Should a horse be euthanized with a broken leg? Three-legged cats and dogs are everywhere, why can't horses?

In horse racing competitions, we often see the shocking situation of a horse's leg fracture. If such a tragic situation occurs, the horse will most likely be euthanized by a human. Why is it so cruel? Why don't horse owners go and rescue their horses?

Horses cannot support life with a broken leg.

Everyone may think that a horse is an animal that runs all its life and even sleeps standing up. If you let him not run, it is just like killing it. This statement is just a romantic assumption by us humans. Fantasy, in fact, is not the case.

A horse won't suffer from depression if he can't run, but purely from a physical point of view, it is very difficult for a horse to recover from a broken leg, and the treatment is extremely difficult, so he can only choose euthanasia. Ordinary plaster casts and splinting treatments have no effect on the horse, which is inseparably related to his body structure.

Physiological structure of horse legs

We may think that a horse is on the ground with the soles of its feet just like us humans. After all, he has thick hoofs. In fact, it only uses its own toes to tiptoe on the ground. The part where the horse's leg touches the ground is its third knuckle. It relies on its 3rd knuckles to walk on the ground non-stop, analogous to us humans, just as if you have been running on the ground with one finger, we are enough to know the pressure on the horse's hoof.

But with the evolution of millions of years, the body structure of the horse has gradually evolved to be perfect, it can perfectly balance the weight of the legs and the weight of the body, and find a suitable ratio in it, so that it can use our It looks so slender legs support its strong running speed.

Supporting the horse to run fast and sleep while standing depends on his strong limbs. When the horse is standing, the center of gravity will be placed in the middle of the body. 43% of body weight. Not only does the horse stand upright by the muscles of his legs, but he also uses the forelegs to drive the muscles of the shoulders together, so that they can keep standing all the time without consuming too much physical strength.

However, such a delicate structure also leads to the lack of one of the four legs of the horse. If any one leg is missing, the force between the horse's legs will be uneven. Three-legged dogs and three-legged cats that fall down are very common. Because they are not heavy, and three-legged horses in real life are almost impossible to exist.

Horse legs also have the function of pumping blood

In addition to supporting the horse's standing and walking, the horse's legs also have the function of pumping blood. Simply relying on the blood circulation brought by the horse's heart is not enough to support such a huge body of the horse, so the horse will promote the body's body by walking Circulation, the horseshoe we understand in the conventional sense, will be marked with horseshoes, and the hard tissue above the horseshoe acts like a pump, which will re-pump the blood at the end of the body back to other parts of the body, Play the role of blood circulation, the circulation method is called the hoof machine circulation.

This kind of hoof machine circulation is an extremely important blood circulation method for horses. We will not mention the serious injury of broken legs. It is only because of minor injuries that the horse cannot walk. The impact on the horse is all huge.

Without the circulation of the hoof machine system, the old blood at the end of the body cannot be pumped to other parts of the body, which will lead to blood blockage and necrosis, which will bring great pain to the horse, and will make the horse's vitality and appetite. There is a significant decrease, and the pain can even reach the point of shock to death.

At that time, it may be too late to amputate the limbs again. Even if the treatment comes back, one leg will be missing, which will greatly increase the burden on the other three legs. die.

Is there really no way to save a horse after a broken leg?

In Japan, a precious racing horse who once attended various occasions for the emperor and made great contributions, was accidentally injured when he went overseas to participate in a horse racing competition. However, due to its noble status, people at that time did not immediately euthanize it. is trying to rescue.

But the veterinarians involved in the treatment also know that the probability of actually being able to rescue the horse is only a single digit. This time, the dead horse was really used as a living horse doctor. The result is surprising that the operation went very smoothly. While the horse's fracture was successfully healed and everyone cheered, sad things happened.

After the fracture operation, just a few days after returning to normal, the royal horse immediately developed pressure ulcers, fever, breathing disorders and other adverse conditions. One month after the operation, the affected area began to show signs of decay, and you can even see the inside. The bones were white, and accompanied by laminitis in the hind legs, the appetite began to decrease rapidly, and the weight began to drop rapidly. In the end, the rescue was unsuccessful.

Afterwards, when the experts reviewed the rescue activities, they found that the special bolts used to connect the broken bones did not bear the huge weight of the horse's body. As soon as the doctor didn't know it, he put a plaster on it, which caused the operation to have no effect at all.

Afterwards, the star horse unfortunately passed away under the torment of complications. The originally strong 500kg horse was left with only a bony 300kg.

Therefore, after this, most racing horses will choose to euthanize them after encountering this extremely serious fracture, which is not only out of human selfish desire, but also to make the horse race less painful before death.