The Facts Around Broken Legs

We were all equally shocked and saddened by the news of the death of a good horse like Big City Life at the Vodacom Durban July, and of course, Rabiya’s death a few years ago, and the subsequent emotional outburst following the of the consequences of a horse breaking its leg.

The questions being asked around the social media, particularly by people with no equestrian knowledge, is why, and I was surprised to see some of my equestrian friends asking the same questions. Racehorses are difficult to stop in the heat of the moment with adrenaline pumping, and they will often keep running on a fracture.

It must also be remembered that horses not only can do this racing, but in all sports – endurance, eventing, showjumping, dressage and general hacking, and even while playing in the paddock, or being kicked by another horse.

If you compare the horse’s legs, in particular the canon bone (the bone directly under the knee of the horse, down to the fetlock and pastern joint where it meets the hoof) with the weight of the rest of his body, it is incredible that the legs stand up to the pressure he is put under, and not only with a human on his back. Another sad fact is a lot of horses break their legs quite simply in the paddock, and not necessarily under ridden work. The horse’s lower leg is a complexity of bone and tendons, and considering the size of these, they are immensely strong.

Following a leg break, the horse’s quality of life needs to be a major consideration. Fractures in joints in particular can lead to the horse having major problems and arthritis later in life. The horse’s temperament is a large factor, if he will tolerate the patience and treatment is a large part of whether the horse will make a full recovery or not. The other problem a lot of owners face is the expense of pulling a horse through such a traumatic injury, and the possibility of making the heart-wrenching decision to put the horse down.

Dr Sarah Seitz Bsc DVM, a vet in the United States who has provided us with a guest column once before, gives us a look into what happens and the outcome.

“Equine limb fractures, in my opinion, are one of the most complex topics in veterinary medicine,” she says. “It’s an entire specialty on its own and people specialise in it after vet school for four years or so. The equine limb is a complex structure that is prone to traumatic injury. At top speed, a racehorse has only one leg on the ground at any given moment, and exerts seven tons of force on that leg.

“A bad step, uneven surface, or a conditioning program that does not allow the body’s repair mechanism to stay ahead of the continuing damage of training and racing predispose the horse to fracture development. Injury may range from a hairline fracture to a catastrophic breakdown that ends a horses’ career or life.

“I have been busy all week on racehorses with limb fractures from the track that had to be euthanised. They don’t seem to just mildly break their legs, they smash them to smithereens.”

Another mitigating factor is actually getting the horse to a hospital from the scene of wherever it broke its leg. Trying to load horses can be challenging at the best of times, and the travelling alone can damage the limb even further before a vet gets to attend to it.

Dr Seitz goes onto explain that fractures are separated into four main groups: