Posted on 05/21/2006 5:09:08 PM PDT by jern
KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. - Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was in surgery Sunday fighting for his life a day after breaking his right rear leg in three places at the Preakness, and the colt's surgeon said he's never worked on so many catastrophic injuries to one horse.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
The opponent was Foolish Pleasure, not Secretariat.
http://66.218.69.11/search/cache?p=Ruffian&fr=FP-tab-web-t400&toggle=1&ei=UTF-8&u=www.equinenet.org/heroes/ruffian.html&w=ruffian&d=dbVkjkaqMyWZ&icp=1&.intl=us
I did above for someone else, let me know if it makes sense to you. Horses are too big to roll around in wheelchairs, and cannot lay down for long periods and have normal function either. To digest food, they need to move. To feed their legs with oxygen, they need to move, to breath, they need to move. A horse will get pneumonia merely from standing too long unable to lower their head to drain their sinus.
For many of us, we could not afford a repair such as this for a horse we love, even a minor surgery would be several thousand dollars. But horses are rarely shot any more... An overdose of anesthetic is a little more dignified.
They don't "stay down".
They completely immobilize the injured limb and the horse usually gets along just fine until it heals, even if it doesn't move especially gracefully in the meantime.
I wouldn't say most, by a long shot, though more horses of all kinds go to slaughter than I wish as long as there is one.
A great many actually end up as pleasure horses for their remaining years. Some have issues and cannot. But many do.
My mistake.
I was 14 and it broke my heart bad enough that I never watched another race..
I do recall the match was "the superhorse" of that time.
[and she was beating him and badly]....:)
Horses have very little blood supply in their legs compared to say humans. If that blood supply is interupted they will develop infection and gangrene a lot easier than a human would.
Also the reason there are few attempts to save a horse with a broken leg is the difficulty in keeping them from tearing up their cast or trying to keep them immobile for healing to take place. Very rarely is a horse with a broken leg saved, even if surgery is successful, recovery is very iffy. Most who have been saved have been placed in a sling to immobilize; but with the lack of exercise many develop other life threatening ailments.
As a horse lover and owner myself, it is a very tragic thing when a horse is seriously injured or ill, they are far more delicaate creatures than they appear to be. We have had to make the decision to put horses down and it is one of the toughest things on earth- you really have to be able to deal with reality and I know of no horse owner who takes it lightly.
Prayers for Barbero. Keep fighting.
The neighbor lady has retired racers.
[who live lives you and I could envy, bless her heart]...LOL!
The stats on how many horse of *all* former circumstances wind up as food is sickening.
[yeah, yeah, I know "different cultures" and all that crap but to me, eating a horse is the same as eating a dog. sickening]
I'm sorry if this subject is a "button" for me but I grew up a horse and dog person and I'll always be such.
It's a button for me too, and really not the topic for this day is all.
yes my friend runs them all over the country
so he was all bummed out
so from reading your info it appears its a difficult decision
i just did not realize they dont survive the casting process
Though it's far beyond the financial means of most horse owners, the technology exists to save the formerly hopeless cases.
Even the advent of simple pool therapy improved the chances of many injured horses.
Let's pray that this colt makes it to that stage.
I agree.
If you don't mind, I'll say a prayer that your heart be eased.
[and I wouldn't mind a prayer for me, too]....:)
Jeepers :~D Thanks for the info. I know most medicine available to people is also available for our animals, if we can just afford it.
p.s....I'll bet money that you've been out hugging your horses and giving extra treats today, "just because", haven't you?....:)
What do horses prey on?
I did. I have an old horse who's got sore feet, and I've been having to give him a little Bute so he can move around comfortably himself.
...good time to watch the movie "Dreamer", think positive, and pray for this beautiful animal...
That's sort of what I saw in Western Horseman all those years ago, only the owner and the vet rigged up a homemade device for the horse themselves.
It resembled those "springy" prosthetics like the one worn by the soldier who went jogging with W.
The horse did *really* well with it.
It was front hoof yet they had photos of him running and kicking his heels in the air.
They eventually made a cosmetic shell of fiberglass that covered the prosthetic so that it almost looked like a real hoof.
I do the same everytime I read a sad dog story.
[and my dogs probably think I'm crazy when I start hugging all over them for no apparent reason]...;)
I hope your old fella's feet get better.
It sucks to watch them get old.
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