From the world of Barbaro
I have started writing in here so many times, but life is so hectic that I never seem to get much time for writing fun things. Diana, I am so happy for you that you are done with the surgery and the worst is over. I am sure it just gets better from here. KC, I had intended to let you know how thrilling it was to hear about Tory's promotion. Tory if you are reading this, congrats and I am sure it was well deserved. It sounds like Murray should also be commended. What a smart and talented group.
You can imagine what it is like to be on this side of the publicity over Barbaro. There really were many sad people on Monday. I had a meeting with the head of the Large Animal Hospital the day they decided to euthanize Barbaro. In fact at 10:30 am she called me to cancel the meeting because she had to get back to the Hospital to deal with the media. It has really been a whirlwind for those who work out there.
There is so much that goes into taking care of a horse like Barbaro. Mostly we have all just seen Dean Richardson, (his surgeon) in the media. But really, we have lots of nurses, technicians, etc... who took care of him around the clock. It has been really intense here at New Bolton Center for eight months. The media surrounded the place all the time. Can you imagine what it was like for the employees out there with the reporters everywhere. Actually it has been exhilarting but also very stressful.
Well Barbaro was a fiesty and very smart little horse. He really firgured things out and did very smart things to protect his leg. His determination and smarts are part of what made him survive for so long. He had the energy of a typical 4 year colt, a challenge to handle. He was in an isolation unit all this time (since May)
There is a lot of criticism about keeping the horse alive for so long. You can imagine. Assumptions are made that the owners (the Jacksons) were only in it for the money and they kept him alive so long so they could breed him and make lots of money, including collecting their 1million insurance. I guess we will never know for sure, you never do know what the true motives are. However, I do know that the owners visited Barbaro every day - twice a day and brought him grass. They seemed to really cherish him. I frankly think they just loved Barbaro and wanted to see him recover. Perhaps it has been at Barbaro's expense, but this journey has also provided a lot of learning in Vet Medicine in general.
What has been really amazing - bordering on ridiculous is the amount of attention and fuss over this horse. Each time I went out there for meetings, there were flowers sent, letters sent, food for Barbaro and for the staff. The gifts continued to pour in to New Bolton Center up to his last hours. It is really great but also strange at the same time. In any event this really was an usual situation and one that got an overwhelming amount of publicity.
I included a website of some photos that have been taken over time. This is the Vet School's website.
http://www.vet.upenn.edu/newsandevents/news/BarbaroPhotos.htm
Hope you can access it. Enjoy. Also if you go to This Link http://www.vet.upenn.edu you will see lots of newspaper stories - you can just click on the various links on the right hand side.
I hope all of you are well and enjoying winter. Bye for now.
http://www.vet.upenn.edu/newsandevents/news/BarbaroPhotos.htm
You can imagine what it is like to be on this side of the publicity over Barbaro. There really were many sad people on Monday. I had a meeting with the head of the Large Animal Hospital the day they decided to euthanize Barbaro. In fact at 10:30 am she called me to cancel the meeting because she had to get back to the Hospital to deal with the media. It has really been a whirlwind for those who work out there.
There is so much that goes into taking care of a horse like Barbaro. Mostly we have all just seen Dean Richardson, (his surgeon) in the media. But really, we have lots of nurses, technicians, etc... who took care of him around the clock. It has been really intense here at New Bolton Center for eight months. The media surrounded the place all the time. Can you imagine what it was like for the employees out there with the reporters everywhere. Actually it has been exhilarting but also very stressful.
Well Barbaro was a fiesty and very smart little horse. He really firgured things out and did very smart things to protect his leg. His determination and smarts are part of what made him survive for so long. He had the energy of a typical 4 year colt, a challenge to handle. He was in an isolation unit all this time (since May)
There is a lot of criticism about keeping the horse alive for so long. You can imagine. Assumptions are made that the owners (the Jacksons) were only in it for the money and they kept him alive so long so they could breed him and make lots of money, including collecting their 1million insurance. I guess we will never know for sure, you never do know what the true motives are. However, I do know that the owners visited Barbaro every day - twice a day and brought him grass. They seemed to really cherish him. I frankly think they just loved Barbaro and wanted to see him recover. Perhaps it has been at Barbaro's expense, but this journey has also provided a lot of learning in Vet Medicine in general.
What has been really amazing - bordering on ridiculous is the amount of attention and fuss over this horse. Each time I went out there for meetings, there were flowers sent, letters sent, food for Barbaro and for the staff. The gifts continued to pour in to New Bolton Center up to his last hours. It is really great but also strange at the same time. In any event this really was an usual situation and one that got an overwhelming amount of publicity.
I included a website of some photos that have been taken over time. This is the Vet School's website.
http://www.vet.upenn.edu/newsandevents/news/BarbaroPhotos.htm
Hope you can access it. Enjoy. Also if you go to This Link http://www.vet.upenn.edu you will see lots of newspaper stories - you can just click on the various links on the right hand side.
I hope all of you are well and enjoying winter. Bye for now.
http://www.vet.upenn.edu/newsandevents/news/BarbaroPhotos.htm
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