It is a horse!!!!! Come on we don't even get this worked up for people like Terri Shivo. If the U.S. would have gotten behind her like this animal than she COULD be still alive. This is so selfish I can't even believe it. To send gifts and money to a horse is just insane. I am appauled that nobody cares that babies get killed daily, the elderly are thrown away, but we care more for a horse. Sometimes our priorities are just not good.
Why would you think they're mutually exclusive? I'm still horrified at the circumstances surrounding Terri's tragic death, I'm totally pro-life, and no one's equating one issue with the other. Let's keep things clear AND separate here, as they are.
It's part of good human nature that we care for God's creatures, just as evil men tend to abuse them.
People have always responded to fluffy kittens, cuddly dogs and noble horses. And while some people's priorities ARE skewed, I would bet you the people who care about him are also the ones who feed the poor and adopt disabled babies.
Come on yourself! You think because people get worked up over an animal that they don't care about people? Where have you been hiding? I think some of us have the capacity to care very deeply for both.
Stop whining. What a "ray of sunshine" you must be- when people wish you "Good day", do you yell "How can I have a 'good day' when Terri Schiavo is dead????".
This guy gets it:
Barbaro's will to stay alive live is worth celebrating
courier-journel.com
He should be dead by now, and we know that.
We just don't like admitting it because morbid thoughts scare and depress us. We'd rather hold onto Barbaro's life than submit to his demise. It's a most human sentiment and a proper one, too.
But in order for us to appreciate this horse right now, we have to look at the dark side. It shows us how much of a champion Barbaro remains. It shows us his strength. It shows us that his willingness to confront death, to fend off death, surpasses any dominant achievement he had on the track.
Poor Barbaro? Yes, but how about more Barbaro?
Keep going. Keep battling. Keep showing us even more than we knew you had.
What's harder? Winning the Kentucky Derby by 61/2 lengths or surviving for eight weeks while being required to prop 1,200 pounds on a shattered right hind leg?
Ever sprained your ankle and tried to stand on it for hours and hours, days and days, until it healed? Didn't think so. For the most part that has been Barbaro's assignment since he hurt the leg during the Preakness Stakes on May 20; only his injury is way more painful and his girth way more problematic.
A survivor
Eight weeks ago we heard doctors say any other horse would've been put down instead of having surgery to insert 27 screws and a titanium plate on a delicate limb.
Eight weeks later Barbaro is still fighting.
Four days ago we heard Dean Richardson, Barbaro's chief surgeon, describe how the colt had developed a severe case of the potentially fatal laminitis in his left hind leg, his good leg, and faced "long shot" odds of survival.
Four days later Barbaro is holding steady.
Every day is the same perilous struggle, and there's no clear timetable for relief. His dilemma just keeps rewinding itself.
"We monitor his condition very closely because signs can change quickly," Dr. Richardson said in a release Friday. "However, it's important to remember that Barbaro's treatment could easily continue for several weeks and, if all goes well, even months. Our goal is to keep him as comfortable as possible, and clearly that comfort level will be a major indicator for our treatment decisions."
There are so many things that could go wrong. If Barbaro develops laminitis in another foot, he'd likely be euthanized because the pain would be too much. It might become too painful even without a spreading of laminitis.
He should be dead. But he continues to live. He continues to impress.
There's a positive
Thoughts of what a healthy Barbaro could've accomplished do not matter anymore. What he's accomplishing seals his legacy as talented and tough.
He's teaching us something about horse racing, too. We appropriately put considerable emphasis on what went wrong and how the sport needs to challenge itself on safety issues. But Barbaro's not going to be remembered as a champion who showed us the ugly side of horse racing.
His story is showing us the heart of this sport. We're discovering why we love animals so much. We're appreciating how special it is just to watch a racehorse compete and walk away healthy.
All athletes put their bodies in danger every time they play. But when we see LeBron James or Tom Brady writhing in pain, our thoughts don't immediately wander to death. They do with horses.
I can still hear the screams of a woman at Pimlico Race Course when Barbaro pulled up lame. She cried and yelled and jumped over a rail to yell more. She knew the morbid possibilities.
Barbaro dismissed death that day. He's dismissed death for 58 straight days now.
Can he continue? I don't know. But it sure is amazing to watch him try.
Jerry Brewer, author
Barbaro a hero because he lacks human flaws
By Linda Robertson
http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercurynews/sports/15060420.htm
The cards and letters keep coming, enough to fill stables. Flowers, too - especially roses. Well-wishers drive out of their way to visit. Faith healers call. Schoolchildren send drawings.
The patient can't acknowledge the outpouring of affection. Nor is he aware of a nation's concern. He is, after all, a horse.
But Barbaro isn't just any horse. He was the Triple Crown favorite who broke down after bolting from the Preakness starting gate. Millions watched as his right hind leg buckled and cracked, then hung on a hinge of tissue, dangling grotesquely as jockey Edgar Prado pulled him to a stop.
These 1,200-pound thoroughbreds are so powerful, yet their legs are as delicate as the stems of wine glasses.
Now, Barbaro cannot do the one thing he was born to do - run. It is his immobility that could kill him. The casts and confinement are causing a chain reaction of infection.
He is fighting for his life. So why has Barbaro's heart captivated so many? He is, after all, a horse.
At first, it was thought Barbaro would have to be put down, euthanized like the filly Ruffian was in 1975. But after surgery to insert a plate and 27 screws, he was given a 50 percent chance of survival.
Seven weeks later come the complications Barbaro's veterinarian feared. Dr. Dean Richardson removed 80 percent of Barbaro's left hind hoof to treat acute laminitis caused by Barbaro putting too much weight on his good leg. It could be months before Barbaro is out of the woods. Or it could be days until his pain is too severe to manage.
His owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, face tough decisions. As Richardson said, if they sustain Barbaro's life and Barbaro doesn't make it, they'll be criticized for hanging on too long. If they put him to sleep, they'll be criticized for quitting too early.
Racing fans and people who know nothing about the sport have been riveted by Barbaro's plight and follow every update out of Pennsylvania.
Barbaro is, after all, a horse. Why the tears shed on his behalf?
He is a hero unencumbered by human flaws. At a time when so many of the people we look up to let us down, Barbaro doesn't lie, cheat or manipulate. In a world boiling with hate and revenge, he's not cruel, greedy or power-mad. After he won the Kentucky Derby, he was happy to receive pats on the neck and extra oats. His innocence prevents disillusionment. He gives and gets unconditional love.
Who hasn't adored a pet and the pet's unflagging optimism? Who hasn't fantasized about riding a horse, either off into the sunset like John Wayne or across the finish line like Pat Day? Who hasn't daydreamed about being an animal - carefree and content to frolic in an open field?
Race horses aren't bred to be cuddly creatures. They're not as smart as Lassie. But there's something about their majesty and the "brightness in the eyes" that Richardson checks for in Barbaro that makes them idealized objects of affection.
Americans loved Man O'War, Seabiscuit, Citation, Secretariat, Ruffian, Seattle Slew, Funny Cide. Now they are rooting for Barbaro to give it his all in recovery as he did on the track.
The thin legs and small hooves that carried him so swiftly have turned into the source of his entrapment. A human would have to land on his middle finger to approximate the same proportion of weight a thoroughbred's hoof supports when it hits the ground.
Barbaro is like a bird without wings. He's hobbling or harnessed in a giant sling, caught in a race for his life.
Uncorrupted Barbaro is our new hero
Horse is all we wish our human athletes were: silent, brave and brief 7/19/06 MSNBC.com
By Bernie Lincicome, Rocky Mountain News
Here's the argument. We love Barbaro, the doomed horse, because he is everything we wish our human athletes were: silent, brave and brief. He came, he conquered, he collapsed. The song almost writes itself.
How much easier it is to let the heart hug the innocent, uncomplicated by greed, by graft or by ego, than it is to suffer the imperfections of free choice. No steroids in this body, or if so, not his fault.
No spite, no malice, no sass, no head butts, no misquotes in Barbaro's autobiography
How much more appealing is a tragic victim than an insufferable success.
We can blame Ben Roethlisberger for bad judgment, but we can only weep for Barbaro.
Suitable for framing are photos of the horse, wallet size as well, and both have Barbaro with all four legs off the ground, the first the driving gallop at the wire of the Kentucky Derby, 6 1/2 lengths clear, not another horse in the frame.
The other picture is of some sort of medieval contraption with belts and pulleys and tethers, hoisting the animal into the air, letting him hang helpless, his legs bandaged and splinted.
This is the one that tugs at the tears, while the other could be any winning horse. It reminds us of the famous photo of Babe Ruth, leaning on his bat, at Old Timers Day, a shell of the man that was.
Like the Babe, Barbaro got bigger than his sport, bigger than horse racing, not an unusual achievement these days since paintball and poker are also bigger. Pocket kings cause more gasps than the sport of kings.
Horse racing has been looking for a redeemer for 28 years, that one animal whose name would be on the lips of the world, a hero to clot the common curiosity.
Secretariat did that, more so than Seattle Slew or Affirmed, but none since. The Triple Crown is the demanding measure for immortality, the condition for legend and lasting fame.
Horse racing does set its standard high, but it can design its contenders without them having the least say in it. Breeding and bloodlines do not provide the same comfort in human sports, except for assorted Mannings, Griffeys and Bondses.
Failure after failure passed by, leaving few tracks beyond hoof marks in the stall. And now the news crawl updates the condition of Barbaro, endless bits indistinguishable from Middle East death counts and weather warnings.
Well, a crippled Tiny Tim thawed the icy heart of Scrooge, after all. And Barbaro has less a chance of ever walking right again. God bless us, every one.