.

I heard this on NPR this afternoon. I'm so conflicted about this story. I'm a big horse lover, and the reason horses are put down after breaking a leg is exactly this: the recovery process is long and painful with almost no chance of success. We owe it to these animals to treat them with the utmost respect and dignity (which horses get a lot more of then, say, cows!) However, was Barbaro kept alive out of love and compassion for a fellow animal, or because his stud fees would be astronomically huge? Probably a mixture of both motivations.

Poor guy.

And there's no prohibition against NewsFilter here, Lassie.

"because his stud fees would be astronomically huge" I am guessing they have a quart or so on ice?

The NYT article implies that the reasons why he was kept alive for so long were both his monetary worth and his owner's substantial means. It also suggests that a contributing factor was Gretchen Jackson's emotional attachment to him. None of which is to say that your suggested motivations are not also true, muddgirl.

I guess my discomfort starts with horse racing itself. I've heard my friends (the ones who love horses and the sport) argue that there's nothing inherently cruel about horse racing. I honestly haven't read enough about it to emphatically say I feel one way or the other, but my sneaking suspicion that it has great potential for abuse makes me unable to watch it. I think that's where my sadness come from -- this feeling that we really don't have to do things like this to keep ourselves entertained.

Oh, also, thanks mudpuppie. I always get mixed up between Metafilter and here, but I also never assume that people want to come here to read something they can as easily read on the Times website.. :)

I also never assume that people want to come here to read something they can as easily read on the Times website

It's not just that Lassie, it's also the opportunity for discussion with the bunnies. Hence my NYT linkage earlier today. I suspect this sort of thing is one of the primary reasons the MeCha site exists (taz?).

I grew up on a horse farm and showed hunter jumpers and event horses to a pretty high level. I absolutely get where you're coming from, but in defence of my background I will say that there are angels and demons in the racehorse industry, just as in any other industry.

Horses are a naturally gregarious, playful and competitive species. Horse racing has a checquered past no doubt, but at the root it is only taking advantage of a natural tendency. My x learned this to his financial grief whilst trying to ride his mountain bike illegally in Cincinnati parks - horses have a natural instinct to chase things that run away from them (they're one of the few herbivores that do)- and what's more, they seem to think it is no end of fun. Left to their own devices, horses will race and chase each other in the pasture as play. My old hunter would sometimes chase cows for the sheer merry hell of chasing cows, and he'd never been trained as a cow pony.

It's very sad what happened to Barbaro, and this is one of the many many reasons I gave up horses for bikes. They can be a fragile high maintenance sort of animal and we had quite a few heartbreaks of our own.

I was saddened by the news. I had such hopes that perhaps medicine had reached a point where such an injury could be fixed. But after seeing video of Barbaro walking with the oddly stiff ankle, I'm not really sure what kind of life he'd have had. After all, even for stud duties, he needed those hind feet! I still can't watch the replays of his last race - it just brings me to tears. Poor baby.

I get what you're saying lonefrontranger, both about the newsfilter, and about the horse racing. In fact, I thought about the newsfilter aspect before I posted this, but decided I would go ahead and post anyway, precisely because I wanted to hear other people's feelings, particularly people like you, who've seen the other side of horse rearing and racing.

I fully believe that horse farmers and horse trainers and jockeys and are, by and large, sympathetic and caring people who truly love the animals they tend and train. I also fully believe that horses have a natural tendency towards racing simply for the pure pleasure of the chase. I guess my feeling is that, left to my own devices, I would prefer to see that behavior exhibited spontaneously in a somewhat natural habitat, rather than under the highly controlled, highly stressful conditions that no doubt prevail at a race track. There's also the monetary aspect of it that really bothers me -- I guess I'm not a big fan of betting on animals. Or people for that matter.

Betting against the house though, I'm all in favor of. :)

because his stud fees would be astronomically huge?

I am guessing they have a quart or so on ice?

IIRC, horses aren't allowed to be race horses if they were the results of artificial insemination. Anyone have any info on this?

I don't believe there's anything inherently wrong with horse or dog racing, but as Lassie said, the potential is there and and bad things happen, especially with dogs.