The home Stretch: A hard decision to ease horses' pain

Some of my friends were horrified to know that horses are still being euthanised, when they read that Godolphin's Rewilding had been put down after he broke his leg during Saturday's King George VI & Queen Elizabeth Stakes (Group 1) at Ascot.

I found it hard to convince them that it was the right thing to do. But they refused to buy my line of reasoning that you were actually putting them out of their misery by giving them a lethal injection.

Call it mercy killing or whatever you want but euthanasia is the only way out when a horse suffers a serious injury, particularly in his or her leg. Racehorses are cared for to the highest and kept in the best conditions. People who own horses love them and it's this love for your horse that forces you to put him down in the face of injury.

Somebody asked me that why should a broken leg lead to ending a horses' life. How do you justify euthanasia. It's a terrible thing to resort to.

I know, but it is usually easier for them to have their lives ended when they break a leg and not have them suffering in pain for months as vets experiment with the healing process, which just does not happen.

Barbaro's case

There was the case of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, who shattered his leg in the Preakness Stakes, two weeks after winning the first leg of the American Triple Crown. The injury was so severe that he fractured bones in several places. But his owners would not give up.

He underwent surgery after surgery, developed laminitis in another leg and suffered a lot. After months of trying to save him, veterinaries and his owners concluded that he could not be saved and eventually put him out of his missed when they euthanised him almost eight months after his injury.

In hindsight wouldn't it have been better to have taken that decision soon after he broke down? Did he have to suffer so much for the benefit of preservation?

I don't know, but it's something to think about.