Little filly Eight Belles finished a close second in the Kentucky Derby race — then collapsed minutes later. She had broken both her front ankles, and they euthanized her on the spot.
For some reason, this makes me really angry. I don’t know anything about horses, but it seems silly to kill one just because she broke her ankles. Like, if Leo broke his ankles, we’d take him to the hospital and get him better. Hell, I have extra space in my apartment, I’d’ve taken the damn horse. Maybe she wasn’t going to race again, but they didn’t have to kill her! But maybe there’s something about horse injuries that I don’t understand.
If so, feel free to explain to me.
hey beet,
you’re so right.. i’ve been riding horses my whole life, and there is definitely no need to put a horse down due to broken ankles. she would definitely never race again though, so because of that, the owners decide to put her down — purely a business frame of mind. in any other style of riding (english or western for example) there is no way this horse would have been euthanized.. she could have been kept as a barn horse, or a schooling horse for kids or something. its really sad, and completely unnecessary — i am totally with you on this one!
It’s so sad, truly, but horses are such large animals that substantial breaks in legs just don’t heal correctly. They could have kept her around, but odds are she would have been in great pain- the kind of stuff they euthanize smaller animals for. I’d say it’s more than ankles, has to be. We’ll probably hear more- it’s just a sad day. I don’t think animals should be bred and made to race for us- we suck. This horse’s death didn’t have to happen. :(
Depending on how bad the injury it is, euthanizing a horse is sometimes the most humane thing there is to do – Remember Barbaro?
Plus, it’s both front ankles, which would be really difficult to operate on.
:(
It’s sad, but they probably had great vets at the Derby, and if they all agreed that euthanization was best, it probably was.
I know a lot about horses, and I hate the thoroughbred racing world. It’s brutal and money-driven. I can’t imagine what sort of breaks these were (I’ve only now just heard about this) but can only guess that they were so severe as to require her to be put down. A mare can’t carry babies if she’s foundering (which is what would probably happen to her if she lived – it’s what happened to Barbaro last year), and they would only keep her alive if she could be bred. Like I said, it’s a brutal business, and it rewards those who push these young horses before they are ready to be ridden at all, much less raced.
This is certainly a tragedy, but….
She broke both ankles with compound fratures. Normally an inflatable cast is put on the broken leg but this is not possible with both broken, the 2,000 pound horse cannot stand.
this horse was euthanized because she would no longer be a winner. the racing world is not about people who love horses, its about people who love to own “winners.” sad.
I don’t know much about horses or racing, but this never made much sense to me (why a horse would be put down), so I looked it up. Here’s what I found-
http://www.all-creatures.org/nyca/ch-hor-20060523-2.html
Poor baby! I read about this earlier….its really sad because these horses are totally overworked and given steroids and all sorts of unnecessary things to make them strong enough for ONE race. But they are extremely heavy animals, unfortunatey, if they hadn’t have euthanized her and she didn’t heal right they would have to put her down anyways. Besides in order to allow her to heal they would have to keep her pretty sedated and in a harness…the process can be antagonizing for them, they are meant to be free. Atleast now she’s in some horsey heaven where she can roam freely!!! =]
It’s really not possible to treat a horse with a broken leg,
You can’t put them in casts, or in a wheel chair
You can’t tell them to stay still long enough for it to heal,
I have one.. . love him soo much , but i wouldn’t want that pain on him :( :(
Good insight, AllyM. That was so(!!) heartbreaking to see that happen – it even made me (a big ol’ Southern redneck, lol) cry…
Unfortunately, it’s true that a leg break is almost always a fatal injury for any horse, and that poor girl suffered a double & broke both her front legs at once… There’s absolutely no way she could have survived that for more than a day or three, and even then with either complete sedation or intense suffering… :’-(
R.I.P., Eight Belles, we barely knew ya, but we really loved ya
I was going to post about how I would like to break everyone’s ankles, involved. However, the posters who sound like they know what they’re talking about, have helped calm me. Thank you!
I’ve been following horse racing my whole life. This is a terrible tragedy for all. The decision to euthanize was made before consultation with the owner or trainer, it was made in the best interest of the horse. And it was made immediately. It’s incredibly sad but the right thing was done, she did not suffer. If you’re interested, the sport sites are posting respectful tributes to Eight Belles, check them out.
this is really sad.
i’ve never really been okay with horse racing anyhow.
ew.
screw those people…i hope they all come back a horses and have to race and be put through whatever they did to those horses. what a sick business…and sick people with no hearts…fuck them.
I’ve been around horses my whole life and despite being vegetarian, animal loving heck even PETA supporting I still would have taken the gun and let her go on the spot. Breaks, as most people here have said, are bad, excruciating painful (I know, I broke my foot last year) and unlike me, a horse cannot lie still for the weeks and months of healing to even get back to hobbling status. A year later and I still have to be careful and I’m human. I would have been sobbing my heart out and feeling as guilty as if I’d killed my own child but I would have done it with love. Poor wee thing. What was wrong in the first place was the racing. It’s more about profit than care for the owners. The trainers and the jockeys have to live with her death and they are the ones I feel for.
What a shame :(
To these people with “horse experience” – thoroughbreds are far more fragile than other breeds of horses. What may be a viable treatment for a recreational or sturdier sports horse is simply not applicable to these race horses. They are bred for speed only and their legs are ridiculously delicate. When they break a leg it is usually multiple fractures or completely shattered bones. Leg injuries rarely heal and the ordeal of keeping them alive long enough is torture to the animal. These horses don’t do well on many drugs (including anesthetics). They can have fatal complications just trying to keep them eating and drinking. They cannot lie down for any period of time as they will suffocate. They must be held up in a sling for months. The good legs will develop painful and irreversible complications from uneven weight distribution (which is why they finally put Barbaro down). The owners put Barbaro through hell because he would make a fortune as stud. Keeping him alive was absolutely cruel!! I couldn’t believe people actually donated money thinking they were helping an animal in need. To all the people who said they killed Eight Belles because she would never make money racing again – you have it all wrong. The only responsible thing to do is euthanize the horse as quickly as possible and save it from horrible pain and misery. The ones who keep these horses alive are doing it out of greed. Putting her down was definitely not an economic decision. It was the only merciful thing to do!!!
It is sad. The mean thing is the conditioning process these poor souls go thru to get to the race. I love horses and I hate anything to do with a horse race. This is just one horror story but hundreds of animals are ruined and crippled beyond repair at race tracks in North America, Europe and the Middle East. I would guess if an x-ray was taken before the race you would see damaged ankles. A lot of money is at stake and owners and trainers are willing to take chances with zero regard to the animal. The kind thing was putting her down. RIP in peace Eight Belles.
She had compound fractures of both ankles, with one fracture protuding – which meant for one thing, it would have been nearly impossible to get her up to transport, she was also laying in dirt with exposed bones, and how do you suppose you get a horse to go 6 months or so without putting any weight at all on BOTH front legs?
Oh and I would also like to add that I do not believe it was a ‘business decision’ and that it was heartbreaking to watch. This is in my hometown and this definitely, for the first time ever, made Derby feel a bit depressing.
Guys both ankles were blown. When these horses break their ankle or leg…it’s consists of many bones…not a little fracture. If one ankle was broken, perhaps this horse could have been saved….but no way with both. The horse would have nothing to stand on and would only do more damage and pain to itself. The humane thing to do was to euthanize in this situation….as sad as it may have been.
I remember seeing a documentary connected to Barbaro in which they explained how the controlled breeding of racing horses has led to their bones being more and more fragile. That’s just great, considering the great stress of a race. Once again, we took a beautiful animal and engineered it for our entertainment but without its wellbeing in mind.
*sigh* Poor thing.
I’ve worked with horses my whole life and i own 5 and there absolutely is 100% a reason for euthanizing a horse with broken bones. To heal a break in a horses legs they would have to put them in a sling for months not letting them stand on the ground, or walk at all. The horse would be in excruciating pain, and even then there’s a great chance the break would not heal. It’s cruel to try to heal a break in a horses leg, like to selfishly put an animal in pain just because you want it to live is ridiculous. Even if the breaks all by some miracle were to heal, the horse would never recover, never be able to race again, and never lead a normal healthy life. You just can’t do it, it’s so much more complicated than a break in a dogs leg. There is no way to ethically have tried to heal this horse. The only thing to do was euthanize it.
Oh and to the first poster who is under the DELUSION that were this any other style of riding the horse would have been kept as a barn horse or trainer you are sadly sadly mistaken. First of all I’ve known several girls (english riding and wezstern) who have had to euthanize their horses due to broken legs. And second of all if this horse were rehabilitated she could never have been ridden again. She would have spent the rest of her life in pain in a field somewhere. There’s just nothing ethical about forcing an animal in that much pain to live.
Having spent most of my life around horses, this makes me so terribly sad. It is very much true that to save a horse who had both front legs off could not be saved and return to being its former self. Truth is, even if just one leg was off they would probably have put it down. What upsets me most is the fact that they race these horses, who are broken in very early and who are “finished” even earlier in comparison to other horses, due to the immense wear on them. For the sake of money. Bastards!
Horses need to stand. If they lie down, it cuts off blood circulation and can stop their organs from functioning. For a horse to stand, they need to distribute their weight evenly on all 4 legs. If they put too much weight on one leg, they can develop injuries like laminitis which is what Barbaro died of. You can put a horse in a sling, but it creates the same problems as having a horse lie down. In Eight Belles’ case, she broke both of her front legs. A horse puts 60% of its weight on its front legs. If she had broken only one, she could have stood on her other front leg, but to break both left her without any front legs to stand on comfortably. To ask her to stand up after she had fallen down and broken both of her front legs, would have been too much to ask. It would have been tremendously painful. If a person breaks a leg, you can put them in bed, but you can’t restrain a horse and keep them lying down. A leg injury to a horse is extremely serious, much more so than a leg injury to a person. It’s a shame that the magnificent animals weren’t built with stronger legs and it’s horrible to lose a horse as wonderful as Eight Belles. She may have had a rough start in racing last year (it took 3 tries to break her maiden), but she really turned into a top notch horse and I’d put her up there with Ruffian. It’s just such a tragedy
Michael, you need to get a heart. Yours seems to be broken or not functioning. A non functioning heart is a serious situation and will lead to death in a very short period of time – death of your soul…..if you still have one.
The Derby is too long for these very young horses – bred for speed and pushed to their limits. This sort of race is cruel to horses and we should be ashamed for treating any animal this way – racing is abuse.
How sad. She came in 2nd WITH broken ankles! What a dutiful horse. That is pathetic. This in total is a very evil act on the animal, and knowing this, I will never attend a race EVER. :(
I think there may be a little sweet in the evil beet. :-)
What makes me even angrier is that they force a beautiful, wild animal to race in these stupid things. So the poor thing broke its legs and had to be euthanized doing something against its will. It’s just sad overall. :( I’m against any kind of sport that uses animals–polo, racing, dog racing–no one asked the animal if he/she wanted to participate. It’s just not fair to them.
blame the freakin’ horse races. it’s a sport just so people can gamble and try to make money and feel rich and powerful. and it’s totally sad about how they practically force these animals to hurt themselves for their own gain…or satisfaction. however you wanna look at it. :(
Forget about whether euthenising the horse was humane….. how long did this horse run on these broken ankles and how horrifying and painful must THAT have been? For the horse to have fallen right after the end of the race means they were probable broker mid-race. This is awful. Horse racing as a whole is just not cutting it with modern times. Same with cock fighting and bull fighting…. come on people it’s 2008 not 1250.
Is there really a need for horseracing? Other than just being entertainment for the wealthy? They are FINALLY tearing down Bay Meadows here in California, so there is one less horseracing track around – and of course, all the rich people are bummed out because now they have to find another way of entertaining themselves.
Rich people suck! Poor horses – I hope that when the people who participate in thoroughbred racing die, they come back as an abused and mistreated animal – then they can see how much life sucks for them.
The level of ignorance regarding horses / animals in some of these comments is breathtaking.
IT’S ALL ILLEGAL!
THEY PUT HER DOWN SO THEY COULD BURN AND BURY HER BEFORE ANYONE FOUND HORMONES OR STEROIDS….THE AUTOPSY WILL BE A COVER UP!
Horse Racing is fucking barbaric.
So is riding you control freak fucks.
any event that includes an animal being manipulated by a human being for entertainment, is not a competition(sport), it is an abuse of life…
Horse racing is in itself not cruel, it’s the fact that they race the horses when they are still essentially babies. If they would race them when they were mature adults and not young horses with bones that are not completely set then there would be far fewer injuries. The sport needs to create new rules for the ages when horses can be raced. Horses can live to 30 years old, there’s no reason to rush them and race them when they are 2.
I too have been around horses my whole life. I have seen many put down and it is not a decision that is made lightly, nor it is a pretty sight to see. And it can be quite dangerous because they will thrash out. We had a horse that broke his leg in the field and it was the most horrible thing I have ever seen. The amount of pain he was in was incredible. There is really no real way to fix a broken ankle on a horse. Yes, there can be a series of operations and attempts to rehabilitate through aqua therapy and such. But almost 90% of the time, the horse will be put down even after the best methods and therapies have been made.
Many people are talking about money. That she was put down because of money. Most likely not. Money and investment is a large motivator to keep a Derby horse alive. So for them to decide to put her down within moments of the break shows that there was no way for her to even begin to recover.
I do agree with Bloggin Mamma. These race horses are babies. I have had experience with track horses and I never had one that would pass a vet check. When x-rayed there are always small splints or breaks in their front leg bones. Also, many are what is called “blistered”. Blistering is when their front legs are wrapped with a chemical which act almost like a cast in order to tighten their legs. Most blistered race horses show signs of scarring and the hair on their legs are often patchy. Again, not a good sign.
We don’t even start to break our horses until after they are 2 because of their bone and muscle developments. Not only the developments of their legs but the development of their backs and hocks (back legs).
I understand the horse business very well. It is not just the racing world (although that world is most public) but the hunters and jumpers also have their issues (that was my world). We haven’t even started to discuss the Western world or the Saddle Breds or the Dressage world.
So I guess the bottom line is, it was most likely in the best interest of the mare to be put down right away. Like I said, business is a very large motivator and as soon as that mare entered the Kentucky Derby, her foaling fee tripled or even quadrupled. The 100’s of 1000’s that the owners lost that day was increditable. Trust me, for her to be put down without even the slightest attempt to rehabilitate her first, just tell us how bad those breaks were. It was best for her to be put down right there on the spot.
Poor thing:( It’s sad the she had to be put down, but it really was the most merciful thing to do. When a horse breaks a leg, ankle etc. it’s excruciatingly painful, and rarely fully heals. They have to be put in a sling for months. And, you can’t tell a horse to lie down or stop moving.
I live about 20-25 minutes away from the track:(
they have to do it though cause his legs will not heal properly.
it’s sad but it’s that or suffering his whole life
i understand what you mean… but thoroughbred trainers, owners, only think of money and how much money the horse will bring. That and the way she broke them, was unfixable…….