Why do they kill horses when they have a leg injury?

Question

I always thought it was because since the horse can't race anymore, it's worthless, but that doesn't really make sense. So why do they do it?

Answer 1

your right - they would never be able to race again and they cost millions to look after - so with out the income of racing they are killed

heres a report on it -

Answer 2

becaus they are worthles. all they do if they dont race is eat the food and water you pay for

Answer 3

because their body weighs to much and if they can't get up they will die very horribly

Answer 4

they kill them like they kill dogs

Answer 5

From what I understand, a horse like Eight Belles would never have healed properly from her wounds, and that horses cannot lie for extended periods of time.

Answer 6

Because its MUCH harder to fix a horses leg or ankle than another animal because of size. And most owners who do race kill them because they are of no use anymore. Its terrible... and it takes so much time & money to fix the broken part, so to some its a loss.

Have you ever seen the movie "dreamer"?

it has a story line that has something to do with that. its great!

They were going to kill the horse, but this family wanted to keep her & helped her heal.

The rest is just the story line and its a little hard to believe for real life, but it deals with what youre asking.

I'd suggest renting it, its a wonderful family movie.

Answer 7

If it is a front leg, the horse has no way of getting up and exercise it. Horses legs heal a lot slower than any other animal, except a giraffe or elephant.  Is this about Eight Bells's death yesterday morning?  The riders and trainers just keep hardcore training it and never give the poor thing a break.  it's what we'd call animal cruelty.

Answer 8

Horses do not react to crippling injuries the same way their human owners might. A person with a broken leg can remain immobile or in traction for weeks following the injury. A horse, on the other hand, is naturally compelled to move freely at all times. The idea of extended bedrest is completely counterintuitive to a horse bred for motion.

Answer 9

Well, I think it's terrible, but they were probably race horses before (like with the Kentucky Derby this year). And they can't race as well as they could before, if at all, and they don't want to keep them.

Answer 10

Just today got an email about a horse they fitted with an artificial leg and it is doing fine.

Answer 11

Because the horses cant put weight on the broken bone.  And it is very painful for them.....  some can be fixed but if they brake 2 ankles like they did at the derby, Its pretty much impossible if they cant put weight on their front 2 legs.

Answer 12

I always understood it was because a broken bone needs to be immobilised completely to mend properly and it is difficult to do that for an animal that even sleeps standing up.

Answer 13

You are right in your assumption, although they are only killed if they are being trained specifically to be racing horses, this is due to the fact that once a horse has an injured leg, likelyhood is that it wont be able to recover and race, because horse are quite heavy and it woulkd put too much pressure on the injured leg.

Answer 14

because they need all four legs to walk and it is less painful for the horse to die

plus they have not come up with fixes to horse related issues

but they really love their horses

Answer 15

Horses' legs are very fragile and take a long time to repair.

That, and what you said - but usually only in competitive stables. The owners would have to pay for the food and vet bills until they could train or breed (which could never happen.) It's usually partially in the better interest of the owner and the horse, though.

Answer 16

Horses need to be able to stand.  If they lie down for an extended period of time, their circulation is compromised.  If they cannot stand, they will die a painful death.

Answer 17

When a horse has a leg injury it hurts them to stand on it. Since horses stand up most of the time they are in very deep pain 24/7. They kill it so it doesn't have to put up with that pain anymore. I hope this helps

Answer 18

Its not killing. It is a release of a lifetime of pain and suffering .

Some leg injuries can be pined and fixed. But with such a large animal it is really hard to fix and mend without infection and laminitis and a life time of pain.

Most of the time, a horse is put down to keep them from suffering. Just like in Belles injuries, there was no way to make a full recovery even if they could have gotten her on her feet and back to the stalls to be worked on.

It was in the best interest of the horse to put her down.

Answer 19

Hum. Its said when you have to do that but if your a trainer I mean you wouldn't want to see your horse suffer. Its like a person I know that they could have treatmen but its well not the same horses in the wild use thier legs to move and well its pretty much thier most important limb on thier bodies. I hope this makes you understand they do it for the horses. It is jst that they dont want to see them suffer.

Answer 20

The horse gets too week and can't walk very well very few horses can be saved after a led injury. And it's soo sad!

Answer 21

They are in so much pain, and unlike us they cant not use their legs so they will never heal properly...its sad but they are not in pain anymore

Answer 22

Horse can't run, so it can't win a race, so it's useless as a racehorse, so it's better off as a burger.

Answer 23

No, it's not just because they can't race anymore.  And it's not because it's expensive to maintain the animal if it can't race.  I believe a winning racehorse makes much more money at stud after its racing days are over than it ever did while competing.  They kill horses because they typically can't save them from certain types of injuries.

There is very little muscle or blood flow to the leg, which means it's a very difficult area to make heal.  With an injury where bones break the skin, or even sufficiently damage the surrounding tissue, infection is almost guaranteed because the horse's immune system can't get there via the bloodstream.  These are big animals, and so antibiotics have to be given in massive doses to get just a little bit into the bloodstream that's going to the leg.  Those big antibiotic doses often then cause fatal digestive problems.  

Many horses just aren't calm enough to stay in a supporting sling for weeks while those bones heal--they panic and thrash around and injure the other legs.  You can drug them, of course, as you do during surgery, but the anaesthesia can give them fatal constipation.  

If they limp too much, favoring the injured leg, and overload the other legs, they damage the other hooves, separating them and driving the bone into the flesh of the feet.

So a horse with one broken leg has a huge risk of not surviving, even a bad sprain with the accompanying soft tissue damage can be life-threatening.  With two broken legs like Eight Belles, they can't stand her up at all to treat either break, it's kinder to put her down immediately than to put her through weeks of suffering and then have to put her down anyway.

Answer 24

Why doesn't that make sense?

I think they usually kill horses with a leg injury because it takes too much money and effort to keep them alive. There is just no incentive to sink that kind of money into keeping a horse alive.

Boxer mom: I'm afraid it's not at all about what is in the animal's best interests often. If it were, the horses wouldn't be raced at all. I agree that many times euthanasia is the humane option, but we shouldn't confuse that with mercy being the prime reason for the euthanasia. If the horse could be completely (and cheaply) rehabilitated, but doing so would cause her a lot of pain, is there any doubt that, at least for winning horses, owners would keep them alive? If it was about the animals best interests, so many horses bred for racing wouldn't be shipped to slaughterhouses either. This is the difference between caring people like you who have horses and industries which use them - you act in their best interests (I'm sure), while for a business, profit is the bottom line.