• Question: Why are horses put down for broken legs yet a humam's leg(s) can repair ?

    Asked by samuel1299 to Kate, Mark U, Tess, Yue on 30 Apr 2012.
    • Photo: Tess Newman

      Tess Newman answered on 30 Apr 2012:

      There is no great difference in the healing properties of horse bone and human bone – both would eventually heal if set in plaster.
      However, it takes a long time for bone to heal, as new bone has to grow across the break, and while this is happening the area around the break is very flexible, similar in feel to the cartilage in your ear. If you kept moving the fracture while it was healing, it would not set properly, and would cause problems later on. For humans it is relatively easy for us to plaster around the joint and stop it from moving – although you might end up watching for TV than normal! For horses though, they do not understand this, and they are not designed to lay down and take weight off the leg for long periods of time, especially not the 12-14 weeks it can take to heal a bone.

      So, although it is sad that the horse has to be put down, it is really in their best interests, as they would likely be in pain if they tried to stand, or confused and panicky if they were forced to lay down. Maybe somebody should invent a plaster cast for horses with a wheel on the bottom, so they could still move about!

    • Photo: Kate Davies

      Kate Davies answered on 30 Apr 2012:

      Hey there, apart from the size of our bones the anatomy (the make up) of our bones is very similar to that of a horse. As you may know if we have a broken bone we tend to immobilise it by putting it in a plaster cast this means that we stop moving it! This is why we tend to tend to sit around a lot more as Tess has said!
      But if you have ever watched horses in there natural environment, sitting around is alien to them, they will tend to be on the feet all the time so a broken leg is more likely to place the horse in a lot more distress than us. Even we get fed up after the novelty of being in paster cast and having people right you messages on it wears off much quicker than we first think. It is very very said when such an injury results in an early end of a horses life, but at least it is saved the pain and suffering. I agree with Tess and maybe you could think of a design that could help make a horse recover from a broken leg, rather than ending it’s life….there is a gap to explore!!

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