why is it that a horse with a broken leg that does not heal,can't have it amputed instead of being euthinized.

Answer 1

Modern thoroughbred racing involves a science dilemma. The horses are bred for extreme speed, and a primary goal of this breeding has been to decrease bone mass while raising muscle mass, as a horse "carrying" a light skeleton using abnormally strong muscles will travel faster at a gallop than one with a heavier bone load. As a result, modern thoroughbreds are muscularly powerful but osteologically delicate creatures. Three out of every 2000 races result in a career-ending injury to one or more racers, typically due to broken leg bones; a ratio far in excess of almost all other human and animal sports. Of those injuries, more than 60% result in the horse being euthanized. Leg injuries, though not immediately fatal, are life-threatening because a horse's weight must be distributed evenly on all four legs to prevent circulatory problems, laminitis and other infections. If a horse loses the use of one leg, it cannot function; its other legs will quickly break down as well, leading to a slow death.

From Wikipedia.

They need all 4 legs to survive. It is NOT possible to have lost use of a leg and survive.

Their digestive systems are also not built for long periods of inactivity or being "down". That leads to colic which is also life threatening. It is clearly very hard to be a horse.

Answer 2

The relatively small size of a horses hoof compared to the large amount of weight that needs to be carried by those hooves limits the ability of a horse to have an amputation or prosthetic. The horses hoof is made of intricately webbed laminae, or "folds" that carry blood from the sensitive or "living" portion of the hoof (the interior bony structure) the the, insensitive or "non-living" outer shell that you see as the hoof. Too much, or too little weight born on each foot, too much or too little movement, and a whole host of other minute changes in the horses overall biomechanics, can affect that webbing causing either bruising and bleeding behind the hoof, swelling of the sensitive laminae, and in extreme cases separation of the sensitive and non-sensitive portions of the hoof. It takes very little change in the weight bearing characteristics of the horse to cause a huge change in their feet. For that reason, it is often impractical to amputate or give a prosthetic limb to a horse. There are companies that make portions of limbs, but horses with them are often not successful in living full, happy lives. Also, since horses bear more weight naturally in their front end, the hind limbs can be more easily treated in that way, however the difference is not great enough to make amputation and bracing or prosthetics feasible for horses.

Answer 3

I'm a retired veterinarian and not all horses with broken legs have to be put down. It all depends on where it's broken. Now lets say that the Radius or Tibia is broken- a simple bone setting and cast can heal this. Now when you get to the smaller bones that break such as the Distal Sesamoid or Canon bone- these bones are so small they are usually fragmented on impact of breaking.They are displaced so much that sometimes screws and surgery can not put them back together. Most horses with injury's like this to can barely get around- and every time they move their foot little fragments of bone slice into their tendons and veins most of the time causing hematomas. These horses are put to rest at the owners discretion. And a loving horse owner who doesn't want to see their horses suffer any longer make this decision- and it's the right one.
I've had a horse suffer serious injury like the one that Barbaro had- I did everything I could possibly do for him. I gave him surgery and put screws in his leg. He never was the same horse- didn't have the life in him he once had. And his bones were so weak where he had broke his sesamoid that it kept on breaking- little by little. I finally decided to put him down because I couldn't see him in pain.

I've treated horses with amputated legs- they have a lot of health problems concerning their hooves and flexor tendons. And they never are really able to run, jump and play as a normal horse would. Why would you want such a beautiful creature to suffer knowing he won't ever be able to gallop freely again?

Answer 4

Physiology. Aside from the logistics of walking on only three legs, the uneven weight distribution on the remaining legs would likely founder one or more of the other feet.

With regards to Barbaro - his broken right rear leg had healed. If that had been his only injury, he likely would have survived.

Unfortunately his left rear foot developed laminitis in July (likely due to the uneven weight distribution because of the injury to the right rear). This past weekend he had problems with his left rear hoof, also developed an abcess on his right rear foot, and foundered on both front feet as a result. This would have meant he was in excruciating pain on three (if not four) feet, without a good long-term prognosis, and euthanasia was the only humane option.

Laminitis is also what caused Secretariat to be euthanized, as well.

Answer 5

because the way horse legs break there usually isn't any way to fix it. some times they can be amputated but then they have to have a prostetic, this costs a small fortue. horses ulike dogs can not balance on just three legs. most of the time it's a quality of life issue.
in the case of barbaro, with all the money that his owner invested in him, don't you think they did everthing they could to save him if only to have him as a sire?

Answer 6

First of all I wouldn't trust anything off of wikpedia 100%.

To answer your question, think about this:
A dog can have his leg amputated. Most dogs weigh less than one hundred pounds. Not to mention dogs can lie down without causing damage to it's organs.

A horse on the other hand weighs between 1200-6000 lbs (Thoroughbred-light draft (think Budweiser) horse). Horses also stand to sleep, eat, drink, etc. Horses cause damage to their organs if they lie too long. Horses can roll and give birth while ling down however that isn't for long periods of time. Horses also shift weight from leg to leg throughout the day, this allows them to stand almost 24/7.

Physically it is harder (almost impossible) to redistribute that weight.

Answer 7

The leg won't heal,your horse will be in pain so its either pain or euthinized.

Answer 8

Horses are too heavy to be able to walk on 3 legs, like say a dog. If they cannot walk they will not thrive and will soon die a very slow, painful death. It is easier on the horse to euthanize it.

Answer 9

I don't think that horses could handle having a limb amputated like dogs or cats can. I also think that it would be too traumatic for them.

Answer 10

It would be a cruel way to live as it will be used to walking or moving normally. That is if it has a plastic leg. They are big creatures and can hurt themselves badly if they fall over or can hurt something/body else by falling against them.