IT'S the story that overshadowed Australia's most glamorous race. But why did Melbourne Cup runner Verema have to be euthanised after snapping a bone in her leg at Flemington?
In short, horses are bad patients that just aren't built to recover from fractures, says Australian Veterinary Association equine surgeon Dr Barry Smyth.
It's a high impact and often "catastrophic" injury when a 500kg horse, racing at 60km/h, breaks its leg, sending huge amounts of energy through the bone.
"When things go wrong, they go very wrong," Dr Smyth said. "Horses are not constructed to withstand major trauma or injury."
As thousands of people around Australia drank champagne to celebrate Fiorente's Melbourne Cup victory, the champion mare lay on the ground with a shattered leg, about to be put to sleep.
Verema, who dropped out of the great race in distress at about the halfway mark, snapped her cannon bone, a large bone in her lower leg. On-track vets made a quick decision to euthanase Verema but the million-dollar mare's death was met with outrage from punters.
Verema moments before she snapped her cannon bone in the 2013 Melbourne Cup. Picture: Wayne Ludbey Source: News Limited Share on email Share on print TOP OF PAGE TOP STORIES Three dead in super typhoon Haiyan
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VISIT OUR HOMEPAGE FOR ALL TODAY'S NEWS Evolution has certainly been unkind to horses. Their bones shatter into irreparable pieces in a high-impact injury.
Even a clean fracture usually means a fatal end because their lower limbs are made up of just skin and tendons with little muscle to stabilise a broken bone.
Inserting metal plates, commonly used to repair fractures in humans, dogs and cats, is not an option because they are only designed to hold 100kg of body weight, Dr Smyth said.
Then there's weeks and months of trying to keep a horse still.
Horses can't lay down because they are vulnerable to pneumonia and pressure sores - not that a horse would lay still anyway.
Standing on three legs is a no-go too because horses develop problems in the opposite leg holding the extra weight.
"You can occasionally get a horse that stands in a sling or suspended in a pool but temperamentally, they aren't built for long periods of nursing," Dr Smyth said.
"If you try and put a horse in a sling it will often try and jump out and end up doing more damage.
"Horses have not evolved to be good patients, anatomically they are not built to withstand fractures and temperamentally they will not respond to long-term nursing."
