Why do they have to kill horses if they break an ankle?
They do not always kill a horse when they have a break. It often depends on the personality of the horse because if the horse is a placid animal and could put up with being suspended from above for weeks, then they can heal enough to make it. But most horses will not put up with the treatment and the therapies. Sometimes they start out thinking it will be possible and things go okay but then later the horse struggles in it’s sling too much and then they put it down. But in the meantime, the struggling could be very dangerous, so it may be a kindness to put the horse down instead of testing to see if he’ll be okay with the recuperation conditions. Not all ankle breaks are from racing. Some horses do it just running in their pastures, some playing and some stepping in a hole. I’ve known 4 horses with broken legs and ankles and and none were from racing and 2 were from playing in their pasture.
One thing I don’t see anyone mentioning in their answers is the fact that horses will frequently come out of anesthesia fighting. Vets have gotten better at mitigating this tendency since Ruffian died, but it is still an issue. Sometimes they’ll smash the cast and blow the bone apart even worse as they come out of anesthesia. Then there is the problem of supporting the horse while the leg heals, which it seems everyone mentioned. On top of that, even in a sling, the other foot will often founder from carrying more load than it is designed to carry. Horses will sometimes colic badly when they are confined as well.
