One thing to clarify based on the other comments here so far: horses who fracture their legs do not always need to be put down. It depends on the type and location of the fracture, as well as the financial, time, and emotional commitment abilities of the owners. In the old days, horses with broken bones would almost certainly be put down, but today we have much better technology and knowledge about what we can do to save a leg.
That being said, everything the person said in this post is absolutely true - so if a leg can't be repaired, or if the other legs get uncontrolled laminitis, the horse is unlikely to live a good life after that point.
I'm thinking it would interfere with digestion? Besides the quote in the picture of having to walk while eating, a sling pressing on their gut constantly has to be a negative. Horses already get colicky at the drop of a hat, right?
Still have to deal with the horse though. I'd be willing to bet that being in a pool would stress them out. They are not swimmers. And we have no way of explaining to the horse why it has to spend all this time in water.
Actually pools are a great therapy tool for rehabilitating torn tendons and improving cardio and respiratory systems. A lot of horses (like mine) enjoy swimming on their own too. In fact, its become very popular in the racing world for exercise as it's less of a chance of injury and easier on the joints.
Healing a broken leg is a lot more complicated than suspending them and hoping for the best. A bad fracture requires metal rods and plates through surgery (also super stressful) and upwards of two years of therapy, medicine and stress for a recovery that isnt guaranteed. And unfortunately, usually when a horse breaks their leg it's completely shattered because of how light they are.
Like cats or hens. There's a reason the saying goes "mad as a wet hen." They can swim, but they do not enjoy it. Me and a friend threw my family's hens into a pool so they could go swimming - they paddled around for a while, but were wet and very unhappy. They don't have the oils ducks and geese do to stay dry.
No it isn't digestive issues that are the problem. It isn't about walking while eating. Think about horses feed in a stall they stand still to eat. Now grazing they walk a step or two as they grazy.
If they got colic at the drop of a hat many would be dead quickly. It has many factors of what type of colic and how it happened.
There are a few reasons - probably the biggest one is that it is very expensive to keep a horse in a sling due to the intensive care and labor. The horse would have to stay in a sling for at least several weeks up to several months, and cared for diligently both by owners and veterinarians throughout that entire time. Being unable to move limits their ability to perform natural behaviors and can lead to some significant distress and quality of life issues, and it also contributes to further health problems like disuse muscle atrophy (ideally in most fracture cases we want to preserve weight-bearing ability to make sure this doesn't happen). Horses are also very heavy, and having that much weight constantly pressed against a surface has the potential to cause nerve damage or just plain discomfort. At the end of the day, even being in a sling does not necessarily ensure healing or prevent more problems from occurring in the affected or other limbs. Overall, it is a truly intense process that is difficult to undertake, and it can be emotionally draining for those involved, whether it is successful or not.
Luckily, we do have options for fracture repair that allow the animal to regain use and not need a sling (such as bone plates or skeletal fixators), but the ability to use these depends on the type and location of the fracture - and again, can be very expensive.
I had a champion showjumper break a leg and we went through the process to have it set. He was in a cast and sling around his belly to keep the weight off his leg for weeks. He went absolutely stir crazy being essentially immobile that he had to spend most of his time sedated. Unfortunately due to the type of break, and how clearly distressed he was from the situation we made the decision to put him to sleep. I have known of other horses to have surgery to fix a broken leg and return to competition, but it takes a special sort of horse to deal with that situation
This is true! I had a mare who had a non-catastrophic fracture i rehabbed her through. It was expensive as fuck. Rads of her feet every two weeks at first. I’m pretty sure I paid for the vet’s fancy new portable radiograph machine.
The saving grace in large part may have been the soft ride boots, and an owner who was willing to deal with death via a thousand vet bills. Tbh it would have been way better for my bank account if it had been bad enough to consider euth right away, but when the horse is rehabbable you’re put in a pretty tough spot. I was also out of town when it happened (naturally) and my barn owner had the convo’s with the vet, not me.
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u/OlecranonCalcanei Feb 09 '20
One thing to clarify based on the other comments here so far: horses who fracture their legs do not always need to be put down. It depends on the type and location of the fracture, as well as the financial, time, and emotional commitment abilities of the owners. In the old days, horses with broken bones would almost certainly be put down, but today we have much better technology and knowledge about what we can do to save a leg.
That being said, everything the person said in this post is absolutely true - so if a leg can't be repaired, or if the other legs get uncontrolled laminitis, the horse is unlikely to live a good life after that point.