you're right that the majority of racehorses are treated as non-entities, useful only as long as they can race. but a prosthetic shouldn't affect a horse used for stud only, for example barbaro. the money he could've made at stud would've definitely "justified" attempting this. they were scraping nearly all his hoof away at the end anyway from thrush.

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the important consideration is the type of break. many "hairline" fractures actually can heal. but the more compound the injury (shattering bone, open compound breaks) the main problem is that the horse must have all his weight kept off the healing leg, and for that amount of time the "opposing" hoof often develops laminitis. there's so much weight on such a slender bone.

it's basically assumed that a horse's athletic career is over once they've sustained a break. the broken bone will never have the soundness it did before the break.

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I highly recommend Water for Elephants if anyone hasn't ready it. Great story, and has an elephant that will melt your heart.

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She needs to go kick the people who planted the mines now.

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