Why is a broken leg almost always fatal to a horse?

Question

I know they tried to keep Barbaro alive but he didnt make it. Is it because of their weight on the injury? Could they be mildly sedated and lay them down? It is just surprising that in this day and age there isnt a way to allow them to properly heal. I am not questioning the decision, just curious as to why it is a fatal injury.

Answer 1

well, for race horses it is a major turn down. it takes time to heal. like humans. it may never be the same as it was before. but then again you never know.

Answer 2

Horses must be able to have even pressure on all 4 legs. They have very poor circulation in their legs and need their feet to be on the ground to keep the blood flowing properly. What happens when you have poor circulation or none at all? Tissue starts to die off. Hence why horses must be able to stand on all 4 legs. If they put more weight on another leg to compensate for a hurt leg that can cause laminitis which is extremely painful. Horses are wimps and have a very low pain tolerance. As in Barbaro's case ultimitely it wasn't the broken leg that killed him, that was healing great...It was the laminitis that set in on his other feet.

Answer 3

all that weight sitting on them little hooves...

its a tragedy waiting to happen

Answer 4

There are several reasons for why a horse is usually euthanized after it breaks a leg. In order for a broken bone to heal, it needs to be mobilized and pressure must remain off of it for weeks and weeks---a feat that would be difficult for a horse. The reason a horse can't really get around on three legs is because a horse's legs are relatively weak compared to the horse's body mass. If, for example, the back left ankle was broken, and the hindquarters were left to be supported solely by the right ankle, the right ankle would soon become sore from the excess of pressure and the horse would be crippled in both legs. It isn't really possilbe to sedate a horse and leave it lying down for weeks and weeks at a time either, partly because this makes eating and drinking properly difficult, and partly for the same reasons that humans can't---bedsores, circulation issues, and muscle breakdown. I hope this answeres your question....and I hope they find a healing method soon.

Answer 5

This article seemed like a good explanation to me. I have also wondered this myself. I just thought they were unfeeling horrible people who didn't want to spend the money and time to take care of the animal. But, there are a great many people who care very much for thier horses. In fact, many of them do get treatment but it seems that for some, it is deemed the suffering caused will not be worth the small chance of recovery. Anyway, read this and see what they say.

How a Broken Leg Can Spell Death for Horses

For most elite sports stars a broken leg is a potential career ending injury, but not a life-threatening one. So how can an animal that is the athletic equivalent of an Albert Pujols, LeBron James or Tom Brady face such a dire medical diagnosis, even after a successful surgery? Horses — even a Kentucky Derby winner like Barbaro — do not handle stress well. It can make them so sick it can kill them, say equine experts such as Dr. Dale Schilling, a large animal veterinarian in Ambler. Here is how:

Horses are extremely sensitive to pain. After a five-hour surgery like the one Barbaro underwent Sunday after his catastrophic leg injury at Saturday's Preakness Stakes, there is a lot of post-surgery pain, Schilling said. Surgeons set the shattered bones by inserting a metal plate and 23 screws into the 3-year-old colt's right hind leg, repairing damage so severe most horses would not survive it, vets say.

Horses are also creatures of routine. Sudden change in their daily schedule, coupled with severe pain and an uneven weight balance with 1,200 pounds on three legs stresses out the body. The stress throws their delicate gastrointestinal tract out of whack, Schilling said. If a horse develops diarrhea, serious health problems can arise.

Diarrhea leads to a potentially fatal condition called laminitis, where swelling causes detachment of the connective tissue between the inner hoof wall and the pedal bone, and the bone drops through the bottom of the hoof. If that happens, the horse is in so much pain it has to be euthanized. Giving the horse pain killers helps lessen the stress, but the medications also can cause side effects, such as diarrhea.

Complicating matters is the fact that this race horse is conditioned to move.

“If you or I had this kind of fracture, they'd tell us to sit in bed for a month. These horses, they want to go and want to move and they're on these thin legs,” Schilling said.

Race horses are more susceptible to this level of injury because of the incredible speed and torque placed on their joints, Schilling said. That is the same reason an injury of this magnitude would also kill most regular riding or jumping horses. So far, it appears that Barbaro is recovering well from his surgery, spending his first post-op day eating and flirting with mares in the same stall. But doctors give him 50-50 survival odds. The threat of infection is still there, but because the bone did not break the skin, it greatly improves his chances for a full recovery.

“He's doing all the things a horse should do,” said Dean Richardson, the chief of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center for Large Animals. “While we are optimistic, we remain cautious about his prognosis.”

Doctors say it will take months for the bone to heal. And if it does, the once undefeated horse won't race again. Instead, he'll take an early retirement to a stud farm.

The article in its original location:

http://www.all-creatures.org/nyca/ch-hor...

Answer 6

Horses need all four legs to support their weight. There are a few rare occurences in which there have been success stories of amputation/survival, but more often than not, it is just inhumane to allow a horse to suffer through the kind of pain (eventually, they would die naturally from it..) that comes from broken legs/ankles. Some horses can handle being on three legs to support their weight long enough to be put on an ambulance, but laminitis might set in and destroy any hope of survival - as it had done with Barbaro.

Answer 7

It isn't.  I have a Thoroughbred that broke two cannon bones 21 years ago and is quite alive and happy.

Horses have broken leg bones repaired all the time.  It is not ALWAYS possible, but the days of "shoot 'em" have been gone for a long time.

A number of horses are doing quite well on artificial limbs, also.

Some breaks, however, and especially if it involves two legs, are just impossible to deal with, especially if it's a compound fracture (like Eight Belles) with bone protruding through the skin. That almost always guarantees a raging infection on top of the other complicated problems, and recovery is nearly impossible, especially if two legs are involved and the horse has nothing on which to support its weight.

In short, breaks are often fixable -- this one, sadly, was not.