Posted on 01/29/2007 9:35:15 AM PST by lunarbicep
Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro was euthanized Monday morning after complications from his breakdown at the Preakness last May.
"We just reached a point where it was going to be difficult for him to go on without pain," co-owner Roy Jackson said. "It was the right decision, it was the right thing to do. We said all along if there was a situation where it would become more difficult for him then it would be time."
Oh that hurt so bad to hear that news.
Barbaro you were my hero, your spirit will live on!
The main benefit to all this is the huge amount of research money New Bolton has received as a result of this high-profile case - they got a single 5 million donation from one anonymous donor, not to mention many other smaller donations which will help other horses in the future.
"I would say thank you for everything, and all your thoughts and prayers over the last eight months or so," Jackson said to Barbaro's fans.
http://msn.foxsports.com/horseracing/story/6421288
"Although the get-well cards and banners eventually will fade or be trashed, the biggest gift has been the $1.2 million raised since early June for the Barbaro Fund. The money is put toward needed equipment such as an operating room table, and a raft and sling for the same pool recovery Barbaro used after his surgeries."
http://msn.foxsports.com/horseracing/story/6421288
Yeah, like I'd find that a great comfort when they slip me the needle.
They did everything they could for the horse. When a horse gets a broken leg, it's almost always a death sentence. Hate to see it happen, though.
A sad day.
Thank you for posting this poem. It helps.
I say it's about time. It's the only humane thing to do at this point.
So sad. Good luck on your journey over the Rainbow Bridge, Barbaro.
How sad.
Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro euthanized
Barbaro, winner of the Kentucky Derby Presented by Yum! Brands (G1) whose battle to overcome injuries suffered in the Preakness Stakes (G1) attracted worldwide attention and a legion of fans, was euthanized on Monday morning at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center.
Gretchen Jackson, who owned and bred the Dynaformer colt along with her husband, Roy, said that Barbaro’s front feet were beginning to become affected by the limited ability of both his laminitic left hind foot and his fused right limb that was shattered in the Preakness Stakes to bear weight.
The decision was made early Monday after consulting with Dean Richardson, D.V.M., chief surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania’s veterinary school.
“There was not a foot that was not affected,” Gretchen Jackson said. “He just would not lie down. He had not layed down for two days now. That can’t be good for him. He’s got to get the weight off of his feet. They were bringing him in and out of the sling, but his front feet were showing signs of laminitic changes and we just thought rather than put him through any more else. He had been good up to the beginning of this month, and then everything went.”
Barbaro, who became the sixth undefeated Derby winner in history when he won the 2006 Derby by 6 1/2 lengths, demonstrated considerable discomfort on his right hind foot over the weekend and underwent surgery to insert two pins in his right hind cannon bone in an effort to eliminate all weight bearing from the right foot on Saturday. The procedure was described as a last ditch effort to keep Barbaro comfortable enough to continue his recovery.
“Dean said, ‘The good stuff takes a long time, and the bad goes fast,’ “ Gretchen Jackson said. “That seems like that’s what it was, it went really fast. We all are really, really confident that he didn’t suffer. We know that he was pain free and we just didn’t ever want to see him…it’s an issue of pain and quality of life. If it’s not going to happen, it’s just not going to happen. We just owed it to him to give him the best.”
http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/nat...uthanized.aspx
The Jockey Club that registers Thoroughbreds mandates that all matings be by "live cover."
You could use the semen on a mare of a different breed, such as Quarter Horses, Warmbloods, etc. You could race the QH in Quarter races. Or you could use the offspring for another purpose such as jumping or dressage, or barrel racing, etc.
But you could not get a registed Thoroughbred. So any offspring could not be used for Thoroughbred racing or breeding purposes.
I'm so sorry to hear about this. He had been doing so well until this last couple of days, and then to have this happen really brings home that horses, for all their power and size, can be such fragile creatures.
May Barbaro lie down in green pastures, and God lead him beside the still waters...
So sad, but it's the right thing to do.
They can't do that. According to what I heard at lunch time in the throrughbred world all breeding has to be done the way it was intended or it didn't count.
So sad for the horse and horse racing world. His docs and owners/trainers were wonderful throughout this entire situation. God bless them, surely they are suffering but chose wisely not to allow him further suffering.
Remembering Barbaro
by Steve Haskin
Date Posted: January 29, 2007
Last Updated: January 29, 2007
On the morning of Jan. 29, Dr. Dean W. Richardson, head of surgery at New Bolton Medical Center, made the somber announcement most everyone had been prepared to hear more than eight months earlier. Barbaro had been euthanized. The wave of grief that was anticipated back then now came swiftly and unexpectedly.
After so many months of hope and high expectations, Barbaro’s fight for life and the miracle story he had written were over. There would be no happy ending to this fairy tale. One did not have to hear Richardson’s words to know they were as heavy as the millions of hearts around the world that had embraced Barbaro and his struggle to survive against all odds.
What made the news of Barbaro’s death even harder to accept was that only a month earlier, talk had begun about the colt’s possible release from New Bolton. When Richardson, although still guarded, said that Barbaro’s release could come in the “not so distant future,” it brought a wave of elation and optimism. The horse was happy, eating, and enjoying his daily walks and grazing sessions. Christmas brought a deluge of cards and gifts to New Bolton, and spirits were high.
Then, virtually overnight, the colt suffered a “significant setback” when some new separation of the hoof was found requiring additional removal of tissue, and a pall once again hung over the Kennett Square clinic, as it did back in May and again in July when Barbaro developed a severe case of laminitis that would ultimately lead to his death.
Following surgery to remove more of the left hind hoof, Barbaro “improved significantly” and the crisis appeared to have been averted. But it was soon followed by another when a “deep subsolar abscess” developed on the colt’s right hind foot, which necessitated yet another surgical procedure on Jan. 27, in which two steel pins were placed through the cannon bone to support an external skeletal fixation, which would eliminate all weight bearing on the foot and give it a chance to heal. Barbaro, despite being placed under anesthesia well over a dozen times since his arrival at New Bolton, remarkably came out of this latest complex and risky procedure eating and in good spirits.
But this time Barbaro was beyond all hope, and Dr. Richardson and owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson were forced to come to the realization that they had run out of miracles.
Having witnessed live the shocking breakdown of Ruffian and the horrific spills of Go For Wand and Pine Island, it is difficult to come to terms with the question: which is worse, watching the quick, relatively painless deaths of those magnificent fillies or riding the roller coaster of emotions that continued for more than eight months with Barbaro, ultimately leading to the same fate?
The answer, at least in Barbaro’s case, is the latter. The colt proved that greatness does not have to be achieved on the racetrack. His incredible will and indefatigable nature kept him alive long enough to show the world just how much emotion is capable of pouring out of one’s heart for a Thoroughbred racehorse, and how far the field of veterinary medicine has come. He made a hero out of an unknown veterinarian, whose dedication, wit, and wisdom turned him into a James Herriot-like figure to millions of people.
Rather than dwell on the outcome, it is best to concentrate on the heroic efforts that were made to save a horse that lived eight months longer than he should have. It was not disease or injury that ended Barbaro’s life, it was recovery. If there is a flaw in nature’s power of healing, it is that it cannot be applied to the Thoroughbred, to whom the words stationary and prone do not co-exist. Infused with the fiery blood of its ancestors, the Thoroughbred’s impetuous nature sadly is in constant conflict with its fragile legs, and it is that nature that often leads to its demise.
Although Barbaro had to endure a great deal of physical and mental anguish, he also experienced the ultimate in human kindness and compassion, while being pampered like the noblest of kings. And he leaves behind a legacy that far transcends his stunning victory in the Kentucky Derby.
Like everyone else, I was prepared to bid a tearful goodbye to Barbaro immediately following the Preakness, and then again in July when laminitis appeared. I was prepared yet again in early and then late January. I no longer have to prepare for the worst. After eight months, during which time the horse’s struggle made national headlines around the world, Barbaro’s ordeal finally is over.
Cervantes said, “The guts carry the feet, not the feet the guts.” Barbaro’s guts carried his feet to victory after victory. But it carried his heart a lot farther.
Copyright © 2007 The Blood-Horse, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
*... and they're off! Rounding the clubhouse turn it's Barbaro by 6 lengths!*
He's already won Heaven's Preakness and is just about to win Heaven's Belmont, right now!
Go Barbaro Go!
~~~~
"Born in the valley
And raised in the trees
Of Western Kentucky
On wobbly knees
With mama beside you
To help you along
You'll soon be a growing up strong.
All the long, lazy mornings
In pastures of green
The sun on your withers
The wind in your mane
Could never prepare you
For what lies ahead
The run for the roses so red --
And it's run for the roses
As fast as you can
Your fate is delivered
Your moment's at hand
It's the chance of a lifetime
In a lifetime of chance
And it's high time you joined
In the dance
It's high time you joined
In the dance --
From sire to sire
It's born in the blood
The fire of a mare
And the strength of a stud
It's breeding and it's training
And it's something unknown
That drives you and carries
You home.
And it's run for the roses
As fast as you can
Your fate is delivered
Your moment's at hand
It's the chance of a lifetime
In a lifetime of chance
And it's high time you joined
In the dance
It's high time you joined
In the dance -- "
~~~~Dan Fogelberg
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