Who thinks it was unfair to Barbaro to put him to sleep???

Question

We don't put humans to sleep, he could have had pain medication, that horse may have wanted to live regardless of pain. I think it was terrible that he was euthanized, after all it was his life, not the owners, they're rotten people

thank all of you for your answers but I don't believe any of you are correct, there was no way to tell if he wanted to live for a while in pain or be put to death, until you okay your old grandmother being euthanized we don't have the right to kill an animal that way

Answer 1

but since no one can speak to animals no one really knows whether he wanted to live or not.

Answer 2

There are limits to what pain medication can do. Barbaro was affected in both hind legs. One hoof was nearly gone, he had an abscess in the other. He could not even stand, let alone move, without tremendous pain. A horse doesn't have the wheelchair option, and he would have gone down and died, and not painlessly either.

A horse in great pain will not eat. They die from starvation or their body gives out from the stress of pain, or they go down and can't get up. A horse that has gone down and cannot heal well enough to stand again is not capable of being kept as a bedridden patient--it's lungs do not expand properly and it cannot breathe correctly and it slowly suffocates, often helped along with pneumonia or lung congestion. Imagine the hell that slowly suffocating in great pain would be.

The extent to which they and many other people labored to save this horse speaks to their concern for him. Rotten people do not work that hard to save something they do not love, Kind people do not allow an animal to suffer horribly and pointlessly when it becomes evident that no recovery is possible.

Answer 3

Most owners would have put him to sleep right after the break. When horses break their leg, its not like a dog or cat that can live with 3. The size of a horse basically makes it impossible to survive with 3 legs. He fought back gallantly, kept making more progress, then keep having more setbacks. I don't think they would have done this if there was any chance he could have made it. Not only did the world care about this horse, he was worth a fortune whether he ever ran again or not, just stud fees would have been enormous. He was the only horse I've seen run the Derby for 20 years who I really think had a shot at the triple crown. Believe me, these people went to extreme measures to try to save this fantastic horse. It's just a terrible shame, he fought so hard, I think everyone wanted to see him make it.

Answer 4

Magpie: They put the horse to sleep because they avoided further unimaginable pain & infection due to a condition called 'laminitis'.

Here's a quick education on what laminitis is. The horse's foot is built in layers. Innermost is bone, then laminae (in laymen's terms it's the 'glue' that holds the foot together) then the outer layer consisting of horny growth or hoof. Laminitis is when the glue breaks down, the horny growth gives way and the bone pokes through the sole. Given the previous history of Barbaro, it was safe to say he suffered from severe enough laminitis that it looked like his bone was going to inevitably poke through the sole of his foot.

Now: Imagine YOU unable to sit or lay down or get off your feet. You're not able to use crutches. But the calluses on your feet have gone away, and you're now walking around on your bare foot bones. Yes, the skin from your feet has peeled back, and the bare BONE is all that's supporting your weight.

In this case, very shortly you would become infected and that infection would eat away slowly at the surrounding healthy tissue that had peeled away. No amount of pain killers or antibiotics can stop this process. Now tell me...

DO YOU WANT TO LIVE?

This is roughly the situation Barbaro was faced with. Trust us when we say the owners and veterinarians did the humane thing.

Answer 5

I must say, your thoughts are shocking. I can see the argument of us not knowing what an animal is thinking, true. However, as responsible owners and EDUCATED DVMs, we do know what causes pain and what reduces quality of life. A horse on three legs does not equal a quality of life the animal can live with.

It is a SELFISH act to keep an animal alive that is in obvious pain, is not living a life of a healthy animal (a horse in a sling for months on end is NOT quality). Far too often, over zealous pet owners keep their pets alive, not for the sake of the animal, but for their own emotional reasons.

As far as people, I have known many people that had they have had the option of being euthanized, would have wanted it. My own grandmother did go through a horrible last year of her life due to a degenerative neurological illness. The few times that she was cognoscente, she begged us to help her end her life. Of course, it is not legal and we had no way to end her suffering.

In this scenario, animals have a great advantage over humans.

Answer 6

Lets put Barbaro on morphine and CAUSE him to have laminitis and infections for the rest of his life. Lets keep a beautiful animal meant to be outside in the sun running kept in a dreary stall for the rest of his life. That is NOT what a Thoroughbred horse was made for.

You are honestly saying that you would want him to suffer for 25 years in dark stall, having morphine dripped into him, standing in a sling. He wouldn't be able to walk. His organs and muscles would fail. Babaro would be miserable.

I bet you're a PETA activist. Don't you realize how much torture they would be putting Barbaro through?! This is obviously something you can't grasp.

Poor Barbaro's owners must be devastated! Those people didn't look at him as a source of income (which he was) but as a pet (just like I do my horse) and a darn good 'friend' to talk to and confide in. Those people must be heartbroken. I'm sure they've talked about this extensively and are completely distraught at what they had to do. Barbaro was part of their families.

Answer 7

Horses are the one animal that can't survive without all 4 legs. If they can't support their weight with all four legs, they develop laminitis, a terrible painful infection in the other legs which eventually kills them. In most cases, a horse with his severe injuries would have been euthanized right on the spot but his owners loved him and wanted to give him every chance to survive. He had the best vet care in the world and his owners were willing spend whatever it took to save him - money was apparently no object. Once it was clear the leg wasn't going to heal, they spared him a long, painful and inevitable death. It's sad, but his owners loved him and did the best they could for him.

Answer 8

A horse does not have the ability to reason. Not being able to stand up stresses them out something fierce. You can't make a horse lie down for 6 weeks until they are healed. The horse would go crazy. Plus, the problem with Barbaro spread so all four legs were bothering him. They tried everything possible to save the horse where 99% of other horses would've been shot at the stable after being taken off the racetrack.

Answer 9

I believe they did right by putting him down. There is a time and place when to do it. If the owners loved him enough, they had a connection with Barbaro. They could sense his pain and what he wanted to do. Why would you let something or someone suffer for the rest of their lives. Yes humans can live with one leg. We have wheelchairs and fake legs ect. but horses, they need all four legs to be themselves. They need to run. that is their nature, to run. So to be fair to some animals, the owners know best sometimes. They did the right thing. Now he can rest in peace.

Answer 10

Horses cannot express their extreme pain and discomfort. The only humane and right thing to do was to euthanize him. A horse in his condition (which was only getting worse by the way) has a very low quality of life. Maybe if you had horses you would understand.

After reading your additional details, it just further demonstrates the point that you don't know anything about horses. For you to compare a horse to a grandmother is ignorant. Humans domesticated horses, therefore, it is our responsibility to keep them healthy and comfortable. Sometimes euthanasia is the only option, and in Barbaro's case, it was. Standing in a stall, drugged up for the rest of his life would be the tragedy, not euthanasia.

Answer 11

The owners did this to save the horse a lot of pain. He couldn't have lived like that and would not have survived. They saved him from much suffering. They went way beyond what normal horse owners would do trying to save him. It's sad he passed but don't be mad at the owners from deciding to euthanize him. I'm sure it was a very tough decision for them to make and they did it because they loved him.