Racetrack deaths

[asterroc]

Maybe someone can explain this to me.

A 16-year-old apprentice jockey died Wednesday after being thrown from his horse at a track near Columbus, Ohio, police and track officials said.

Josh Radosevich was thrown off the thoroughbred Nyoka during the third race at Beulah Park, in Grove City. Radosevich was trampled by at least two horses after falling, and was pronounced dead at a Columbus hospital, a Grove City police report stated.
...
The horse suffered a severe leg fracture and was euthanized at the track, Beulah Park officials said.
(CNN)

Yeah it's a trajedy the kid died and all that, but how come every time a horse breaks it's leg it's put down? We don't euthanize people who break their legs, or dogs or cats. Why horses? What about cows? Is it just too expensive to maintain a horse while it's recovering? Will it just never recover? What's the story?

Comments

[marquiswildbill.livejournal.com]

Wee thoroughbreds are typically euthanized when they break a leg because they don't recover from it. The years of breeding to get those long thin sprinters legs make it very hard for them to recover. It's pretty tough for any horse to recover from a broken leg, especially a bad one.
When it comes to race horses, money realy is no object. I haven't seen the numbers in awhile, but half of the ten highest paid athletes in the world are retired race horses. Stud fees for a good horse are obscene, on the order of >100,000 for a decendant of secrariat or man o' war (again i don't remember the specfics). Even a so-so blodline will cost you 25,000. And a good stud can do his "job" every few days without depleting his sperm count.
I wish my job was to sit around and do whatever the hell I wanted except for when I was paid great sums of money every few days to impregnate someone.

[sammka.livejournal.com]

Horses rarely recover from broken legs, and take very badly to the recovery process. They keep trying to walk, and immobilizing them makes them panic, I think. It's generally considered humane to euthanize them.

so...

[poludamas.livejournal.com]

Even if the horse takes a while to recover, might it not be worth saving it for teh stud fees? I agree with zandperl that it seems barbaric to kill a horse immediately after it is injured. I am surprised that there is not an organization (a branch of the SPCA?) devoted to trying to save these horses from their premature deaths.