Posted by Racer on May 21, 2006, at 22:36:07
In reply to Re: Barbaro » Racer, posted by Daisym on May 21, 2006, at 22:16:11
> I thought of you when I was watching, I felt sick to my stomach.
I didn't watch it live, only learned of it on the late news. We were out test driving a Holden Monaro! (For those of you who don't speak foreign languages, that's a Pontiac GTO...) I've always heard that only Aussies like them, and now I think it's true. Of course, I might have liked it better if we'd tested one that wasn't black.
>The whole thing happened so fast, but I wonder what happens now? They keep talking about a career ending injury...what does that actually mean?
>
>It means a number of things, but the only thing sure last time I saw anything on the news was that he'll never race again. In fact, this is a life threatening injury, due to the extent of the damage.
Keep this in perspective: any derby winner will earn far more in stud fees than he ever did on the track. Exponentially more. That means that they will do EVERYTHING they can to save his life. (Don't get me started on the wisdom of breeding to a baby whose bones disintegrated this way, though.) So, if there's any way to save his life, they will.
So, what makes this life threatening? A number of things: infection is the top of the list. The surgery they're talking about would not have been attempted had any of the bones broken the skin. In fact, if he had any scrapes of any kind, they probably wouldn't have tried. Post surgical infection in that area would be virtually impossible to cure, because the circulation there isn't really quite good enough, and there's not a lot of wiggle room inside that skin. (Think about the difference between an infection in your finger, and the same infection in your leg: the finger hurts more, because it's trapped in a smaller area.)
Another problem is recovery: Barbaro is a three year old stud colt. He's the equivalent of about a fifteen year old boy -- he's reached a certain level of maturity, but he's just not a grown up. The enforced inactivity would be psychologically damaging for him. It's also coming at a time when he really hasn't finished growing, so it's going to stunt his physical development. But mostly -- you try to keep a TB on stall rest, you'd best have a boatload of tranquilizers. Some for the horse, too...
Tangential comment about that: most of the tranqs they're likely to use are anti-psychotics. Acepromazine is first cousin to chlorpromazine (Thorazine), and flufenazine (sp?) is used in humans.
There's also the location and extent of the injuries. He broke several bones, including the cannon bone -- the long bone in his leg below the hock -- and a sesamoid bone. (I think there are actually a few others, too, but forget what I heard on the news.) Sesamoids are bones that have a channel for a ligament (or tendon? I get some of this confused...), and so it's a very important bone if you want that whole pulley system to work. Fixing a sesamoid bone is next to impossible, unless you can totally immobilize the joint. Hard to do with a baby TB.
And finally, if all that goes well, he could still be in danger from laminitis. Imagine your fingernail separating from your nailbed. Hurts to think about it, right? In horses, if it happens, it removes the support for the internal structures in the foot, leading to bones moving out of their proper place. When that happens, often there's no way to save a horse. Depending on the extent of it, sometimes the big bone itself -- the coffin bone -- will actually pierce the skin, leading to infection. It's just ugly, any way you look at it.
And for those of you who just can't help thinking this way about athletes: the bulging forehead is NOT a sign of steroid use. lol I heard that one today, from a friend's husband. I think he was joking, but I'm not sure. At any rate, that's just the way some TBs' heads are. I don't like it -- but again, I'm shallow, and a total sucker for a pretty face...
(More than anyone wanted to know, right?)
poster:Racer
thread:646581
URL: http://www.dr-bob.org/babble/social/20060521/msgs/646755.html