They are quite different in fact
Nobody owns Noel Meade, mate.
It was sickening to see the hair on poor Dylanâs corpse blowing in the wind before they took him off for incineration.
So a broken bone is an incurable terminal illness beyond the powers of modern veterinary meficine to cure?
He was a lovely horse.
Horses legs are very different to other animals legs in their composition.
Are they indeed, in what way are they so different that they wonât heal
This explains it quite wellâŚ
There are a number of reasons why owners choose to euthanize horses who suffer severe injuries to their legs. Primarily, itâs a quality of life issue for the injured horse, since a broken leg can take months to heal even under the best of circumstances. Besides this, breaks are often prone to a number of complications, including a loss of circulation in the leg, sores from immobilizing slings, and [U]inflammation[/U]. Owners also have to consider the cost of treating a break, which is generally very expensive.
Horses do not react to crippling injuries the same way their human owners might. A person with a broken leg can remain immobile or in traction for weeks following the injury. A horse, on the other hand, is naturally compelled to move freely at all times. The idea of extended bedrest is completely counterintuitive to a horse bred for motion.
When a horse suffers a broken leg, the treatment regimen is often complicated and expensive. Only the youngest and healthiest horses are considered for the most aggressive therapies, such as cold laser treatments, therapeutic [U]ultrasound[/U] or active magnetic field therapy. Even if a horse can be tranquilized while a broken leg heals, it cannot survive the weeks or months of relative immobility. A horse feeling trapped in a cramped stall tends to tap dance, which can easily aggravate the original broken leg.
Even using a sling to reduce stress on the horseâs broken leg has a number of drawbacks. Slings are generally used to load a sick horse into a waiting ambulance or for other short-term transportation needs. A horse recovering from a broken leg cannot remain in a sling for weeks at a time. Constant skin chafing often causes dangerous sores to develop.
The [U]anatomy[/U] of a horseâs leg also makes a break difficult to treat. The severity of a break often depends on where in the leg it occurs, with injuries to the upper leg usually being easier to treat than those to the lower legs. Horses donât have a lot of circulation in their lower legs, which makes injuries there very slow to heal. Additionally, the legs must carry most of the horseâs weight, which makes it easy for them to re-break a bone while itâs healing.
A horseâs muscular structure requires the legs to bear a significant amount of weight. If the horse is suspended from a sling for an extended period, the leg muscles soon begin to atrophy and weaken. A horse suffering from multiple fractures must use a brace to allow the broken leg to continue to bear weight.
There is also a strong possibility of opportunistic infections developing around a horseâs broken leg. If surgical plates or braces are implanted around the affected bones, there is always the risk that the skin may not heal properly. Horses are also prone to an inflammation of the nail called [U]laminitis[/U]. Treatment for other health problems may be especially difficult when the horse already suffers from a broken leg.
The idea of euthanizing a horse because of a broken leg may seem disturbing to some, but the decision is usually reached only after an extensive examination and conference with a qualified veterinarian. Horse owners must balance the potential success of treatment and the horseâs potential quality of life. Itâs never an easy decision to put down a suffering animal, but certain injuries cannot always be treated without causing even more stress for the animal. A broken leg is not the automatic death sentence it once was, but owners need to understand all of the ramifications of an aggressive treatment program.
The bones in their legs are much lighter than in people, so when they break a leg going at speed the bone often shatters are opposed to just cracking like it would in a human, making a repair on the injury impossible. Also with the horses leg being so thin bone often pierces the skin which even in humans makes the repair of a broken leg much more difficult and dangerous.
Whatâs your understanding of the normal veterinary procedure in dealing with broken legs in 500kg animals (other than horses)?
That article says it can often take months for a broken leg to heal on a horse. Not much different to humans then, if at all. But barstool veterinarians on TFK like @TreatyStones want to get the shotgun out. Bastards.
I know an arm is different to a leg, but they didnât put Mary Harney down.
Yes, but you would have no trouble sitting on your hole for a few months while it heeled.
A horse canât do that.
[quote=âTreatyStones, post: 871585, member: 1786â]Yes, but you would have no trouble sitting on your hole for a few months while it heeled.
A horse canât do that.[/quote]
A horse can lie down and elevate the leg. Itâs fairly basic stuff for a broken bone actually.
This is one of the funniest threads on TFK
Sometimes I think Bandage just says this stuff to try and invoke a reaction.
The horse who resided in the field next to my house passed away over the weekend. RIP Sugarcube.
Sad that he wonât see another birthday.
Invoke or provoke?
The saddest part of all was no one saw it coming, and he was alone at the time.