Why do we euthenize an injured race horse?

Question

i read at yahoo news that a racing horse just this breeder's cup was euthenized on track. cant they just cut the leg of the horse so that it will live more years? i think its cruel.

Answer 1

It is not cruel - it is the best thing for the horse.  99% of people working in the racing industry do so because they love the horses - they certainly don't do it for the money, as looking after racehorses is one of the worst paid jobs you can get, with long hours and being outside on cold, wet miserable days thrown in for good measure.

As I have explained in other questions on this matter, a horse is a flight animal - meaning his instinct is to run from danger rather than stay and fight it.  A horse that cannot run will live a miserable life.

We do not ALWAYS put down horses that are injured, each case is looked at individually and a decision is taken by several vets and the owner/trainer.  If the break can be repaired then they will give it a chance, a good sign is if they take the horse off the track for x-rays.

The problem in this particular case is that GW suffered the worst possible kind of fracture - an open fracture- meaning the bone came through the skin.  The bone will have shattered as the horse was travelling at speed and would therefore be inoperable - think of a vase that has been dropped on the floor and broken into hundreds of pieces.  Now try to imagine glueing it all back together again exactly as it was before.  Now try doing this with a bone!

A horse's legs are his weakest point, especially the front ones, and have to carry up to as much as a ton (a racehorse can weight up to about half a ton).

My heart goes out to connections, especially as this is the second horse they have lost at Breeders' Cup in recent years, after LANDSEER broke down in the Mile.

Answer 2

Because of the weight of the animal and alot of other factors it's not an easy thing to save a horse with a broken leg. Very rarely is it a successful thing. It's actually more humane to euthanize. It's sad but better than having the animal suffer. Many times in trying to save the animal it just continues to re-injure itself, making matters worse. Considering their size horses are actually quite delicate animals.

Answer 3

Is your tongue firmly in your cheek? I think so.

Newmarket - yes, the horse is a prey animal - its defence is flight - it is miserable if it can't move - so are we to assume that you don't approve of isolating and confining horses - eg locking them in stables?

Answer 4

A horse can't function without being up. And as heavy as a horse is they can't even stand on three legs. Horses die if they stay laying down. The cruelty would be in letting him suffer in agony as he would be if kept alive. And he would have suffered far more than need be. Ask any vet about a horse. It's so easy to stress out a horse. They aren't like humans or dogs. They don't bounce back with our resilience. The cruelty was in letting those horses run on a bad track. A horses leg can snap in that deep soupy mud. They should have postponed the race for better track conditions.

Answer 5

the problem is they shouldn't be getting raced in the first place, thats the cruelty.

Answer 6

The problem is, a horse is very large, and their legs are very slender for their size, and under quite a lot of stress; and horses tend to have a tremendous amount of stress when incapacitated/lame (think about it: they're herbivores. Prey.  If they stop moving, they're probably going to be some carnivore's lunch; this nervousness is selected by evolution for survival.)  They are animals, so don't reason well; no "if I stay off this leg for a couple months it should get better"....   A horse needs all four legs to bear its weight; they do not survive on three alone.

I have heard of artificial legs for horses, but with the kind of design limitations (able to support that much weight under stress of walking/trotting/rearing/kicking, etc) and the healing and retraining required, they would be incredibly expensive and still very risky.  Likewise, while more leg fractures are treatable than in older times, it means a long convalescence, high risk of complications and reinjury, and usually tremendous stress to the horse.

Much depends on the type of injury; some are simpler, others very nasty.  Open fractures (the kind racehorses often get, due to the high speeds) are cited as about 10% survival rate even with expensive treatment, and even then, they have limited capability, definitely never to be athletes again.

As an example: Barbaro won the 2006 Kentucky Derby, but badly broke his leg in the Preakness.  His owners took the uncommon step of trying to save him, but after eight months and six surgeries, he was euthanized to spare him further pain, as he developed an abcess and laminitis in all four legs due to his weight shifts/load from the injured leg, and was declared finally unsaveable.  His quality of life in that period was quite poor for a horse, though as much was done for him as could be done.

Answer 7

i think the idea is a living h**l is not what the horse deserves. the commercial trainer is not going to be looking after an injured horse for the rest of its lifetime, and a lame horse cannot look after itself as well. so, people decide that it is better off dead. still, it is debateable if we have the right to decide whether an animal lives or not.