Why does it seem that horriable things always happen to such wonderful horses?

Question

it makes me so mad! like look at Barbaro and Ruffian. uhh, just why them? ya know

Answer 1

Barbaro,I was thinking the very same thing.I guess it's part of life but it's hard to accept.Unfortunately,it happens too often but we don't hear about all the accidents.   ps You can get the Barbaro bracelet at www.ntra.com. It costs 2.00 plus 5.00 s&h and it supports equine health research. You can also go directly to the link at www.ridingwithbarbaro.org

Answer 2

Not only racehorses.  We had a mare who was kicked in the shoulder, which broke, and although we tried to save her with surgery, we ended up having to euthanize her.  Back to racehorses, Mending Fences, although not as well known as Barbaro and Ruffian, also broke down (a year after Barbaro) and had to be euthanized.  It's terrible, but it happens, unfortunately.

Answer 3

It's not just them. They're not the first horses this ever happened to.  It happens every day all around the world.

Everything that lives will die.

Answer 4

In the first place, horrible things don't happen to all wonderful horses.  There are great geldings like Kelso, Forego, John Henry, Fourstardave, The Tin Man, Native Diver and a whole host of others that race on year after year without encountering catastrophic injury.  And most horses that are retired for breeding purposes retire at least serviceably sound.  

We remember the breakdowns because they are so terrible and so unusual.  If catastrophic breakdowns of top horses happened often, it wouldn't be news.

With regard to why Ruffian and Barbaro in particular, in both those cases I believe it was just plain bad luck.  They were both sound horses, very fit, handled by knowledgeable people and owned by owners who were not motivated by money.  Bad things just happen sometimes, and there doesn't have to be a villain or "bad guy" or even a reason we can understand.

I think it would be good to perhaps focus on some of the good things that happened because of these tragedies.  After Ruffian's death, a good hard look was taken into the facilities available to treat catastrophic breakdowns at racetracks and the procedures used to treat horses that suffered injuries like Ruffian's.  I think it's both fair and safe to say that there are horses who have had breakdowns on tracks that are alive now because of what was learned from Ruffian's tragedy.  

In the case of Barbaro, there are now hundreds of thousands of dollars being spent on research into laminitis.  This will benefit all horses, not just racehorses.  My own Arabian died of complications from laminitis at the age of 24.  Laminitis is a truly horrific condition and if Barbaro's death can save even a handful of horses from suffering what he suffered, then IMO his death has been redeemed by the good that came out of it.

Catastrophic breakdown in the bane of horse racing, and everybody who loves the game wants to see the number of breakdowns reduced.  That's why we're transitioning to the synthetic track surfaces.  And over time we will see other improvements.

Horrible things happen, yes, and sometimes without reason.  But we can learn from the bad things and that can result in benefit to others.

Answer 5

There are many "horrible things" that happen in this world that you never hear a word about until the media decides to release it to make a buck or make a point that will in turn make someone a buck or two!  The racing industry is governed by the Department of Agriculture.  Caesar Chavez died trying to expose some of the horrors that were associated within the racing community to exploit both humans & horses on the racetracks of California & other states!  Sweat-boxes that were outlawed for the workers to live in while they tended the fields were still being used as housing for the people who work with the horses on tracks such as Del Mar.  They are still being used as temporary shelter due to overcrowding on the backlots during racing season.  That's a "horrible thing" that no one has addressed yet!

Answer 6

Maybe someone it trying to tell us something.  Life - all life - is fleeting.  Cherish what you have today for tomorrow it may be taken.

I get upset when I see such events such as Barbero or Ruffian.  When Go For Wand went down in the 1990 breeders cup distaff, I took a long break from the sport; and wondered if it was really a "sport" at all.

With all of our technical wizardry can't racing information be put into a computer and have winners emerge from electronic  games?  That way no one dies. Not horses not jockeys.

Answer 7

Human ego and greed & not having enough good people in the industry who make decisions solely on what is best for he health of the racer.

A few months ago, I helped rescue a Thoroughbred who was back racing after a bad bout of laminitis and had previously been retired due to it....lamimitis is the same malady that ultimately killed Barbaro.

A runner I was in a partnership with recently broke down and was euthanized after being put into the starting gate with a severe bone chip in the knee. I protested vigorously, but supposedly three vets gave the OK for him to race. It may have been a case of finding voices who agreed with the majority owner.

These are two cases from my personal experiences in the past few months. I am sure these aren't isolated.

Answer 8

IF YOU PLAY LONG ENOUGH, YOU WILL NOTICE THE $10,000 CLAIMERS BREAK DOWN MUCH MORE OFTEN THAN, THE SUPER STARS, AND WITHOUT THE CHEAP RACES THERE WOULD BE NO HORSE RACING.

Answer 9

I know! I love Barbaro and Ruffian! I cried on the movies b/c it makes me sad to look at those great horses breaking down in the height of their career. They were wonderful horses!

Answer 10

well it seems like that when you look at it that way.  but the truth is, horrible things happen to a completely random selection of horses.  There's horses you never hear about that break down in a race.  But just because you're one of the greats doesn't mean that you're free from bad things happening to you.  I mean there are so many great horses and that means something bad has to happen to some of them.  Think about the number of horses that you don't hear about who break down...  I know there was one on the Preakness day undercard who broke down and there was Pine Island last year in the BC Distaff and there's been a couple when I watch the various races on TVG.  Then think of all the really great horses who live long happy lives like Man O War, Secretariat, the other 10 Triple Crown winners, and recent horses like Cigar.  The fact is that most horses have something go wrong at some point...  Afleet Alex and Smarty Jones both had their racing careers cut short by injuries...  and Charismatic.  And Alydar was put down for injuries far too early in his retirement.  Even Secretariat finally fell to laminitis...  although he was getting pretty old.  Rarely do you get a John Henry who is going to run forever and then live forever...  He's thirty something and still going strong.  There's something that's going to happen to pretty much every horse alive at some point in their lives.  A horse at my barn died on Friday...  I was at my show so I wasn't home to be with him, but I hear that it was bad...  He was lying in his stall on Wednesday and couldn't get up.  We tried to get him out of the stall to go eat some grass, but he couldn't step on one of his feet at all.  Then he had a fever and wouldn't eat or drink on Thursday evening.  So they finally ended it on Friday.  :o(

Answer 11

As my boss says, where you have livestock, you'll have dead stock.  Not nice but a fact of life I am afraid.

You only ever hear about the "big name" horses that break down, Barbaro, Horatio Nelson, etc, but it happens pretty much every day to ordinary horses.

All we can do is plow money into research to make racing that bit safer for them, although there will always be an element of risk.

Answer 12

Melissa, I have to say that tragedies like the ones that happened to Barbaro and Ruffian aren't restricted only to them. There are many, many other horses who break down or die every single day on this country's tracks, and no one ever hears a word about them unless they happen to be famous. There are also many thousands of privately owned, non-racing horses who die in accidents or because of disease every day, and nothing is ever said about them either. Barbaro's illness and death has been a mixed blessing in a lot of ways- yes, it was tragic in itself, but there has been an enormous amount of good that has come about as a result. Public awareness of laminitis and its devastating effects on horses has never been higher, and millions of dollars have been raised for research into the disease. This is money that will go to understanding the causes of the disease, finding better treatments for it that will work, and one day, perhaps, finding a cure. This is something that will benefit ALL horses everywhere, regardless of their occupation or walk of life.  Another major change that has come from Barbaro's tragedy is that we now have a surgeon who can perform complicated, life saving operations on horses with a reasonable chance of success ( don't forget, the colt actually lived long enough for the original fractures to heal) and where Dr. Richardson leads, others will follow. One day in the not too distant future, there will be someone like him at every major track and horse facility in the country, if not in the world.We will also see the development and construction of many more facilities and hospitals like New Bolton in the near future- another consequence of Barbaro's death was that it really pointed up the desparate need we have for more places like New Bolton. We need a facility like that one in every state where racing exists in this country, and we also need to export the idea to other countries that have racing so that THEY can build their own facilities and save the lives of THEIR horses.

As for Ruffian's tragedy, I can tell you that I was 11 years old (younger than you are now) when I saw her break down on national TV that day. This was a good example of a horse who should never have left the track alive- the technology to save her simply didn't exist back then. By attempting to save the filly, the men closest to her only ended up prolonging her agony. These people weren't intentionally cruel- they were just human, and like most people, they didn't want to let an animal they loved go without at least trying to help her. Whether or not Ruffian's trainer should have let her run in the match race is something that will always be a subject for debate.

I can say this, though- after the filly died, every one of her human connections paid a TERRIBLE price for her death. The 2 people hit the hardest in the aftermath were her trainer, Frank Whiteley, and her groom, Dan Williams. Whiteley would never know any peace again- people blamed him for agreeing to the match race for the rest of his career, and he never again trained a horse of Ruffian's caliber. It could be argued with some accuracy that Ruffian's tragedy destroyed his career. ( That's one of the things that Michael Matz, Barbaro's trainer, has been lucky to avoid, at least so far. There was some criticism of his methods, but so far, at least, he isn't being blamed for what happened to the colt.)

For Dan Williams, Ruffian's groom, the results were even more heartbreaking. For him, the filly had been like his own child- like a daughter. When she died, he NEVER got over the loss. Within 3 years of her death, he also died- of acute alcoholic poisoning. It was said afterwords that he drank himself to death. Mike Bell, Whiteley's assistant, also had his career damaged by his association with Ruffian, and there were several other people, including the filly's owners and breeders, who also paid a price for what happened. As far as the sport of racing itself went, about the only really major change that followed this tragedy was that there were no more match races. Apart from that, it took years- even decades- for the kind of technology that we saw used with Barbaro to be developed. Yes, there were arguements for more humane treatment of racehorses, and the use of steroids to control pain became commonplace after Ruffian's breakdown, but by and large, things really didn't start to improve until the late 80's and early 90's.  

So you see, although both Ruffian and Barbaro suffered tragic breakdowns, the pain wasn't restricted to them alone. There have been many other cases where famous and not so famous horses suffered accidents and lost their lives because of it- I personally have watched several horses I love die over the long years of my career in the horse industry, and none of the animals I knew were famous. Being present when a horse is destroyed is one of the most painful experiences I have ever been through, and I have faced it numerous times. It never gets any easier with time- and getting mad, while a normal part of grieving, is not helpful. The thing to remember is that it is not just famous horses who die- it's every horse, sooner or later, and there is nothing we as people can really do to change this. Hope this helps.

Answer 13

Its not their fault, dont be so upset. Every living thing will die. We all cant live forever.