"It had to be destroyed..."

Message Bookmarked

Bookmark Removed

This comes up in horse racing. A horse breaks an ankle out of the gate so it has to be "destroyed." Why can't it leave out its years in a field of clover? Because nobody wants it.

Last year my stepmom put down the old family dog. He had some kind of tumor and was blind and deaf, so the vet urged her to put him out of his misery. How do we know he was miserable? He slept alot and seemed to enjoy his expensive food. But we decided to take his fate in our own hands instead of allowing nature to take its course.

I went along with it at the time.. but I'm starting to really wonder about how valid these 'merciful' acts really are.

― andy --, Tuesday, 15 March 2005 21:15 (twenty-one years ago)

Our family has had two separate dogs put to sleep over the years and in both cases their health was so obviously compromised -- crippled limbs resulting from grand old age on the one hand, terrible digestive damage on the other -- that while it was deeply sad and painful, the alternative would have drawing it out further. It was neither easy nor welcome, and yet I do not regret our decisions.

― Ned Raggett (Ned), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 21:19 (twenty-one years ago)

A horse breaks an ankle out of the gate so it has to be "destroyed." Why can't it leave out its years in a field of clover?

because a horse who can't walk might get chilly in the rain and die anyway!

― hstencil (hstencil), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 21:20 (twenty-one years ago)

Yeah, a horse with a broken leg will never heal properly, and will always limp. It's pathetic and sad. So they shoot it.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 21:21 (twenty-one years ago)

Which I'm very glad is not my judgement call to make. But sufficeth to say, people who shoot horses do not have any kind of anti-horse agenda.

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 21:25 (twenty-one years ago)

i agree. quit the contrary, in fact. most of the people i know that shoot horses do it because they can't bear the thought of those poor horses having to live in a crazy world such as ours. ya know. terrorism, etc.

― mat, Tuesday, 15 March 2005 21:26 (twenty-one years ago)

I grew up on a horse ranch: broken legs on horses can be and often are healed. But the horse won't race again, and most owners don't want the expense of the vet as well as care/feeding of a non-racer, so they "humanely" put it down. It's really about economic, plain and simple.

― andy --, Tuesday, 15 March 2005 21:29 (twenty-one years ago)

Eh, how much can a horse eat anyway.

― Jordan (Jordan), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 21:30 (twenty-one years ago)

Oh, see I thought horses were well and truly buggered once they broke their legs. I guess that's just what they *want* me to believe!

― sunburned and snowblind (kenan), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 21:32 (twenty-one years ago)

"Then sure enough, Dad found out I'd been running around behind his back. He was madder than I'd ever seen him. As punishment for deceiving him, he went and shot my dog."

― Amateur(ist) (Amateur(ist)), Tuesday, 15 March 2005 22:06 (twenty-one years ago)

You must be logged in to post. Please either login here, or if you are not registered, you may register here.