Timberland Animal Clinic

Merle F. Marks, DVM

                                                                                               Loss of Champion Barbaro Hurts Deeply

This week’s end to the painful struggle of Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro rings a bell that sounds too familiar to many veterinarians.  Barbaro was euthanized after the many complications from his extensive injuries and surgeries became overwhelming and he could no longer be kept comfortable.  Obviously we feel sadness for the loss of this great animal and for those close to him.  I, however, can’t stop thinking about the veterinarian and staff that spent the last 8 months caring for him and his endless medical ups and downs.

Barbaro was at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center.  He was hospitalized there long enough for more than ½ of the entire senior class of veterinary students to have him on their rotation.  He more than likely spent  most of his time there under 24 hour observation.  While he may have been the center’s celebrity he more than likely became the junior and senior classes’ “Project”.  I applaud Dr. Richardson’s ability to keep enough emotional distance in this case to know when to “say when” and place Barbaro’s comfort first.

Marathon cases like this occur several times in a veterinarian’s career.  Rarely do they reach this magnitude but each time they get more than just “time and effort” invested from us.  It is bonding, admiration and respect that pull veterinarians into staying the course and the

As a senior at Oklahoma State School of Veterinary Medicine, I remember a certain racing quarter horse brought in because he was sick and wasting with diarrhea.  I was in equine rotation (6 week rotation) and the horse was placed in quarantine, which was a dimly lit, secluded barn off the main school campus.  I alone was assigned the case…why alone?  He had to be in isolation (salmonellosis), so neither he nor I was allowed on main campus…I wasn’t allowed to go to class, take exams, go to rounds…I wasn’t even allowed in the main parking lot.  My wife had to bring me meals and leave them at the curb.  I was this horse’s nursemaid…day after day.  I had to nerve block his feet every 4 hours (inject anesthetic around nerves of the hoof to help prevent laminitis, which Barbaro suffered from).  While the horse was still hospitalized when I went off rotation, and I would shout jokes to the classmate who followed me in isolation care, I kept tabs on his recovery.

As with Barbaro, the greater the ordeal, the greater the bond that forms.  While he will be sorely missed, I guarantee he changed the lives of everyone who lost a night’s sleep either through bandage changes, medication administration or worry.   Of those three, the one that is a constant sleep depriver in every caring veterinarian’s life is worry.