Posted on 01/28/2007 3:00:36 PM PST by HairOfTheDog
By RICHARD ROSENBLATT, AP Racing Writer 40 minutes ago
Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro suffered another significant setback over the weekend, and his fight for survival may have reached a critical point. After Barbaro developed a deep abscess in his right hind foot, surgery was performed Saturday to insert two steel pins in a bone, one that was shattered but now healthy, to eliminate all weight bearing on the ailing foot.
The procedure is a risky one, because it transfers more weight to the leg. If the bone were to break again, chief surgeon Dr. Dean Richardson said: "I think we'll quit.
"When things start to go bad, it's like a house of cards," he said Sunday in a telephone interview with The Associated Press. "If one thing fails, that puts more stress on another part. And if that fails, then you're stuck with managing two problems. That's why these are difficult cases."
The right rear leg was on the mend until recently. It's the one Barbaro shattered at the start of the Preakness Stakes eight months ago, and the three broken bones had completely healed.
Now this. The surgery, in which a cast was removed and replaced by an external brace known as a skeletal fixation device, addresses one problem but could create others.
Barbaro likely will have to bear more weight on his front feet because of his two ailing back legs, making him more susceptible to laminitis, a painful and often fatal disease caused by uneven weight distribution. Laminitis already struck Barbaro's left rear foot in July, and 80 percent of the hoof was removed.
"It's something that we are watching closely, and that could also be a thing that could lead to us quitting," Richardson said.
The colt was doing well Sunday, according to Richardson, and "we will continue to treat Barbaro aggressively as long as he remains bright, alert and eating," he said in an update sent out by the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pa.
Based on Richardson's advice, owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson have been making the decisions concerning Barbaro. Their major concern from the start has been to keep Barbaro comfortable.
"No one is interested in putting the horse through any type of misery," Richardson said. "We're going to treat him the best way we can as long as he stays comfortable. And we're going to stick with that no matter if his chances are 1 percent or 90 percent.
"If he gets to the point where we just don't think it's reasonable to go on, we will not go on."
Gretchen Jackson spent time with Barbaro on Sunday, and said her colt is "still bright-eyed and still eating.
"It's not over 'til it's over," she said. "I'd say he's comfortable and being treated very well. As long as he's comfortable ... Dean knows our feelings. We trust him."
After months of upbeat progress reports, Barbaro has endured several setbacks the past three weeks.
On Jan. 9, Barbaro had a cast placed on his left rear leg to help realign a bone. The next day, Richardson removed damaged tissue from the colt's left rear hoof, and Barbaro was placed in a sling to help him keep weight off his feet.
On Jan. 13, another section of his left rear hoof was removed, and a cast was placed back on his right hind leg for additional support. He was gradually improving, but last Thursday, Barbaro's left rear cast was replaced and a custom-made plastic and steel brace was applied to his right hind leg. The leg also was fitted with a special orthotic brace for more support.
In the latest setback, the right hind leg is again at risk.
The pins in the right rear leg are connected to an external brace, which is connected to a lightweight alloy foot plate. This results "in the horse eliminating all weight bearing from the foot," Richardson said Sunday in a statement. "The horse's weight is borne through the pins across his cannon bone."
Allowing the pins to bear weight carries "significant risk."
"We believed it was our only option given the worsening of the right hind foot problem," Richardson said in a statement. "Unfortunately, we felt we needed to take this risk because this approach offered our only hope of keeping Barbaro acceptably comfortable."
He explained Barbaro had been uncomfortable on his right hind foot because of an abscess that developed when the horse had a "period of discomfort" on the left hind foot.
"It is not laminitis, but the undermining of the sole and part of the lateral heel region are potentially just as serious," Richardson said.
Sunday, Richardson sounded as serious as he did on May 21, the day after the Preakness, when he delivered the news that Barbaro's chance of survival was a "coin toss."
"I'm upset, worried, not sleeping well," he said. "A lot of people are very, very committed and spent a huge amount of emotional sources on this horse. So it's very upsetting when things go badly."
"Last I heard they had put a brace-type thing on the leg that had the cast on."
They had to drill through the original right leg fracture area to install the brace, and there seemed to be a lot of concern that this would cause another fracture. But apparently there was nothing else that could be done.
Thanks for posting that. In your opinion, does this oath apply to situations where an otherwise healthy animal is brought in to be euthanized strictly for convenience's sake?
Sorry to hear the news. Condolences to all that knew and nurtured him.
He gave it one helluva run.
Horses go to heaven?
Oh God.
I am so sad!!! What a courageous fight this horse put forth. Maybe God just needed a new horse. :)
........ this is awful...........
http://www.philly.com/mld/dailynews/16572920.htm
Owned by Roy and Gretchen Jackson, of Chester County, and trained by Michael Matz, of Chester County, Barbaro was the third consecutive horse with Philadelphia connections to become a Triple Crown star. Unlike Smarty Jones and Afleet Alex, however, Barbaro did not get through racing's marquee series.
And everybody is left to wonder about what might have been. Nobody will ever know how good this horse really was.
That is sad. The finality of it is sadder.
"It's a sad situation because we had some bright periods," Roy Jackson said. "It looked like we might make it through the thing. Too much weight on the legs like that. Dean had said from the start it was going to be a long, long road. It was better not to go further and let him suffer."
Jackson was trying to hold his emotions in when talking about it. When asked how his wife was doing, he said: "I think the one it's been the hardest on is Dean Richardson.
"He was really upset by the whole thing. I think he probably feels like he failed or something. He's really taking it hard, like everybody ...
"I don't think any of them there [at New Bolton] should feel that way at all because they did a monumental job of trying to get through this whole thing."
(snip)
One thing just led to another," Richardson said.
And the hardest decision was made.
"You could just tell a little bit the last couple of days," Jackson said. "His looks were slightly different. It was the right decision."
Top-class horses are often buried, often on a horse farm.
"We haven't really reached a conclusion [on that]," Roy Jackson said. "We've thought about it a little back with the laminitis thing. I really don't know exactly where would be the best place. We've got to think that out."
I hope I can always cry over a beautiful horse.
I pray.............
:(
Damn...I was really hoping he'd make it. Poor Barbaro. He was a great horse.
Anyone who has had to make that awful decision concerning a beloved animal will understand.
God saw he was getting tired
And a cure was not to be,
So He put His arms around him
And whispered, "Come with Me."
With tearful eyes we watched him suffer
And saw him fade away,
Although we loved him dearly
We could not make himm stay.
A golden heart stopped beating
Hard working hoofs to rest,
God broke our hearts to prove to us
He only takes the best.
RIP Barbaro.. to the Rainbow Bridge to join many others we love
What a valiant fight he put up.
RIP, Barbaro.
What?????
I didn't know we had a prayer room candle room. I guess you can really learn something new every day.
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.