Barbaro and his fight for life

[K9soul]

I loved reading the comments on that article. As I said earlier, I find it such a miracle that his will to survive has touched so many so deeply. The one person who commented is fighting cancer, and has felt inspired by Barbaro in dealing with their own ailment. It renews my faith in humanity to see how much people care for this noble, beautiful soul.

[Sevaede]

Hooray!

I am not trying to cause anything so pleast take what I say with an open mind.

Why do they PTS horses with broken limbs? I understand the strain of the weight on the fragile limb but is it because it is difficult to repair? I don't understand about the will to live thing. I thought, generally, everything had a will to live. Have they tried to save horses with similar injuries before and they (the horse) just gives up and dies?

[Tralee]

Hooray!

I am not trying to cause anything so pleast take what I say with an open mind.

Why do they PTS horses with broken limbs? I understand the strain of the weight on the fragile limb but is it because it is difficult to repair? I don't understand about the will to live thing. I thought, generally, everything had a will to live. Have they tried to save horses with similar injuries before and they (the horse) just gives up and dies?

I think it gets to apoint when the horses quality of life will not be good enough. One has take into consideration what is best for the horse. If the horse will never be able to live a happy comfortable healthy life, IMO the best thing to do is put them down. Our family had to make the decision when my moms horse coliced. He could either be put down or have colic surgury. He did have colic surgury and he did make it, he is now showing 3rd level dressage. We were lucky that he made a 100% recovery. If we ever had a horse that coliced again and required surgury we would most likely put them down. I don't have time to go nto details.

[Vela]

Wenisrubber,

That is a good question. They do try to save horses with broken limbs if there is still blood flow to the area, the area is not an open fracture (most horse's leg fractures are open and therefore too much infection and debris is in the wound, as well as destroyed blood supply. Barbaro's leg did not have an open fracture and that is the only reason they were able to try), and the horse's attitude can tolerate the confinement, medications, and pain with a good attitude. Most horses, especially racehores, do not have the mental stability necessary to take being confined and having so much done to them for the length of time it takes for the bones to repair. Even beyond the physical limitations, a horse has to have the mental fortitude and "want" to go on. Some horses do just give up, get depressed, and die. No matter how much medical science is involved, if a horse truly gives up, they will go downhill and die, no matter what people can do for them. Racehorses are bred to run, fast, and most cannot tolerate the confinement, sling, surgeries, etc. to the extent that Barbaro has, and still keep the happy, loving life attitude. That attitude of his is what is keeping him going at this point. He hasn't given up and become depressed and laid down to die. I think that is what has touched so many people, he has gone as far down as a horse can get, to the point he was given almost no chance to live, and he still lives on, he is still happy, he asks to go in his sling, he does everything right he has to do to make it. I know that may seem odd to many, but I beleive he knows what is going on. He will always have a funny walk and maybe a funny hoof and odd looking leg that was broken, but if things continue to heal, he will walk out of there on his own legs. I beleive that is what inspires people.

[K9soul]

Excellent post Vela, you really explained it all well

[gini]

http://www.vet.upenn.edu/barbaro/

You can send a message to Barbaro at the site listed above. Just be sure to keep your message below 250 characters.

The story of this magnificent beauty has touched me very deeply.

[Sevaede]

Ahh, thank you much Vela! I understand it 100 percent better now. I never could until now. It all makes good sense.

[Vela]

Some great news about Barbaro, he is regrowing new hoof! While that may not seem impressive in itself, there was a real chance his hoof would not grow back due to the severe damage to the laminae in the hoof, so this is wonderful news!

http://thoroughbredtimes.com/todaysn...65358&subsec=1

[K9soul]

I really enjoyed this article from The Japan Times (text copied below).

---

Monday, July 31, 2006

EDITORIAL
Sympathy for a racehorse

The world's compassion is notoriously quirky. Just consider where it has been directed over the past couple of months, a period as replete with tragedy and disaster as any in recent memory. Another lethal tsunami struck Indonesia. The sectarian slaughter in Iraq worsened, with Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki conceding last week that some 100 innocent Iraqis are now being killed daily. War hovered in the Horn of Africa and exploded in the Middle East, producing heart-rending images of dead, injured and displaced civilians, particularly in Lebanon. Yet while all this misery was unfolding, many people, in many countries, appeared more concerned about the fate of a horse.

Or so it appeared to some. Charges of unseemly sentiment flew. But really, it's time for the critics to calm down -- and let people's feelings flow where they will.

The steed in question is not just any old horse, of course, but the fabulous American colt Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner that famously shattered his hind leg running in the Preakness Stakes 10 weeks ago. Since then, the ups and downs of Barbaro's condition -- he has been stabilized, but his survival remains a long shot -- have been the subject of daily bulletins from his surgeons in Pennsylvania and frequent reports in newspapers worldwide, including this one.

The horse has also been inundated with good wishes in the form of truckloads of carrots and apples, which he is said to appreciate, and get-well cards and e-mails, which he sensibly ignores. Even God, who you might think would be much too busy to care, has been bombarded with requests for divine veterinary intervention on Barbaro's behalf.

Noticing all this, quite a few professional commentators and other public scolds have climbed onto their high horse, so to speak, to call attention to the moral idiocy of valuing, or appearing to value, an animal's well-being over that of human beings. "People, it's a horse!" they like to point out, as if Barbaro's well-wishers hadn't spotted that.

They also contend that it's hypocritical to fret over the fate of a single animal when the industry that produced him mistreats and discards so many anonymous others. Yes, Barbaro was a winner, they admit, one in a million even, and a bright, attractive horse to boot. And yes, it makes sense for his owners to spend millions on all that long-shot care -- screws and slings and recovery pools and the rest of it -- because the "little Barbaros" they have said they want would earn them their money back many times over.

But it makes no sense, in their view, for strangers to care about Barbaro's fate when they don't know him, have no stake in his recovery and apparently couldn't care less about all the other injured or worn-out racehorses who end up as pet food.

Those are sound, logical arguments. The fact is, though, that most of us don't respond to the news with logic. The critics are right: People are sentimental. Most of us are also not very good at grasping abstractions or imaginatively comprehending misery experienced en masse, whether by human beings or by horses. So we zero in on stories and anecdotes about individuals. We yawn at statistics and charts but wake up for a photograph or a movie -- anything that personalizes. That doesn't necessarily denote hypocrisy, though. Chances are Barbaro's saga has done more to publicize the dark side of the racing industry and the vulnerability of thoroughbreds than a hundred earnest studies or editorials ever could.

And yes, we anthropomorphize shamelessly, projecting our own fears, hopes and predilections onto animals because that's just what people do. Would pandas be so popular if they didn't look so much like giant human babies with black eye patches? True, Barbaro doesn't look like us. He's much better-looking. But he certainly behaves enough like us to win us over -- nickering at the mares in the neighboring stalls, falling asleep on his visiting jockey's shoulder, looking out his window, enjoying his feed bag.

To many people, the daily updates headlined "Barbaro: His Day" conjure up a life they wouldn't mind living themselves if it weren't for those leg casts and screws. They identify with this horse.

Barbarophilia is certainly not logical. And it is sentimental, outrageously so. But here's a thought the anti-Barbaro crowd seems to have missed: Compassion isn't an either-or proposition. Interest in the fate of an injured horse in Pennsylvania doesn't preclude concern for terrified children in West Java or Baghdad or Tyre. Very likely, it's the same warmhearted people caring about the lot of them. Even if it wasn't, you can't legislate the flow of sympathy.

To borrow an old -- though hopefully not prophetic -- idiom, the critics who think otherwise are just beating a dead horse.

The Japan Times
(C) All rights reserved

---

And this article from the UK details everything about him and surrounding the incidents very well: http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/s...830761,00.html

[Vela]

A video for those interested in how Barbaro is doing.

http://www.vet.upenn.edu/newsandeven...roClip8-14.htm

You need Quicktime to watch it. It's wonderful to see.

[sasvermont]

August 28, 2006 Update

Barbaro has cast change

August 28, 2006

KENNETT SQUARE, PA —Veterinarians at Penn’s George D. Widener Hospital changed the right hind leg cast of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro yesterday, Sunday, August 27. “The cast was changed because there was a small crack in it,” said Dr. Dean W. Richardson, Chief of Surgery. “Based on new radiographs that were taken, the leg looked excellent under the cast. The pastern joint looks completely fused, and there is only a small area in the long pastern bone that has a little farther to go before we take him out of the cast completely.”

In addition, the radiographs showed that there were no signs of infection. The cast change took place under general anesthesia, and Barbaro had another successful pool recovery before returning to his stall.

The colt’s left hind foot has laminitis, but Barbaro seems comfortable with that foot as well. The bandage on the left hind foot continues to be changed daily.

According to Dr. Richardson: “Barbaro is bright and happy this morning with an excellent appetite.”

Barbaro remains in the Intensive Care Unit of the University of Pennsylvania’s George D. Widener Hospital, where he is recovering from injuries suffered at the Preakness on May 20.

The next update will be posted on Tuesday, September 5 unless there is a significant change in Barbaro’s condition.

For more information on Barbaro, please see www.vet.upenn.edu.

The University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine Background

Penn’s School of Veterinary Medicine is one of the world’s premier veterinary schools. Founded in 1884, the School was built on the concept of Many Species, One MedicineTM. The birthplace of veterinary specialties, the School serves a distinctly diverse array of animal patients, from pets to horses to farm animals at our two campuses. In Philadelphia, on Penn’s campus, are the Matthew J. Ryan Veterinary Hospital for companion animals, as well as classrooms, laboratories and the School’s administrative offices. The large-animal facility, New Bolton Center, in Kennett Square, Pa., encompasses hospital facilities for the care of horses and food animals as well as diagnostic laboratories serving the agriculture industry. The School has successfully integrated scholarship and scientific discovery with all aspects of veterinary medical education.

[My Peanuts]

This is so weird. I just looked Barbaro up on Google to see how he was doing, then I come on PT and the update was here.

Great news!

Keep it up Barbaro!

[delidog]

I was in the Show Jumping World for 17 years
I Worked alongside Michael Matz Often
What A Gentleman!!!
Nobody Cares for His Horses Like Michael!!!
End Of Story!!!