Barbaro has been euthanized

[pokerfan]

ESPN reporting.

[LadyoftheRabbits]

1. Poor thing...

He was a beautiful animal. :(

[Jo March]

2. Oh, no!

I was wondering about him this morning after the latest round of bad news.

:cry:

[wildhorses]

3. ---may he rest in peace o noble spirit

green fields forever may he roam:cry:

[LeftyMom]

4. Poor thing

After the report of another procedure the other day I was pretty sure it was coming to that.

[deucemagnet]

5. Damn.

Well, they went far above and beyond what most owners would do to save a horse. I'm sorry that they ultimately failed. Barbaro was a truly magnificent animal.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

6. Oh my God............NO......

How horrifying......

What happened? I haven't seen the news yet today........

He was such a magnificent animal......

Green fields forever, my dear Barbaro..... :cry:

[pokerfan]

12. There are some shady characters in horse racing

who could care less about their animals, but this owner wasn't one of them. In every interview, it sounded like he had the animal's best interest in mind.

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/news/story?id=2747087

"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."

[CottonBear]

13. He developed laminitis in his front feet.

There is an old saying: "No foot, no horse." Laminitis is a terrible disease. I watched a magnificient Oldenburg dressage horse suffer with it in all four feet for almost a year. He seemed to do better for a while and then he rapidly declined and had to be put down. It was awful. :(

RIP Barbaro.

[Jeanette in FL]

42. Yes, Green fields forever

That was my first thought when I heard the news.

[DainBramaged]

7. I'm sure there are GALLONS of his spirt still frozen for the future

[CottonBear]

9. Thoroughbreds must be bred by live cover. NO AI is allowed as per The Jockey Club.

Therefore, there will be no Barbaro Thoroughbred babies.

[DainBramaged]

10. Crap, there goes his heritage.

Now I really am sad for him. Didn't get his wait a minute, it was his front foot, there could be a chance they.........:hide:

[InvisibleTouch]

8. Ah, damn. :(

He fought hard for a long time. I've followed his story off and on, and was really hoping he'd pull through. At least he had some additional time, and was given every chance.

[Pool Hall Ace]

11. I'm sorry it didn't work out for him.

He was a helluva horse. :cry:

[mvd]

14. That's awful news - had me crying when I heard

I'm convinced they did the best they could to save him, though. I think it was the right decision. Barbaro was obviously in pain. I was hopeful to the last minute, and what a sad ending. Maybe he's on the great race track in the sky, running free of all those surgeries and suffering.

[RegimeChange2008]

37. I don't claim to know what horse heaven is like, but....

...I get the feeling he wouldn't want to see a race track again for all of eternity, considering that's where he got the injury which ultimately killed him.

[mvd]

38. Well in my theoretical track, there'd be no pressure,

no threat of injury, and a leaving behind of Earthly concerns. Considering all of that, he loved to run.

[madmax]

15. So damn sad. It's criminal.

I hate horse racing, dog racing and any other so called 'sport' that uses Mother Natures children for profit and other evil endevors. Damn humans! The cruelest creature on the plant is man. :cry:

[BarenakedLady]

19. Agreed. nt

[xchrom]

16. i've never wanted so much goodness and health for an animal i hadn't met

as i did him.

all good joy will be with him in the green fields of paradise.

[itsmesgd]

17. they were only keeping him alive for greedy purposes.

All the owners wanted to do was sell his sperm. Derby winner sperm is priceless. I used to go to the track in New Orleans and I have seem many horses put down on the track as soon as the race was done. They kept this horse alive and in pain to sell his sperm for longer than needed. My aunt used to have show walkers and she had to put one down before. Keeping a horse alove after that level of injury is evil. That horse was in such pain every day since the injury happened. I'd be curious to see what PETA thought about the whole matter.

[mvd]

18. Yeah, I have to agree

A shame they put us through such highs and hope when the chances were never really very good.

[northzax]

22. indeed

it's the rough equivalent, for anyone who doesn't know, of having a fractured leg, and being unable to sit down. if you have a broken tibia, and had to stand, 24 hours a day, imagine the pain. I remember being a kid and having to put down our beloved golden retriever when he could barely walk from arthritis and was getting worse, day by day. unpleasant, but a responsiblity we all take when we take the responsiblity of an animal into our care.

[trogdor]

24. Finally, somebody has the nerve to say it.

Any ordinary horse would have been turned into dog food within hours of the incident. They put that poor animal through hell because of cold, hard cash.

[u4ic]

28. The surgeons told them early on

he would never be able to breed. His hind leg could never carry that much weight. The owners knew they were looking at a pasture horse, nothing more.



(btw, KD winners rarely make successful stallions. That's well known. And I don't agree with their decision to have kept him going this long)

[Awsi Dooger]

30. Thank you for a dose of reality

Pathetically absent from the posts immediately preceeding.

People who didn't follow the situation assumed he was being kept alive for breeding purposes and profit. That was anything but true.

[mvd]

35. You're right

People have pointed out that there was no way he could have been bred - naturally or artificially. Sorry - I'm not a horse expert. I really believe his owners loved Barbaro, and his well known status factored into the decision to keep him alive. But I think we were given false hope for a while.

[u4ic]

43. I understand

especially if you've been following it through the mainstream media. Everyone was pulling for the horse, but he was always skating on thin ice, so to speak. If an infection didn't get him, laminitis would have - I'm not sure how much that would have been reported.


I honestly am surprised he made it this far. I'd been expecting this news for many months. :-(

[pokerfan]

44. I grew up with horses

My grandfather actually farmed with them. By the time my dad came along the tractor had also come along. But we always had horses and ponies. And if you've never been around them much, you don't realize how smart they are and what varied personalities they have.

I think it was love and false hope that led them along. After the first operation and recuperating in the pool, he practically jogged to his stall in his cast. Then the laminitis and the infections and losing of 80% of his rear left hoof. But every step of the way, there was still hope. I truly believe that the owners just wanted to restore him to health and put him out to pasture. I remember early on that they said that they would have done the same thing had he been a gelding and I have no reason to doubt them.

I think the last setback and the rough night for Barbaro just forced his owners to realize that there truly was no more hope left and it was time to do the merciful thing.

I'm not a horseracing fan but I watch the triple crown every spring just to see the magnificent beasts run. I don't bet. I don't even gamble. (Poker's not gambling IMO.) But horseracing needs to go with the artificial tracks. You can google it but the reduction in risk of injury to the animal is dramatic, something like 80% last time I looked it up.

[mvd]

50. I think the amount of hope was quite small. I know that horses

hardly ever recover from an injury like this. Even if he was doing well, complications were a strong possibility. I got pretty worried after the first laminitis, even after the earlier reports.

I just heard they set up a scholarship in Barbaro's name - very nice.

[QMPMom]

47. No AI allowed for thoroughbreds. It wasn't greed.

[ironflange]

20. That is very sad, but the worst thing is. . .

All those stupid Lounge copycat threads. Why, people? Show a little respect, even for a horse. :mad:

[u4ic]

26. I agree

:wtf: is up with the copycats?

[aaronbees]

27. Yep absolutely

Beyond juvenile.

Hey, u4ic. Sad news, eh? I'll always remember Barbaro. :hug:

[u4ic]

29. Hi aaronbees

Sad news indeed, but not unexpected. To be honest, I didn't think he'd make it this long. Or at all, in fact. That was a horrific injury.:(

He's galloping free, now. :hug:

[Justpat]

40. Hi you two..

I see that the semi-annual horse racing bashers are out in force
after this sad event.

Would someone let me know when it is all over?

[aaronbees]

45. Hi, Old Broad

Yes, they are out and I'm just beyond worrying about it now.

It's been a somber day, to say the least. Sure was rough seeing the Jacksons and Richardson talk at the news conference, but I thought they put the whole ordeal in good perspective. Heroic, but they took their cue from Bobby himself. That's what horses do for us.

And I did find this wonderful Jane Smiley article:

Barbaro, The Heart In the Winner's Circle

By Jane Smiley
Special to The Washington Post
Tuesday, January 30, 2007; Page C01

Nine years ago, I had a thoroughbred mare who came down with colic in the night, and was too far gone to save by the time she was found at 6 a.m. After she was euthanized, I remember staring at her body, which was stretched out in the grass, running my hands over her. Her coat was shining. Her haunch was rounded and firm. Her feet and legs were perfect. Only that one thing had been wrong, that twist in her gut, but it was enough, and it killed her. So it is with all horses.

They are engineered so close to the margins of what is physically possible that when one thing fails, it can cause the failure of the whole animal.

So it was with Barbaro, who was euthanized yesterday. When we saw his pictures over the last months, his ears were up, he was attentive and beautiful and interested. He looked pretty good, except for those casts.

His vets warned us all along that the odds were against him, but we didn't really believe them. They had hope, too. How could a horse who appeared so full of life break his leg and be so suddenly close to death? His head was fine. His back was fine. His lungs and heart and chest were fine. In fact, after a while, his broken leg was fairly fine. It was another leg that was so worrisome, since the weight of his body constantly bearing down on the delicate structures inside his foot eventually damaged and destroyed them.

Source and the rest of the article: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/01/29/AR2007012901004.html

[Justpat]

46. Thanks for that link.

She is a beautiful writer and a knowledgeable horse owner.
I see at Saratoga every year.

I think Barbaro's owners are a class act. It is likely that they
spent about half of what he made in purses trying to save him.
But they do that with all their horses. They have done the same
for gelding that have no chance of reproducing and they are now
lawn ornaments on their farm. They will never be able to even be
a riding horse, but they will have a life of comfort and security.

[ironflange]

31. Hi, Ukie girl!

How's the weather holding up? Speaking of Ukies, I'm expected to feed 600 or so hungry ones this Saturday.

:popcorn: <--- not popcorn, perogies!

Wish me luck!

[u4ic]

34. 600?

Yikes. That's one hell of a family you have...:scared:

[QMPMom]

48. I agree. I detest the copycats at the best of times, but this was

just way too much.

Rest In Peace, Barbaro.

[GenDem]

52. I agree. as an animal lover

I didn't find any of them the least bit funny.

[SeattleGirl]

21. Damn!

:cry:

[wildhorses]

23. keeping it on top of the copycats

:kick:

[ceile]

25. So sad.

He was a magnificent creature.

[Kajsa]

32. Oh no!

That is so sad!
He was such a magnificent horse.

May his noble spirit rest in peace.

:cry:

[usaftmo]

33. Now his discomfort is over.

I'm still upset over his passing. I don't exactly like horses(prefer cats and dogs) and dislike horse racing, but am still having a lot of grief.

Rest in peace :cry:

[bif]

36. Didn't he play for the Detroit Tigers just a couple years ago?

[Redstone]

39. It's a damn shame. That was a horse with a big heart.

Redstone

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

41. That's very sad. I really thought he was going to make it.

RIP, Barbaro.

[Justpat]

49. You can add your thoughts to the Barbaro memorium at BloodHorse.com

I tried posting the link to the page where you can add your thoughts, but couldn't get it to work

Go to: http://www.bloodhorse.com

scroll down and click on the Barbaro Memorium


OK, let me try this again:

http://news.bloodhorse.com/BarbaroMemoriam.asp

[CottonBear]

51. Thank you for this link.

Horses are so powerful yet so fragile. Even a backyard horse can fatally injure itself just running around in the pasture. A horse at the farm where my horse is boarded broke her front leg clean through above the knee when she jumped a 4 1/2 foot high metal gate. She had been put in another pasture and all I can figure out is that she wanted to be back in her original pasture. Within 30 minutes Moon, a beautiful Holsteiner filly, was put down. It was so sudden and so awful. At least she didn't suffer for long. :(

All of the copycat threads and cruel comments about Barbaro make me sad. I am just ignoring those posters because they are mean spirited, cruel and , obviously, know nothing about equine physiology, behavior and spirit and the love that horse people have for horses.

RIP Barbaro. :cry:

[Justpat]

54. I have spent every day of my life in this business

since 1969. I have not done it to get rich. Everyone I know who
gets up seven days a week and goes to the barn in the dark does
so because our work also happens to be our greatest joy.

This is not the kind of work you can do unless you love it.

It seems that the people who hate racing have the most
appalling misconceptions of it. The idea that all two year olds
are sent to the races to be run before they are ready is a fantasy.
No two year old races before it is physically ready. There really isn't much two year old racing because more blood lines in our country are
now later developing pedigrees. A two year old only runs if it's
bones are completely developed. All young horses knees are x-ray before
they start breezing to make sure they are up to faster work. If their
knees are not closed, they remain at slower work until they are ready.
And out of a crop of 50,000 foals, only a few thousand will actually
run as two year olds. Some are early developers - most are not.

And my all time favorite claim is that we force to run for our enjoyment.
People who spend their time with horses, especially thoroughbreds,
will tell you that you train them to run, but you can't make them do it.
They are not stupid. If a horse does not have the mental toughness
or will to beat other horses, it usually gets shuffled off to an
easier lifestyle. I had a filly that I bred and raced myself a few
year ago that couldn't outrun me. She was also one of the most intelligent horses I have ever know. She simply declined to participate
in racing. So my daughter is currently making a fox hunter out of her.
She condescends to do that. For some reason, she also likes polo and
seems to really get a kick out having my daughter swing a mallet off her
and then chase the ball around. Go figure.

I love this business and I love and respect the people who dedicate
their lives to making sure that the horses in our care are sound
and happy. In the past I have invited some of the harshest critics
to our barn to see exactly how the life of a race horse matches up
with the absurd notions they hold. Many have taken my up on this offer
and have left with at least some respect for the quality of care and
training that they receive.

[Corgigal]

53. I heard on TV this morning

ABC I believe, that a full brother to Barbaro is expected this spring. The chances of him being like his big brother are slim but it will be nice to see his little brother grow up.

Yeah it doesn't take away the pain. I told my son after I picked him up from school yesterday. He looked like he was hit in the gut. I think lots of us felt that way. Especially after seeing his video of him walking with the vet in December. We hoped to believe.