Remember how they "had" to put down that horse at the derby for its own good?

[ashling]

that is all

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. The horse that was put down was a filly, meant for racing...

And ultimately for breeding, I suspect...

Maybe they could have done this for her...

We'll never know...

Is this horse a stallion?

Or a beloved pet?

Obviously it can't be raced...

I'm curious!

:hi:

[ashling]

3. I have no idea, found the picture on the intertubes

The horse that was put down was a filly, meant for racing...
Posted by CaliforniaPeggy
And ultimately for breeding, I suspect...

Maybe they could have done this for her...


I'm not really trying to make a point, but it is obvious that there were other options . . . maybe they just didn't fir into the human owner' lifestyle.
:shrug:

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. I understand what you're saying...

But without directly questioning the owners, we will never really know what they were thinking...

I would not want to make any assumptions about the owner's lifestyle...

They love their horses and do not put them down lightly...

I would compare it to a woman having an abortion, really...

:shrug:

[femrap]

18. What the hell

would make you think about an abortion when a horse had to be put down due to BOTH her front ankles being broken?

Shit...can't even read General Discussion about The Derby without running into the same insanity as the GD-Primary.

Has everyone morphed into intolerant Repugnants?

[CaliforniaPeggy]

19. I was comparing the kinds of decisions that are made

When the circumstances are very bad.

If a woman finds herself pregnant, and unable to care for the child, she may decide to have an abortion.

The same sort of thinking may apply when the horse has both ankles broken...

It's a distasteful, unpleasant but necessary sort of decision.

That's all.

You obviously do not know me. If you did, you would not say I was intolerant. I had a lot of sympathy for the filly's owners. It is dreadful when a beautiful graceful horse dies.

[femrap]

20. My bad....sorry.

Abortion to many is relief that it is available and safe. So I just didn't see your comparison.

I quit watching and going to horse races. Have been going since I was 5 years old. There's just too much greed in the sport now. Again...sorry for my misunderstanding.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

23. My dear femrap...

No worries!

Sometimes it's difficult to make one's points clear without the voice inflection...

I'm glad we were able to clear this one up!

:hug:

[femrap]

24. Me, too.

:hi:

[Justpat]

27. There were no other options for Eight Belles.

This pony mare had one leg destroyed by dogs so it was replaced with this prothesis.
When a horse breaks two front legs, that is a whole different story. A horse cannot
support its weight on back legs alone. And they often founder in the opposite leg
due to all the pressure on it. That little pony has a bandage on her good leg because
it needs support now that it is taking more weight than usual due to the injury to the
opposite leg.

There have been incredible advances in equine medicine in the last two decades
but the problem of a horse breaking both front legs is something that cannot
be addressed because of the animals structure and need to remain standing
to survive.

There was a famous stallion about twenty years ago who shattered a hind leg and was
actually saved because he was so accepting of his treatment that he made it easy on
the vets and his handlers. He had to be in a sling for most of the time, but when
he wanted to lie down he let his people know and they let him down to the floor of
the stall for a while. Then when he wanted to get up, they would hoist him back
up to a standing position.

There are some horses that do live with a prosthesis on either a front or back
let, but they cannot live with two. It would not have been possible to get the
filly up in the first place. She had nothing to stand on.

[alarimer]

28. The problem with horses is that they can't recover from severe leg injuries

because they are always on their feet. They rarely lie down. And it has something to do with the way they move too. Dogs, for example, can get along without the use of one leg but horses cannot. And their legs will not heal if they can't keep their weight off. And with both legs injured the situation is much worse. Barbaro only had one leg injured and it still killed him eventually.

[RoyGBiv]

4. This is Molly ...

Katrina survivor ...

www.snopes.com/photos/animals/molly.asp

One of the significant differences between Molly and Eight Belles is that Molly didn't have two broken limbs, rather an infected limb from a pit bull attack. A big reason this is significant is that she could still stand on her three other legs. Horses who can't stand have to be held up with a harness, and that by itself is extremely painful and can be deadly.

Anyway ...

Molly is an exceptional, amazing case where it all went right, as it sometimes does.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

8. Thank you for the link!

That is a miraculous and amazing story...

Molly was very very lucky!

Well, you know what I mean...

I'm glad to know she was able to make it.

[oldtime dfl_er]

2. That's a beautiful animal

and I'm pleased that science and veterinary medicine is learning to deal with equine leg injuries. However, Eight Belles broke both her front forelegs and in a horse that's pretty catastrophic.

[and-justice-for-all]

5. All animals are beautiful in my eyes...

I want for no harm to come to any of them.

They are innocent bystanders that suffer tremendously because of us. It makes me sad to think of animal suffering.

[Elwood P Dowd]

7. Eight Belles had zero chance to survive.

Zero!

[Tuesday Afternoon]

9. BOTH of Eight Belles front legs were broke ...

I really don't think this option was viable for her. They should not be racing 3 y/o. And the Breeding industry needs to be overhauled, too much inbreeding.

[pansypoo53219]

plus

that pic is photoshopped. the 'fake' leg's shoulder makes no sense.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

11. Check out the Snopes link; the story is true...

http://www.snopes.com/photos/animals/molly.asp

[pansypoo53219]

10. plus

that pic is photoshopped. the 'fake' leg's shoulder makes no sense.

[ashling]

12. OK, OK, I surrender

Actually, I just mostly thought it was a neat picture, and that I ought to say something, but see I have oer'stepped.

I bow to your superior veternary knowledge. I will contritely slink away and stay in my little box.
:nopity:

[lligrd]

13. Oh No, Thanks For Posting This

As a horse owner, leg injuries scare me to death. It is nice to know that they are making progress. Oddly enough, my horse is named Molly. I will be saving this story.

[Jamastiene]

15. Well, I would like to thank you anyhow.

I always love to see an animal story with a happy part to it. So many animal stories in real life end up tragic.

[hlthe2b]

14. Tlhe filly at the Derby broke both front legs...

think about it...

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

16. Not too clear from the story: How's the left foreleg?

Why is the other foreleg bandaged? Is there a problem with it? Or is it just a preventive measure?

Good story about a rescue from Katrina. If only all the people were treated as well ...

[RoyGBiv]

17. Looks like a tendon wrap ...

You'll see this on horses with injured or in some way strained tendons on one or both of their forelegs ... or sometimes there just to prevent injury.

Molly would clearly favor the left foreleg and put a lot of strain on it.

From the full story, it appears the horse had a lot of injuries from the dog bites, including the other legs, but only the right foreleg got infected. That could also be partly a remnant of treatment for the other leg.

[LeftyMom]

21. There wasn't any way to safely move Eight Belles.

Look, I'm pretty much the last person in the universe who would ever side with anybody making a buck off of a non-human animal. I hate racing. If I told you what I think of the sick fucks who support it, this post would probably be deleted.

There's no way to save a horse with two broken front ankles. None. A horse that can't stand for long is a dead horse. When they lie down, their organs fail under their weight. The cruelty wasn't the quick euthanasia, the cruelty was racing her to begin with. It started with breeding such a vulnerable and unstable creature, generations of being bred to be a few seconds faster and win a few more bucks at the expense of a healthy, robust body.

If you want to save horses, end racing.

[kskiska]

25. They were compound fractures, besides,

which would most likely get infected and affect blood flow to the feet. Then there's laminitis, which would most likely set in due to uneven weight distribution on all four legs. Impossible situation.

Barbaro didn't die from a broken leg. It was laminitis.

[K Gardner]

22. Dear god, I"ve been in GD:P for too long. I thought this thread was about.. nevermind. :-)

[yardwork]

29. I did too, and at first I was appalled, until I looked closely at the photo.

That's a relief.

[gatorboy]

26. It doesn't matter. The owners wouldn't have paid for the recovery. It's simply a business to them.

Same reason they race these horses so young. They do not want to put the time a resources into nurturing these horses to a respectable racing age. It costs money. Money they'd rather not spend.