Why are horses euthanized?

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Golgatha

Lifer
Jul 18, 2003
12,405
1,080
126
Originally posted by: spidey07
Originally posted by: MercenaryForHire
Actually, it's the British that eat horsemeat by the ton. :p

- M4H

So that's why they all have mouths/teeth that look like a horse?

Learn something new everyday I guess.

You are what you eat.
 

AreaCode707

Lifer
Sep 21, 2001
18,447
133
106
It's extremely expensive and difficult to heal a break on a horse, and it's never successful at restoring the horse back to pre-break health even if it's successful to any degree at all.

It's impossible to immobilize a horse while the break heals. The horse will be standing and walking and putting 1,000 lbs on the break no matter what. Putting a horse under anesthesia is tricky business, moreso than a dog or most small house pets. Even if you can keep a horse relatively immobile and off the leg (say, a sling in a stall) the horse can't live that way for very long - the muscles waste away, the horse colics, has hoof problems, injures itself by moving the wrong way or bumping into something...
 

Ophir

Golden Member
Mar 29, 2001
1,211
4
81
Originally posted by: HotChic
It's extremely expensive and difficult to heal a break on a horse, and it's never successful at restoring the horse back to pre-break health even if it's successful to any degree at all.

It's impossible to immobilize a horse while the break heals. The horse will be standing and walking and putting 1,000 lbs on the break no matter what. Putting a horse under anesthesia is tricky business, moreso than a dog or most small house pets. Even if you can keep a horse relatively immobile and off the leg (say, a sling in a stall) the horse can't live that way for very long - the muscles waste away, the horse colics, has hoof problems, injures itself by moving the wrong way or bumping into something...
That doesn't make much sense to me. Can't they make a giant cart for the horse like they do for dogs?

Granted, horses are a LOT bigger, but human ingenuity has gotten around bigger problems. Especially if there is a lot of money to throw at the issue. It seems like they can make a moveable cart-sling so the animal can walk around (on a special track) and keep strength in the other 3 legs and have some sort of rehabilitation program for the bum leg. It also seems like the whole process would go along more smoothly if the animals were mildly sedated with valium the whole time.

Of course, I don't know a thing about horses, but it seems like a solvable problem
 

spidey07

No Lifer
Aug 4, 2000
65,469
5
76
Originally posted by: Ophir

Granted, horses are a LOT bigger, but human ingenuity has gotten around bigger problems. Especially if there is a lot of money to throw at the issue. It seems like they can make a moveable cart-sling so the animal can walk around (on a special track) and keep strength in the other 3 legs and have some sort of rehabilitation program for the bum leg. It also seems like the whole process would go along more smoothly if the animals were mildly sedated with valium the whole time.

Of course, I don't know a thing about horses, but it seems like a solvable problem

Has to do with blood flow I believe. They are made to be on their tiny and oh so fast legs all the time. Heck a foal is on it's feet minutes from birth. There is a lot of blood that moves to make that possible.
 

AreaCode707

Lifer
Sep 21, 2001
18,447
133
106
Originally posted by: Ophir
Originally posted by: HotChic
It's extremely expensive and difficult to heal a break on a horse, and it's never successful at restoring the horse back to pre-break health even if it's successful to any degree at all.

It's impossible to immobilize a horse while the break heals. The horse will be standing and walking and putting 1,000 lbs on the break no matter what. Putting a horse under anesthesia is tricky business, moreso than a dog or most small house pets. Even if you can keep a horse relatively immobile and off the leg (say, a sling in a stall) the horse can't live that way for very long - the muscles waste away, the horse colics, has hoof problems, injures itself by moving the wrong way or bumping into something...
That doesn't make much sense to me. Can't they make a giant cart for the horse like they do for dogs?

Granted, horses are a LOT bigger, but human ingenuity has gotten around bigger problems. Especially if there is a lot of money to throw at the issue. It seems like they can make a moveable cart-sling so the animal can walk around (on a special track) and keep strength in the other 3 legs and have some sort of rehabilitation program for the bum leg. It also seems like the whole process would go along more smoothly if the animals were mildly sedated with valium the whole time.

Of course, I don't know a thing about horses, but it seems like a solvable problem

Dogs calm down a lot faster than horses. Hook a cart like that to a horse and the horse will go apeshit.
 

Spineshank

Diamond Member
Jun 8, 2001
7,728
1
71
Being that i lived on a farm most of my life, its cause they are too big and that they wont get up theyll get sick or infection in the leg and die anyhow only in a worse way.
 

Miramonti

Lifer
Aug 26, 2000
28,653
100
106
The over-compensation that a horse with a bad leg makes becomes just as detrimental to the horse as the bad leg.
 

0

Golden Member
Jul 22, 2003
1,270
0
0
We have 4 horses. I don't know if you've ever been up close to a horse or examined its legs and hoofs. Its really amazing that the mechanics allows them to walk, let alone run. Right where the hoof meets the lower leg (ankle if you wish), is so narrow, I can grab around that area with my hand and have my middle finger and thumb touch each other. Can you imagine a 1200LB animal running, with 300lbs one each of those joints with the added force of running and not break anything - looking so fluid? Its really amazing. If a horse can't stand it will die, so the only choice is to put them down. I hate to see it, but they will otherwise suffer greatly.