At Pimlico today, [url=http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2006/05/20/sports/s152719D27.DTL]Kentucky Derby winner, Barbaro, hurt his leg** early in the race. From the interview after, I gathered there was a problem at the gate; possibly he hurt it then.
My question is: are horses still put down for broken legs? If not, will he still be eligible to be retired to stud?
Blast. Link
Broken ankle from the sounds of it. He’s supposedly going up to UPenn for surgery.
I doubt they’d put down a 10 million dollar horse without trying to do something about it.
Assuming the horse is still capable of it, the injury won’t prevent him from going to stud. Early reports from the track vet indicated it didn’t look like it was life threatening, but it probably would end his career (assuming the x-rays didn’t show it was worse than it looked).
As for what can be done; it depends on the injury. If it’s a ligament issue, the horse can usually be saved, and I believe a small fracture is not a problem. However, a break of the cannon bone (which, I should add, is not what seems to have happened) is very difficult to deal with: the horse will actively prevent you from performing the proper care (e.g., Ruffian was put into a cast after her injury, but she broke it as soon as she came out of sedation; you can’t tell a horse it’s for their own good). If the bone is broken, and the horse won’t cooperate (most don’t), the only thing to do is put the animal down.
Two breaks; one above and one below the ankle. From what I heard(via ESPN), it is considered extremely serious, at this point. Link
Time to send for Dakota Fanning!
I’m guessing though that nowadays, they’re put down via injection, like most animals, rather than shooting them.
I don’t know if they’re still used, but bolt guns have been used to incapacitate a horse.
Thanks for the informative replies, all.
When it happened, it didn’t look nearly as serious as it’s turned out to be.
I’ve had to euthanise a horse of mine and seen others euthanised. They’ve always used an injection and never a gun. My understanding is that captive bolt guns are only used for slaughter, not for euthanasia.
For the most part, the only time someone shoots a horse these days is when the vet is hours away, and the horse is in intense pain. Even then, you’d have know what type of gun/bullet to use and where to shoot the animal to get an immediate kill without just adding to the suffering. Many horse people have heard horror stories of someone trying to shoot a horse and making a mess of it. So most of us wait for the vet.
Broken bones don’t neccessarily mean a horse has to be put down. However, if the blood supply to the area is comprimised, the horse may not be savable. Likewise (as mentioned), if a horse acts up after surgery and continues to reinjure himself, he may not be able to recover.
I saw on ESPN that Barbaro is going to New Bolton which is about an hour and a half away (not sure if he’ll get a police escort and get there faster) from Pimlico and is a top notch equine vet center.
Even if the leg goes, they now have prosthetics for gimpy horses.
And the same article points out that the horse’s temperment and tolerance are key to success or failure. Not all horses can tolerate the medical treatment required for broken limbs to heal, and niether can they all tolerate a prosthetic.
Dang it. I hope he does all right but my gut says no. What a bummer.
Is anything being said about why the leg broke? I heard one news report say that it definately wasn’t from the early gate. When they showed the footage of the early gate, it looked to me like he was favoring the leg, but, the clip was so short, I could be wrong.
Might it have been done on purpose, by a rival?
No no…he stumbled about 100 yards out and it broke once. He kept running as the jockey tried to pull up and it broke again.
Thank you. I didn’t want to think something like that. I’d never be able to watch another race.
To be fair to the OP, an injection is also a “shooting.”
I stopped watching horse races when I saw Go For Wand have her fatal breakdown at the Breeders Cup. Using these beautiful animals for our entertainment is so very wrong.
WARNING: THE PICTURES IN THE ABOVE LINK ARE GRAPHIC AND HEARTBREAKING.
Where was Tony Harding?
If we didn’t what would be the point in owning horses?
If we didn’t race horses there would be no racehorses.