Horses Running Free

FARWELL BARBARO

2007-01-29T10:04:00.000-08:00

Barbaro Dealing With Setback

2007-01-10T14:05:00.000-08:00

Barbaro is back in the sling and in surgery.

UPDATES FROM TIM WOLLEY RACING:

"There was an area of his hoof where he was bothered by the cast and by getting that cast off he has already shown some relief," owner Gretchen Jackson said in a telephone interview shortly after visiting Barbaro. "I just left him and he was eating away at the hay, standing and putting weight on it better. The way it was explained to me was the tissue removed was like getting an in-grown toenail removed."

The Jacksons have spent tens of thousands of dollars on Barbaro's care and have said repeatedly they would continue to do so as long as the colt can be free of pain and shows a will to live. Jackson said Barbaro appeared to be meeting those standards.

"Hopefully this is just a hitch in the road," he said. "All we can do is give him the best care and say our prayers."

"Things are a bit subdued at New Bolton Center for obvious reasons, but we seemed to lift their spirits with some snacks and chocolates. We delivered Big Boss's favorites; baby green tops, pears and spearmints, with all your well wishes of "hang in there!" Keep your spirits up FOB's, as he's shown us before, Barbaro is a fighter. Keep those candles lit and good thoughts coming! We are with you in prayer for B, the Jackson's and the staff of NBC.

On a side note (just for grins), we also made up a special arrangement of blue, orange and white with a big ole gator in the center for Dr R... Sorry Buckeye fans, couldn't help it!! We figured he could use a smile today!

After visiting Barbaro in his stall in the intensive-care unit this morning, co-owner Gretchen Jackson said in an interview in the New Bolton lobby at 10:45 a.m. that the horse doesn't have a temperature and is eating, but as for Barbaro's general comfort level, she said, "He's under drugs. I can't tell."

She had seen him the day before and could tell he wasn't as comfortable because "he just was not using his foot as much."

Jackson mentioned that surgeon Dean Richardson had continually warned of the potential for a setback since the laminitis cropped up in July.

"This is what we were being told the whole time," Jackson said.

Note the interview occured shortly before Mrs. Jackson left me a voice-mail, update 1296

Update 1296: Mrs. Jackson just left a voice-mail (11:00 am) in order to keep us updated. She basically wanted to give an update on how he was doing. Barbaro has no temperature, and when she visited him this morning she brought him his grass and he was eating well. It appears they are working hard to determine the cause of this latest set back so that he gets to equal bearing weight on all his legs. Until that happens he won't be walked outside.
update 11:23 am, wednesday, january 10

Barbaro finishes 2006 on the upswing

2006-12-13T12:29:00.000-08:00

Kennett Square, PA (Sports Network) - The end of 2006 brings continued good news on the condition of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro. His medical team reports that the colt has improved strength in his right hind leg.

"Barbaro will need a special shoe on his right hind foot that will provide extra support for at least the next several months," said Dr. Dean Richardson, Chief of Surgery. The cast on Barbaro's right hind leg was removed more than a month ago.

Barbaro is also recovering from laminitis in his left hind hoof.

"The left hind foot is progressing slowly although his comfort on that foot remains acceptable," said Dr. Richardson. "Most importantly, Barbaro’s overall condition is continuing to improve and he weighs more now than at any time during his hospitalization."

Dr. Richardson has been awarded the Big Sport of Turfdom award from the Turf Publicists of America. The organization will present Richardson with the honor at the Big Sport of Turfdom luncheon on Monday, January 22.

"In good times and bad, Dr. Richardson stood front and center to graciously provide enormous hordes of media with up-to-the-minute developments about Barbaro in the weeks and months following the colt’s life-threatening injury in the Preakness Stakes and during a nearly fatal bout with laminitis a few weeks later," explained TPA president John Lee. "He patiently explained, in layman’s terms, every aspect of the treatment and procedures he and his colleagues were employing to save the colt’s life. He made himself very accessible and he is a most deserving winner of the Big Sport award."

The award is presented annually to a person or group of people who enhances coverage of Thoroughbred racing through cooperation with the media and Thoroughbred racing publicists.

Meanwhile, a replica of Barbaro will go on sale to benefit the care of horses. A model of the thoroughbred will be unveiled at the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine’s George D. Widener Hospital at New Bolton Center on Wednesday, December 13. Proceeds from the sale of the model will go to the New Bolton Center.

The Barbaro model was developed by Breyer Animal Creations. Breyer designs and sells equine-themed toys and collectibles.

Barbaro Injury a `wake-up call'

2006-11-21T12:08:00.000-08:00

Cool Slideshows

By Mike Jensen

The Philadelphia Inquirer

PHILADELPHIA - Michael Dickinson, a champion horse trainer, quirky idea man and - maybe most important - inventor of a synthetic all-weather racing surface, gave a blunt assessment of the current landscape in horse racing.

"Barbaro was a wake-up call," Dickinson said, speaking at a recent industry seminar in Philadelphia.

The trainer was referring to Barbaro's bad step in the Preakness Stakes, which was nearly fatal. Horses have been taking them since they began taking steps. But this has become maybe the most famous misstep in modern American thoroughbred racing, in a year full of them. The result, Dickinson and others hope, could be Barbaro's greatest legacy. Some of the more tradition-rich racetracks in America have recently switched from dirt to synthetic race surfaces.

"We are hoping that the table turns very quickly and the dirt tracks become a thing of the past," said Kathy Anderson, an equine veterinarian whose racehorse clients included Barbaro.

Her words are echoed by Barbaro's trainer, Michael Matz: "Hopefully, in a couple of years, you're going to say, `I can't even believe we were running on dirt.' "

Around the country, more racetracks are starting to seriously think about such a conversion, including Philadelphia Park. Just the fact that equine safety was the subject of a forum at a seminar for simulcasting operators shows how seriously the issue is being taken within the industry.

Monday marked six months since Barbaro's catastrophic injuries in the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore, which shined a light on a problem that has increasingly plagued horse racing.

At Del Mar, where "the surf serenely meets the turf" just north of San Diego, seven horses were euthanized in the first eight days of this summer's season.

At Arlington Park near Chicago, another showplace of the sport, 14 horses were put down in two months this year.

At the Breeders' Cup, billed as Thoroughbred Racing's Greatest Day, the lasting image Nov. 4 was of a fallen horse, the favorite in the Breeders' Cup Distaff at Churchill Downs, Pine Island, who had to be euthanized immediately after the race.

"No one is going to change the modern thoroughbred, so we need to change the racetrack," Dickinson, who trained 1996 and 1998 Breeders' Cup Mile winner Da Hoss, said of horses increasingly bred for speed.

Recently retired jockey Gary Stevens thinks breeding could eventually be affected.

"This may be the savior to racing here in America, given what we have seen in the brief introduction we have had so far from meets at Turfway Park, Keeneland, and now beginning at Hollywood Park," he told the Tim Wooley Racing Web site. "It seems to show that speed is not as important as stamina, and our overfocus on speed has not been good for racing."
A trend toward synthetic surfaces already was in full throttle before the Preakness. Last year, Turfway Park in Florence, Ky., had switched to Polytrack - a mix of polypropylene fibers, rubber and silica sand in a wax coating - just ahead of Keeneland, a hub of the sport in Lexington, Ky. In February, California mandated all its tracks switch from dirt to synthetic surfaces by the end of 2007.

If the studies keep showing the same safety trends, "I think we'll have this surface (within) five years," said Philadelphia Park racing secretary Sal Sinatra, who visited Keeneland last month.

The day he got to Keeneland, Sinatra said, it was raining hard and a turf race was switched to the Polytrack. "Nobody scratched," he said. "It was a full field. Everybody ran their race."

He remembers thinking to himself, "Boy, this is really strange."

On Polytrack, there are hardly any biases. Come-from-behind horses don't get dirt in their face. Some riders also believe that reducing injuries could cut down on the use of drugs used on horses, legal and illegal.

For his part, Sinatra wants to see how the surface holds up in all sorts of conditions. He said New Jersey officials also are looking into the synthetic surface, although it certainly wouldn't happen for next year's Breeders' Cup at Monmouth Park.

"I think California is a true test," Sinatra said.

The Daily Racing Form reported that a Polytrack surface installed at the Woodbine Racetrack outside Toronto has experienced increased kickback as the temperature has dropped. That brings up a largely unexplored issue, about the long-term effects for horses of breathing in the kickback from a Polytrack surface, even though there is far less kickback than on a dirt track.

At Hollywood Park over the weekend, training was suspended for a day and the races were delayed Sunday when some problems were detected with the synthetic Cushion Track after maintenance crews harrowed the track, which created dangerous ridges and may have caused a fatal injury during a morning workout.

Installing the surface at a racetrack costs an estimated $8 million. Having to close down the track for 12 weeks to put it in is an issue. But, Sinatra said, with slot machines coming to Philadelphia Park, resulting in increased purses, "once (Philadelphia Park's horsemen) see the larger purses, they might actually want to be closed for a period of time."

At Fair Hill Training Center in Elkton, Md., there has been a dirt surface and a wood-chip track. Barn owners decided to spend roughly $2 million on a conversion from the smaller wood-chip track to a Tapeta surface developed by Dickinson.

"You have the straight engineering aspect of it," said Anderson, who practices out of Fair Hill. "You won't have that change in weight-bearing surface, (a bad step) at the wrong place, wrong time. ... There's less wear and tear on the horses, less chance of a high-impact injury and less dependent on weather conditions."

"For whatever reason, the turf horses seem to handle it almost on a par with running on the turf," said Graham Motion, a Fair Hill-based trainer who had two second-place finishers in the Breeders' Cup, Better Talk Now in the Turf, and Film Maker in the Filly and Mare Turf.

"Therefore, when the races come off the grass, you can run them anywhere and not worry about it. Certainly at Keeneland, they never take races off the grass. This year, they did it on several occasions and everybody ran. That's huge for the whole game."

Asked about the possibility of local tracks such as Philadelphia Park and Delaware Park going to an all-weather artificial surface, Motion said, " They'd be foolish not to jump on the bandwagon. Delaware has struggled with their entries all year. It changes it around. All of a sudden, if they get a Polytrack surface, they become the track that everybody wants to run at. It's that simple, really.

"I can't believe it wouldn't be worthwhile for them to do it. They go from being a place that's struggling to fill the entries to a place where everybody is going to want to be."

"Bigger fields means bigger handles," said Matz, who conditioned Round Pond to a victory in the Breeders' Cup Distaff, becoming the first trainer since D. Wayne Lukas in 1999 to have a Kentucky Derby winner and a Breeders' Cup winner in the same year. "Bigger handle means more people coming out to watch the races. And eventually, more people go to the casino. I just wish they would look at it that way."

Delaware Park officials said they are closely monitoring the Polytrack situation. There is no expectation in the industry that Delaware Park would have a Polytrack as soon as next year.

Keeneland was a natural to try it early. "Keeneland was a notoriously bad surface, which was such a shame, because everything about Keeneland is so well done, except for they had this horrendous dirt track," Motion said.

In the first year of racing on Polytrack at Turfway, fatal injuries were reduced from 24 to three, with the number of starters up from 8,925 to 10,208. And Turfway's handle was up 62 percent. In a study commissioned by Turfway, 96 percent of the jockeys and 95 percent of the trainers felt Polytrack was safer than conventional dirt surfaces.

That doesn't mean "all horses like to race over it. "Wildcat Bettie B is a Grade I winner, (but) I don't think she's (just) a $5,000 horse over Polytrack," said trainer Larry Jones, who moved from Turfway to Delaware Park this year. "She can't even gallop over it. But she is the exception."

Jones added: "I don't know that 100 percent Polytrack is all the answer."

Matz worked Round Pond on Keeneland's Polytrack before the Breeders' Cup and wasn't hesitant to train Barbaro on that surface before the Kentucky Derby.

While he was at Keeneland last month, Matz saw "a lot of the horses who were running in the beginning of the meet, were running back two weeks later," he said. "Recovery time is a lot quicker."

Anderson, Barbaro's vet, believes that the colt, still at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center, is a powerful symbol because he was in such robust shape. "I know from personal experience, Barbaro was good as you're going to get," she said. "He was a sound, healthy, happy horse."

There are a lot of angles to consider - tracks in England tried a number of surfaces before hitting on the preferred one - but Motion said he sees one ultimate bottom line. He pointed to a newspaper on his desk at Fair Hill with a photograph of Pine Island off her feet rolling on her back during the Breeders' Cup. It was an image used in newspapers all over the country.

"Look," Motion said, "this is what we're trying to get away from."

The Many Facets of Barbaro

2006-11-14T19:01:00.000-08:00

Cool Slideshows

Barbaro's cast removed

2006-11-07T09:54:00.000-08:00

By Mike Jensen

The Philadelphia Inquirer

(MCT)

PHILADELPHIA - Barbaro cleared a major hurdle in his recovery Monday when the cast protecting the Kentucky Derby winner's right hind leg was removed.

That was the leg that suffered "catastrophic" injuries, including three broken bones around the ankle, in the May 20 Preakness Stakes. The leg was repaired the next day in surgery that lasted more than five hours as 27 screws were inserted in the leg.

"Barbaro was placed under general anesthesia for the cast removal," said Dean Richardson, the chief of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center in Kennett Square. "In addition, his foot was trimmed and a new shoe glued on. A padded bandage with plastic and fiberglass splints was placed on his lower limb for support."

Richardson reported no problems involving Monday's procedure.

"He had a perfect pool recovery and immediately stood; he walked easily back to his stall," Richardson said. "He used all of his legs quite well."

The big hurdle remains Barbaro's left hind foot. About 80 percent of the hoof was removed in July after Barbaro came down with laminitis.

"There are no signs of new problems with that foot, but the hoof needs several more months of growth before we will know how much foot structure and function will be recovered," Richardson said.

Bernardini retired. He didn't go out in a blaze of glory, but Bernardini is finished on the racetrack. As expected, it was announced Monday that the Preakness Stakes winner is being retired to stud.

On Saturday, Bernardini finished second to Invasor in the $5 million Breeders' Cup Classic. He had won six straight races before finishing a length back at Churchill Downs, and raked in $3,060,480 in earnings. He will stand at Darley Farm, owned by Bernardini's owner, Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, the ruler of Dubai. Darley also announced that Henny Hughes, the Breeders' Cup Sprint favorite, who finished last in the race, also is being retired to stud.

Call to Action to Save Horses From Slaughter!

2006-11-02T12:41:00.000-08:00

Call these Senators till you burn up your phone and/or fax machine, we are literally running out of time!!!
BIG SEVEN SENATORS TO FOCUS ON

Senator Frist, Majority Leader to get on calendar
202-224-3135 phone
202-228-4637 fax

Senator Stevens,co-sponsor and Committee Chairman
to help move it out of committee
202-224-3004 phone
202-224-2354 fax

Senator Ensign, Sponsor of S1915 and committee member to move it out of committee
202-224-6244 phone
202-228-2193 fax

Senator Landrieu, co-sponsor
202-224-5824 phone
202-224-9735 fax

Senator Reed, co-sponsor
202-224-4642 phone
202-224-4680 fax

Senator McConnell
202-224-2541 phone
202-224-2499 fax

Senator Harry Reid
202-224-3542 phone
202-224-7324 fax

Commerce Committee Members

Co-sponsors Non-Co-Sponsors

Ted Stevens (AK) Chairman George Allen (VA)

202-224-3135 202-224-4024

202-228-4637 FAX 202-224-5432 FAX

Daniel Inouye (HI) Co-Chair Conrad Burns (MT)

202-224-3934 202-224-2644

202-224-6747 FAX 202-224-8594 FAX

WE MUST FLOOD THEIR OFFICES W/ FAXES AND CALLS EVERYDAY.!! We need ALL OF FOB to HELP!!

Willie Nelson: We have a lot to learn from horses

2006-11-02T10:38:00.000-08:00

By Willie Nelson
Special to CNN

AUSTIN, Texas (CNN) -- Will Rogers said, "You know horses are smarter than people. You never heard of a horse going broke betting on people."

However, the horses are counting on the people more than ever now. Nearly 100,000 horses are killed annually in foreign-owned slaughterhouses in America for human consumption in other countries.

With the upcoming Senate vote on the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act, Americans have a small window of opportunity to save a living legend.

Horses are all the things a truly evolved human should be. There are countless examples of their innate ability and desire to heal people.

Consider the therapeutic riding programs across the country, where horses can have more progress with children with various physical and mental disabilities than their own doctors. The most superhuman thing about horses is the contrast between their unearthly strength and inherent gentleness. Humans abuse their power while horses use theirs only for good. I'd rather be a horse.

With no disrespect to the eagle, I've always thought that the horse should be our national emblem. When horse accepted man onto his back and chose to carry his burdens, it changed the world. Horses have aided mankind through his most arduous and treacherous endeavors, from the sword to the plowshare. Humanity owes an incalculable debt to the horse. In Native American teachings, Horse enables shamans to fly through the air and reach heaven. To steal someone's horse is to steal their power.

Contrary to what some people are saying, slaughter is not a humane form of euthanasia, and these are not unwanted horses. The treatment of slaughter-bound horses is most often inhumane, and more than 90 percent of those slaughtered are young and in good health. Many are sold to slaughterhouses at closed auctions, while others are stolen pets.

Humans are not smart to eat horses. Horses are treated daily with products such as fly spray, wormers, hoof dressings, etc. These products have labels warning against use on animals used for food. Anyone with horse sense would not be exporting this toxic product.

The passage of the American Horse Slaughter Prevention Act (H.R. 503/S. 1915) would put in place a permanent and immediate ban on both the slaughter of horses in the U.S. and the exportation of live horses for slaughter abroad.

Thanks to the Society for Animal Protective Legislation, which started the national campaign to end horse slaughter, and to those who got involved and called their legislators, the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to pass H.R. 503. But the fight is not over. The Senate will vote on S. 1915, hopefully in November. Call or write your senators today. Each week our elected officials fail to act on this bill, thousands of horses are subjected to unimaginable cruelty.

For information on horse slaughter, to read my public letter to Congress and to find your senators, go to the Society for Animal Protective Legislationexternal link.

There has never been a better time to adopt. I just adopted 11 horses from Habitat for Horses. For information on how you can adopt a horse or give to this great cause, visit Habitat for Horsesexternal link.

Join me and more than 500 leading horse industry groups, humane organizations, equine rescues and veterinarians in our effort to end horse slaughter.

Dear President Bush

2006-10-20T09:37:00.000-07:00

Dear President Bush,

I am writing this letter to the President who created The Northwestern Hawaiian Island Marine National Monument. Your decisive action and foresight has changed marine conservation history for the entire earth, for centuries, and I thank you profoundly.

There is another conservation issue at present, not as global, but closer and more personal to Americans. Every year almost 100,000 horses are slaughtered at foreign owned slaughter houses and the meat sent overseas as a gourmet “delicacy”. Americans love their horses as companions, workmates, athletes and a species that stands with us and always has. They are part of the very fabric of our nation’s existence. The Global War on Terror has shown us so graphically that American lives are now at grave risk and sometimes the horror is very close to slaughter. The comparison is terrifying.

I am writing the first letter I have ever written to a President, to ask you for your support to put an end to the practice of horse slaughter in the United States. We do not kill the horses we love for ourselves; we should never do it for others, or allow it on American soil.

I realize the grave importance of your time and thank you for your consideration of the contents of this letter. Thank you so much.

Sincerely,

BARBARO OUR HERO!

2006-10-17T13:10:00.000-07:00

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.' "

Matching Funds To Save Horses From Slaughter

2006-09-27T08:34:00.000-07:00

A message from Barabaro's owners George and Gretchen Jackson:

Loving "Fan of Barbaro" from the TWR board/forum has asked us to issue a positive challenge to others on the site. This "Fan" has deep concerns about the ongoing slaughter of horses, even while each and everyone of you is working so hard to get Senate Bill 1915 passed. In an attempt to make a difference, the "Fan" has provided funds for purchasing one horse from the auction we will attend on October the 8th.

However, the BEST NEWS is, in hopes of encouraging more donations to purchase/save more horses from the fate of slaughter the "Fan" is digging deeper and invites you to join in an " In Honor of Barbaro Rescue Challenge ". For every $20.00 or more that is donated to Miracle Horse Rescue for this purpose before October 8th, the "Fan" will match up to a total of $1,000.00 from his/her side. Donations may be made by PayPal, on our website www.Miraclehorse.com, by credit card through our CARE FUND (which has been fixed) or by mailing a check to MHR 2220 W. Simkins Rd., Pahrump, Nevada 89060.

The "Fan" wrote to us that "Even though we are working to ban slaughter forever it is NOT DONE and many will suffer while we are awaiting the final VICTORY. So every dollar can make a difference RIGHT NOW. The "Fan" feels so strongly that we need to help horses who are facing the fate of slaughter, and thought a challenge may help to motivate others in a new way." Of course if individuals want to donate to another rescue organization or local agency to help save horses or aide in their welfare then this is wonderful too. This challenge is to just focus on one specific effort that I am personally aware of to save horses in the interim. I think any valid organization is worthy of the funds, but I felt that I should choose one to make it simple to do the match. Maybe someone else will want to do the same for another good organization."

We have said there is no limit to the number

Barbaro Hospital Update

2006-09-26T16:00:00.000-07:00

Barbaro's progress pleases veterinarians

September 26, 2006

KENNETT SQUARE, PA -- Veterinarians at Penn’s George D. Widener Hospital continue to be pleased with the medical progress of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro, who remains in stable condition at the hospital. “The left hind hoof on Barbaro has grown about 18 millimeters in the heel area,” said Dr. Dean Richardson, Chief of Surgery. “It has to grow at least three times that, which could take more than six months. It’s a very gradual process; the bottom of his foot has to completely heal as well.”

Barbaro continues to be comfortable in his right hind leg cast, so there are no immediate plans to change it. “As always, we monitor his comfort very closely, and we will likely change the cast within the next two weeks,” said Dr. Richardson. “Barbaro’s vital signs continue to be excellent, as is his appetite. He definitely enjoys his daily excursions outside to walk and graze.” Barbaro spends about 30 to 40 minutes outside every day, depending on the weather.