Why are horses with broken legs "put down"?

Question

Is it that hard to nurse a horse with a broken leg or for a horse to mend a broken leg?

Answer 1

they used to have to do this. In many parts of the country, they do still shoot horses for any reason that "puts it out of it's misery".

Now-a-days, a broken leg doesn't automatically mean the horse must be destroyed. Until a few years ago, the fact that a horses legs couldn't be put in a cast because of the size of the leg and the weight of the horse, a fractured leg was a death sentence.

There are now many skilled veterinarians who perform surgery on horses, and there is equipment and metal leg implants large enough for the horse.

Answer 2

Yeah, it is very difficult to get a horse with a broken leg to heal. Since they weigh 1,100 pounds or more, how would someone be able to get a horse to stay off it's leg? There is this thing called a sling that goes around the horses whole body and suspends the horse in midair, but would you want to be up in the air for six months just standing there? I think not. Anyways, a lot of the time a broken leg is very painful for the horse, and the owners just don't want it to have to suffer. And a lot of the time if somehow the horse's leg did heal, it would never be able to run free again, since they are so heavy. I hope that helped! And I pray that nothing bad happened to your horse. Love Always~
Aunt Kim

Answer 3

Horses often do not have the ability to survive such a major injury. Often the horse will die from the treatment anyway. We have saved several from broken legs but the horse is never the same and I will not allow an animal to suffer. Often, the good ajoining leg will fail from the extra weight and pressure. The broken bones posistion is also an important factor on whether to try or not to save the animal.

Answer 4

mostly because a horse is not like a dog or cat or person for that matter it can not live with 3 legs it is to big and awkward i would imagine it would be really hard to help a horse heal a broken leg sense there always running around there muscles would start to weaken from not being able to us them but if it were my horse would spend every waking second with it nursing it back to health i think if it has even a little chance why put it down?

Answer 5

Not all horses with broken legs are put down these days, although in some places they are. The horse stays on his feet most of a day, so it's no small task to get his weight off of his broken leg. A plaster leg cast wouldn't do the job on a powerful horse.

Nowadays there are surgical procedures and steel implants that can be used to save the horse. It's extremely expensive and many people can't afford it, though.

Answer 6

There's a high risk of infection, and the horse may not sit still long enough for the bone to heal. Infections are most likely when the animal suffers a compound fracture, in which the bones tear through the skin of the leg. In this case, dirt from the track will grind into and contaminate the wound. To make matters worse, there isn't much blood circulation in the lower part of a horse's leg. (There's very little muscle, either.) A nasty break below the knee could easily destroy these fragile vessels and deprive the animal of its full immune response at the site of the injury.

Answer 7

If you remember Barbaro, they eventually had to put him down because of laminitis, the number one enemy of horses with broken legs.

It is expensive to try and save a horse with a broken leg, but it can be done. I visited a Thoroughbred racing farm when I was a kid and met a horse that had made a remarkable recovery from a broken leg. He was in a swing in his specially built stall for weeks, but he had plenty of visitors and treats and exercise, so his muscles wouldn't go lax.

Unfortunately, since it is so expensive and horses need such specialized care, people opt to euthanize.

Answer 8

Yes. Horses with broken legs are often confined to long days their stall and some made unable to move--(that means NO going outside in the pasture either, to lounge in the sun with his buddies) It's a long and painful, not to mention expensive, healing process that most horses and owners simply can't deal with-- A horse with a broken leg will never be able to be ridden again either... It's easier on everyone just to put the poor horse out of his misery.

Answer 9

in order for the leg to heal the horse would have to stay off of it for about 8 weeks. You cannot keep the horse off the leg that long and then if you keep the horse in a sling he is liable to get an infection the other leg and you eventually will have to put him down ( or her ). There is a name for the infection, however I do not know the name.

Answer 10

not all horses are put down. Even if they are race horses unless it's just absolutely necessary, and would be considered cruel to keep alive. Some of the horses are retired just like people are