There’s nothing better than a (medically) talented and empathetic vet during a crisis. :yes:
Good luck to all at this difficult time.
Peppermints?
Janet said something about Barbaro asking for peppermints. I made the mistake of telling some people at the office that my horses like peppermints. I am overrun with Christmas candy canes. Do you think he would like them?
I would be more than happy to put them in the mail. Just saving a few for Cigar in April. Ok, I doubt Cigar remembers that I bring him peppermints every April but I do. Some TV station actually video taped it a few years ago.
Sorry to all the folks who feel this is the “happy happy joy joy” sprinkle fairy dust and all is better thread. I am a true Barbaro fan from the start. I even made up BELIEVE IN BARBARO bracelets and gave them out. So do not flame me when I am done here. This horse has become “Humpty Dumpty”. He is breaking and being glued back together. I agree with Lisa Cook, I think time is coming. Just because he takes peppermints and is eating does not mean he is out of pain. He is a stallion, he will hide his pain and be alert, it is his job. If he had a herd to protect and a broken leg, damn sure believe he would try. Enough is enough, I never thought I would admit defeat, but it is coming close to it. God bless everyone who is trying out there and supporting him.
Monday Morning ~
Thanks, Alex~
Update 1398: Additional media coverage from saturday’s surgery.
NPR’s “All Things Considered”: Derby Winner Barbaro Still at Risk from Injuries. Allison Keyes interviewed Dr. Richardson (not live), and reported from the interview that Barbaro was bright-eyed, eating carrots out of people’s hands yesterday (sunday). She also noted the new brace is likely to be needed for approximately 6 weeks.
CBS News interviewed their vet / reporter Dr. Debbye Turner: Setback in Barbaro’s recovery. Interesting but no new information, she does discuss his fighting spirit.
Sandra McKee of The Baltimore Sun: Barbaro receives new foot brace after ‘significant setback’. Sandra spoke with Mrs. Jackson for this story on sunday:
“You wish it wasn’t happening,” Gretchen Jackson said. “But it is.”
Jackson said Barbaro’s initial injury has resulted in changes in his right leg and in the way he walks on it.
“I guess it has to be an issue,” she said. “He has to learn to live with his new leg, and they’re trying to help him live with it. But it has created problems. Horses are horses and things happen.”
Jackson again said the most important thing is for Barbaro to be pain-free.
“As long as that is the case, we’ll go forward,” she said. "I visited him twice [yesterday] with a friend, and his eyes were bright and he is still trying to bite you. He’s still interested in life.
“They’re taking good care of him, and we are staying positive. That’s really all you can do.”
Richardson said Barbaro “remarkably” continues to have an “excellent attitude and appetite.”
Mike Jensen, Philadelphia Inquirer updated his story: Surgery leaves Barbaro at risk after talking to Mr. Jackson on sunday:
After visiting Barbaro yesterday, Roy Jackson said last night: “He appears to be fairly comfortable. He had his three buckets of grass, and is doing as well as could be expected under the circumstances.”
At this point, everybody involved is just taking things “day-to-day, hour-to-hour,” Jackson said. One positive that he could find about the latest surgery: “If this had happened two months after the [Preakness], the fractures would not have healed enough to do something like that. Thank goodness there’s a chance.”
And of course this latest setback is news around the world.
Good Morning America had a blurb about Barbaro at 7am. I feel like crying. After all he has been through, it really sucks to have another setback. He is constantly in my prayers.
Absolutely
[QUOTE=niceb;2175417]
Those of you who have lived through a devastating situation with their beloved horse and cared and nursed for this creature with all your heart and soul, as the Jackson’s and Dr. Richardson and all those involved with Barbaro have, will tell you that when indeed it is time , the horse will let you know. I have been on this awful roller coaster ride and my mare who was fighter and I loved with all my heart told me when it was time to let go. You can see it in their eyes when the fight is up. I don’t believe that anyone involved in Barbaro’s recovery would have taken this as far as they have if for one moment they saw he was not up for the battle ahead. Some horses have a incredible will to survive. I pray he will continue to fight and indeed if he cannot, trust me , he will let them know it is over. All my prayers for you dear Barbaro and prayers and strength to all those who love and watch over you…[/QUOTE]
They will let you know. I too went through a tough end with a beloved friend. When he wanted to try and go on, we tried too. In the end, he couldn’t fight any more and we let him go. But we wouldn’t take him out of the fght when he still wanted to be in it.
“It is not over until it is over.”
We must stay strong and pray for Barbaro. He represents to many of us, the courage, bravery, strength and determination that we respect and love in our horses. I’ve been through trying desparately to save two horses that I loved very much. I lost them. I pray Barbaro makes it…every d@m day…and please realize that while there is life, there is always hope.
The Jacksons and Dr. Richardson are doing their ultimate best for this wonderful horse, lets light some candles and BELIEVE in Miracles.
Group barba has 17,594 candles from 67 countries.
every day, continuing to hope and pray for Barbaro, and for all the people who love him.
well said, sid.
Very well said SID. And to Barbaro, the Jackson’s, Dr. Richardson and his team, our thoughts and prayers continue for you each and every day, and that Barbaro will be able to overcome this setback. Godspeed.
Another great article by Dick Jerardi in today’s Philadelphia Inquirer—one interesting tidbit is that the new management strategy allows them to soak the hoof:
Fragile Barbaro at risk again
His recovery hits another snag as his support crew tries to remain positive
By DICK JERARDI
jerardd@phillynews.com
KENTUCKY DERBY winner Barbaro’s life was in danger from the moment his right rear leg blew apart a few hundred yards into the May 20 Preakness. Even as the months passed after the May 21 surgery to repair the fractures, more surgery to cut away 80 percent of the colt’s left rear hoof in July, good days and bad days, the basic prognosis has never changed. Barbaro’s life is in danger.
Long term, there are no guarantees because animals react differently than humans and every little thing is complicated. And the complications have complications.
After another surgery on Saturday, Barbaro’s right rear foot, which developed a “deep subsolar abscess,” is no longer weight bearing and there is a chance that a bone now bearing the weight could fracture.
Roy Jackson, who, along with his wife Gretchen owns Barbaro, said last night that, “I think we’re all on the same page. If his quality of life doesn’t look good and he’s in pain, then we have to make a decision.”
That has been the Jacksons’ stance from the start. They want to give Barbaro every chance, but will, as Dr. Dean Richardson, the chief of surgery at New Bolton Center, has said on many occasions, “quit” if it is obvious there is no long-term hope or the horse is in pain.
Richardson put out a statement yesterday that explained the surgery was necessary “because we could not keep him comfortable on his right hind foot.”
and
"We attempted to manage the right hind foot in a cast and then in a custom fabricated brace but it was impossible to have access to the foot for treatment as well as acceptable stability and comfort. We elected to place his right hind in an external skeletal fixation device in order to provide the foot a chance to heal. This means that two steel pins have been placed transversely through his right hind cannon bone. These pins are connected to external sidebars that in turn are connected to a lightweight alloy foot plate.
“This results in the horse eliminating all weight bearing from the foot; the horse’s weight is borne through the pins across his cannon bone. There is significant risk in this approach but we believed it was our only option given the worsening of the right hind foot problem. The major risk of the external skeletal fixation device is that the bone bearing the weight can fracture. Unfortunately, we felt we needed to take this risk because this approach offered our only hope of keeping Barbaro acceptably comfortable.”
and
According to Jackson, Barbaro’s foot can “now be soaked,” to promote healing.
“He had a perfect recovery from anesthesia and has been in and out of the sling since then,” Richardson said. "His left hind foot appears to be stable at this time. We remain concerned about both front feet. Remarkably, his attitude and appetite were excellent overnight.
“We will continue to treat Barbaro aggressively as long as he remains bright, alert and eating. This is another significant setback that exemplifies how complex his medical situation remains because both hind limbs have major problems.”
and
A week after the cast was applied, Barbaro showed significant discomfort in the foot. The cast was removed. At the time, Richardson called it “a significant setback.”
On Jan. 12, Richardson said: “We’ve got to worry more about his right hind because he’s bearing so much more weight on his right hind, getting off his left.”
Now, of course, they are dealing with the right hind, just as Richardson feared.
“It’s hour by hour, 1 day at a time,” Jackson said. “You have bright periods. Then, something comes up.”
That is simply the nature of this. There is no straight line to a cure.
"The big thing that people don’t understand about these animals although they are noble and great creatures, you can’t explain to them that, ‘It’s OK, we can deal with it and you’ll be fine,’ " Reid said. “They’re much more primitive than us. They only react to pain, swelling… Particularly in a horse like this, people try to put human terms on them and there’s no human terms… We can put our feet up. We can lie in a hospital bed. Horses don’t react like people react, they only react to direct stimuli.”
The issue for Barbaro once again is pain.
“He’s nowhere near on as much medication as after he got the laminitis,” Jackson said. “Life goes on. You have to not look back and keep a positive attitude.”
There are, as Richardson said, unknowns with this latest surgery.
“I don’t think Dean knows at all,” Jackson said. “We’ve just got to wait.”
For the complete story see the link above
I’m almost scared. I know the Barbaro team will always do the right thing for him. My jingles are for his caregivers to be strong in all decisions.
As he has been from the very start, Barbaro is in God’s hands and all we can do is hope and pray for him. Dr. Richardson and the Jacksons’s will do the right thing by Barbaro. He has show such courage and heart through all of this. I have such a sad feeling in my heart and I just hope he will get through this but what we all want is what is best for him so we will just have to wait and see and say lots of prayers…
Going to light some candles.
I’m praying for a miracle for Barbaro. He and those around him deserve one.
Also praying for a miracle. The big guy and his owners and caretakers deserve a break!
[QUOTE=eggbutt;2176302]
I’m almost scared. I know the Barbaro team will always do the right thing for him.[/QUOTE]
I am scared too, more scared now than I have been in a long time. Jingles to our Bobby and Jingles for all involved with his care.
He’ll tell them when he is done. Unless you have ever seen the look, its hard to explain. But they’ll know.
Thanks, Alex~
Update 1400: While I am sure there will be persistant media coverage over the next few days, I did want to alert you that Jeannine Edwards will be on “Outside the Lines” at 3 pm today on ESPN. She will also be on ESPN News following that broadcast.
It was a chilly morning this morning at Fair Hill, bright sunshine, but a wind that made the temperatures pretty low. I ended up getting on six, five of which went to the Tapeta track. I was actually first on the Tapeta track this morning on Hawty Creek. The track continues to be very good despite the weather. Hawty Creek did two turns at a jog / light gallop. I rode Chesapeake City Slew for Tim, and then three more to the track. One of the keys to keeping warm is wearing plenty of layers (I just counted, nine in my case) … and jogging to and from the racetrack. Anyway, gate day was canceled today due to the weather, I cannot imagine why a gate crew does not want to come out on a lovely day like today and stand around for a few hours!
OK, likely I may head over to New Bolton at some stage today, but lets keep all our thoughts positive for Barbaro!
Update 1399: The AP is reporting Barbaro did not have a great night: Barbaro has another setback. Relevant excerpt:
When asked Monday morning at the New Bolton Center if Barbaro had a good night, Richardson said, “No, not a great night.”
Continue prayers for all parties involved, as the picture is quite poor.
19,500 candles lit and burning brightly with the associated prayers, but I have to say I am feeling very uneasy this time. The “tone” from Dr R in the report sounded almost defeated but perhaps that’s my fear/dread reading into it.
As mentioned before by others so many of us have been on this roller coaster with our own horses. It’s so hard when the ups and downs are this significant.
[QUOTE=niceb;2175417]
Those of you who have lived through a devastating situation with their beloved horse and cared and nursed for this creature with all your heart and soul, as the Jackson’s and Dr. Richardson and all those involved with Barbaro have, will tell you that when indeed it is time , the horse will let you know. I have been on this awful roller coaster ride and my mare who was fighter and I loved with all my heart told me when it was time to let go. You can see it in their eyes when the fight is up. I don’t believe that anyone involved in Barbaro’s recovery would have taken this as far as they have if for one moment they saw he was not up for the battle ahead. Some horses have a incredible will to survive. I pray he will continue to fight and indeed if he cannot, trust me , he will let them know it is over. All my prayers for you dear Barbaro and prayers and strength to all those who love and watch over you…[/QUOTE]
This is so true. I lost my forever horse to colic last summer. He went from perfectly healthy to being in severe pain in a matter of hours. I knew what the right decision was…he told me himself. You can see it in their eyes - his were lifeless.
I lit another candle for Barbaro and hope he makes it through this.
