Thanks VB!
I have never had a question where the updates were coming from. You have been very up front from the start and reinterated several times. I was a bit confused until recently that it was Alex that was the main voice and not Tim :yes:. Now all is straight in my universe :D.
adventurebeachetc…everyone here knew where the updates were coming from…and many of us have been to the web site of tim’s on our own…i think you being the self appointed police of this thread and taking away from its main purpose indicates that you need to get a life…and leave this thread alone…sorry to be harsh but that is the way i feel about it…and please dont lecture me about common courtesy in regards to the web…my husband is a computer game designer and was once a vice pres at AOL
Second tradewind. Geez Louise…
Thank you, VB, I check a couple of times a day AND go visit Tim’s site (as a result of links posted by VB!) frequently, love the pics.
Arguments could be made money-wise comparing both end of life and BEGINNING of life care- ever seen a NICU bill for a 24 week infant? Or the money hospitals eat taking care of …oh never mind, not the place for this debate. This care is costing FAR less than it would in the human world. Millions, hahaha
Yea, thanks VB, because of you I do not have to search all different places to get updates, I can just come here. Adventurebeachponies, if you do not want to start anything, then back off and let us enjoy everything VB has done so far. Who cares where it comes from as long as we get it. And I do not think VB was taking any credit for any of it. Now back to Barbaro…
Thats my point… people were having to “figure it out” as there was no actual link as there links to almost every other cut and paste from other sites.
Nothing negative…just a suggestion that I thought would be a nice gesture for the writers of the updates.
Maybe you are right everyone on this thread knows how to find Tim Woolley Racing without a link (except Oakleigh and Cartier!) and knew that Tim Woolley and Alex were the authors of the updates. In the coming months we will have thousands of more visitors to this thread and maybe they will instantly figure it out too without a clear credit and link!
Again, this is not an attack on VB…it was a simple suggestion and it all of the Computer and Internet Miss Manners out there will tell you it is the right thing to do!
By the way, I think that is great that your husband is a game designer and used to work for AOL! My daughter is sophmore at Ringling School of Art and is an Animation major, my son is law student at UF, my sister sits on the Supreme Court of Georgia and a friend of mine was the CEO of Ultima Online 
… but I still think giving a link to Tim’s site when he is quoted would be nice.
OK… I am being misunderstood here.
I am NOT suggesting that VB is TAKING credit undeservedly! I am suggesting that when she or anyone else cuts and pastes from anyone’s site that a link should be given back to the site that it came from… thats all.
And I am perfectly willing to stop defending and explaining my position if everyone wants to drop the subject and talk about Barbaro.
VB can link or not link as she chooses as her posting style is her decision alone… and again, I want to emphasis that I do enjoy and appreciate her updates as much as anyone and I have told her this many times in the past and recently. It has been wonderful having one place to go and have all things Barbaro together under one thread and she has put a great deal of time and effort into this as we all know.
adventurebeachetc…everyone here knew where the updates were coming from…
As stated above, no they didn’t.
and many of us have been to the web site of tim’s on our own…i think you being the self appointed police of this thread and taking away from its main purpose indicates that you need to get a life…and leave this thread alone…sorry to be harsh but that is the way i feel about it…
Wow, that IS kinda harsh…of course not near as harsh as the PM I received not long after I first posted a link to Tim’s website, not long ago…
and please dont lecture me about common courtesy in regards to the web…my husband is a computer game designer and was once a vice pres at AOL
Man, where’s the bowing down smilie when you need it…
For what it’s worth, I don’t think ABP was trying to pick on anyone - the way I read it, she was just trying to give credit, where credit was due - which is the same thing I was aiming for when I first posted the link to Tim’s site. Now, back to Barbaro…
Dazed and Confused
Hahaha–At first, I thought that VB was ALEX! And I thought, “Wow, she must be some kind of rider to exercise all those horses and post the updates, too.” I knew the info was coming from Tim’s, but I was muddled as to the method of getting it to us.
I assumed that VB/Alex was female, so was sort of surprised when I saw Alex up on Randy. :lol: I thought, “Wow, that’s some set of shoulders! She must be a swimmer, too.”
Finally, finally I figured out that VB was transmitting to us from Alex (and that explained the shoulders).
Regardless, I’m very happy to have such good updates. Glad to have a good laugh at myself. Glad that our B-boy seems to be so comfortable. Extremely glad that the Jacksons have enough money to treat Barbaro, and agree whatshername ought to find a forum which specializes in downtrodden two-leggers if spending such sums on a horse upsets her.
While this is my first post here on COTH, I have been following the reports here on Barbaro for many many weeks now. VB, thank you so very much for your dedication!
Regarding the cost of treating Barbaro, I will share a little story; there is a horse next door to us that in Sept of 2004 somehow smashed a rear P-1 into nine pieces, and dislocated that fetlock joint…overnight, in his paddock.
There was nowhere left to apply a plate where Barbaro has the ones he has to reconstruct the bone and to fuse the joint. In the case of this horse, an “external device” along with casts had to be employed to give the area (with a number of pins and so on) any chance to heal/fuse.
The owners do not have the financial resources available that the owners of Barbaro have.
But now, almost two years (several procedures, many casts, special shoes and over six months’ hospitalization) later, this horse is playing in his paddock, clearly enjoys his gentle walks about the property with his “pet humans”, and being the king of his domain. 
He clearly has adapted to his limitations, and is enjoying life. There still is some way to go, but he’s come a very long way.
Now, almost two years later, the financial cost to the owners stands between $20,000 and $25,000.
Thank you, VB, for this thread. I appreciate not having to run everywhere to find information. And I appreciate even more that many other people have also contributed links. This is the best single source of information about Bobby I know of.
I wonder if the hospitalization costs for Bobby’s leg will ever approach the purse he won at the Kentucky Derby? Anybody remember what his cut of the $2mil was? Should cover the hospital fees nicely, wouldn’t you think? Yes, I think the Jacksons can afford to write the checks to New Bolton.
:yes: :yes:
For what’s it’s worth (one last time), Alex at Tim Woolley racing, said himself in an e-mail to me, that he has been following my postings and knew me as VB, and he had no problem with the way I was presenting them. I figured if the author was happy, so was I. Thank everyone for nice comments. On with Barbaro!!!
Thanks Alex & Tim:
Update 279: Dean Richardson was interviewed yesterday (wednesday) for this article in the Bloodhorse (and no doubt other media): ‘We’re in a Marathon,’ Says Barbaro’s Vet, the following are Dean’s quotes:
Dr. Dean Richardson is looking way beyond those daily updates, however.
“His condition is not likely to change really fast any time soon,” said Richardson, the chief surgeon attending the Kentucky Derby (gr. I) winner at the New Bolton Center. "We’re in a marathon at this point.
“The issue is months, not days,” he said Wednesday. “He has a long, long way to go.”
and
“I’d be laughed out of the profession if I said this horse’s prognosis is anything but poor,” he said during a brief telephone interview from the center.
Richardson said Barbaro’s condition shouldn’t take any sudden turns – for better or worse – because it takes a long time to recover from laminitis.
“It is possible he could have a bad night, but it could be just a bad hour and we wouldn’t go crazy about that,” Richardson said.
and
“Every day I’m encouraged,” Richardson said. “No one wants to quit on this horse. No one wants him to suffer.”
Casts on the horse’s hind legs were changed Monday, and Richardson said the left one will be changed often so the laminitis can be treated. So far, he likes the way the hoof is healing.
“It looked as healthy as you could have expected it to look. I was very pleased,” he said. “If you’re not used to looking at that sort of thing, it might not look healthy.”
and
“We’re still talking months, many, many months,” Richardson said. “We’re talking about six-plus months, as far as how long to go if he grows one. The next few weeks, that’s very important.”
Mike Schuh, the reporter for our WJZ piece left this comment:
My email is: schuhm@wjz.com With Alex and Tim as my subjects… how could I go wrong? With Fair Hill at dawn as the back drop… every image was more beautiful than the next. As a storyteller, everything lined up… from the weather (hot & dry), to Alex & Tim’s schedule (flexible), to the right photographer (Joel Eagle) and the right video editor (Paula Gage). I’m sorry Barbaro was hurt… though I’m glad to have made the acquaintence of such cool guys as Alex, Tim, & Michael.
Thanks for your kind words about our news piece.
M i k e
And finally, for those that can watch, don’t forget Sabina Pierce will be on Philly’s NBC10 at 10 AM today, discussing her photopgrahs of Barbaro.
Just in from Alex:
Update 280: Barbaro had another comfortable night last night (wednesday). Saw Michael Matz at 6:35 this morning (thursday) as I was walking to the racetrack. He had just heard from Dr. Richardson.
updated thursday 7:00 am
Thanks again to Alex & Tim!
just checking in and sending my most positive thoughts and prayers.
Every night and morning I light a candle for Bobby.
The first time, my (non-horsey but horse loving ) DH asked what’s this? I told him, and now he is often the one to light the candle.
Hey VB, you just had a COTH anniversary!!!
[B][U][I]
Happy Anniversary on July 14th
[/I][/U][/B]
Oh, cool! Yup. I sure did!
I have faith that Barbaro has the deep conviction to win this race, my horse has been dealing with some serious issues and he refused to give up, so did I and he is doing well…It has taken the better part of three years. No he was not always comfortable but we perservered through it and so on. Some people even told me to euthanize him! So people need to leave these decisions to the powers to be and know that most of us if we had the money would do the same. but do not forget he is covered by insurance too so I am sure they are absorbing a lot of the cost.
Still jingling for Barbaro…
Someone above mentioned the cost of 24-week preemie. Well, Malcolm was 26 weeks, but had most of the problems of a 24 weeker. He stayed in the NICU/PICU for 5 months. The unadjusted hospital bill was $640,000. Our insurance negotiated it down to $400K+. However, that doesn’t include “independent contractors”, a thing you sign whenever you go to the hospital for services - anesthesia, doctors, radiology, etc. The NICU doctors were employed by Pediatrix and were $1500/day. I’m currently getting a tally so we know how close he is to his lifetime cap of 1 million. Luckily for us, any baby in Georgia under 2 lbs. 10 oz is considered disabled and qualifies for SSI Disability and therefore Medicaid so they picked up the 20% deductible. We would’ve been financially ruined without that.
Malcolm’s surgery to correct his trachea so he can be decannulated (trach taken out), along with pre-op tests, etc. and follow ups for a year, will probably be in excess of $150,000. We wanted to go out of state, to Cincinnati Children’s because the best surgeon in the world is there, but GA Medicaid doens’t want to pick up the 20% even though our insurance approved it. 20% of 200,000 is what? 40K? That’s about what Barbaro’s bill might start out. That’s not too bad in my mind. I just wish we had 40K to go to Cinci! If I had it, I’d do it for my horse and obviously my child.
I was reading a pdf file on how GA was trying to cut down on Medicaid and other state paid costs. Millions in Georgia alone are spent on preventable trips to the ER by children with respiratory attacks (like asthma). An ER visit is so expensive. Most of these kids are poor. Some of the parents smoke at home. Some can’t get the kids to regular doctor visits. Some don’t bring them. Some do. But much money could be saved with preventative care - making sure they have meds, a nebulizer w/ neb drugs, less expensive walk-in clinics.
Another interesting thing I found out at WIC, states bid on baby formula contracts. Millions and millions of dollars at stake. Probably half of formula dollars from WIC. Now healthcare does promote breastfeeding, but can you imagine the tax dollar savings if everyone who could breastfeed, or at least pump, did. None of the girls at the high school who have babies (that I know personally) breastfed. I know of people who have breastfed, get the WIC vouchers and sell the formula.
The Jacksons are on the board at New Bolton, I believe. They are extremely philanthropic. I read somewhere on Tim and Alex’s board that instead of gifts, money could be diverted into the Barbaro fund or the fund for Mike Rea, an exercise rider from Fair Hill who had a terrible accident. I’m sure the Jacksons would agree. I bet the staff at NBC wouldn’t mind the occassional treat tray, though! The vet techs and nurses sure deserve it.
HORSE RACING http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/sports/horse_racing/15079215.htm
[B]Barbaro's ultimate prognosis to take 'months, not days'[/B]
[B]ASSOCIATED PRESS[/B]
[B]KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. - [/B]Day to day, for six straight days now, the reports on Barbaro have been good. Good vitals, good attitude, stable. Dr. Dean Richardson is looking way beyond those daily updates, however.
“His condition is not likely to change really fast any time soon,” said Richardson, the chief surgeon attending the Kentucky Derby winner at the New Bolton Center. “We’re in a marathon at this point. The issue is months, not days.”
The 3-year-old is recovering from a shattered right hind leg, which broke in three places shortly after the start of the Preakness on May 20, and severe laminitis in his left hind leg.
“I’d be laughed out of the profession if I said this horse’s prognosis is anything but poor,” he said during a brief telephone interview from the center.
Richardson said Barbaro’s condition shouldn’t take any sudden turns – for better or worse – because it takes a long time to recover from laminitis.
Barbaro devotees offer gifts, good wishes to injured horse
Kentucky Derby winner remains stable as vets monitor progress
By Sandra McKee
sun Reporter
Originally published July 20, 2006
KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. // If love heals, Barbaro is getting exactly what he needs.
Multiple doses arrive every day for the Kentucky Derby winner, who is trying to recover from a shattered right rear leg and laminitis in his rear left foot, which has so far cost him 80 percent of his hoof and could possibly cost him his life.
Yesterday, in just the latest example of devotion to the horse, Carol Baccanari traveled about 135 miles hoping to get a chance to see Barbaro.
“I thought, maybe, if I put my hand on him he would get better,” Baccanari said. “I’m praying for a miracle.”
Meanwhile, at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, Dr. Dean Richardson yesterday reported Barbaro had another good night and remains in stable condition with good vital signs. It was his sixth consecutive positive report card.
Richardson, chief of surgery at New Bolton, said Barbaro is helped by the sling he wears several hours each day.
“He has adapted very well to the sling,” Richardson said. “We have a lot of experience in using slings for equine support. In Barbaro’s case, it is a part-time aid that we use to increase his comfort level.”
Keeping Barbaro comfortable while he attempts to regrow his hoof and mend his broken leg is the most important aspect of his treatment at the moment.
Dr. Kathleen Anderson, Barbaro’s personal veterinarian during his racing days, gets a daily morning update. She said she has been encouraged by what she has heard, although Barbaro faces an additional six months at the hospital.
“That’s the most disappointing part for all concerned,” Anderson said last evening. “A broken leg is almost healed now. He would have become more ambulatory and been able to go to a field and rest. Now, it’s six more months. No one thought he would be hospitalized eight months.”
Anderson said the three most important questions facing Barbaro now are:
• Will he get laminitis in another foot - the front or even the broken rear right one?
• Can his comfort level be maintained through the months it will take to attempt to regrow his hoof - which is like a human waiting for a lost fingernail to grow out?
• How long will the regrowing of the hoof actually take?
“But, absolutely, other horses have done it,” she said. “You just don’t read about it because they’re not famous. But it is definitely a doable process, and it is far less unusual than the 27 screws that put his right leg back together.”
Anderson also said the report earlier this week that the fusion of the pastern was unchanged was actually an encouraging report.
“It meant there was no infection,” she said. “If there was an ongoing infection, it would have deteriorated.”
While the medical team is doing its part with the 3-year-old in the intensive care unit, Barbaro’s supporters are doing theirs here and elsewhere.
Yesterday, Baccanari got up early in her home in Pittston, near Wilkes-Barre, Pa., and drove to the King of Prussia Mall to meet her cousin Sam, who then drove her the rest of the way to Kennett Square.
“I want to see Barbaro,” she said to Kathy Freeborn at the reception desk, and was very disappointed when told she could not.
“I’ve come an awful long way just to see him,” Baccanari said.
Hospital executive director Corinne Sweeney came to console her.
“He’s giving himself the best chance he can,” Sweeney said. “He’s resting in his sling and he’s sleeping.”
Since Barbaro’s May 20 injury in the Preakness Stakes, Baccanari said her emotions have gone from feeling sorry for the horse to admiring his courage.
“My mother always said animals are like people, but they can’t talk,” she said. “Which is why I was so happy when I read about his jockey [Edgar Prado] visiting him and how Barbaro put his head on his shoulder and fell asleep. I think that visit meant a lot to Barbaro. … He hadn’t been forgotten.”
In Vero Beach, Fla., Joy Markert, 62, is a receptionist in the state’s Economic Self-Sufficiency Department. Every day after work, she spends hours in the local Hallmark store reading get-well and thinking-of-you cards, searching for the right ones for Barbaro.
Markert has been sending two and three cards a week since Barbaro’s injury and has found remarkably fitting ones.
“No hurry, no rush, no hustle, no race … just set yourself a leisurely pace … and feel better soon!” said one. “Roses are red. Violets are neat … Just can’t wait until you’re back on your feet!” said another. All of them are signed with love.
It isn’t that Markert is a pushover for animals, or even for causes. She has no pets, is not a horse racing fan, and contributes only to Make-A-Wish Foundation and the Statue of Liberty. But she watches the Triple Crown races, “And when that horse was injured, it was just so upsetting,” she said. “I intend to send him cards until he’s better. I hope he does get better.”
Markert and Baccanari are not alone. At Kennett Flowers, where the sign in the front yard says, “We all love you Barbaro,” the staff has been overwhelmed.
“In the summer, I usually have six to eight people working. But last Friday I had 10 and today I had eight, but had to call in two more who were on standby,” said Alie Berstler, who owns the shop with her husband, Stephen.
Since Barbaro’s crisis last week, Berstler has used more than 150 pounds of carrots, 300-plus apples, 120 pears, a case of grapes and just about bought out the local stores’ supplies of peppermints and gingersnaps.
Orders have ranged from $25 for the smallest vase of flowers up to $180 plus delivery for four dozen red roses.
“To these people, we are almost like a touchstone,” said Rachell Germain, who takes many of the phone orders at Kennett Flowers. “They just want someone to talk to about their feelings for Barbaro. They’re just passionate about this horse. A lady the other day cried for 35 minutes, just trying to get her order out.”
Barbaro remains stable, but gains spring in step
By DAN GELSTON
Associated Press
Barbaro has a little spring in his sling.
The Kentucky Derby winner squirms in his own safety device, like a child trying to break free from a jumper, and he even sits on his damaged hind legs, the way dogs do when they beg for treats.
Those are encouraging signs for sure for the ailing 3-year-old colt. But the odds of Barbaro’s full recovery from a severe case of laminitis and a reconstructed right hind leg are really no better than they were a week ago.
“It is important for people to understand this is not a ‘routine’ laminitis,” Dr. Dean Richardson said Monday in a statement. “The care involved in treating a hoof with this degree of compromise is complex.”
Barbaro’s condition was stable Monday, his vital signs, appetite (“usual voracious style”) and heart rate were normal after another comfortable night.
“We will continue to manage his pain successfully, and he is alert,” Richardson said.
He said the fiberglass cast on the horse’s left foot will be changed so the hoof can be treated and watched for signs of infection. Because of laminitis, a painful and often-fatal condition, 80 percent of the hoof wall was removed last week.
The cast on the colt’s right hind leg — shattered shortly after the start of the Preakness Stakes on May 20 — has been changed at least four times in the last two weeks.
Through it all, Barbaro has acted downright frisky and seemed to finally figure out how to handle his confinement in intensive care at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals.
“He has learned how to adapt his posture to the sling so he can benefit from the most comfort,” said Dr. Kathleen Anderson, Barbaro’s attending vet when the horse was racing and stabled in trainer Michael Matz’s barn at the Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md.
“He’s learning how to almost dog sit, which is good because it takes the weight off the front legs, which is, of course, our next great concern,” she told The Associated Press.
Anderson left a mid-afternoon visit feeling good about the way the colt looked, though she noted that the prognosis for his recovery was still not encouraging.
“The reality is, you have to say poor at this point in time,” she said. “It doesn’t mean it’s hopeless and I think that’s the big difference.”
Nearly everyone who has visited Barbaro during the past week has said the same things about his appearance: He looks bright-eyed and alert.
Anderson smiled when she described Barbaro’s activity in his sling, which has been fitted to prevent sudden movements and allows him to shift his weight from side to side. The main goal is comfort.
“He was using it similar to a jolly jumper,” she said. “He was almost doing like children do when they’re bored, they do the jolly jumper where they kind of boing around the stall. He was boinging, boinging around the stall a little bit.”
Those seemingly never-ending deliveries of apples, carrots and peppermints from fans don’t seem to be going to waste, given the reports of his hearty appetite. Kennett Florist makes several deliveries a day to the hospital, its vans overflowing with roses and gourmet baskets sent from well-wishers.
“It’s been very good for business, but it’s been very time consuming,” store owner Alie Berstler said. “These people are very, very upset.”
Berstler said one fan ordered four dozen roses at a time, and estimates she has probably delivered more than 400 roses, 300 apples and 150 pounds of carrots since late last week.
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