Barbaro breaks leg at Preakness

well,since you insist.it is totally ridiculous to spend that much money on a friggin animal when millions can not get the proper care that they need.sure,the owner has his own money to spend as he pleases but cant he think of a better way to spend it.thjs is the point,the only reason he is spending it is because of the stud fees,period.i have swampland in jersey to sell you if you think for one minute he is doing this out of his pure kindness for the animal.i guarantee that horse had surgery faster than if you or i walked into the emergency room.tell me if something is wrong with that picture

Well, Dmek25...if it was simply about the money, they could have laid the horse to rest and collected literally millions and millions from the insurance company. And trust me, they could have and still may. The 50/50 chance of survival they are giving Barbaro is extremely optomistic.

I really think the owner was and still to some extent is distraught over this whole incident. To say that the owner and the trainer are saving the horses' life to capture the stud fees is totally presumptous on our part.

We must remember, these people have been around horses for most of their lives. This is what they do - this is what they know.
Many of these people loved horses long before they became wealthy, and still do.

well,since you insist.it is totally ridiculous to spend that much money on a friggin animal when millions can not get the proper care that they need.sure,the owner has his own money to spend as he pleases but cant he think of a better way to spend it.thjs is the point,the only reason he is spending it is because of the stud fees,period.i have swampland in jersey to sell you if you think for one minute he is doing this out of his pure kindness for the animal.i guarantee that horse had surgery faster than if you or i walked into the emergency room.tell me if something is wrong with that picture

Commy!

Wasn't Barbaro's owner an Olympic equestrain rider? Considering the way he practically sprinted to the track right after the horse stopped on Saturday, IMO he has more invested in that horse than just money.

My roommate in college had a race horse (actually his uncle did, but he had a vested interest in it) and he was depressed for like a month when they had to put it down following an accident on the track. The horse had been doing well, I think it had just won a big race the week before, and he was making my friend a good deal of money, but that wasn't why he was so upset.

Wasn't Barbaro's owner an Olympic equestrain rider? Considering the way he practically sprinted to the track right after the horse stopped on Saturday, IMO he has more invested in that horse than just money.

My roommate in college had a race horse (actually his uncle did, but he had a vested interest in it) and he was depressed for like a month when they had to put it down following an accident on the track. The horse had been doing well, I think it had just won a big race the week before, and he was making my friend a good deal of money, but that wasn't why he was so upset.

This is all I'm trying to say - there's much more than financial consideration involved here. And what's being lost here is the fact the horse has no say in the matter. The owner and trainer basically have to come to a very emotional decision to save the horse. Unlike a human athlete, the final decision rests with the individual, an animal is at the mercy of someone else making the decision.

well,since you insist.it is totally ridiculous to spend that much money on a friggin animal when millions can not get the proper care that they need.sure,the owner has his own money to spend as he pleases but cant he think of a better way to spend it.thjs is the point,the only reason he is spending it is because of the stud fees,period.i have swampland in jersey to sell you if you think for one minute he is doing this out of his pure kindness for the animal.i guarantee that horse had surgery faster than if you or i walked into the emergency room.tell me if something is wrong with that picture

And now for a semi-serious response: why don't you put spaces in between your punctuation marks and the start of your next thought? Just curious.

And now for a serious response: there's a lot more demand for human healthcare than for animals. We were just talking about it, most owners put the animal down in these situations. Veterinary surgeons have better availability than our docs.

I think money is the main motivator, but unless he's a complete robot, the owner is feeling bad for the horse and doesn't want to see it die. And I am not so cynical to think that he's not feeling anything for the horse.

And besides, what would you have the owner do with his money? Provide healthcare to all the underinsured in our country before providing it to the horse? I guess by that logic we should just tax everyone who can afford healthcare so that there would be enough tax revenue to provide healthcare for everyone. Then nobody would need a good job with good benefits. And pretty soon we'd be basking in the glow of communism. That sh*t doesn't fly. Some people can afford it, some can't. You want to give people opportunities to afford it, but the rich shouldn't have to pay for it.

Healthcare is not a basic human right in my eyes. It costs money for doctors to do what they do, and for Pharm to make drugs, and for nurses to wipe your ass. Healthcare is a privelege, and you should have to earn it.

Maybe if so many Americans stopped dropping out of high school, they'd have the skills to be able to hold down a job that actually provides solid healthcare benefits.

Alright I'm getting way too political and have probably pissed enough people off already. Barbaro is priveleged, he's got an owner who's willing to spend the money. In a horse's case, it's a raw deal for those horses with owners who aren't this able to pay. The horses obviously can't do anything about it, it's just luck of the draw. The difference with people is they can do something about it. They can go to school, get trained, get jobs, and earn their healthcare benefits.

I think bashing anyone for saving someone's or something's life is embarassing. Sorry if you can't handle the fact that there is money involved but saying the horse should be put down because the money could be spent elsewhere is about the the worst and most heartless thing I can imagine. Everything deserves life if possible. By your standards everyone should go ahead put their pets/race horses/zoo animals/etc... and put all that money towards human healthcare.

And now for a semi-serious response: why don't you put spaces in between your punctuation marks and the start of your next thought? Just curious.

And now for a serious response: there's a lot more demand for human healthcare than for animals. We were just talking about it, most owners put the animal down in these situations. Veterinary surgeons have better availability than our docs.

I think money is the main motivator, but unless he's a complete robot, the owner is feeling bad for the horse and doesn't want to see it die. And I am not so cynical to think that he's not feeling anything for the horse.

And besides, what would you have the owner do with his money? Provide healthcare to all the underinsured in our country before providing it to the horse? I guess by that logic we should just tax everyone who can afford healthcare so that there would be enough tax revenue to provide healthcare for everyone. Then nobody would need a good job with good benefits. And pretty soon we'd be basking in the glow of communism. That sh*t doesn't fly. Some people can afford it, some can't. You want to give people opportunities to afford it, but the rich shouldn't have to pay for it.

Healthcare is not a basic human right in my eyes. It costs money for doctors to do what they do, and for Pharm to make drugs, and for nurses to wipe your ass. Healthcare is a privelege, and you should have to earn it.

Maybe if so many Americans stopped dropping out of high school, they'd have the skills to be able to hold down a job that actually provides solid healthcare benefits.

Alright I'm getting way too political and have probably pissed enough people off already. Barbaro is priveleged, he's got an owner who's willing to spend the money. In a horse's case, it's a raw deal for those horses with owners who aren't this able to pay. The horses obviously can't do anything about it, it's just luck of the draw. The difference with people is they can do something about it. They can go to school, get trained, get jobs, and earn their healthcare benefits.

I like you what you said - it was balanced.

I've been pondering one other thing about the so called "absurdity" (and I'm not taking jabs at anyone here) of spending so much money on an animal's healthcare. In this particular instance, haven't we, and the horseracing community in particular, determined the value of this horse and all for that matter. Everytime we pay to see this horse (just using him as example) race, everytime we place a bet, everytime we tune in to see the next interview or presser we colloectively put a price on this horse.

Sure, he does the actual performing, but the general public drives up his value by pulling out it's own almighty green dollar.
We'll gladly take home a healthy day's winning from the race track, but out the other side of our mouth say the money used to save the horse's life could be better used. We can't have it both ways.

Can you tell this is touching a nerve with me:)

schneed , the next time i give a response to any thread youre looking at , please feel free to grade my punctuality .

12th i agree with what you are saying. but i do not play the ponies, and really dont consider horse racing a sport. i just get sick of the absurd amount of money that is involved in spoorts now a days, not just horses. i guess im venting alittle

If I'm correct the owner paid 500 million for this horse. The insurance money is nothing and depending on how the policy is written putting the horse down might not be covered. How anyone can read this guys mind and say its out of greed is just crazy. Yes it could be greed but can't say its greed unless you know the facts. I do know that after this happened they showed the jocky, trainers, and owner all standing around crying like they just lost a love one. When it comes to the care for these horses I don't think anyone wants to put them down it probably comes down to who can afford to have it done. I have a friend who has spent thousands on their dog which I would have not spent myself if it was my pet. It might sound a little harsh but I'm not spending all my savings on a dog and not my family because they come first. Now if I had the extra cash yes I would spend the money to try and save the dogs life. Also the thing about 40,000,000 Americans cannot afford or cannot get health insurance is not the truth. First alot of young people feel they do not need health insurance. Alot of people buy that new car and cannot afford health insurance after stretching their budget. Some just choose not to buy insurance> The amount of people who realy cannot afford or get coverage is much smaller but what would politicians run on if the truth was known.