Great link, MilkFish! Ruffian is my all-time fave TB. Her courage was unequalled and her greatness never fully realized...
hh

Despite the possible profit in stud fees, I was very surprised they didn't euthenize Barbaro on the track. I remember Ruffian, too. It's a shame.

I think they would have needed 20 years of stud fees to recoup what they would have received from insurance with euthanasia on the track. Far more profitable to have euthanized him, but they felt he had given so much to them, they should try to give back to him and give him a chance to live.

Regardless, his case has given new hope to other leg/hoof injuries and inspirational means of treatment.

What's sad is the continual press for faster horses. This means the breeding selects for thinner legs and smaller bones. The smaller and stiffer,(read brittle), the bones the faster the horse. And... the more often their legs will snap like a dry saltine. We will see this more and more often. It's what happens when we start selective breeding for one trait. Rather like Irish Setters that were bred for that classy look until they were utterly brainless.

Let me try to show this.
A modern cutting horse that has to be agile (turn a lot and quickly).
http://www.cellar.org/attachment.php...1&d=1170152143

Poor Barbaro a thorobred bred for speed only. Notice the thin legs.
http://www.cellar.org/attachment.php...1&d=1170152143

[cue intense piano playing]
Once again, The Philly Curse has struck!!!
The Eagles.....
The Phillies.....
the Flyers......
and now Barbaro
Godspeed

So sad. They didn't give him time to answer all the cards and letters wishing him well.

26

The Penn Vet School has received $$$millions in the name of Barbaro. Hopefully it will also help develop new treatments/cures.:comfort:

Isn't the thoroughbred breeding stock a relatively small and closed pool? They need new blood but I'm sure there are rules against it. The horses are more fragile and nominally faster. Look at how much time man has taken off the mile in the last hundred years and then look at the horse. I wonder if putting some standardbred into the pool wouldn't improve things?

Put some Clydesdale in for more fun. The entertainment is not in how fast they run, it's in how closely they're matched. :D

Oh, sure, you say you're just mixing in a little Clydesdale, but someone gets carried away and this is what we'll get:Attachment 11734

What's your point, Luddite? :lol:

They cleverly got around the obvious wing-size-to-weight issues by adding rocket nostrils.

He's sneezing from the Magic Dust.;)