My local Fox News station just announced their next segment on their sports extra show - is surgical repair the best thing for Barbaro, or is it being done just for financial gain? They so don’t get it! 
:sadsmile: :mad:
Some people just have no clue!! The media will take a sitution like this a completely turn it around!! I can only imagine what they would be saying had he been euthanized yesterday!! Probably be something like “well he can’t run anymore so they didn’t even try to save him!”
Some people just make me sick!!!
~Darci~
It is likely driven by this article: Philadelphia Inquirer 5-21 “Barbaro reportedly heavily insured”
Barbaro, according to industry insiders, was insured. And while that mortality policy’s value is unknown, the now-hobbled horse likely was worth close to $25 million after his Kentucky Derby triumph earlier this month.
Note that is speculation on the mortality payoff.
Anyhow, when you factor that he’ll cost a great deal for many years to restore him to a condition that breeding is possible the “money” to be made isn’t great. And then the rate he commands and ability in the shed is always a bit of a gamble. Roy and Gretchen Jackson are exceptionally wealthy - they don’t need the money.
I was thinking the biggest gripe is that he was injured at all. An Lexington-Herald originated article that was repeated across many papers gave racing another (undeserved) black-eye: Lexington Herald Leader 5-21 “Barbaro injury should be call to action for racing industry”
Racing better keep looking. Appoint a commission. Launch an investigation. Allocate dollars toward research and development. Never has a sport criticized for its lack of leadership been in such dire need of leadership.
Sorry, but as tragic as this was and also for those before Barbaro and those who are still to be (sadly) injured in the future - it does happen. Horses can step wrong and as fragile but beautiful creatures they can break so easily. Racing doesn’t deserve the sucker-punch right now in suggesting the sport isn’t trying to make it better when it will never eliminate the inherent fragile nature of horses.
My regrets on the rant.
[note story link corrected to a non-subscriber site]
I don’t think there is any question that it was done for the potential financial gain. But I also think that it was worth a shot. If no one made any money in this business, it wouldn’t be a business. As long as he can be kept comfortable he should be given every opportunity to recover in my opinion.
No question, especially since the Jacksons can afford to try to save him.
I know, with my horses, cost is never an issue, even when I might have to eat pork n beans for years to pay for it. But there are others who don’t feel the same.
However…
this is an excellent article by Pat Forde: http://sports.espn.go.com/sports/horse/triplecrown06/columns/story?columnist=forde_pat&id=2453381
I think he raises some valid points about the polytrack surface.
oh good grief…sigh
I hate when non-horse people try to throw in their .02. Do they hear us throwing out our opinion on Nascar, or poker? grrrr
Well, at least you got that much. All we had to hear about was Barry Bonds and the next step in his deification. The Barbero story was a throwaway at the tail end of every newscast I saw AFTER a blow by blow recounting of every play in every baseball game that was played anywhere. Morons…
And Fox - well, anything to stir the pot, anything to be SENSATIONAL. More idiots…
Okay, this is a really stupid question, but I thought race horses couldn’t be insured? I understand that for breeding they can get a policy, but I’ve always been under the impression that they could not be insured for racing purposes? 
Would someone be so kind as to enlighten me?
I have to say this subject was going to come up and racing again is going to be in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons. If you look at other sections of the board you will see all to clearly that racehorse are not the only horses getting hurt badly. Look at the foals and young horses with broken necks. I’ve just recently had a filly get a head injury. Horses get hurt no matter what racing, standing in a stable, or outside eating grass. When it happens racing people want to condem the sport.
As far as insurance goes, you can insure racehorses, but the premiums are very high and a lot of people don’t inusre them. At least you could when I was still in the game. How much you pay I have no idea.
Anyway, I just hope Barbaro is alright at the end of this because that’s all that really matters.
Terri
Don’t feel bad, Shiloh. Same with the local news here, so you aren’t alone. The only reason I’ve been able to follow anything with this is because of the knowledgable COTHers and DirecTV (again, thanks to other COTHers who have it, as well, and taught me about a new-to-me channel!). I’ll forever be grateful.
I agree with the horses in all circumstances in life that get hurt, WE all know that, but the general population of non-horse people don’t have a freakin’ clue (hence my previous post). I think it’s just that this one was VERY public and dramatic…unlike with Royal Caliber where most people weren’t watching as it wasn’t a highly publicized event (sad to say, but most people either don’t realize horses are part of the Olympics, or they don’t care and think riding isn’t a sport), nor was it even mentioned on any news outlet.
Anyone taking bets as to when PETA throws their opinion into the ring?
It’s FOX. Their mission statement is to stir the pot.
The horse did NOT undergo surgery because of any potential financial gain to be made. The Jacksons (who, by all accounts have been involved in racing for 30+ years) steadily refused all increasingly lucrative offers of purchase for the horse since he began racing; gain was clearly NOT their aim.
This is a privately owned/bred horse; the Jacksons have no partners to answer to, and ample resources with which to finance the attempt to save his life, and in the process, perhaps expand the boundaries of veterinary orthopedic surgery.
They did not put him through 8 hours of surgery and recovery because they want him to be a pasture pet. They saved him in an attempt to pass on his legacy. Without question, if he had been a gelding, he never would have been loaded onto the ambulance. But that is not a bad thing, he deserved a fighting chance at survival.
As far as unsurance goes, you can only get mortality on race horses. Once they stop racing you can insure them for the potential value of the stud fees and major medical etc.
I’m probably being naive, but I’d like to think whether he was gelding or a colt, the owners would have done the same thing. I’m sure they have great affection for the horse, afterall, they did breed him. He’s part of the family. If I was fortunate enough to own Barbaro, nothing would bring me more joy than being able to look out the window and see him happily grazing in the pasture, enjoying a long and happy life.
I think another view you can take is what the Drs and staff can learn from this attempt to save him. From all accounts this is one of the worst cases that has been able to go to surgery, and whatever successes or failures they may encounter will help them with future cases that are similarly complicated. That is a good thing, imo. It helps all horses in the long run.
The Today Show had it as one of their lead stories. Compassionately done and had an interview with the vet surgeon. He stated that the kind of injuries sustained usually merit putting the horse down. Numerous fractures. They even showed an xray of the leg with the pins in it. There must be at least a dozen- I was shocked. If he makes it thru this, it will be a miracle, i think. Apparently he is a good patient - they referred to Ruffian years ago undergoing surgery and then thrashing so much when she came out of anasthesia, she could not be saved.We will say a prayer for the Matz, Jackson & Prado team, that they do not lose him…
When a horse has such a catastrophic injury as Barbaro, and is sent to surgery, the owners are also paving the way to a better prognosis for other horses who may suffer these types of injuries as well. Research is great, but for the surgeons to actually use these skills in “real life” can only benefit the horse world.
You mean like when Dale Earnhardt died in that race? Uh yea, I think NASCAR heard an awful lot. Such is the nature of the beast. Racing doesn’t get a free pass from tragedy
As crass as some people can be, if even one track pays a bit more attention to track surface and engineering isn’t that a good thing?. :rolleyes:
And, what you didn’t read in that article that mentioned NASCAR (and to put it, IMO, a slightly different light)… (and I do consider I can comment on NASCAR as I’ve been a fan for over 20 years…)
The year before Dale Earnhardt Sr was killed at Dayton, 2 other young, up and coming drivers in NASCAR’s premier Cup series, Kenny Irwin and Adam Petty (grandson of the great Richard Petty) were both killed in on track incidents. It wasn’t until Dale’s death that NASCAR got (again IMO) motivated to really dig into the safety issue and start making big strikes toward driver safety.
Unfortunately, it sometimes takes something very publically visible such as Dale Sr or Barbaro to get the sanctioning bodies to sit up and listen. Unfortunately as well, safety is expensive, both to understand how to make something more safe, ensure that the safety in place doesn’t have some hidden risk currently unknown, and then implement safety.
NASCARs SAFER walls (sometimes called soft walls) took a few years of reseach to understand them before tracks started implementing them. And, what is rarely mentioned anymore is that each track’s SAFER walls are custom designed for each track. I think they do work but it took alot of outcry and effort to get that work done.
I think racing can be made safer, but it still has to be done carefully so as to not risk the lives of horses and jockeys with an inadvertent “improvement” with some hidden risk.
Perhaps with these owners, with this much attention on the circumstances, perhaps because they were so close to a state of the art facility, etc
However, all I have to do is look at the freak injury of wynndotcomma in 2004 who was a multiple stakes winner (and who’s death was discussed on this board) to say it just doesn’t always come down to money and those opt not to try and move heaven and earth to save a horse aren’t exactly monsters either.
