Why are so many horses put down when they break their leg?
It seems to be a common, and to me upsetting, theme that if a horse breaks its leg it gets put down but this doesn't hold true for some other animals. For example, if a dog or cat breaks its leg the same outcome isn't applied. Indeed, I've seen many healthy dogs and cats with just three legs (although likely not caused by a broken leg).
Is there something specific to the anatomy of a horse that means it is difficult to repair a broken leg in comparison to other animals? Perhaps height or weight related?
I'll note here that it seems a lot of broken legs are caused by horse racing but I'm not looking to debate the morality of horse racing in this post.
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As this source writes, there are some main issues, that horse's legs make special in cases of broken legs:
The leg bones are small in relation to the horse's body weight
Under the knee (which is not the knee in anatomical sense, but everybody think about this as knee) there is nearly no tissue to give the bone some stability (even with a cast around, this is not enough)
Running and movement is a horse's life, so you could not pressure it to rest enough time to heal the bone
Additionally, everyone with a horse could tell you about risks in health for a horse caused only by staying/not be moved enough time, so we talk about secondary damage, caused by treating the broken leg
Horse's movement puts a lots of stress to the bone, and breaking means in this most time splintering too, which complicates the treatment in general
But like every field of science, treating broken legs in horses develop, and today there is treatment in more cases possible than 50 years ago. There are people who work on new methods. But like everywhere new methods are mostly expensive, and owners will decide by their conscience if the material/immaterial win makes it a good deal for them. (In race business the horse has no value anymore, because even with a former broken healed bone it could not run races anymore...)
A horse with a broken leg is usually put down because it’s very difficult for the broken leg of a horse to heal correctly. Because the blood circulation in a horse is dependent on its hooves, keeping a horse still, besides beeing very difficult, for a long period of time in order for its bone to heal is a huge risk to its life.
The cost of fixing the broken bone of a horse leg is considerably high. Therefore, unless it’s a very, very special and expensive horse, people tend to refrain from spending a lot on treating a horse’s leg, whose chances of complete recovery are pretty slim even with treatment.
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