why couldn't they put barbaro in a sling for many months while the laminitis healed.?

Question

or even a year? yeah it would suck for awhile but he had so many years ahead of him. that's what we do with children who have catastrophic injuries. they're in a shitload of pain too and sometimes their treatment is a long shot.

Answer 1

Once Barbaro developed the abscess in his hind right and the laminitis in his front legs, they did put him in the sling... but it was too late.

Laminitis is a condition of the hoof caused by many things... in Barbaro's case, the improper distribution of weight. Barbaro got laminitis in his hind left in June because he was putting too much weight on that leg because of the pain in his hind right. After his broken leg healed, Barbaro unexpectedly developed an abscess in that leg. The abcess is very painful and the only way to fix it is drain the liquid out of the hoof. Often times people will wait until the abscess pushes its way out of the top of the hoof, rather than the alternative of drilling into the hoof to let it drain that way (because the center of the hoof is sensitive).

Until he developed the abscess, Barbaro was doing amazingly well and there was no reason for him to be in a sling. In fact, Dean Richardson announced that Barbaro could be going home within the month because he was doing so well.

Unfortunately he developed the abscess. I don't think the cause was ever announced... ordinarily the abscess is an infection caused by a fungus. The ordinary way to prevent an abscess is by keeping the horse in a clean, dry, debris free environment. That's why I'm surprised that Barbaro developed an abscess: what can be more clean and free of debris than a hospital?

Anyway, Barbaro developed the abscess and it was a new source of tremendous pain. That problem in his hind right combined with his hind left's laminitis caused him to stand with more weight on his front legs. That extra weight caused the laminitis in his front legs.

Barbaro developed the abscess and front laminitis very suddenly. They put him in the sling right afterward, but as I said, there was no reason for him to be in a sling until then because he had been doing so well. Once he developed the laminitis it was too late.

Laminitis is a condition of the hoof that can be caused by many things including weight distribution, change in diet, change in exercise, and even things as mundane as changes in the weather. When the cause occurs, the lamine in the horses hoof swell. The swelling pushes on the lowest bone in the horses hoof, the coffin bone, causing the bone to actually move. That is why there is no cure... while we can make the swelling go away, we have no way of making the bone go back to its normal position. Once the bone moves, the horse will always be in pain because of the bone being in the wrong place.

Many horses have laminitis, which is also called founder. Once a horse founders (develops the swelling and the bone rotates), it is likely to founder again. One of my favorite horses at my school foundered every spring and every fall because of the weather change. They finally euthanized him two years ago because he couldn't walk after his spring founder.

If a horse founders badly enough or enough times, the bone can rotate so far down the hoof that it will poke through and stick out of the bottom of the hoof. At that point there's nothing left to do for the horse.

As for Barbaro, Gretchen and Roy Jackson and Dean Richardson didn't want him to be in pain for the rest of his life. I suppose they could have put Barbaro in the sling when he arrived at the New Bolton Center in May, then left him there until everything had healed and he was ready to go home. However, that's not an ideal situation either because of the horses muscles. Just like humans, a horses muscle will deteriorate if not used. While Barbaro wasn't going to race again, he'd certainly need his muscles to stand, walk, and ideally to mount a mare. If he didn't use those muscles at all for 8 months, there's be serious complications for the future.

I also don't think that it's very good for the horse to be supported by something strapped under them... the stomach and other organs need to hang in the right places like the legs and bones need to be in the right places. Anyone who has ever laid on their stomach for more than a couple hours knows the discomfort Barbaro would feel, which could only be ampified by the fact that Barbaro weighs over a thousand pounds and would be stuck in the sling for many months.

So although it sounds like the sling would be a magical life saving object, it too, has its limitations.


update: I just watched the full press conference with Dean Richardson and the Jacksons where I learned the cause of Barbaro's abscess. Apparently he had been very uncomfortable on his left foot because of the laminitis and the procedures they were performing on it, so he stood more on his right foot. That resulted in a bruise on his heel and the bruise caused the abscess.

Answer 2

Laminitis doesn't heal completely - it's a problem with the bone in a horse's hoof and can only be masked by medicine and taking the horse away from anything that could trigger it and make it flare up. I'm sure he had other medical complications besides laminitis. He was in a sling and suspended in water for quite a while. I bet they did everything they could to save his life - he could've made them a lot of money as a stud horse.

Answer 3

please realize that he had been in pain for 8 months. Is that not enough suffering? Laminitis is in extremely painful disease for the horse, and a lot if not most of the times, it is fatal. There are different degrees of severity. He would have been in pain for more than just the healing time. You have to think of the horse.

Answer 4

If he were in a sling supporting him under his belly, then those muscles would weaken do to lack of use. When it would be time to take him out of the sling you risk serious damage. Also Pressure sores and weakening of bone.

Answer 5

I dont have an answer for you, because that is exactly what should have been done, esp. when the right leg was healing so good, good Question, Ill bet you they would to it that way today.