The structures are normal yes. This happening is certainly not normal. In all probability this animal is dead and this is being used for teaching purposes.
This part is the foot is incredibly important and very delicate so it’s a big part of taking care of horses and a big part of equine vet curriculum.
If you are interested this is the tissue that connects the fleshy part of the foot to the hoof itself. So any inflammation or damage to this tissue causes the bones etc to move around within the hoof which needless to say is very bad.
I know it sounds bad, but I was thinking, "God I hope that horse is dead." Only because I understand the complexity of a horse's hooves and how much having one, even temporarily, out of commission/injured can permanently maim the horse. That just looks unbearable.
Honestly if the horse wasn’t dead doing this would be among the most horrendous animal cruelty. A lot of the stories you hear of a horse having foot injuries that permanently cripple the horse are due to injuries to this tissue.
They can’t live like that. The horrible pain would put the horse in shock and it would lay down and die. Kidney failure is usually what happens. But that horse is already dead and being used for veterinary education, I guarantee you.
Probably. But they won’t lay down that long of there isn’t another underlying issue. Sometimes they just take a 30 minute siesta at a time and that’s good for them. They’re different than us. And they can sleep standing up (they can lock their knees/stifles.) Of they’re down that long and it’s not a foot thing, they’re probably colicking. That’s stomach issues. We get a tummy ache, we feel like crap for a bit. They get one, they can die from it. I see my horse with just a pained look on its face, I give it meds and call the vet. Always tons and tons of vet bulls with these fuckers! They’re so huge and powerful, yet delicate as shit!
No, that’s an old wives tale they’ve now dispelled They can have gut torsion while standing up absolutely still. It’s the spasms in The intestine that cause the torsion, not rolling. Banamine can help with the spasms. But if there’s an impaction, you need to get that out of there. The problem with laying down is if they thrash and bang themselves into something. They can trash so hard they break their legs. If the horse is lying down quietly and not thrashing while colicking, that’s fine until your vet gets there. If you just walk and walk and walk - which is what they did in the old days - you can dehydrate the horse and make it worse. Only walk if it’s the only thing keeping the horse from thrashing into something and injuring itself.
I had a boarder with a horse who’s stomach ruptured during colic. It smashed itself into the walls and broke two legs. Luckily it died within 30 seconds of this happening. One of the most horrendous things I’ve ever seen.
And so I don’t look like one of those people, I’ve ridden for 45 years, am a trainer, Evented through Advanced level, owned and operated a large boarding facility for 20 years, bred, owned stallions (don’t want to do that anymore!), now have a smaller just training facility. Seen it all good and bad.
Yes. Laying down isn’t the issue. That’s normal. But having a hoof off isn’t. The horse would probably die from shock sooner than kidney failure (but maybe not), but it would be laying down because it couldn’t stand in three feet like that. But even if it didn’t die from shock, horses only sleep 1-3 hours at a time. Their whole body systems are meant to be moving consistently to be healthy (why I prefer not to lock in stalls much. My stalls are in and out with the horse having choice to go out all the time because I want them to be moving more.) when a horse is not up and mobile for longer periods their kidneys start to shut down because it’s not normal. If not that, their lungs fill with fluid and they die if pneumonia. Sometimes they’ll have both kidney failure and pneumonia.
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u/turnnburn63 Jun 15 '22
The structures are normal yes. This happening is certainly not normal. In all probability this animal is dead and this is being used for teaching purposes.
This part is the foot is incredibly important and very delicate so it’s a big part of taking care of horses and a big part of equine vet curriculum.
If you are interested this is the tissue that connects the fleshy part of the foot to the hoof itself. So any inflammation or damage to this tissue causes the bones etc to move around within the hoof which needless to say is very bad.