You won't forget him, will you?

Question

Hey everyone it's me. I was just wondering if you are still crying over Barbaro. I know I am, and I always will. I just think about him EVERY day. ( I'm not lieing, EVERY day I think about him) does the same go for you too? Do you think about him every day?

Well I know one thing, I'm never going to forget him and I don't want to forget him.
So I was just wondering if you feel the same way... and if your going to be a jerk about it then please don't answer I can't handel all the mean Barbaro comments.

Thanx a lot!
♥melissa♥

Just tell me what you think...

Answer 1

Never! If anything good comes out of this I hope people realize to let horses grow up before you race them. Not go on TV after you help kill them crying like you never knew this could happen. Did you know he just turned 3 on April 29th so he was a late baby to start with he had no business running that hard that soon. He ran because he loved to but us as owners have to act like parents and hold them back awhile until they are ready. I wonder if the racing world really cares at all. I used to love racing ( I own a grand son of Secretariat) who is 2 days older then Barbaro you don't see me breaking him down to make a dollar. These horses are smart and can do a lot of things not just run!!!

Answer 2

Race horses are amazing athletes and Barbaro was one great race horse. Yes, I will always remember him. I love horses and especially race horses. They work so hard and they give their all to their owners, trainers and riders. These horses must be protected as it is a hard and sometimes cruel business with some people only interested in the bottom line. Thankfully Barbaro's owners were not that type. They really tried to look after him right to the end knowing that if he lived he would not have been put to stud.

Answer 3

Riding With Barbaro -- NTRA Charities


You can make a contribution to equine health research by purchasing "Riding With Barbaro" bracelets or by contributing to the Barbaro Memorial Fund from NTRA Charities.

The Barbaro Memorial Fund was created to raise awareness and money for equine health and safety research in the name of 2006 Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands winner Barbaro, whose gallant struggle to overcome a catastrophic injury captivated horse enthusiasts around the world. Monies raised by the Barbaro Memorial Fund will support equine research projects, including those that focus on laminitis, the painful and often fatal hoof disease that plagued Barbaro for so much of his recuperative period following his injury in the 2006 Preakness Stakes.

You can visit the "Riding With Barbaro" website at www.ridingwithbarbaro.org.

Answer 4

Yea, Barbaro is in my thoughts lots, especially this time of the year as we are looking forward to the Kentucky Derby. .
His picture is my wallpaper on my work computer. He was a great horse and will be remembered always. .

Answer 5

I will always remember Barbaro and I think of him often.It is hard to watch now.I pray for the jockeys and horses every time I watch.I am very sad about Barbaro.

Answer 6

There was a great article in the Smithsonian Magazine about Barbaro. Hope you saw it.

Answer 7

How could such an incredible creature be forgotten? Certainly, I will never forget him either. I just wonder what we're missing without him. How many great races he would have won? Would he have been a worthy sire in the style of Seattle Slew and Alydar? Bobby will always be remembered for his fight and will.

Answer 8

hey i was at ellis park the day that happen and man could u hear the shock in aw in every one voices when it happen it was very much shame and i was proud of the jockey and the owner's for trying everything they could do to save this horse.the only thing i didn't agree with is after he broke threw the gate they shouldn't have let him run they said nothing happen during that altercation but how do u really know how do u know that when he broke threw he didn't fracture his leg and when he ran it shatter. he will be missed and it sucks cause he very well might been best in long time.

Answer 9

I have a beautiful painting of him as my screensaver, so yes I think of him daily too.

*** ADDED 3/27***... just got an alert in my email! This is a great story, and if at all possible I will be at Del Park 4/29!

Fans of Barbaro carry on horse's memory
By Jason Shandler


When Alex Brown created a Web site in 2005 for his friend and racing partner Tim Woolley, he did so with the smallest of expectations.

Brown, an exercise rider who gallops horses for Woolley, had no prior experience with web design. But as a favor to his friend he created timwoolleyracing.com, for the purpose of updating people on Woolley's small stable of horses at Fair Hill Training Center, which is located in rural Maryland.

The Web site, which was also intended as a blog, received a whopping six visits per day for the first year of its existence. Brown was updating the site once per month.

If things had remained the way they were, timwoolleyracing.com probably would have fizzled away into oblivion.

But then something happened.

That something was Barbaro.

"Tim's barn is adjacent to Michael Matz' and I would see Michael every morning. We became friends," said Brown. "So once Barbaro made it to the Kentucky Derby, I decided to update his status on the Web site. I bought some advertising on Google and the traffic increased to 120 hits per day."

Those 120 visits were nothing compared to what was about to happen.

"When Barbaro got hurt in the Preakness, there was very little information that first night. I was the first one to update people," Brown continued. "I put it on the Web site and I got 3,000 hits. It crashed the site. I had to rebuild it."

From that point on Brown had updates every day on America's new favorite horse. People from all over the country clamored for information as Barbaro battled for his life. By mid-summer, Brown was averaging 35,000 visits per day and his Web site was becoming a household name in the racing industry.

"I had built trust with the Barbaro team. I received updates from Michael Matz or Gretchen Jackson first thing in the morning. People knew I would have the latest information first," said Brown.

The day Barbaro was euthanized, timwooleyracing.com received nearly 70,000 visits.

But that is only the beginning of this story, which is not about how to build a successful Web site, but rather, how it brought thousands of people together for a great cause.

Even after Barbaro's death, Brown noticed that most of the same people were coming back to the site. But instead of getting updates, they were writing blogs and joining discussion boards. In an eight month period, over 250,000 new posts were written, much of the subject matter dealing with Barbaro and horse welfare.

"Between 6,500 and 12,000 people come every day to talk about Barbaro. It is a loyal group who banded together to execute Barbaro's legacy," said Brown. "It's a phenomenal thing."

The group, which has pushed the Web site numbers to an astonishing two million visits and six million page views, now needed just one more thing -- a name.

Gretchen Jackson solved that problem. She coined the loyal group, Fans of Barbaro, or, FOBs. The name stuck.

"It's not an official group," said Brown, "but it has a minimum of 2,200 members and they are doing great things. They are a dedicated, passionate group who wants to raise the awareness of all horse welfare issues."

Those issues, which range from laminitis research, to stolen horse rescue, to research with catastrophic on-track injuries, are the daily subject of timwoolleyracing.com. Amazingly, although most of the FOBs have never met one another in person, they have been able to accomplish a lot. So far, Brown says, over $150,000 has been raised for horse welfare issues. And that is just the tip of the iceberg. There is no end in sight for the FOBs.

On April 29, Delaware Park, the site of Barbaro's first race, will host Barbaro Day. It will be dedicated to the 2006 Kentucky Derby champ and will also feature a race called the Fans of Barbaro. Brown says Tampa Bay Downs, Hollywood Park and Lone Star Park will also pay tribute to Barbaro on April 29, which happens to be his birthday.

So far, over 500 FOBs have promised to show up at Delaware Park, from as far away as South Africa. It will be the first time that the special group will have met on a large scale.

"People are going to fly in from all over. It is going to be a terrific event," said Brown. "It just shows what a compassionate group of people can do when they want something. The FOBs goals are to keep a persistent focus on horse welfare issues. It's a good thing."

Jason Shandler is a correspondent for The Blood-Horse, and a regular contributor to NTRA.com, where he maintains a blog of his thoughts on horse racing. Visit his blog here.

For more on Barbaro and to donate to the NTRA Charities - Barbaro Memorial Fund, visit www.ridingwithbarbaro.org.