Are all horses euthanized if they break a leg? If so, why can't a horse's broken leg be fixed?

Answer 1

Because there legs don't generate enough blood flow where as it can heal properly as in a human leg and in most cases the leg is subject to disease ind infection, so that means the horse will be in agony for a long time until its death.

Answer 2

They don't shoot all horses with a broken leg anymore. If the leg is repairable, they will do everything in their power to fix and help the leg to heal, but if the damage is so great that the horse will never recover, they euthanize the animal.

Answer 3

Barbaro is a perfect example--they did everything they could in one of the most advanced animal hospitals available, but in the end he had to be euthanized anyway.

Simple fractures can often be repaired, but the healing process is very long and difficult--by no means a sure thing. On top of that you have unique difficulties with horses. Horses cannot lie down for long periods of time, so they have to stay on their feet. Some of the problems this leads to are pain from being on the injured leg; reinjury to the leg; stress from being confined; laminitis from uneven weight distribution; and so on.

Answer 4

That is a big horse with a lot of weight. If the leg bone is completely broken, chances of fixing it are slim to none and many thousands of dollars in vet bills, with no positive outcome. If it is a crack in the bone, well then maybe you can fix it. It will depend to one the age of the horse, what kind of shapes and health it is in, where the break is, etc. Not many horses with a broke leg have much chance of healing 100 percent. Again depends on the type of break and where it is.

Answer 5

most horses are put down immediatly after they break a leg. the owners don't like to put out the money it would cost to fix a horses leg. they are so top heavy that it puts a lot of stress on the fracture. after a broken leg, a male horse is usually only good for breeding. thats what their plans were for barbaro, but it was probably costing them more to fix him then to collect the multi-million dollar insurance policy they have on him.

Answer 6

When horses favor other legs to reduce the stress on the broken one, they get infections in their legs from the stress. Barbaro seemed to be recovering, but in the end just didnt make it. Historically, a broken leg for a horse meant the end.

Answer 7

While veterinary medicine has made strides in this area, up until fairly recently, because of the complexity of a horses legs, any major injury required them to be put down to prevent them from suffering unnecessarily. Now they can work with the horses legs a little better than before. This has been evidenced recently with the racehorse Barbaro.

Answer 8

Not all are euthanized. When I was a kid, my grandparents' neighbor raised quarter horses and one of their studs had an accident and broke his leg. I remember going over there on weekends to check on him in his giant sling. It took a long time, but he was able to recover well enough to perform his studly duties. The limp didn't seem to bother him or the "ladies".

Answer 9

Sometimes the leg can't be healed completely and the horse will constantly be in pain so the owner will usually euthanize them.

Answer 10

Sometimes the leg can be fixed but the horse will never race again. The horse then becomes a stud horse, which probably isn't so bad if you're a horse. If you're referring to Barbaro he couldn't do the nasty on his bad leg, so they put him down.