Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Barbaro Gets a New Cast, and Prognosis Grows Brighter
NY Times ^ | August 10, 2006 | JOE DRAPE

Posted on 08/09/2006 7:20:55 PM PDT by neverdem

Barbaro’s fractured right hind leg is healing well, and veterinarians say they are encouraged by the progress the colt is showing in regrowing the hoof wall on his left hind leg.

Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner who took a catastrophic misstep that shattered his right hind leg in the Preakness Stakes on May 20, was said to be resting comfortably yesterday in the intensive care unit of the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals in Kennett Square, Pa. On Tuesday, his cast was changed.

“The leg looked good under the cast, especially considering the length of time that he has been in a cast,” Dean Richardson, the chief for surgery, said in a statement yesterday. “The radiographs also were encouraging. There is no sign of active infection. This is further supported by his markedly improving blood values over the last two weeks.”

Richardson said Barbaro had come out of the cast changing without problems and continued to be a good patient. “He is a very intelligent horse and has definitely figured out the whole process,” he said.

The cast, which encloses the foot and extends past the knee, will be changed regularly until the bones and joint are fused enough to sustain Barbaro’s weight.

His left hind foot, which developed a crippling and often-fatal condition known as laminitis, is also improving. After removing 80 percent of Barbaro’s left hoof wall last month, Richardson warned that the colt’s chances of recovery were poor. Still, Richardson and Barbaro’s owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, decided to continue aggressive treatment.

(Excerpt) Read more at nytimes.com ...


TOPICS: Pets/Animals; Sports
KEYWORDS: barbaro; health; medicine
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-59 next last
laminitis
1 posted on 08/09/2006 7:20:56 PM PDT by neverdem
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: neverdem

It's a horse!!


2 posted on 08/09/2006 7:24:24 PM PDT by conservatative strategery
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Very heart warming news.


3 posted on 08/09/2006 7:24:45 PM PDT by gidget7 (PC is the huge rock, behind which lies hide!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Thanks for the post. Barbaro is special.


4 posted on 08/09/2006 7:26:18 PM PDT by lakey
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Hildy

Horsey ping! :)


5 posted on 08/09/2006 7:29:27 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem

Well, folks, I am a horeseman, and there are some things these people aren't telling you. The best thing to hope for is that the owners will be able to collect some semen to freeze before they put Barbaro down. Semen is collected using an artificial vagina, and a collection mare. Barbaro has to be able to support himself on his hind legs in order for this to happen. In the meantime, this horse is being subjected to a situation that to me is very very sad. Don't get me wrong: I hope that somehow they are able to get some progeny from this wonderful horse. But in the meantime, well, it just sucks.


6 posted on 08/09/2006 7:29:41 PM PDT by kcmt01 (Youth is wasted on the wrong people.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kcmt01

You can't use frozen semen for stud purposes. The owners are doing this because they love the horse. If they wanted money, they could have "put him down" at the track for the insurance money.


7 posted on 08/09/2006 7:32:43 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: kcmt01
Aw, I hope you're wrong. I really, really do. I don't know a thing about horses but I love animals. I thought that it was just great that the owners were willing to do anything possible to save their horse.
8 posted on 08/09/2006 7:38:05 PM PDT by JanetteS (http://CommonSenseRunsWild.com)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: DJ MacWoW

While it's true that horse semen is much more fragile than bull semen, equine artificial insemination has become the norm. It is cheaper to hire a vet to collect the semen and freeze it than the transportation costs involved in shipping a mare across country.


9 posted on 08/09/2006 7:39:31 PM PDT by kcmt01 (Youth is wasted on the wrong people.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: vetvetdoug

ping


10 posted on 08/09/2006 7:45:58 PM PDT by neverdem (May you be in heaven a half hour before the devil knows that you're dead.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: neverdem; beyond the sea; Rte66; Wolfstar


Pass it along PING!


11 posted on 08/09/2006 7:49:26 PM PDT by onyx (Deport the trolls --- send them back to DU)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: kcmt01
While it's true that horse semen is much more fragile than bull semen, equine artificial insemination has become the norm.

Um, no. Not in race horses.

Jockey Club Rules

D. To be eligible for registration, a foal must be the result of a stallion’s Breeding with a broodmare (which is the physical mounting of a broodmare by a stallion with intromission of the penis and ejaculation of semen into the reproductive tract). As an aid to the Breeding, a portion of the ejaculate produced by the stallion during such mating may immediately be placed in the uterus of the broodmare being bred. A natural gestation must take place in, and delivery must be from, the body of the same broodmare in which the foal was conceived. Without limiting the above, any foal resulting from or produced by the processes of Artificial Insemination, Embryo Transfer or Transplant, Cloning or any other form of genetic manipulation not herein specified, shall not be eligible for registration.

12 posted on 08/09/2006 7:50:11 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: JanetteS

I'm sorry I injected a little reality into the situation. I don't mean to imply that Barbaro isn't worth saving. I wish I could sit down and discuss this face-to-face with all of the soft-hearted folks on this thread. It's just that horses and dogs are not the same thing. The fact is, I'm too sad to talk about it and that's all I have to say about that....


13 posted on 08/09/2006 7:50:50 PM PDT by kcmt01 (Youth is wasted on the wrong people.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: JanetteS; kcmt01

They are saving their horse because they love him. He's useless as a stud because of his back legs. They could have had $30 mil to $50 mil in insurance if they had destroyed him on the track. They didn't do that because they love Barbaro. Their statements have been posted on other Barbaro threads.


14 posted on 08/09/2006 7:57:09 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: kcmt01; neverdem
Thoroughbred breeding requires the stallion to be present when the mare is inseminated. Frozen semen is not used in thoroughbred breeding and the offspring would be unregisterable if frozen semen were to be used. In Arabian, quarter horse, racking horse, walking horse, Dutch warmblood and a few other breed programs, frozen semen is used.

The stallion in the thoroughbred breeding programs has to be able to mount the dummy mare for collection and the mare has to be in the room.

15 posted on 08/09/2006 8:00:06 PM PDT by vetvetdoug
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: DJ MacWoW
I just saw your post. I guess I have been present several times when the rules were bent a little bit. We collected the stallion with the mare as bait and conducted the intromission with the collected semen. Some mares are not too happy with a stallion covering them and will try to wreck the stallion. Most of the times the stallion covered the mare but in a couple of cases the stallion was collected on top of the mare and the mare inseminated.
16 posted on 08/09/2006 8:10:12 PM PDT by vetvetdoug
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: vetvetdoug
I can uderstand bending the rules just a little in those cases. :)

But frozen sperm won't cut it and won't Barbaros legs be too weak for him to be used as a stud? Even if rules are "bent" and not broken?

17 posted on 08/09/2006 8:14:00 PM PDT by DJ MacWoW (If you think you know what's coming next....You don't know Jack.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: JanetteS

He is wrong. It was explained right after the accident that artificial insemination for stud purposes is never done. They're treating this horse because they love him.


18 posted on 08/09/2006 8:27:24 PM PDT by Hildy (To save us both time, assume I know everything...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]

To: kcmt01; onyx
I am a horeseman, and there are some things these people aren't telling you. The best thing to hope for is that the owners will be able to collect some semen to freeze before they put Barbaro down.

You may, indeed, be a horseman. I have no way of knowing either way and must take your word. However, you clearly don't know the world of Thoroughbred breeding, where artificial insemination is not allowed. Stallions must live cover mares. The owners know, and have known from the beginning, that Barbaro's chances of being able to cover mares is poor. All depends on if he can ever put enough weight on that injured leg.

I think it's been clear for some time that his owners are doing this because he's their first Kentucky Derby winner, and they want to save him, even if they just geld him and turn him into a pet. They are giving him his shot, though, and the horse is putting up a magnificent fight.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if some day he could cover mares and turned out to be a top stallion? I know. I know. That's the romantic impulse in me, and the odds are against him. But so what.

19 posted on 08/09/2006 8:33:22 PM PDT by Wolfstar (Suffer the little children to come unto Me...for of such is the kingdom of God. [Mark 10:13-14])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 6 | View Replies]

To: JanetteS; kcmt01
Aw, I hope you're wrong. I really, really do.

He's wrong. The Jockey Club, which governs Thoroughbred breeding in this country, does not permit artificial insemination. The odds of Barbaro being able to live cover mares, which is required of Thoroughbred stallions, are slim. The owners are doing this for altruistic reasons.

20 posted on 08/09/2006 8:36:02 PM PDT by Wolfstar (Suffer the little children to come unto Me...for of such is the kingdom of God. [Mark 10:13-14])
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 8 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-4041-59 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson