Why would it even be considered to put such a magnificent animal down for a broken leg?Other animals do just fine with 3 legs and he will,in all probability,have all 4.I understand that he is probably high strung being a competitive animal,but medicine should have progressed to the point that it can prevent death in this kind of case.It just doesn't seem fair.

because you can't put a horse in bed for 6 weeks to let it heal. he'll need to walk on it and if he can't he'll have to be put down. i read somewhere that they've kept horses that were lame alive and basically hung them in a sling where all they could do was mate.

Horses are very difrent then other animals. Thier leggs are very very tiny compaired to body size and weight. It can just make it on 4 legs with little margin but on three a horse would be beyond worthless. It would be able to stand on three legs but not move. If it is a hind leg its even worse for the beast.

They're going to try to save Barbaro. But because of a horse's weight compared to the tiny size of it's legs, typically leg injuries never heal unless the horse can be kept off the leg during the healing process. This is so time consuming and expensive, it's rarely done except in case like Barbaro where you have a champion you want to save to breed.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/more/05/21/barbaro.surgery.ap/index.html

In the old days, they would 'put him on a beam", meaning they would hoist the horse or mule up with a beam running front to back between their right & left legs. The animals were miserable and it seldom worked well. Weeks of this near torture, and then the animal would have to be put down anyway. Things have improved a lot, but medically and with the apparatuses (i?) they use, but the one thing that hasn't changed, is the bone structure of the equine family. Comparitivly weak for their weight.
Maybe the repair attempt will work, maybe not.

Now they knock em out, do the surgery and then put the horse in a sling and lower them into a pool so they can flail away without injuring themselve as they regain conciousness. Neat idea. I remember watching a horse get put down at the derby as a kid when they televised it. Kinda ruins the whole day.

Interesting. Do they leave them in the pool during the recovery process? I'm a big believer in water therapy for people-don't know how it would work on a horse. Had a bad back for years, did the chiropactic thing (never again!) but the only thing that cured it was floating in a pool with weights on my ankles, and water excercise.

here in shelbyville (big tennessee walking horse area) there are a couple of equine aquatic "training" facilities. i dont know what they do there, but it apparently involves suspending the horses in a pool of waterand making them swim.

I've also read in some of the articles about Barbaro that if a horse can't distribute it's weight on all four legs, that can cause other health problems. Looks like the pool therapy is the safest option.

I think in the past, it was harder to save the horse, but nowerdays, they have better technology/types of therapy...?

It may not be able to race again, but they can use it as a stud, or freeze his little swimmers...

Heck, Clone that sucker!

Other animals do JUST FINE with less legs...
Ever see a three legged dog or cat?

[This message has been edited by FieroRumor (edited 05-22-2006).]

Barbaro's trainer grew up in my hometown - he's a great guy. The company I worked for during college shipped Barbaro to the Derby and Preakness - had I made a different decision with my career I would have been the shipping agent for Michael Matz - probably would have been sitting in the box at both races - kinda funny thought! But anyways - Michael is a great guy and a great horseman - he won't let anything happen to that horse (as far as being put down) unless there is absoutely no chance. And I think he'll be okay!

~ Jen

The problem with horses is that they are NOT patient. This injury will take 6 months to heel. Some horses that have this type of injury are OK being sedated and stalled for their convelescence, others immediately wake-up and start kicking and bucking doing themselves MORE harm than the original injury did. I live in horse country and I've seen it before. It all depends on the horse's personality whether he is saveable or not.