this post was submitted on 10 Oct 2024
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To add on why broken legs are fatal: its because horses are so big, that even with a sling, they cannot support themselves well on 3 legs. And lying down is also not an option as their own weight will crush their internal organs if they stay down for too long.
Oh, wow, I had always thought that shooting a horse with a broken leg was an act of brutal expedience, not mercy.
It's sad, but it's common medical practice in modern horse hospitals:
Also, don't they need to run to move food through their digestive tract? Or to force themselves to cough if they have something stuck in their lungs? I think there is some sort of dependency of basic functions that relies on the movement of their lungs/stomach going back and forth while running that they can't easily do if they just stand in one place all day
Also their blood gets pumped through their hooves, and to much weight on one hoof can impede blood flow through their body.
I thought horses not being able to lie down for long was just competition horses! It's all of them?
It's not just horses, all large mammals have this problem from lying down too long. Horses can and do lie down every day, but for short periods of time. It's the extended lying down from illness or injury that kills them.
do humans count as large mammals? pretty sure we have at least very similar problems if we lie down for ages, hence why people who are bed bound have to be moved around regularly.
You mean bedsores, yeah its a pretty similar cause. The difference is that bedsores only cause damage to the skin from lack of blood flow caused by the extended pressure from lying down. While in horses, the extended pressure from lying down leads to poor blood flow in not just the skin, but the muscles and organs nearby too.
And yes, you can turn horses over too, but it takes multiple people and is really dangerous to everyone involved, so its not an action to be taken lightly.