Well, I don’t. If somebody sitting at an office desk jingling a curb chain can help a horse heal, then holy water from the River Jordan ought to help too. If we could get enough of it, we could bathe the Big Horse in the stuff. And something’s working–he’s still alive, and he was supposed to be dead months ago. EVERYthing helps–off to light more candles…
I check in every day, too; and light candles on a regular basis. And my vehicles wear their bumper stickers.
Hoof grows slowly, that’s just the way it is.
Update 840: Another comfortable night last night for Barbaro (saturday night). I saw Michael Matz in his barn sunday morning, he had heard from Dr. Richardson. He also showed me some print outs he had about Barbaro, this was the most amusing: Indian Charlie: October 14.
update 8:00 am, sunday, october 15Thanks Alex!
Does anyone have the address of NBC? I would like to send something and am not sure which address to use… Candles were getting up there again…Thanks. Still jingling in NY!
As always VB thanks for your daily updates, I do not know where I would be without them…
This is a long and hard road for Barbaro and time is on his side…I am sure he will perservere and come thru like the champion we know he is…
Under Indian Charlie is a funny note about Dean Richardson on the next Dancing with the Stars! Loved it, but he really needs to bring Barbaro if he’s going to go dancing!!! :lol:
Glad the big guy is comfy. 
So am I but that’s cause I stayed inside today considering it’s pretty chilly right now for mid October. Gotta cut grass tomorrow and do some serious gardening though tomorrow. Gotta also remember my farrier is coming to trim both horses in the morning so I can’t let the kids out early. They’ll just have to wait.
Off to check and light some more candles.
Thanks again VB!
Still here…still cheering for Barbaro :yes:
Cool. It said in the article that his dance partner would be Diane Sawyer. Isn’t she married to Arabian breeder Mike Nichols?
Diane is married to Mike Nichols, the Producer.
New Bolton’s address:
New Bolton Center:
George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals
New Bolton Center
382 West Street Road
Kennett Square, PA 19348
Thanks, friend Alex:
Update 841: Another comfortable day for Barbaro. Peter just called (6:30 pm), and had heard from Michael.
Still here, still jingling, and still lighting candles.
Thanks for the updates…it’s such a relief each day when they come in positive! The news of founder back when was just a bad thing, and each day I say a little prayer and hold my breath before reading the updates…
Monday Morning~
Update 842: The Daily Pennsylvanian has a story about Barbaro and you ‘Colt’ of personality surrounds star horse. Some really good quotes, the following is an excerpt:
While the Barbaro Maniacs - people of all ages with widely varying levels of experience with horses - initially frequented the Tim Woolley Web site primarily for Barbaro, they have since turned the site into an activist page for horse-related issues. Among their many initiatives: They recently planned and financed a surprise birthday party for a horse trainer named Mike Rea, who incurred severe brain damage in a horse-riding accident, sent gift baskets to a horse - Lost in the Fog - who was battling cancer in California and “adopted” horses that had survived a tragic trailer accident in Missouri and had been bound for a slaughter house.
Here’s another Barbaro Maniac, still here, still lighting candles, still hoping to change the world one step at a time.
Update 843: Another comfortable night last night for Barbaro (sunday night). I saw Michael Matz on my first set, he had heard from Dr. Richardson. While it is another chilly morning at Fair Hill, it was a gorgeous sunrise and looks like it will be a lovely day. So far I have ridden two horses (a Carson City 2yo gelding and Chappy), probably three to four more to go. Nice easy morning for the beginning of the week.
update 7:40 am, monday, october 16Thanks Alex.
Thank you for all the great news VB!
Oh VB, please don’t feel abandoned…please don’t feel we are taking you for granted! Every weekday I light candles after checking to see if you’ve posted an update. I can’t thank you enough for all you’ve done to keep us informed. Weekends are harder for me to check in so I am chomping at the bit Monday mornings to see if everything is still going well. We’ve got a long haul ahead of us still and I want you to know many of us are here till the end with you! THANK YOU!
Thanks Alex:
Update 847: Peter Brette just called, Barbaro remains well. He had heard from Michael who had visited today.
Kennett Florist left this comment (timestamp: 9:17 pm):
Just got back from NBC. We had carrots and treats for Barbaro and the research horses today, to get the week started off right.
Also, please, please if you have not done so already, please sign Mike Rea’s petition for the Extreme Home Makeover. Now more than ever they need to make this happen and soon! Thank you everyone for all your love and concern for all beings great and small (2 or 4 legged)!!
WE BELIEVE!!
Thank you, Egg. Well said!
:yes: :yes:
Tuesday~
Update 850: Barbaro continues to be popular in main stream media (more so than in racing media these days I think). This time it is the turn of the Washington Post: Diminished Body, Persevering Spirit. A must read, here are a few excerpts highlighting some of the staff at New Bolton:
DeFazio, 27, works the midnight to 5 a.m. shift at New Bolton every other week. She was scheduled to work that night. After the race ended, DeFazio took a nap – missing further coverage of the tragedy on the evening newscasts – then got ready for work. When she arrived at New Bolton at 10 p.m., she learned that the horse in her care would be Barbaro.
“When I got in and saw him, I was just awestruck,” she said. “He looked like an athlete in his prime. I half wanted to cry and half was excited. You didn’t know how to explain it: He’s a horse – one of our patients – but he’s Barbaro, and he won the Derby, and he’s all over the news, and he’s right in front of me, and I need to make sure he makes it through the night.”
and
“It’s kind of odd because we’ve gotten used to it now, but it’s very surreal,” said Liberty Getman, a third-year resident physician who fills in for Richardson when he is elsewhere. “You can’t go anywhere wearing a New Bolton shirt. You can’t go to the grocery store or anywhere without being stopped and asked how he is. When you leave here, it becomes more obvious.”
and
Sweeney said. “No one wanted this tragedy to occur, but once it did occur an awful lot of good things happened.”
And they continue to happen to Barbaro, the odds-defying patient who happens to be a star.
“I will be able to look back,” McCafferty said, "and say to my children and grandchildren, ‘I worked with Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner.’ "
Update 849: Another comfortable night for Barbaro (monday night). I saw Michael Matz as I was heading up the horsepath on my second set on Rocky. Rocky was supposed to breeze this morning but the track was sealed in anticipation of a bucketload of rain. So, we jogged a mile and galloped a mile instead. I am just pulling Chappy out now for my third set.
Updated 7:40am tuesday morning
Update 848: Another great Barbaro article: His crowning success. It includes the following excerpts:
But it was Barbaro’s attitude, his will to survive, that inspired them all to continue with treatment and with efforts to save him, Matz said. If Barbaro was still fighting, they would.
It was never about saving him to be a stallion, never about money. It was only about saving life, about saving what Richardson described as a “magnificent” creature.
and
The goal and hope, Jackson said, is to allow Barbaro to be a healthy normal horse again, so that he can survive without pain or discomfort. If he’s ever able to be a stallion, “that would just be a bonus,” he said.
[I]And if not, well, he’s already accomplished much, even without racing. Because of Barbaro, Jackson said, people are more sensitive to equine safety, more aware of the need for research into laminitis and other conditions. And because of Barbaro, thousands and thousands of people who never followed the sport suddenly found themselves investing their emotions in a racehorse’s wellbeing.
Thanks Tim & Alex.
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Good heavens, it’s 2 PM and I finally got on this danged board, and not for lack of trying either (like from 8 AM :mad:). :rolleyes:
Anyway, I loved the following quote from the above article about Dminished body, Persevering spirit where they are talking about Dr. Richardson taking Barbaro out for his walks…
“Like many top-class racehorses, Barbaro is alert and inquisitive. On a recent afternoon, he flirted with a cow penned at the hospital. Barbaro only backed away when his new playmate attempted to administer a slobbering bovine lick to his face.”
Update 852: New Bolton’s Barbaro update for today: Barbaro remains comfortable, continues to improve:
Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro continues to improve a week after his right hind leg cast change. “Barbaro is wearing his new cast comfortably and his vital signs and appetite remain excellent,” said Dr. Dean W. Richardson, Chief of Surgery at Penn’s George D. Widener Hospital.
Barbaro’s left hind foot, which had a large portion of the hoof wall and sole removed because of severe laminitis, is gradually improving. “The hoof is growing slowly, but he has a long way to go, especially along the front of the hoof,” said Dr. Richardson. “We still have many months of healing ahead of us. The foot will require meticulous care for a long time.”
Barbaro remains in the Intensive Care Unit of the University of Pennsylvania’s George D. Widener Hospital, where he is recovering from injuries suffered at the Preakness on May 20.
The next update will be posted on Tuesday, October 24, unless there is a significant change in Barbaro’s condition.
