OMG. Would you, I mean really, would you?

I watched it all the way through and I think just to take in a rescued, very underweight, severely injured horse to whom they gave surgery - four years ago - which was unsuccessful, to then amputate the leg and create this prothsesis, shouts to me "guinea pig".

It would appear that she was an ideal candidate for experimentation which of course is how all medical advances are created.

I think the poor horse looked extremely unhappy and although she was shown to successfully walk down a sand track, will she ever be able to do more than walk? Could she ever be turned out with another horse? Is that really quality of life and if not - why put her through it in the first place?

I very much doubt that the horses welfare was first and foremost in the minds of those who carried this out
frown.gif
 
this may sound cruel, but in a way if the limb had to be amputated and my horse had to live like that, I would prefer for it to be put down. I just don't think having a false limb is really a life for a horse. x
 
Ridiculous. She is still hopping lame and what kind of spinal/pelvic/limb issues is that prosthesis going to cause in the near future?

She clearly is a guinea pig, they've done it because they can. I don't see the need to develop prosthetic legs for horses at all. They will never be able to work, or even lead a decent quality of life. There are enough four-legged, perfectly fit horses in need of rehab without creating more problems. Poor thing.
 
I think eventually something like this *could* be a viable option (for anyone who has the money and inclination to keep 'pet' horses alive (possibly with individual turnout) once they become unusable) in the same way it is for human landmine victims/other amputees.

Ravenwood - I agree this looks 'experimental' and yes, Nudibranch it probably isn't as ergonomic as it could be but there is no doubt that many prosthetic limbs used by people in third world countries aren't much better than this.

As for being 'happy' or not, well, she looked alright when just grazing and no worse than many of the horses I saw at Olympia when 'working'... There are many humans who don't want to live with extreme disability (e.g. the young ex-rugby player who went to Switzerland for euthanasia recently) and also many Heather McCartneys (obviously more physically able than the rugby player whose family I really feel for) who do. And similarly there are some horses who would be (can think of a few elderlies who are) quite content to potter about the place in no pain but without the ability to kick their heels up quite like they used to.

I'm not saying I'm totally in favour. But I don't see that the idea couldn't be developed into something useful for some horses.
 
There has been more than one thread on HHO about another horse (in my memory it is somehow connected to Hurricane Katrina? Fugly Horse Of The Day has also done a blog about that horse) who had a forearm prosthesis.


Since horses are flight animals, I do think it is on the border of cruelty to keep a horse that could feel incapable of taking to flight. Okay to temporarily somehow restrict a horse during recovery but to keep them like that for the rest of their lives, seems wrong to me. When we can't ask them what they want, it is our responsibility to not keep them alive only because of how we humans might feel f.ex. about life and death.
Most animals is not as stupid as us humans when it comes to starving ourselves to death when there is food available, so I don't know if I would be able to judge that a horse is happy with its circumstances, only by the fact that it will stroll around grazing in a field.


I do know that there is many happy three legged dogs and cats but the ones I've seen have all been able to run and dogs and cats can use their tails to help with the balance in ways that I have never seen a horse use its tail. Also we are talking about completely different weights to carry around, the bigger weight, the bigger risk for (painful?) problems to occur.



However I wouldn't be surprised if owners of f.ex. so called valuable breeding stallions would want to be able to have a prosthesis option in event of an accident, after they've been "perfected" on these "Guinea pigs". But that doesn't mean that I think it sounds right.
 
Me too, horses have to bear enormous weight on their legs, comparing them to humans or many other animals does not tally.
TBH I don't like the idea of amputation in a lot of larger breeds of dog, either.

As mentioned on another thread, a humane death is not the worst thing that can happen to a horse.
 
As FL says, similar cases have been discussed on here before. i personally think it is wrong, and these poor animals should have been pts.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top