system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: why does a broken leg essentially mean a death sentence for a horse?
gpt
Horses legs are under high tension with tight tendons from the knee down. This means that when they break they often shatter. That same tendon situation also means there fairly little blood flow down the leg which makes healing slow. That means that the horse would have to spend a long time on only 3 legs, something it is too heavy for without damaging those 3 legs, or spend that time lying down or in a rig to hold their weight both of which have a high likelihood of them developing colic which is a potentially lethal twisting of the intestines.