I’m wondering: is the reason a horse gets put down from a broken leg because there’s no decent way to keep them from trying to walk on it to allow it to heal properly? So, an intelligent centaur might be able to recover from one? Or, is there just something about a horses legs that makes it nearly impossible for a broken leg to heal properly regardless?
Just in case any horse people happen to look in these comments…
Yes, in addition to what others have said here, depending on the horse’s personality (horseonality?) some go completely bonkers when kept on “stable rest,” such as you’d need to do with a sling. And by bonkers I mean throwing themselves at walls, biting themselves, and gnawing just about anything to try to escape. They’re likely to hurt themselves worse before being able to heal, and even if they do heal (I have a friend who did this against the vet’s advice), they may have become so neurotic that you can never ride them again.
I remember a very in depth reddit comment from a while back about how much horses suck. One of the points was horse are too big for their legs, so having one down is very bad. I remember them saying shooting is viewed as merciful because breaking a leg is a huge drop in quality of life.
I’m wondering: is the reason a horse gets put down from a broken leg because there’s no decent way to keep them from trying to walk on it to allow it to heal properly? So, an intelligent centaur might be able to recover from one? Or, is there just something about a horses legs that makes it nearly impossible for a broken leg to heal properly regardless?
Just in case any horse people happen to look in these comments…
Yes, in addition to what others have said here, depending on the horse’s personality (horseonality?) some go completely bonkers when kept on “stable rest,” such as you’d need to do with a sling. And by bonkers I mean throwing themselves at walls, biting themselves, and gnawing just about anything to try to escape. They’re likely to hurt themselves worse before being able to heal, and even if they do heal (I have a friend who did this against the vet’s advice), they may have become so neurotic that you can never ride them again.
I remember a very in depth reddit comment from a while back about how much horses suck. One of the points was horse are too big for their legs, so having one down is very bad. I remember them saying shooting is viewed as merciful because breaking a leg is a huge drop in quality of life.