet again

Answer 3

If a track vet puts a horse down due to injury at the track, it is because it can not or will not recover.  A horse can not stand on 3 legs very long without causing life threatening injury to the other 3 legs.  If you need and example, please look into what happened to the race horse Barbaro.  Everything possible was done to try to save that stallion and they ended up putting him down anyway.  it's horrible to have to put a horse down but it is necessary.

Answer 4

well it usually depends on how bad the horse go hurt. like today George Washington, he broke a main blood vain where the ankle had been fractured and it would be a big long recorvey that he may not survive so the owners wanted to put the horse down :(

but sometimes horses will only get hurt from maybe just spraining an ankle or pulling a mussel to where they are able to live and usually race again.

horse racing is the fastest 2 minutes in sports and i think also one of the dangerous 2 minutes in sports. even though i love the sport of horse racing it is always a heart break to see Innocent horses die on the track like they do..

-mel

RIP BARBARO

GREAT JOB CURLIN!

Answer 5

they do not kill the horses after they get hurt. they take every opportuny to try and save them. if a horse has a fracture that has open their skin there is more chance of infection. and vets know more about that then us regular people do.

waynel

Answer 6

They do not kill horses that get injured.....many injuries are not life threatening.  But sometimes when the injury sustained is only going to compromise the quality of life, even after life saving techniques and measures have been taken, then euthanasia is the only option.

It is not so easy to keep a horse quiet and calm enough to heal....Believe you me, if it were just a matter of saying to the horse.

"Hey, we are going to have to set this leg, you can not put any weight on it for 6 weeks, and you can not be allowed to be mobile. And because it is too risky to keep you tranquilized for such a long period of time, you will have to endure a fair amount of pain." You think the horse would say "OK"?

Vets are trying everyday to save horses from euthanasia,  Many have dedicated their studies to that end.

Answer 7

a horse needs all of its legs.  there are rare situations where a horse can recover from an injury, but some injuries are just too bad to recover from.  and even if it was possible to try to fix the horse, there's almost a year recovery period following an injury of this sort and so many other bad things can happen during that time...  when a horse can't stand on one of his legs, it causes lots of problems for all of his other legs.  the prognosis for a horse who has broken his leg is sometimes so poor that it's better to end it now rather than put the horse through an extended period of agony which is likely to end in their death anyway.  Things are particularly bad when a horse breaks the skin when they break their leg because the dirt can get in the leg and cause infection.  The vet will give the likelihood of the horse surviving and if their survival too unlikely, it's better to put the horse down sooner than later.

Answer 8

horses spend almost all of their life standing, so its not possible to keep their weight off of an injured leg like a person. also, the leg is composed of HUNDREDS of tiny, complex bones, which take complicated and PRICY!!!$$$$$$$$$ surgery to repair. so there are two reasons- one, its too expensive and not worth it, or two, there is no way to fix it

Answer 9

They don't usually  *HAVE*  to.  We do not live in 1950. This is 2007. We CAN and we *DO* repair all sorts of injuries to the legs of horses. I am even aware of horses who have had to have part of a leg AMPUTATED due to injuries, and they made it through.

  

   Thing is, most horses are killed after fractures (and other injuries) for ONE REASON and one reason ONLY: MONEY. It costs Thoroughbred owners an awful lot of money to save an injured horse. It costs next to nothing to KILL a horse. Why should wealthy people waste their precious money on a horse who will no longer be good for racing or even breeding?



    If you don't believe this, just go look into it. Horses are INSURED for big bucks. When they are killed, their owners make BANK. Big bucks, just for doing away with a horse. Then the owners and trainers shrug their shoulders and say "Well, there was nothing we could do. No way to save him."

   An example would be famous trainer D. Wayne Lukas. Lukas has had many fine horses over the years, but he has also had several very strange incidents with horses breaking down. Often in major stakes races. The horses were killed on the track, and they were usually (if not always) insured for lots of money. Hmm...Now I am not saying Lukas is a bad person and doesn't care about the welfare of his runners.  I have never looked into what happened with his horses, but many people are quite suspicious of him.

  

  Now, one should be less suspicious if the horse's owners TRY to save them. Ruffian's owners did everything they could to save her after she was injured, but Ruffian was the sort of horse who didn't WANT to live if she couldn't race.

  

  Barbaro is another example. His owners tried to save him. And rest assured, Barbaro did not suffer much in his final days. He was very happy and for the most part, he enjoyed life until the injury became too much. Because of Barbaro, however, progress is being made and we can experiment and work towards methods of repairing most severely injured horses.

   Again, just go compare horses who have suffered similar injuries. One horse will be a valuable stakes winning stallion who, if saved, can go on to make his owners TONS of money by selling his offspring.

  Then compare him to a cheap gelding who runs in claiming races. If, as some people here say, there is no hope for horses with broken legs, then how come so many well bred stallions and mares survive, while so many geldings do not??? Hmmm??? Anyone?

   In the case of poor George Washington, I'm not sure if he even should have been allowed to race.  During the Breeder's Cup Classic, it became clear he was not doing well. The jockey should have pulled him up then. But George was forced to keep running, broke down, and then was killed. George Washington was infertile and therefore worthless at stud. Let's go find out if he was insured, shall we?

Look, I'm not saying all horses can be saved. Some are gravely injured and some have really nasty temperaments which makes trying to save them even more difficult. But unless we try, we will never make progress in anything we do.

Sometimes suffering is neccessary in order to find a cure.

Answer 10

thats horrible! i didnt know that they did that

Answer 11

some leg injuries can be repaired and horse put out stud .

only if is quality.