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May. 20th, 2006 06:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alonewiththemoonBernardini was my second choice, but that's not a whole lot of comfort right now. :-(
updated to add: Barbaro broke his leg just above and just below the ankle; it's a serious break, but the real prognosis won't be known until the vets can determine how much damage he might have done to the blood supply in his leg. The breaks alone are serious but not life-threatening, but if the blood vessels were severely damaged, they'll have to put him down. I don't know whether his being all pumped up to race would stand in his favor or not. I'm guessing probably not.
edited once again to add: if he survives, Edgar Prado deserves a tremendous amount of credit for reacting so quickly and getting him slowed down and stopped.
This is one of those moments where I wonder if it really is a horse-loving thing to do, to love horse racing, but I remind myself that this is truly a freak occurance, and something the trainers and everybody who cares for these horses, especially at this level of racing, does their best to prevent.
updated to add: Barbaro broke his leg just above and just below the ankle; it's a serious break, but the real prognosis won't be known until the vets can determine how much damage he might have done to the blood supply in his leg. The breaks alone are serious but not life-threatening, but if the blood vessels were severely damaged, they'll have to put him down. I don't know whether his being all pumped up to race would stand in his favor or not. I'm guessing probably not.
edited once again to add: if he survives, Edgar Prado deserves a tremendous amount of credit for reacting so quickly and getting him slowed down and stopped.
This is one of those moments where I wonder if it really is a horse-loving thing to do, to love horse racing, but I remind myself that this is truly a freak occurance, and something the trainers and everybody who cares for these horses, especially at this level of racing, does their best to prevent.
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Date: 2006-05-20 11:53 pm (UTC)This is one of those moments where I wonder if it really is a horse-loving thing to do, to love horse racing, but I remind myself that this is truly a freak occurance, and something the trainers and everybody who cares for these horses, especially at this level of racing, does their best to prevent.
Amen.
Having lived with the supply side, I sometimes have a really hard time with pet-ownership, with livestock-raising, and with racing in general, although I can't bear people being without pets, being without a meatless plate sometimes, and being without the whole ... that thing ... about racing.
But then, I get sad and angry about some people rather than others having children, or about firemen losing their lives to save a warehouse, or about young people dying a half a world away from their parents, and other things that seem a lot more stupid and careless, and I don't want to end childbearing, or firefighting, or a standing army.
Hmm.
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Date: 2006-05-21 06:52 am (UTC)And I was in a casino earlier. It seemed to be on repeat everywhere I looked.
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Date: 2006-05-21 12:41 pm (UTC)Thousands of horses die or are horribly crippled by the fact that they're started at a young age where their bones aren't fully developed. They are still growing, and will grow all the way through age 5! Most are never allowed to exercise in a paddock. These horses are stalled for 22 hours a day, only allowed out for hand walking and for exercise by running on the track. They suffer from COPD. Colic. Depression. Boredom. All of those things are preventable, horses are designed to constantly move and eat small meals throughout the day. Taking away this freedom severely limits their abilities to... be a horse!
There are two ways to train. Not once have I seen a Triple Crown trainer plainly state that their horse gets plenty of R&R (except for Prado who gave him extended time off before the Derby and was given flack about it from other trainers, though it's unknown if he actually turned him out). Doesn't use steriods to assist joint fatigue and wear and tear, doesn't blister legs, doesn't freeze fire tendons, etc.
I have seen a few trainers who take the time to care for their charges and the horses are happier because of it. The last stallion I worked with was called Silk Lining and he was a trotter, a stallion. He won TEN in a row at Yonkers Raceway, retired completely sound with a respectable bankroll and started his career in a breeding shed. Training naturally takes more time, a bit more money and a lot of patience. Money and time do not help a sport that caters to racing 2 year olds over some of the fastest and longest terrain. It doesn't pay well.
11 months to gestate a horse. Hundreds of thousands of dollars for a stallion fee. A year before the foal is able to be formally trained. That equals too much time and money to have patience for a prestigious series. And it breaks my heart.
I love racing. I love the equine athletes. I just don't like the people who see dollar signs attached to their ears. I love it because its a challenge to do it correctly and honestly. Sad that the world largely doesn't share that view. :(
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Date: 2006-05-21 12:59 pm (UTC)from alexis
Date: 2006-05-21 05:37 pm (UTC)http://www.thoroughbredtimes.com/todaysnews/newsview.asp?recno=63977&subsec=1
University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine Chief Surgeon Dean Richardson, D.V.M., is performing surgery on injured Kentucky Derby (G1) winner Barbaro on Sunday at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center in Kennett Square, Pennsylvania.
At a noon EDT press conference Sunday, New Bolton Center officials informed the public that Richardson would conduct the surgery. Before leaving for surgery, Richardson said Barbaro had suffered four significant injuries to his right hind leg.
Richardson said Barbaro sustained a fracture of the cannon bone, a fractured sesamoid, a fracture of the long pastern bone, and a dislocated fetlock.
"This is a very, very serious injury. It's about as bad as it can be. The main thing is that the skin was not broken," Richardson said. "We rarely see injuries of this magnitude because usually a horse with this kind of injury is put down on the track."
Barbaro suffered broken bones above and below his right hind ankle early in the Preakness Stakes (G1) on Saturday at Pimlico Race Course. He was transported to New Bolton Center after the race, and arrived there shortly after 9 p.m. Saturday.
Co-owner Gretchen Jackson said the injury is very serious but Barbaro is giving himself a fighting chance.
"It's not a good break, it's a bad one," Jackson said. "This horse is such a great horse. He really handled himself so well on the track and back at the barn."—Mike Curry
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Date: 2006-05-21 08:06 pm (UTC)Not once have I seen a Triple Crown trainer plainly state that their horse gets plenty of R&R (except for Prado who gave him extended time off before the Derby and was given flack about it from other trainers, though it's unknown if he actually turned him out)
Did you mean Barbaro? He got 5-6 weeks of downtime before the Derby, and everybody did indeed give Matz flack for it.
Re: from alexis
Date: 2006-05-21 08:12 pm (UTC)You probably saw this as well, in the pre-race coverage they talked about Matz' Olympic career and how at his first Olympics he pushed so hard he had no horse left under him when it counted. I wonder if this felt like a repeat of the past in some way for him.
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Date: 2006-05-21 09:02 pm (UTC)I just feel bad. I wish the racing world was as glamorous as the 30 minutes the general public sees on television.
Did you mean Barbaro? He got 5-6 weeks of downtime before the Derby, and everybody did indeed give Matz flack for it.
I did. Dunno why I wrote Prado. Hah. Jockey, dumbass. I know Matz got a lot of hell for the time off, I respect him for what he did.
Barbaro will be lucky to ever walk again. With that many fractures, he'll have a rough time in the breeding shed supporting his weight. I hope, hope, hope he survives and will be relatively pain free. He's young and his bones will heal, but the temperment and patience of those around him (not to mention the cost, if his bloodline even worth breeding?) is a big factor. :(
Re: from alexis
Date: 2006-05-21 09:31 pm (UTC)You should check out the mechanics behind a horse's gallop & the stress they put on a hoof/ankle that's barely 5" in diameter. Somewhere around here I have my race injury course book that talks about how much pressure is compounded onto the hoof. If the average horse weighs 1200lbs I believe the force on the lower extremity is almost double the weight of the horse.
If you want to see the primary structure, you can click here.
Cannon bone : 3rd Metacarpal Bone (think shin bone)
Sesamoid : Not sure which one, my guess is Distal Sesamoid
The Pastern is actually 2 bones and the fetlock is the joint (ankle)
I have a Pony Club lesson in Microsoft Word I can send you, I wrote it 2 years ago for students. It goes over a lot of bone and soft tissue injury complete with photos. I know, I'm a geek. I'll stop now, but I'm going to go hug a pony. Anyone else is welcome to come visit and do the same.
So far so good...but let's hope he doesn't do much more "jumping up and down"
Date: 2006-05-22 03:03 am (UTC)Barbaro Surgery Complete; Standing in Intensive Care Unit
Date Posted: 5/21/2006 8:57:21 PM
Last Updated: 5/21/2006 10:43:30 PM
...
While the surgery to repair the damaged area and fuse the ankle was considered a success, Richardson cautioned that because of numerous complications during recovery Barbaro still has a long road to go for survival. "To be brutally honest, there's still enough chance for things going bad he's still a coin toss probably," Richardson said, "even after everything went well (during surgery)."
Richardson, who led the surgical team, said the son of Dynaformer was in surgery for about seven hours. He said one reason the procedure took so long was the amount of time to prepare the colt for surgery and the recovery time to allow the anesthesia to wear off.
"It was a long recovery because he was under anesthesia for so long. The surgery was very difficult," said Richardson, noting that the surgery is only the first step toward Barbaro being able to survive his injuries. "The severity of the fracture was very severe. The long pastern bone was in 20-plus pieces. It was not a simple fracture. The skin did not break. When they injure their limbs this severely, what you'll see when you take the bandage off, it's badly damaged enough that you actually see serum and a little blood almost oozing through the skin in places it's so badly bruised. If he had white skin there, it would look all very, very discolored. He is very very badly bruised. We were able to put the appropriate implants in the leg."
Richardson also said a procedure to fuse the fetlock joint – the ankle – was successful.
"He got up from anesthesia without any injuries," Richardson said. "The most important thing to emphasize is that this is just the absolute first step in any kind of case like this. Getting the horse up is a big step, but it is not the last step by any means."
He said horses with injuries such as Barbaro's are "susceptible to other problems, including infection at the site because of the severity of injury and the amount of metal put in the leg to fix it and that horses are very vulnerable to laminitis or problems in the opposite foot. These are all major concerns we have. At this moment he is very comfortable in his leg. He practically jogged back to his stall. He pulled us back to his stall. Right now he is very happy. He is eating. Things right now are good, but I've been doing this too long to know that day one is the end of things."
Richardson said one of his major concerns, that the blood flow in the areas of the injury had been cut off, was quickly dismissed when the doctors determined "he had good pulses in his feet, good warm periphery. When we did the procedure he had good blood supply throughout."
Trainer Michael Matz, who was in the operating room to observe the surgery, praised Richardson and the entire staff at New Bolton for their work. "It's amazing to see him walk like that and the first thing he went in and started eating hay," Matz said. "They did a terrific job.
"I feel much more relieved after I saw him walk to the stall than when I was loading him into the ambulance to come up here," he added. "That's for darn sure. It was an unknown area that we were going in. I feel much more confident now. At least I feel he has a chance. Last night I didn't know what was going to go on."
continued in article...