Buzz
There's a poignant truth about horses that not everyone is aware of.
As one of the most domesticated species closely intertwined with humans, horses have become companions to humanity for thousands of years. In many cases, they forge bonds with humans and share numerous tasks in labor, sports... Furthermore, some horse breeds are highly valuable and rare, making euthanizing a horse an undesirable outcome for any owner.
However, there's a lesser-known fact that once a horse breaks a leg or suffers a severe leg injury, the only remaining option for them, unfortunately, is euthanasia. It's a fact that horses are 'designed' to stand almost their entire lives - even when sleeping. This is because they are prey animals, and standing aids them in evading predators' claws.
According to veterinary experts, there are multiple reasons why euthanasia is necessary for a horse with a broken leg.
Firstly, a horse's hooves will start experiencing issues if they don't move much on that leg or only use three legs to bear their body weight. Horse hooves are enormous nails, akin to our fingernails, with bone structures shaped downwards into the ground behind them.
Although horses can stand on three legs while sleeping, it's only for short periods and can alternate. Given their massive weight, continuously relying on three legs to support their entire body weight puts immense pressure on the hooves, leading to swelling, pain, and even bone separation or hoof inflammation, causing pain, infection, and a host of other medical issues, ultimately rendering the legs gradually 'useless.'
At this point, you might wonder why not let them rest? The issue is, horses also can't lie down continuously like many other animals, especially for extended periods. Lack of movement adversely affects their hooves and muscles (remember: horses are 'designed' and naturally selected to stand). Furthermore, the pressure from their body reduces blood circulation on the ground-contacting side.
Just within 2-4 hours of not being turned over, they can suffer muscle and nerve damage. That's why during surgery, veterinarians use giant pads for them to lie on to reduce pressure from their own bodies. The major problem is bones take months to heal - they can't just lie still like that for a few months, the time frame is too long.
Some might suggest designing special slings for them to stand upright without bearing too much pressure on the healing legs. However, this approach also encounters issues as it creates pressure on the abdomen and chest, causing pain and difficulty breathing.
Next come a series of nutrition-related issues in herbivores to aid bone recovery.
Lastly, for some reason, when a horse breaks its leg, it reacts very negatively and erratically. They may panic and start running wildly, enough to worsen the injury, even causing the broken bone to pierce through the flesh, leading to infection, or tearing muscles, ligaments, countless other injuries...
In conclusion, there's almost no way to save them once they've lost a vital component in their locomotion system.
Source: Compilation
