Barbaro's X-ray and recent news

[arganaut]

http://foxsports.news.com.au/story/0,86 ... 43,00.html
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[arganaut]

http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/ ... id=2519892

http://www.forbes.com/technology/feeds/ ... 80473.html
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[xfactor fan]

Perhaps an odd idea, but can they put him back into the raft and let him float for several hours a day?

[Heidilady]

Perhaps an odd idea, but can they put him back into the raft and let him float for several hours a day?

Well it's really just for the wake up. After that Barbaro'd probably start to squirm I'd imagine. The sling's a little less foreign cuz he can see the ground and all, just can't touch it quite the same way, and probably less of a hassle for the people when it comes to examining the horse's progress.

[skeenan]

I watched a video on our local news website... as much as I want him to pull through, it made me sad... looking at him with IV tubes in his neck & all his casts & bandages... at what point does it become almost cruel to keep him going...?

I dunno, I'd have a hard time putting either of my horses through this...

[arganaut]

I can't help but think, Barbaro, is a great precedent for 2 things -

1. A strong case for AI

2. When do you decide the humane line is reached?

I watched a video on our local news website... as much as I want him to pull through, it made me sad... looking at him with IV tubes in his neck & all his casts & bandages... at what point does it become almost cruel to keep him going...?

I dunno, I'd have a hard time putting either of my horses through this...

Reading this quote sums it up for me too.
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[arganaut]

Latest news on Barbaro -

http://www.mercurynews.com/mld/mercuryn ... 048108.htm

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/07/16/sports/16matz.html

http://www.forbes.com/entrepreneurs/fee ... 81148.html

http://msn.foxsports.com/horseracing/story/5784452

http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/todays ... 4&subsec=1
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[Tucumcari]

I can't help but think, Barbaro, is a great precedent for 2 things -

1. A strong case for AI

IS never going to happen.

2. When do you decide the humane line is reached?

I think the line has been reached. For me it is the wobbling fracured leg, the sever laminitis, the epidural catheter keeping him able to stand on two legs( if he could feel them) that he would otherwise not be willingly bearing weight on. It's the reason he eats, the reason he doesn't just lie down and remain there. It's an illusion which some of us cling to with childlike fantasy of miraculous healing. If this horse was able to feel the terrific pain he would not live a heaping long time.

I watched a video on our local news website... as much as I want him to pull through, it made me sad... looking at him with IV tubes in his neck & all his casts & bandages... at what point does it become almost cruel to keep him going...?

I dunno, I'd have a hard time putting either of my horses through this...

Agreed.
Reading this quote sums it up for me too.

[skeenan]

I think the line has been reached. For me it is the wobbling fracured leg, the sever laminitis, the epidural catheter keeping him able to stand on two legs( if he could feel them) that he would otherwise not be willingly bearing weight on. It's the reason he eats, the reason he doesn't just lie down and remain there. It's an illusion which some of us cling to with childlike fantasy of miraculous healing. If this horse was able to feel the terrific pain he would not live a heaping long time.

Well, yes... that's my true feelings. I didn't want to come under fire for seeming negative, but that video literally made me cry. I couldn't imagine putting any of our animals through that... it's July, so he's been like that for two months...

He should be allowed a dignified ending to a short, yet stellar, career... because any animal at least deserves that, whether they're a beloved pet or champion... money should play no part in the decision to keep him alive...

[madelyn]

At the risk of coming under serious fire, if Barbaro was my horse he would have been put down on the track right after the race.

Not "heroic"... might seem "cruel"... but I think his life for the past two months more accurately defines "cruel".

[austique]

I think its time to let him go...with one back foot foundered and the other seriously managled how do the ever intend for this horse to have any quality of life.

And while I applaud their effort to try something new, I always fall back to the refrain "There's a reason they put horses with this injury down on the track."

[Tucumcari]

I agree as previously stated.
He is a grand and magnificent animal. He inspired me to believe he could win the TC. AND I still believe he would have had he not been so unfortunate. He is and always will be something very special, but I think he had dealt with more than so many horses would go fetal with, and I admire him.
HE has suffered enough, been put under general anethetic enough (this last week alone), it's time to draw the line on what is ethical treatment and humane for this horse. IMHO.
He'll always be great!

[arganaut]

Latest news with photo -

http://www.theksbwchannel.com/sports/95 ... etail.html
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[WarHorse]

I think that's an old photo - he appears to have his LH hoof.

For those who admit they would have put him down by now - my highest respect. You have risked a keyboard-lashing by saying so.

I'm on the fence - not very good at these sort of hypothetical questions.

Here is another link to a columnist with a different take: http://www.thenewstribune.com/sports/story/5952974p-5240920c.html

There is a link for adding comments.

[arganaut]

Photo album from the University of Pensylvania on Barbaro -

http://www.vet.upenn.edu/newsandevents/ ... Photos.htm

Home Page

http://www.vet.upenn.edu/
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