Another tribute: Barbaro The Legend.
I loved this excerpt from the America’s Pony. It made me chuckle for the first time since the Preakness:
Barbaro was the perfect icon for us. He didn’t put his hoof in his mouth every time he opened it. Not only was he was good-looking and highly photogenic from start to finish, but he was well behaved: he didn’t make headlines for outrageous behavior or breaking the law. He wasn’t a public embarrassment or a laughingstock or the lurid subject of scandal sheets. He embodied the characteristics so often lacking in our human icons: nobility, courage, dignity, grace, good manners and greatness of spirit. Until the final moments of his life, when a series of setbacks made his pain level unmanageable, he was an outstandingly cooperative patient with a strong will to beat the medical odds. What more can we ask from our heroes?
I just lit another candle for him and the candles were over 3400! He’s still very much loved and in peoples hearts and minds. 
Thanks Alex~
Update 1459: Mrs. Jackson just called and we had a nice long conversation about Barbaro and all the good things that seem to be happening. I alerted Mrs. Jackson to this rescue effort, she was thrilled! Mrs. Jackson obviously misses Barbaro a lot, he was so much a part of her life for sure, but she did emphasize she would not change a thing (other than the accident itself of course). She is very grateful of all the support and is very busy working on Barbaro’s legacy.
Sorry if it’s been mentioned, but does anyone know where he was buried? I would assume it would have been done by now…
Appassionato, I will post it here, so just stay updated on these posts for his burial site/place.
Thank you VB - (aka Randee! 
)
Over the past couple of days I’ve been able to wean myself away from the outrageous and spectacular articles and bb posts that have been tirades on the insanity of why the public was so fascinated with Barbaro. I’m now back to visiting my old haunts for news in general on B. Thank you for continuing to keep us informed. There is so much wrong in the world…it is nice to find good thoughts here on this thread.
Sandie - aka eggbutt
Thanks! I wonder what the hold up is?
No comment. lol.
Actually, I was wondering the same thing.
I guess because he was cremated there’s no hurry, and they want to think about where the best place would be. Just my thought on it…
There are many options.
The Kentucky Derby site.
The Kentucky Horse Park site.
A new Barbaro museum they are considering.
Their own farm.
Stay tuned…
In previous posts Mrs. Jackson has said she is considering many options, including a yet to be built racing musuem in PA honoring PA Bred race horses. I certainly will honor any decision the Jacksons make regarding his burial site.
I wonder if Barbaro’s stride was ever measured and if so, what the measurement was? I recall my first visit to the Kentucky Horse Park my total amazement at the length of Secretariat’s full gait stride. I’m not suggesting Barbaro was a big gaited as Secretariat, just general curiousity.
I loved the barbaro the legend video!!! Does anyone know who took the first three pictures? I have seen them before, and love them… I would like to be able to buy one or two if it was possible… Thanks all!!!
[QUOTE=VirginiaBred;2203055]
Another tribute: Barbaro The Legend.[/QUOTE]
That was AWESOME!
I love the picture of him as a colt.
Friday~
Thanks Alex~
Update 1462: A couple more tributes to Barbaro:
Barbaro: His Greatest Legacy, Grieving “Barbaro Nation” Poised to Move Forward, excerpt:
But during his stay at NBC, they did a lot more. They mobilized hundreds if not thousands of ordinary folks to introduce anti-horse slaughter legislation. They brought the plight of abandoned and neglected horses to the web site to be read by people across the globe. By keeping Barbaro in the news, one way or another, they forced the issue of thoroughbred racing injuries into public view and saw tracks moving to safer polytrack surfaces as a result.
Requiem for a hero, In a vain fight against death, Barbaro became more than a stricken Kentucky Derby winner. Bred to win on a track, this horse - and its handlers - won over a nation’s heart., excerpt:
There are those who will say that Barbaro was just a horse, but the truth is that to so many he was also a symbol of hope … of courage … and the selflessness of the man who trained him and rode him and the people who stood beside him in the winner’s circle on Derby Day.
But maybe the shared joy of his survival that later turned to shared suffering when he couldn’t make it is not really that hard to understand. He was an athlete with an athlete’s heart. His courage was self-explanatory in an age when America grows weary of big-money athletes who have exhausted their intelligence with their whining.
Any way you look at it, an American hero died Monday.
Thanks, VB, for keeping this going
I think it’s great that, while certain people predicted that Barbaro fans would fall apart if he died, they (we) have actually mobilized into a powerful force of loving positive people who want to make a difference to horses
It was almost exactly a month ago that I was at UPenn small animal hospital buying meds for my cat and saw the Barbaro bracelets on sale. I was back there yesterday, and they’re still selling them :yes:
I wonder if the bracelets could be modified so that they honor Barbaro while also promoting Mrs. Jackson’s cause(s). I’m thinking of something like Alex’s Lemonade Stand. She was the little girl who died of leukemia and her yellow stands (and bracelets) now raise awareness and raise money for other children with cancer. I don’t know Mrs. Jackson or anyone in the “know” enough to suggest this myself, but just throwing out the idea in case someone else wants to go with it.
SS, that’s a wonderful idea. I think that what will make Bobbie’s last 8+ months worth while is if good things happen because of it. We’ve seen the beginnings–artificial turf, anti-slaughter support, support for OOTB retirement homes–but there’s SO much more that could be done.
THIS JUST IN FROM HSUS in regard to the “Barbaro Effect” and the AHSPA
We’ve been in touch with Kelley Dupps Gov’t Affairs HSUS in regard to a statement with the recent passing of Barbaro and the impact Barbaro has on getting the AHSPA passed.
Many thanks to Kelley Dupps in her efforts to get this statement to us. Here it is…
Friends,
Many of us felt a loss we couldn’t articulate and beyond our reason when we heard the news about Barbaro. Some of it was due to the expectations we had for him. He’d overcome so much. He was on the mend, so we thought. The shock made it all the harder to bear.
Our nation’s collective reaction to this colt was truly stunning. He won our hearts and made us dare to hope. When he lost his battle, we lost that optimism and hope we’d harbored. In a larger sense, he taught us what it meant to simply not give up. He never, ever did.
His owners were committed to protecting him from suffering, so they had to be the ones to give up. They made the hard choice that their horse would never make for them. It must have been a wrenching time for the Jacksons to feel such a responsibility and to make this very tough call, however clear the need was.
Their brave and broken descriptions of the experience and especially of his last hours along with the many columns written by Barbaro’s admirers touched me and saddened me. Not only for Barbaro’s sake, but because they recalled for me the truly dark time in my life almost a decade ago when I had to let my own big bay horse go and watch him slip away. Uttering the words to our vet “yes, it’s time…let’s do it…” may have been the hardest words I’ve ever spoken. The sheer weight of such a choice and the inability to do more for him, my dear horse who fought many brave fights like Barbaro only to lose his life when he fell down one day, inexplicably, and never could get up again. But, when I became certain it was the right thing to do and turned the corner from the agony of indecision to an urgent need for finality and peace, I just wanted it to happen quickly and to be easy for him. I looked into his eyes and then watched the needle plunge into his neck. I held his head when he jerked for a moment at the pinch, and then stroked his forelock until his labored breathing slowed and then, with a long wheeze, stopped altogether. I looked up at our vet to hear her say that he was gone. I stared at his body, a gorgeous thoroughbred’s frame that was just moments before animated by his endless and futile attempts to get to his feet, his withers raw from rubbing the fence he fell against. It was finally over.
The reality of calling businesses who could help me dispose of his body…and then cutting a swath of his mane to hold onto forever…and ultimately planting a tree in his honor…it was all horrible, real, gritty, and sad. And yet, I wouldn’t trade that experience for any in the world because I was able to ensure that his life ended peacefully and with dignity. Most importantly, I prevented any further suffering for my horse, even if it was the hardest gift to give him. And, it was the best thing that could’ve happened to my former racehorse who had lived a full life. My horse was spared any greater suffering because I made my impossibly hard choice.
These memories all came back with a rush as I read about Barbaro. And felt for his family and all the millions who loved him.
But there is one thing that cannot be ignored. Barbaro fought like there was no end in sight. He didn’t know how to stop fighting. He faced each new obstacle with pluck, determination, and heart. And we must be so grateful that his death came with the quiet hush of unconsciousness and with no additional pain and no prolonged indignities.
Some horses are not spared pain and suffering. Instead, some are sent to auction and then sold, often unwittingly, to killer buyers who then haul them for days to a slaughter plant where they are captive bolted in the head, just once if they are lucky, and dismembered. If they go to Mexico, they are stabbed in the neck with a boning knife and paralyzed, but they bleed and suffer until they suffocate from the knife wound’s nerve damage.
We cannot allow anyone to claim that sending horses to slaughter may ever be described as a merciful act. The slaughterhouses are arguing that they “euthananize” horses and that they provide a service to horses that would otherwise be neglected, set loose, or starved to death. Nonsense! The United States Department of Agriculture states that more than 92% of horses sent to slaughter are, in fact, in good condition. They are not beyond productivity and they are not without other options. Some heartless owners dump horses they no longer want because they are too cheap or lazy to offer them a faster, painless death. Such abuse should not be tolerated. Having a horse means taking on the responsibility to make the tough call and being willing to do what every horse owner should – take care of your horse to the very end. If you can’t do that, you should not have ever gotten that horse.
Allowing horse slaughter so that foreign diners can enjoy American horseflesh is not merciful; it is merely profitable for the foreign corporations that own these equine slaughterhouses. I believe that horse owners are responsible people. And they will follow the law. More than 99% of them are already demonstrating their responsibility by currently providing a humane end for their horses. It’s the final 1% that may not even realize that the horses they send to auction will be put through a miserable journey and a horrible death. If slaughter were not a legal option, this last 1% would simply sell their horses to other owners. Horses that are too old or ill for new homes will be euthanized by a vet for the price of a single month’s care.
As we mourn Barbaro’s loss, let us turn our attention to other horses who need us – whose lives are ending, one by one, far less ceremoniously. We must take on the Barbaro spirit and fight on. And never, never, never say die. For those who have already perished in this awful manner, we are sad. For those we can still save with diligent efforts, let us not let them down. Let us cherish every opportunity to move the H.R. 503/S. 311, a federal ban on horse slaughter, forward. This is the year we can stop the slaughter of American horses. We must imagine Barbaro running down the homestretch and then fighting his way forward when he could run no more and know that we must do his unfinished work. We must inspire our nation to take action to save American horses from a fate far, far worse than Barbaro’s.
Let our work honor his fighting spirit and end the slaughter.
Nancy Perry, VP of HSUS Gvt Affairs
Thanks Alex~
Update 1465: Kennett Square mourns the loss of Barbaro: Why I love Kennett Square.
Update 1464: The Risen Star is the key three year old race this weekend: Tough test for Circular Quay. Hard Spun was planning to run in this race, I forget now why he is not but don’t think it was anything serious.
Another interesting three year old in the entries this weekend is Michael Matz trainee Chelokee, sunday at Gulfstream.
A recent resolution adopted by the Pennsylvania state Senate honours Barbaro and his connections.
wow…what an editorial from HSUS. Made me cry all over again!
VB, the fact you are still hard ay work for us just speaks volumes. Thank you so much
i still check in here everyday, twice a day.
