I agree! It was only a horse whose sole purpose of existence was to make its owners MONEY. Sorry to see it have to be put down; that was a terrible injury it sustained. ( I always thought the animal would have to be euthanized after seeing its injury.) They kept it around as long as they could in order to extract as much semen as possible from it. In death it will still be making its owners MONEY.
My understanding of the breeding of horses (and someone correct me if I'm wrong) is that while "the act" may be supervised by humans it must happen the good old fashioned way in order for the colt to be eligilbe to race.
There shouldn't be any Barbaro offspring since he won't be around to sire them.
Actually you are quite wrong. The Jockey Club which is the organization that registers Thoroughbreds, does not allow artificial insemination; all offspring must be the result of live cover. Since the horse must be registered to participate in Thoroughbred racing, any offspring of must be the result of live cover.
Based on the way a horse's semen is collected in which it must stand on hits hind legs, there is no way they would have gotten any from Barbaro during his long recouperation period.
So the hundreds of thousands, perhaps even a million or more in vet bills they spent on Barbaro is down the tubes as far as the owners making any kind of profit is concerned.
They kept it around as long as they could in order to extract as much semen as possible from it. In death it will still be making its owners MONEY."
You couldn't be more wrong:
The Jockey Club, which controls Thorobred Racing allows only live cover- done in the old fashilned way. There is NO AI allowed. There would be no use for his semen if they offspring couldn't be registered, because non-registered horses cannot race, either, and THEIR get cannot be registered, etc, etc, etc.
The owners kept him alive as long as they did because up until the end when his front feet foundered and the coffin bones started to rotate, he was basically comfortable. Being a quadriped, a horse needs to have feet that are holding him up. He can operate on 3 for awhile, but not for a lifetime.
I don't think for one second that the owners and vet didn't do the right thing every minute of the entire time he was alive after breaking his leg.
I hope one of 2 things: Either you have the chance to be closer to a horse in your lifetime and find out the magnificent joy they can bring into your life or God makes sure you NEVER get close to one. Nothing in between.
The ignorance displayed on this forum daily is surpassed only by the certitude with which it is stated. No sperm was taken from Barbaro because artificial insemination is not allowed in Thoroughbred breeding. Furthermore, Barbaro was not an "it." He was an ungelded male of his species. As far as I know, the only living males who deserve to be objectified as "it" are the human ones who are born male but want to act like and/or become female.
You have no idea what you are talking about. Thoroughbred racing does not allow artificial insemination.
Your ignorance is astounding. Racehorses are only allowed to breed via 'natural cover,' which means no artificial insemination. There will be no Barbaro foals in the future, and even if he had survived, the likelihood that he would have become a breeding stallion would have been marginal due to his injury. The owners did what they did out of love and compassion for this animal.
Perhaps you should pack up your ignorance and cynicism and move to another thread if this one is not of interest to you.
Would you say the same thing about the players of this Sunday's Super Bowl game? They're only slaves in the arena, no better than Gladiators, whose only reason for existence is to make the team owners money?
Wrong . Barbero has not covered a mare nor could he unless he could stand alone on his back legs. Registered Thorouhbred rules are live cover only. No AI is allowed.
The hope was that he could recover to stand at stud, but it was not to be.
Don't post your guesses unless you know for certain. You probably don't know the rules of the Jockey Club.