Usually, when a horse has a severe leg injury, the course of action most vets follow is to destroy the animal as soon as possible, as was the case a few weeks ago with Eight Belles, the Kentucky Debry runner-up. The thinking has always been that it is better to euthanize the animal than let it suffer and no longer be able to run. Thus it was highly unusual in 2006, after that year’s Kentucky Debry winner, Barbaro, was injured in the Preakness Stakes, that they attempted to treat the horse and kept him alive for many months to undergo treatment; ultimately, he was also euthanized when the resulting illnesses at long last overwhelmed him.
In that spirit, here’s hoping that Big Brown wins the Belmont Stakes next month and goes on to a long and happy retirement making lots of new racehorses.
Meanwhile, here’s a story from New Orleans via Bits and Pieces about a horse named Molly who was rescued after Hurricane Katrina and moved to a farm where animals recovered from the storm were being housed. There, she was attacked by a pit bull and suffered such a severe injury to her front right leg that she was transferred again to LSU. There, at last, a vet took pity on her and decided to treat her wounds. The leg had to be amputated below the knee, but she received a prosthesis and is able to stand and walk. She’s a farm horse, not a racehorse, so high-speed running was probably not part of her daily routine anyway, but it is refreshing to learn that not every injured horse is on a one-way ticket to the glue factory.
Related Posts:
