Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

[URL="http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/triplecrown06/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2452359"]http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/triplecrown06/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2452359[/URL]

Now, i'm not a horse racing fan at all, but when i saw the picture of his leg on the sports page of the washington post this morning, i couldn't help but feel bad for the horse. And to hear that he might die from this, that really must suck. Hopefully the surgery is successfull and he recovers from this. His horse racing days are over though.

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

I'm a fan of horse racing. it's always sad to see these athletes breakdown.

The really sad part is, if this was a low level horse, it would have been euthenized on the spot. but since barbaro is a grade 1 superstar, he can make millions a year being a stud(kinda like senor smack...). Last thing the horse wants is to stay in a swing for 6 months because some greedy bastard wasnt to make a boatload of money off his sperm.
and when i say boatload, i mean there is the potential to make 8 figures a year as a stud!

the highest paid horse, stormcat, makes $500,000 a pop(pun intented).
[url]http://www.mddailyrecord.com/specialpubs/shawandowns/02pg9a.html[/url]


i hope they do whats best for the horse :(

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

i think having a horse in sugery for over 3 hours is a joke when millions cant even afford health care.put the horse down and donate the money for the needy

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

[QUOTE=dmek25]i think having a horse in sugery for over 3 hours is a joke when millions cant even afford health care.put the horse down and donate the money for the needy[/QUOTE]
Yes because a horse's life certianly isn't as valuable as one of us humans.

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

Sadly... a financial decision. If he dies, say goodbye to hugh stud fees.... otherwise he'd probably already be dead.
The problem with a broken leg is that horses can't do crutches, they won't lie still for 4 to 6 weeks and you can't drug them for that long.

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

I was at preakness and I bet 150 bucks on Barbaro. It's a shame that an innocent horse has to die now because of my terrible luck.

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

[quote=djnemo65]I was at preakness and I bet 150 bucks on Barbaro. It's a shame that an innocent horse has to die now because of my terrible luck.[/quote]

Might not need to happen. Had 6 hours of surgery. 23 screws in his leg, woke up from the anesthesia and walked back to his stall. Said to have as good chance of living as Rod Gardner had of catching a ball.

[url]http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/triplecrown06/news/story?id=2452946[/url]

[IMG]http://espn-att.starwave.com/photo/2006/0521/horse_a_barbaro_195.jpg[/IMG]

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

That's just wrong. they are making the poor guy suffer for the stud fees :(

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

I'm sure that the horse has been in some pain, but I don't think it is suffering at this point. You have to remember, most people in the horse business are in the business to start with because they love horses. The vets, trainers, and owners don't want the horse to 'suffer' any more than you do.

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

[quote=dmek25]i think having a horse in sugery for over 3 hours is a joke when millions cant even afford health care.put the horse down and donate the money for the needy[/quote]

Or donate the stud fees to the needy.

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

hey tmc,good morning

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

Good morning dmek.

Damn, so much news to catch up on. I gotta' start getting on during the weekends.

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

When is it ok to make horrible, inappropriate jokes about a racing accident? Just wondering because I already know that I'm going to hell and I've got a couple of decent ones. (In all seriousness, I did feel bad for the horse and the owner, but I am a terrible person)

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

Considering the horse is out of surgery, you're ok until it dies...

Did you go AMD?

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

[quote=BDBohnzie]Considering the horse is out of surgery, you're ok until it dies...

Did you go AMD?[/quote]

No, but we were pretty drunk when we watched it, so some of the comments got really offensive (such as looking over at the dog and saying, "well, looks you're gonna get to eat a Kentucky Derby winner for dinner in a few weeks").

Do you think if Bernardini could talk he would look directly into the camera during a post race interview and say "if he dies, he dies."?

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[quote=dmek25]i think having a horse in sugery for over 3 hours is a joke when millions cant even afford health care.put the horse down and donate the money for the needy[/quote]

This is ridiculous.

1) Why are humans more entitled to life than a horse?

2) Millions can't afford healthcare, but they all get it. Do you know of a hospital that turns people down for emergency surgeries?

3) Where were you born, the USSR? The owner of the horse can do whatever he damn well pleases with his own cash. It's not being paid for with tax money, or even with insurance money, it's coming right out of his pocket.

4) Whoever said putting the horse down was the most humane option? Will he be in pain? Yes. Would you be in pain after a 3 hour surgery? Should we put you down?

You don't euthanize to relieve TEMPORARY pain. You euthanize when the condition won't get any better. Broken legs can be fixed.

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[quote=Schneed10]

3) Where were you born, the USSR? The owner of the horse can do whatever he damn well pleases with his own cash. It's not being paid for with tax money, or even with insurance money, it's coming right out of his pocket.

4) Whoever said putting the horse down was the most humane option? Will he be in pain? Yes. Would you be in pain after a 3 hour surgery? Should we put you down?

[/quote]

So you don't think this horse is insured? Would you like to make a little wager?

Do you think you can treat a horse medically like a human?
How exactly do you keep a thoroughbred off it's leg and out of pain for 6 weeks?
And the whole industry is chock-full of animal killers?
You really don't know too much about horses. Nice of you to have an opinion though.

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

I think this horses' surgery will cause some contrevorsy in the future.

Some will say, why is that humans aren't afforded this type of attention and fanfare mind you. (I'm not arguing either point, by the way)

And some will say, well if this horse is 'priceless', why shouldn't they do everything to keep my cat, dog, horse, etc alive.

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

schneed is there any other horse in america right now that would have gone thru 6 hours of surgery to try and fix a SHATTERED leg that gives that horse a minimum chance to survive?eeich is right on the money.this is just plain greed on the owners side for not wanting to miss out on the stud fees.take your insurance money and quit putting greed first

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

[quote=EEich]So you don't think this horse is insured? Would you like to make a little wager?

Do you think you can treat a horse medically like a human?
How exactly do you keep a thoroughbred off it's leg and out of pain for 6 weeks?
And the whole industry is chock-full of animal killers?
You really don't know too much about horses. Nice of you to have an opinion though.[/quote]

You're right though EE, from what I hear he had a policy of between $40-$50 million....had he won the Preakness, it could have gone up to $100MM

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and no,i wasnt born in russia,but one thing i was taught by my parents was always try to do the right thing.needless suffering for monetary gain definitly isnt the right thing,especially if you care about the animal at all

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and if you knew anything about horses,95% of broken legs cant be fixed because is almost impossible to keep them off their feet

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

ok, i think im done:)

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

[quote=dmek25]schneed is there any other horse in america right now that would have gone thru 6 hours of surgery to try and fix a SHATTERED leg that gives that horse a minimum chance to survive?eeich is right on the money.this is just plain greed on the owners side for not wanting to miss out on the stud fees.take your insurance money and quit putting greed first[/quote]

I beg to differ, I don't think it's greed....it's business....plain and simple. I don't question their general affection and love for animals. But if the opportunity comes to fetch and extra, oh....$25-30 million I doubt anyone would turn it down.

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

[quote=dmek25]schneed is there any other horse in america right now that would have gone thru 6 hours of surgery to try and fix a SHATTERED leg that gives that horse a minimum chance to survive?eeich is right on the money.this is just plain greed on the owners side for not wanting to miss out on the stud fees.take your insurance money and quit putting greed first[/quote]

So then because the owner's greed is a motivator, then the horse should be put down even if the surgery gives him a 50/50 shot at survival? I mean it's not like it's a really bleak situation, he's a coin toss to survive.

Most horses in America wouldn't get a chance to have surgery and keep on living, because most owners wouldn't pay for it. But whatever the motivator behind it, shouldn't we be happy that the horse is getting a second chance at life that most horses don't get?

This is one of the rare times when financial interests and the interests of being humane are aligning. Most horses in America don't get this second chance that Barbaro is getting, because of money, and that's the real shame here. Barbaro is the one horse that's getting what all humans deserve: a good chance to regain health.

Yes he'll be in considerable pain until it heals, but if you give me a choice between temporary pain and death, I choose temporary pain. What would you choose?

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

No... it's because of the owner's greed that it's being kept alive.

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[quote=dmek25]and if you knew anything about horses,95% of broken legs cant be fixed because is almost impossible to keep them off their feet[/quote]

No, there are ways to keep a horse off it's feet. It's just that most people choose not to, because it's too costly.

If 95% can't be fixed, why is Barbaro sitting at 50/50 right now after having not just a break, but an absolutely shattered leg?

EDIT: And you don't have to keep the horse off it's feet necessarily. There are ways to steady and support the joint without needing crutches or swings or horsey wheelchairs - like the insane amount of hardware implanted into Barbaro's leg. Again, it's the cost of that surgery that makes it so tough to treat broken legs. That surgery is never even an option for most owners.

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i would agree but the odds are still very minimal as far as survival.and we still are talking about an animal arent we?any human should be saved no matter what the cost,but we are talking about a horse(or maybe i should say racehorse,because that is the issue)can we agree to disagree?this conversation is taking up too much time that we could be talking about the skins

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[quote=Schneed10]No, there are ways to keep a horse off it's feet. It's just that most people choose not to, because it's too costly.

If 95% can't be fixed, why is Barbaro sitting at 50/50 right now after having not just a break, but an absolutely shattered leg?[/quote]

I'd like you to explain the procedure that they use to keep a horse off it's feet and pain-free.
The leg was broken in three places... the doctors put rods and 23 screws in the horses leg... something they wouldn't normally do for a horse, unless it was guaranteed to return millions of dollars in stud fees. It was a hugely complicated surgery and they're still not sure that the horse will be able to bear the pain.

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

[quote=Schneed10]
EDIT: And you don't have to keep the horse off it's feet necessarily. There are ways to steady and support the joint without needing crutches or swings or horsey wheelchairs - like the insane amount of hardware implanted into Barbaro's leg. Again, it's the cost of that surgery that makes it so tough to treat broken legs. That surgery is never even an option for most owners.[/quote]

Horsey wheelchairs... you've really though this one through. You should stop now. The insane amout of hardware has already been done... see the photo above. They're still not giving the horse more than 50% chance.

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

[quote=dmek25]i would agree but the odds are still very minimal as far as survival.and we still are talking about an animal arent we?any human should be saved no matter what the cost,but we are talking about a horse(or maybe i should say racehorse,because that is the issue)can we agree to disagree?this conversation is taking up too much time that we could be talking about the skins[/quote]

I have absolutely no idea why you keep insisting that the odds of survival are so minimal. They currently sit at 50/50.

[URL="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/more/05/21/barbaro.surgery.ap/index.html"]http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/more/05/21/barbaro.surgery.ap/index.html[/URL]

The whole point is any horse with a broken leg could be given the same chance to regain health as he is getting, IF THE OWNER WOULD SPEND THE MONEY ON SURGERY. If each horse's owner paid for the treatment Barbaro was getting, the odds would be a lot better for those horses. And that's my point, it's a shame what's happening to the OTHER horses who are deemed not worth saving from a financial standpoint. Barbaro's getting exactly what he deserves.

And we're going to have to disagree on the horses and humans should have different standards point. Your whole argument is basically saying "it's not a human, it's a horse, so let's not let the owner make any money off of this, and let's put the animal down even though he has a 50% shot at surviving." It makes no sense, and seems downright mean to me.

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[quote=EEich]Horsey wheelchairs... you've really though this one through. You should stop now.[/quote]

It was a joke EEich. Obviously there are no wheelchairs for horses. Nice sense of humor.

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

[QUOTE]It was a joke EEich. Obviously there are no wheelchairs for horses. Nice sense of humor.[/QUOTE]

Everyone knows a horse with a broken leg uses horse crutches...because how the hell would they turn the wheels of the wheelchair??...genius

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

[quote=EEich]I'd like you to explain the procedure that they use to keep a horse off it's feet and pain-free.
The leg was broken in three places... the doctors put rods and 23 screws in the horses leg... something they wouldn't normally do for a horse, unless it was guaranteed to return millions of dollars in stud fees. It was a hugely complicated surgery and they're still not sure that the horse will be able to bear the pain.[/quote]

Dude, he walked back to his stall after the surgery, and now he's flirting with his bitches:

[URL="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/more/05/21/barbaro.surgery.ap/index.html"]"Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro is making progress from surgery on his broken leg, even showing an interest in mares"[/URL]

So you'd rather not even give him a chance to bear the pain and survive? Your value of life is startling.

I fully agree that the owners are only in it for the money, but you seem like you'd rather see them lose out on the money than see Barbaro survive. That seems twisted to me.

There's no guarantee the horse will be able to bear the pain. But there's also no guarantee that he won't be able to bear it. So you give him a shot.

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Dude... they had a huge amount of local anesthesia in that leg.... you expect that to be dripped into his little horsey leg for 6 weeks? He'll end up the equine version of Ricky Williams... they'll have his mane in dreads. He'll be racing in Canada.
(how's that for a sense of humor?)

You'd better be a vegetarian before accusing me of not valueing life.

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

I'm glad to see this thread has taken on a lighter tone.

Re: Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness
 

[quote=Schneed10]Dude, he walked back to his stall after the surgery, and now he's flirting with his bitches:

[URL="http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/more/05/21/barbaro.surgery.ap/index.html"]"Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro is making progress from surgery on his broken leg, even showing an interest in mares"[/URL]
[/quote]

I think the real problem is, if that leg isn't strong enough to allow him to mount, what's the point? Giggidy-giggidy-gew!

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i guess barbaro's gonna have to learn the Mare on top position...

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well,since you insist.it is totally ridiculous to spend that much money on a friggin animal when millions can not get the proper care that they need.sure,the owner has his own money to spend as he pleases but cant he think of a better way to spend it.thjs is the point,the only reason he is spending it is because of the stud fees,period.i have swampland in jersey to sell you if you think for one minute he is doing this out of his pure kindness for the animal.i guarantee that horse had surgery faster than if you or i walked into the emergency room.tell me if something is wrong with that picture

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[quote=BDBohnzie]i guess barbaro's gonna have to learn the Mare on top position...[/quote]

That will only lead to depression. The horse was a born winner and if he can't [I]dominate[/I] every horse in his path he won't know what to do with himself.

I can just see it, a year or two down the road, Barbaro all drunk off old oates and grains in some crappy barn in middle America telling any colt who will listen how great he once was, crying everytime it rains because the screws in his ankle hurt. "I was the best that spring, I could've been the greatest of all time, but Baltimore if filled with potholes!!! Damn them, why did they have to spare my life, I'm nothing!!!" A goat will walk in, "keep it down horse, you're crepping out the regulars!" What a sad future.

But man, if they get that leg healed up, he will be the biggest pimp on the block, mad bitches for life. I hope he gets his strength back.

(anyone have a job opening for a sociology major with no great skills? I [I]really[/I] should not have this much free time on my hands while at work.)