Bad news for Barbaro

[sighthound]

They can\'t get the infection in the pastern under control.  News conference tomorrow morning.

[Wrongly]

News conference is scheduled for 11am tomorrow.  Rumor has it he has been put down.

[P-Dub]

Where did you hear about being put down??  Do you feel its reliable??

[shanahan]

I wish I had not gone online before bed...can\'t we get SOME good news?  from anywhere?

[sighthound]

Richardson reiterated Tuesday\'s assessment that Barbaro\'s condition is \"potentially serious, and we are aggressively seeking all treatment options. Today we will focus on further diagnostics and keeping our patient comfortable. All decisions are being made in constant consultation with the owners, who continue to be only interested in his comfort.\"

This is vetspeak for, \"It\'s not working. Time to consider the alternative\"

Dammit.

[sighthound]

From a webnews site:

Addressing a rumor that the news conference was to announce that Barbaro would be put down as soon as Thursday night, Gretchen Jackson said that was unfounded.

\"No, I guarantee that\'s not going to happen unless something goes drastically wrong in the next 24 hours,\" she said in a phone interview Wednesday.

[marcus]

i didnt\' sleep well last night either - storms here  kept me up and was wondering if the horse\'s problem originated in training as a 2 yo .  reading between the lines of recent press release\'s is tough but  i tend to agree with wrongly .
 i\'m guessig the next news we hear about the magnificant Barbaro will be that he\'s already gone .  

[Wrongly]

Marcus, there\'s been no confirmation, just a rumor that was going through the media yesterday.

[marcus]

thanks wrongly - i hear that . but w/ Barbaro\'s infection i\'d guess prosteisis is out of the realm of discussion at this point ... i\'m quite sure the horse has suffered alot and understand that any decisions made are in his best interest .

[jbelfior]

He\'s got a bad case of laminitis. Looks grave.....this really sucks. In a world full of corruption, evil, predjudice, etc. it\'s not hard to understand why this noble warrior has captured so many hearts.


Good Luck,
Joe B.  

[flushedstraight]

latest from NY Times today:

KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. (AP) -- Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro has developed a severe case of laminitis, a potentially fatal disease brought on by uneven weight distribution in the limbs, and his veterinarian called his chances of survival \'\'a long shot.\'\'

Dean Richardson, the chief surgeon who has been treating Barbaro since the colt suffered catastrophic injuries in the Preakness on May 20, said the Derby winner\'s chances of survival are poor.

\'\'I\'d be lying if I said anything other than poor,\'\' Richardson said Thursday at a news conference at the University of Pennsylvania\'s New Bolton Center. \'\'As long as the horse is not suffering, we\'re going to continue to try (to save him).

\'\'If we can keep him comfortable, we think it\'s worth the effort.\'\'

If not, Barbaro could be euthanized at any time. Richardson said if Barbaro does not respond quickly to treatment, \'\'It could happen within 24 hours.\'\'

Richardson said the laminitis nearly has destroyed the colt\'s hoof on his uninjured left hind leg. Laminitis, a painful condition, developed in the past few days. The disease turned more serious in the past day.

\'\'The left hind is basically as bad laminitis as you can have,\'\' Richardson said, adding that horses have recovered from laminitis. He said he has discussed the situation closely with owners Roy and Gretchen Jackson.

Richardson said Barbaro\'s injured right hind leg -- the one that shattered at the start of the Preakness -- is healing well, but because a horse has to be evenly balanced, laminitis set in on the other foot.

\'\'We removed a large portion of his (left) foot wall, probably 20 percent of it,\'\' Richardson said. \'\'He\'s in a foot cast with foam padding and antiseptic dressing. We\'ll see if can regrow his hoof. It will take months and months.\'\'

The grim update came after nearly six weeks of a smooth recovery. Barbaro had hours of surgery on May 21 to insert a titanium plate and 27 screws into three broken bones and the pastern joint, and has had two other operations in recent days.

\'\'I really thought we were going to make it two weeks ago,\'\' Richardson said. \'\'Today I\'m not as confident.\'\'

[richiebee]

I had quoted this passage in a different context a few months ago. It comes from a book which Jimmy Breslin calls the second most important document in the world(the first most important being the payroll):

  \"Do you give the horse its might?
   Do you clothe its neck with mane?

   Do you make it leap like the locust?
   Its majestic snorting is terrible.

   It paws violently, exults mightily;
   it goes out to meet the weapons.

   It laughs at fear, and is not dismayed;
   it does not turn back from the sword.

   Upon rattle the quiver,
   the flashing spear and the javelin.

   With fierceness and rage it swallows the ground;
   it can not stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

   When the trumpet sounds it says \"Aha!\"
   From a distance it smells the battle,
   the thunder of the captains, and the shouting\"

Job 39.

  \"For a living dog is better than a dead lion\"

Ecclesiastes.

  \"They give their lives for our enjoyment\"

Ron McInally.

Ironic but not surprising. Laminitis was the biggest threat to this colt from the start. Complex surgical procedures involving bone grafts and screws and plates made of advanced metals, all of the manners in which this colt was monitored, the high tech recovery techniques which were utilized, and Barbaro will most likely succumb to laminitis.

Ironic because despite the best care and technology available, people who live with horses, and the vets who treat these horses, really are no closer to understanding laminitis than they were 25 or 50 years ago.

Laminitis was the greatest fear of Barbaro\'s veterinary team from the onset, because they were aware that their patient was at high risk of foundering, and the survival rates of even healthy animals who founder is infinitesimal. And even though the veterinary team treating Barbaro knew that laminitis was the greatest threat to the colt, they were in the end apparently unable to prevent it.
   

 

[Chuckles_the_Clown2]

richiebee Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> I had quoted this passage in a different context a
> few months ago. It comes from a book which Jimmy
> Breslin calls the second most important document
> in the world(the first most important being the
> payroll):
>
>   \"Do you give the horse its might?
>    Do you clothe its neck with mane?
>
>    Do you make it leap like the locust?
>    Its majestic snorting is terrible.
>
>    It paws violently, exults mightily;
>    it goes out to meet the weapons.
>
>    It laughs at fear, and is not dismayed;
>    it does not turn back from the sword.
>
>    Upon rattle the quiver,
>    the flashing spear and the javelin.
>
>    With fierceness and rage it swallows the
> ground;
>    it can not stand still at the sound of the
> trumpet.
>
>    When the trumpet sounds it says \"Aha!\"
>    From a distance it smells the battle,
>    the thunder of the captains, and the shouting\"
>
> Job 39.
>
>   \"For a living dog is better than a dead lion\"
>
> Ecclesiastes.
>
>   \"They give their lives for our enjoyment\"
>
> Ron McInally.
>
> Ironic but not surprising. Laminitis was the
> biggest threat to this colt from the start.
> Complex surgical procedures involving bone grafts
> and screws and plates made of advanced metals, all
> of the manners in which this colt was monitored,
> the high tech recovery techniques which were
> utilized, and Barbaro will most likely succumb to
> laminitis.
>
> Ironic because despite the best care and
> technology available, people who live with horses,
> and the vets who treat these horses, really are no
> closer to understanding laminitis than they were
> 25 or 50 years ago.
>
> Laminitis was the greatest fear of Barbaro\'s
> veterinary team from the onset, because they were
> aware that their patient was at high risk of
> foundering, and the survival rates of even healthy
> animals who founder is infinitesimal. And even
> though the veterinary team treating Barbaro knew
> that laminitis was the greatest threat to the
> colt, they were in the end apparently unable to
> prevent it.
>    
>


The Jackson woman has said from the inception: \"We want little Barbaro\'s running around the track.\"  Why did she not say, We want to see Barbaro frolicking in our pasture? You have to wonder with her eye towards monetary return whether she\'ll consider a malpractice suit against Doc Richardson. He did play musical casts with Barbaro for many days when the root of the problem was something more.

The only thing that went Barbaro\'s way was the lack of a compound fracture. Many times you see the limb nearly sheared off as was in the case of Go for Wand. Barbaro himself did a remarkable job of getting his weight off the injury and only this athleticism prevented the injury from being compound. He was moving with the majority of his weight on three legs during most of the pull up.

Barbaro had three supportive structures fractured. One in 27 pieces. The initial infection apparently developed in either the fetlock or cannon bone, though that is not clear from the accounts. Once the infection was in his bloodstream it made the probabilities increase regarding founder. The abscess on the uninjured rear hoof was a harbinger of the feared laminitis. Now its apparently set in with a vengeance. They are administering large amounts of pain killers to Barbaro is how the press release must be interpreted. The horse himself is apparently nickering to his attendants. He\'s trying to tell them something. He\'s been a very brave animal. Hopefully they will listen to his nickers.

eventually the day draws to an end
and climbs into its evening bed
pulling the cover of dusk mist
upon itself in restful bliss
and highlit there in sunset clouds
array his lineage long and proud
roberto named for pirate kind
his majesty...ribot sublime
regret not the things not done
theres greatness in the races won

ctc
 

[jbelfior]

CtC--


Her saying \"we want little Barbaro\'s running around\" indicates her desire to see the horse survive and live a healthy, normal life for a horse more than her looking at the monetary side of things.

These people have more money than they\'ll ever need....they are thinking about the horse first.

Want to see an example of horse owners who see ONLY the monetary side of things....check out the FUNNY CIDE folks.


Good Luck,
Joe B.

[Chuckles_the_Clown2]

Joe, I\'m always skeptical of people telling me what their motivations are. The Doc, the Jackson\'s and the Media are all telling us that the motivation is one thing but the evidence that can be observed tells a different story.

Is anyone else getting a severe case of Deja Vu? or a flashback of Dubya Bush trying to articulate a legtimate reason for invading a country and killing its people? In other words do the words used by the proponets reconcile with what you can discern?

Gretchen Jackson needs to just go away. Maybe she can take Dubai Ports Dubya with her.