Foo - Why do racehorses usually die when they break a leg?

But humans don't? I don't understand it

The whole Barbaro thing was almost tragic...:(

b/c the breeder shoots the horse once it can't race anymore.

/i got nuthin

Big animals like Horses, Elephants, Girrafes, etc. Can't "lie down" for a long period of time, their weight will cause blood circulation problems.

For horses it's worse because they put so much weight on their slim legs that recovery from an injury there is really difficult.

Most horses that broke their legs would be shot on the spot, just to spare them the suffering.

Cause the price of horse meat has risen in recent years

ShakeNbake is right on the money.

Barbaro will never race again, but his owners will get a fortune in stud fees.

Hence the heroic efforts.

Otherwise, it would be off to the glue factory.

Yes, it seems cruel to shoot a horse for a broken leg, but what would be the animal's fate in the wild?

horses have to stand on all four legs unless in a sling or water tank,
'cuz they can't lie down too long, and when they get up they use all
the legs. with all their weight.

a horse will also tend to stand harder on it's sore leg for some damn reason.


there are no muscles in the legs below the knee, so nothing holds
the bones together, which causes endless cuts in the veins
around the bones.


you can save most any horse with a broken leg, but it will cost
many thousands. so it is a matter of...is it worth it ?

they will stand hard on a sore leg. it will never heal. it will get infected

if a horse does not move the broken leg (this is were these underwater treadmills come in) they can run into circulation problems and the leg will die from lack of blood flow/infection in the leg

if a horse put to much weight on his other three legs he can develope lamintis (if you want to know more http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Laminitis it says everything I know about lamintis, aka foundering)

An other reason why most horse are put down... cost and most people can not afford it, or live near a vet that is quilfied to handle the surgery or care needed post-op for the horse to have a chance to survive. I would be interested to see what Barbaro vet bills come up to. My guess is near 1 million, but if you look at what his stud fees could run (100,000 per session is not uncommon these days, so horse have been sold strictly for studding after their racing days are over for 25-60 million dollars, and Cigar sold for 25m and was found to be infertal after).

Fascinating.


Human's are quite remarkable as well as it to convalescing.

Often when a racehorse breaks a leg it is a very very bad break. For any good racehorse that has balls they would do all they could to save it. However racehorses are bred to be 'active' I remember cases several years ago where they sedated the horse, fixed things surgically and put on a cast. The horse rebroke the leg trying to kick the cast off. Except for stamina and general conditioning once hurt that badly all the things that make a great race horse work against recovery.

What is hapening with barbaro. I thought he was recovering.

What is hapening with barbaro. I thought he was recovering.

last i heard, he was doing fine... they had a little bit about him this past weekend on espn and abc before the belmount... he still has months of stall rest/swimming pool and he is still not in the clear but considering how bad his break was (can read more about it http://www.bloodhorse.com/)

Horses don't die of a broken leg. They are killed by owners who have no use for a horse that't can't race. Thousands of race horses are killed each year in the USA, and their meat sold in Europe, both for dog food, and for the "gourmets" of Belgium and France. The "crime" that earns each horse the death penalty is "losing too many races".

There is an old story about a farmer who was going down the road in his buggy, pulled by two horses. They ran into a ditch, and the horses and farmer were pinned under the wagon. The sheriff showed up, and looked at the first horse, and said "He ain't gonna get up" and shot him in the head. Then the sheriff looked at the second horse, and said "He ain't getting up", and shot the second horse in the head.

Finally, the sheriff turns to the farmer, and says "Are you able to get up?" The farmer replied, "Y'all can just get on down the road...I've never felt better in my life and I plan to be getting up shortly".

Horses don't die of a broken leg. They are killed by owners who have no use for a horse that't can't race. Thousands of race horses are killed each year in the USA, and their meat sold in Europe, both for dog food, and for the "gourmets" of Belgium and France. The "crime" that earns each horse the death penalty is "losing too many races".


I am sorry that is how you view it... but yes, every day many horse are sold at auction for the sole purpose of food (dog, humane, geletin, etc.) but if a horse does break its leg (I am not referring to just race horses here) most people do choice to have them put down. (Though these horses that are put down due to injury are NOT sold for food, as the animal has to be alive at the time it is slaughtered at the processing plant) and there are ALOT of factors to why they are put down(please see previous post) but the most common one is expence, though you can get "health insurance" for a horse, it does not cover everything, and unlike a human, a horse needs care and if it has a broken leg, it needs a lot of care and most people can not afford it, time or money, and instead of allowing the horse to suffer a worse death, from infection or blood lose, people choice the more responsible and humane thing to do.

In most cases - when an animale, especially a heavy one liike a horse breaks their leg - the humane thing to do is usually to put them out of their misery. They are in so much pain. People have no idea what it's like to walk on 4 legs or be as heavy as a horse is. It's just like breaking your leg

I am sorry that is how you view it... but yes, every day many horse are sold at auction for the sole purpose of food (dog, humane, geletin, etc.) but if a horse does break its leg (I am not referring to just race horses here) most people do choice to have them put down. (Though these horses that are put down due to injury are NOT sold for food, as the animal has to be alive at the time it is slaughtered at the processing plant) and there are ALOT of factors to why they are put down(please see previous post) but the most common one is expence, though you can get "health insurance" for a horse, it does not cover everything, and unlike a human, a horse needs care and if it has a broken leg, it needs a lot of care and most people can not afford it, time or money, and instead of allowing the horse to suffer a worse death, from infection or blood lose, people choice the more responsible and humane thing to do.
Just out of curiousity what is the person quoted in your sig responding to. I assume it's Waste & Management (The company)?

i say we build them i giant swimming pool with rafts for them so they can recover and cool off in the summer heat all at the same time :-D

Just out of curiousity what is the person quoted in your sig responding to. I assume it's Waste & Management (The company)?

Jon Stewart (from the Daily Show on Comedy Center) at William and Mary (W&M), he graduated from there back in the late-80's, I think and was added to do the commencement in '00 or so, and it was only of the things he said.

Damn...

Too bad we're not that humane with people...
Mankind has been able to survive bone breakings for a very long time.
Capital punishment for Committing heinous crimes. now that's a different story :p