posted on May 21, 2006 10:12:53 PM new
After watching him run in the Derby it was heartbreaking to hear what happened to Barbaro yesterday. They said the actions of his jockey probably saved his life and that surgeries to the extent of what he went thru today rarely happen because horses that substain that type of injury are generally put down at the track.
May 22 (Bloomberg) -- Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, whose misstep in the Preakness Stakes ended the colt's racing career, was resting in his stall today after more than four hours of surgery to repair three broken bones in his right hind ankle.
``It was an amazing scene to see Barbaro eating hay,'' said trainer Michael Matz, who had watched his Triple Crown contender falter during the Preakness Stakes over the weekend. ``Two weeks, ago we were on Cloud Nine. This game has a way of humbling you.''
Barbaro's ankle was stabilized by a compression plate and 23 screws, and covered by a cast that enclosed the foot up to the knee yesterday, said Dean Richardson, chief surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania's George D. Widener Hospital in Kennett Square.
``He walked on the leg immediately; he's completely on his own,'' Richardson said after the surgery in a televised news conference. ``Until the horse actually stands up, it's very, very nerve-wracking. Things could have gone very, very badly in surgery. I'm not claiming this horse is cured and fixed.''
Barbaro, the 1-2 favorite in the Preakness, fractured his cannon bone about 200 yards from the starting gate, and then complicated the injury by breaking two other bones when he refused to stop running.
``This combination of injuries I've never done,'' Richardson said after the surgery. ``I've done permutations of all the injuries but with this combination of injuries, most people don't give the horse a chance.''
Career as Stallion
Richardson said Barbaro had a good blood supply to his foot during surgery, which will promote healing. The colt will face a long rehabilitation process.
``This type of case, I have no idea what his bill will end up being, but you're talking about many tens of thousands of dollars to fix this type of injury,'' Richardson said.
Matz said he was grateful owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson decided to try to repair the damage.
``I feel much more confident now,'' he said. ``I feel better that we made every chance to save his life. Hopefully now, he'll be able to have a career as a stallion.''
After surgery, Barbaro was lowered into a raft with four holes to allow his legs to thrash in 97-degree Fahrenheit water as the colt came out from under anesthesia, Richardson said.
``He jumped up and down a few times,'' Richardson said. ``He didn't hurt anything, but it had Michael (Matz) worried.''
Practically Jogged
The colt, suspended in a sling, then was lifted out by a monorail system and practically jogged to his 14-foot-by-14-foot stall, said Jim Gluckson, a National Thoroughbred Racing Association official stationed at the hospital.
Barbaro has a catheter to allow pain killers to be administered through the spine and will receive antibiotics to ward off the chance of infection, Richardson said. The horse will be evaluated in a week to 10 days to determine if he can undergo anesthesia to replace the cast.
Barbaro's leg had to be stabilized so he could stand in a matter of days, unlike humans who can be ordered to stay in bed for several weeks, said Larry Bramlage, an equine surgeon at Rood & Riddle Equine Hospital in Lexington, Kentucky.
``A horse has to have four feet to stand,'' Bramlage said in an interview. ``If he has only three legs to stand on, the other paired leg will continue to fail and break down.''
The second fracture below the ankle occurred as jockey Edgar Prado tried to pull up the colt, Bramlage said. The horse complicated the injury by continuing to race.
Potential for Tragedy
``He was so full of adrenalin and so ready to run he wouldn't stop,'' said Bramlage. ``The jockey struggled to stop him the length of a football field.''
Barbaro was fortunate that the fractures didn't break through the skin, said Josh Pons, an owner of Country Life Farm in Bel Air, Maryland. The farm is the birthplace of Cigar, the all-time leading money winner with almost $10 million. He retired in 1996.
``Usually these injuries are not operable because the skin breaks and the track surface gets into the wound, causing infection,'' Pons said.
Spanish Riddle
Barbaro already was being scouted by Kentucky stallion managers, said Tim Capps, a consultant at Maryland Stallion Station in Glyndon, Maryland.
``His performance in the Derby was one of the best I've ever seen,'' Capps said. ``He'll be popular; it's just a question of getting him healthy.''
Capps said a fused ankle shouldn't prevent Barbaro from breeding. A bigger problem for stallions is a hock injury, which causes a weakness in the leg.
``The leg will gain strength even if it is modified,'' Capps said. ``I would be cautiously optimistic he could handle the pressure of the breeding shed.''
Barbaro won the 132nd Kentucky Derby by seven lengths. Matz won a silver medal in equestrian riding at the Atlanta Olympics in 1996.
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People put their hand on the bible, and swear to uphold the constitution. They do not put their hand on the constitution, and swear to uphold the bible.
posted on May 21, 2006 10:38:10 PM new
I saw the Preakness race live and I wondered what had happened to him.
Before the race actually started Barbaro broke through the starting gate and started to run but the Jockey held him back and they had to reload him into his slot.
I wonder if that had anything to do with him breaking his leg because it would have taken alot of force for him to be able to break through the gate, pushing with his hind quarters.
posted on May 21, 2006 11:27:46 PM new
I don't know Pi. Prado said he came out of the gates strong but took a mistep early in the race. He said he heard a noise and knew something was wrong and started pulling up on him right away. One of the pieces I read earlier said that that was probably what kept him form furthering the injury and causing a break thru the skin.
Did you see him in the Derby? He was beautiful to watch. I guess we can keep our eyes out in a few years for his offspring.
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People put their hand on the bible, and swear to uphold the constitution. They do not put their hand on the constitution, and swear to uphold the bible.
posted on May 22, 2006 04:05:41 AM new
They said that coming out of the gate had nothing to do with his breaking his ankle.
I saw him hobbling around-it was ugly.Im glad
he came out okay and they didnt have to put him down.
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If you dont want to hear the truth....dont ask the question.
posted on May 22, 2006 05:02:20 AM new
With his dollar prospects as a stallion, I expected they'd go to great lengths to fix him. What a horse.
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Now We Know... Uninformed People Elect Uninformed Presidents
posted on May 22, 2006 06:39:19 AM new
I watched it too and like Twig, I thought we had a triple crown winner too. It brought tears to my eyes to see him hurt like that. I'd kill for a Nobel Peace Prize
posted on May 22, 2006 08:00:15 AM new
His vet was on GMA this morning. He's nipping at those trying to help him and showing interest in the neighboring fillies.
Sounds like a typical male
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People put their hand on the bible, and swear to uphold the constitution. They do not put their hand on the constitution, and swear to uphold the bible.
posted on May 22, 2006 11:02:49 AM new
The Horseracing Industry: Drugs, Deception and Death
They weigh at least 1,000 pounds, they have legs supported by ankles the size of a human’s, and they’re forced to run over 30 miles per hour around a dirt track carrying a person on their back.(1) Racehorses are victims of a multibillion-dollar industry rife with drug abuse, injuries, race fixing, and for many horses, their career ends in a slaughterhouse. A New York Daily News reporter remarked, “The thoroughbred race horse is a genetic mistake. It runs too fast, its frame is too large, and its legs are far too small. As long as mankind demands that it run at high speeds under stressful conditions, horses will die at racetracks.”(2)
The Starting Gate
Racehorses can cost millions of dollars and are often purchased by syndicates, which may be composed of thousands of members.(3,4) There are also trainers, handlers, veterinarians, and jockeys involved, so a horse is rarely able to develop any kind of bond with one person or other horses. They travel from country to country, state to state, racetrack to racetrack, so few horses are able to call one place “home.” Most do not end up in the well-publicized races, but instead are trucked, shipped, or flown to the thousands of other races that take place all over the country every year.
Racing to the Grave
Horses begin training or are already racing when their skeletal system is still growing and unprepared to handle the pressures of running on a hard track at high speeds.(5) Improved medical treatment and technological advancements have done little to remedy the plight of the racehorse. One study on injuries at racetracks concluded that one horse in every 22 races suffered an injury that prevented him or her from finishing a race, while another estimates that 800 thoroughbreds die a year in North America because of injuries.(6) Strained tendons or hairline fractures can be tough for veterinarians to diagnose and the damage may go from minor to irrevocable at the next race or workout. Horses do not handle surgery well, as they tend to be disoriented when coming out of anesthesia and may fight casts or slings, possibly causing further injury. Many are euthanized in order to save the owners further veterinary fees and other expenses on a horse who can’t race again. Given the huge investment in a horse, reported one Kentucky paper, “simply sending one to pasture, injured or not, is not an option all owners are willing to consider.”(7) Care for a single racehorse can cost as much as $50,000 per year.(8) Magic Man stepped into an uneven section of a track and broke both front legs during a race at Saratoga Race Course; his owner had bought him for $900,000 dollars, yet the horse hadn’t earned any money yet and, unproven on the track, wasn’t worth much as a stud, so he was euthanized.(9)
Trainers may take calculated risks by running a horse they know is injured. War Emblem, the racehorse who won the first two legs of the Triple Crown in 2001, suffered from bone chips in one ankle and both knees. In spite of veterinary recommendations for surgery, which would have taken away from training and racing time, trainer Bob Baffert said, “Let the chips fall where they may,” and continued to race the horse.(10) War Emblem lost the Belmont Stakes, no longer races, and has changed hands twice.(11) Bone chips, which occur in up to 50 percent of racehorses by some veterinary estimates, are “like taking two pieces of rock, rubbing them together and seeing pieces of sand rubbing off,” explains one veterinary orthopedic surgeon.(12) The same trainer continued to race a 3-year-old thoroughbred after knee surgery; the horse had to be euthanized after breaking his shoulder during a
workout.(13)
Drugs and Deception
“Finding an American racehorse trained on the traditional hay, oats, and water probably would be impossible,” commented one racing reporter.(14) Many racehorses are turned into junkies by their trainers and sometimes by veterinarians, who provide drugs to keep horses on the track when they shouldn’t be racing.
Which drugs are legal and which are not varies from state to state, with Kentucky holding the reputation as most lenient.(15) According to The Washington Post, every horse at the 2003 Kentucky Derby was given a shot of Lasix (which controls bleeding in the lungs), and most were probably given phenylbutazone (an anti-inflammatory).(16) Those drugs, although legal, can also mask pain or make a horse run faster. Labs cannot detect all of the illegal drugs out there, of which there “could be thousands,” says the executive director of the Racing Medication and Testing Consortium.(17) Morphine, which can keep a horse from feeling any pain from an injury, was suspected in the case of Be My Royal, who won a race limping.(18) Baffert has also been suspended for using morphine on a horse.(19) One trainer was suspended for using an Ecstasy-type drug on five horses, and another has been kicked off of racetracks for using clenbuterol and, in one case, for having the leg of a euthanized horse cut off “for research.”(20,21)
A New York veterinarian and a trainer faced felony charges when the body of a missing racehorse turned up at a farm and authorities determined her death had been caused by the injection of a “performance-enhancing drug.”22
“There are trainers pumping horses full of illegal drugs every day,” says a former Churchill Downs public relations director, “With so much money on the line, people will do anything to make their horses run faster.”(23)
Even the Winners Lose
Few racehorses are retired to pastures for pampering and visits from caring individuals or are glamorized in movies.
An insurance scandal cost the life of Alydar, who came in second in all three races of the 1978 Triple Crown and fathered many fast horses. After being retired to stud at a Kentucky farm, he was originally believed to have shattered his leg by kicking a stall door and was euthanized when he wasn’t able to maintain a splint.(24) Ten years later, an FBI investigation revealed that his leg was broken deliberately with a rope tied to a pickup truck.(25)
The disappearance and suspected murder of candy heir Helen Voorhees Brach was traced to the Chicago horse “mafia,” whose leader was known for burning barns and killing horses for insurance money.(26)
Ferdinand, a Derby winner and Horse of the Year in 1987, was retired to Claiborne Farms, then changed hands at least twice before being “disposed of” in Japan; a reporter covering the story concluded, “No one can say for sure when and where Ferdinand met his end, but it would seem clear he met it in a slaughterhouse.”(27)
Exceller, a million-dollar racehorse who was inducted into the National Racing Museum’s Hall of Fame, was killed at a Swedish slaughterhouse.(28)
The United States has a multimillion-dollar horsemeat export business and slaughters tens of thousands of horses every year.(29) One Colorado State University study found that of 1,348 horses sent to slaughter, 58 were known to be former racehorses.(30) There are only two equine slaughterhouses left in the U.S., both in Texas, so most horses who come from other states have to endure days of transport in cramped trailers.(31) Usually, there is no access to water or food, and injuries are common: A University of California, Davis, study of 306 horses destined for slaughter found that 60 of them sustained injuries during transport.(32) Some must travel in double-decker trailers designed for cattle or sheep; these vehicles are are not tall enough for horses. The United States Department of Agriculture has banned the use of these trailers for horse transport as of 2006.(33) Horses are subject to the same method of slaughter as cattle, but since horses are generally not used to being herded, they tend to thrash about to avoid the pneumatic gun that should render them unconscious before their throat is cut. (34)
What You Can Do
Tracks are trying to revive interest in horseracing by introducing slot machines at dog and horse tracks; in Arizona, though, voters recently rejected a proposition to allow such an expansion of gambling at tracks.(35) To quote comedian Bill Maher, “Horses were not meant to serve as gambling icons.”(36)
Help phase out this exploitative “sport”: Refuse to patronize existing tracks, work to reform and enforce racing regulations, lobby against the construction of new tracks, and educate your friends and family about the tragic lives of racehorses.
References
1)Ted Miller, “Six Recent Horse Deaths at Emerald Downs Spark Concern,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 8 May 2001.
2)Bill Finley, “Sadly, No Way to Stop Deaths,” New York Daily News, 10 Jun. 1993.
3)Sherry Ross, “Fans Are Buying In,” Daily News, 1 Jun. 2003.
4)“The Odds Are You’ll Lose: Owning a Racehorse,” Financial Times, 1 Feb. 2003.
5)Glenn Robertson Smith, “Why Racehorses Are Cracking Up,” The Age (Australia), 15 Nov. 2002.
6)Miller.
7)Tim Reynolds, “Technology Can’t Prevent Horse Injuries,” The Lexington Herald-Leader, 30 Aug. 2001.
8)Andrew Beyer, “A Beyer’s Guide for Racehorses,” The Washington Post, 3 Jun. 2003.
9)Reynolds.
10)Maryjean Wall, “A Triple Crown. Bone Chips Haven’t Hurt War Emblem. Ailment Afflicts Many a Racehorse,” The Lexington Herald-Leader, 2 Jun. 2002.
11) “War Emblem Taken Over by Insurance Firms,” Associated Press, 5 Jun. 2003.
12)Wall.
13)“Baffert-Trained Del Mar Futurity Winner Is Euthanized,” Associated Press, 20 Feb. 2003.
14)John Scheinman, “Horses, Drugs Are Racing’s Daily Double; No Uniform Policy in Industry,” The Washington Post, 27 Apr. 2003.
15)Janet Patton, “HBPA Proposes Uniform Policy on Drugs in Racing; Horsemen’s Group Targets Maze of State Rules,” The Lexington Herald-Leader, 17 Oct. 2001.
16)Scheinman.
17)Scheinman.
18)Peat Bee, “Cut the Poppycock and Treat Drugs With Horse Sense,” The Guardian, 13 Jan. 2003.
19)“Baffert Suspended for 60 Days,” CNN Sports Illustrated, 17 Jun. 2001 <cnnsi.com>.
20)Alex Straus, “Dark Horses,” Maxim, May 2002.
21)Tom Keyser, “Gill Is Still Permitted to Stable, Race Horses at Pimlico, Laurel,” The Baltimore Sun, 6 Apr. 2003.
22)“Trainer, Vet Charged in Trotter’s Death,” Associated Press, 22 Apr. 2001.
23)Straus.
24)Skip Hollandsworth, “The Killing of Alydar,” Texas Monthly, Jun. 2001.
25)Straus.
26)“The Candy Lady,” Dateline NBC, narr. Dennis Murphy, NBC, 21 Feb. 1996.
27)Barbara Bayer, “1986 Kentucky Derby Winner Ferdinand Believed to Have Been Slaughtered in Japan,” The Blood-Horse Magazine, 26 Jul. 2003.
28)Allen G. Breed, “And What of the Spent Racehorse?” Associated Press, 25 Nov. 1999.
29)Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, “Horsemeat Exports—Value,” 2001 and “Horsemeat Slaughtered/Prod Animals (Head),” 2002.
30)K. McGee et al., “Characterizations of Horses at Auctions and in Slaughter Plants,” Colorado State University Department of Animal Sciences, 2001.
31)Kris Axtman, “Horse-Meat Sales Stir Texas Controversy,” Christian Science Monitor, 28 Apr. 2003.
32)C.L. Stull, “Responses of Horses to Trailer Design, Duration, and Floor Area During Commercial Transportation to Slaughter,” Journal of Animal Science 77 (1999): 2925-2933.
33)United States Department of Agriculture, Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service, “Take Care of Our Horses. Commercial Transportation of Equines to Slaughter,” Jan. 2002: 2.
34)Axtman.
35)“Gambling Measure Likely to Deepen Racing Woes,” Associated Press, 18 Nov. 2002.
36) Bill Maher, interview, Larry King Live, CNN, 28 Aug. 2003.
