History shows racehorses with injuries like Barbaro?s broken leg now compounded with laminitis often ends tragically.
Kim Hammond, chief executive officer for Falls Road Animal Hospital, said many horses develop laminitis after a broken leg, but a severe race injury inhibits recovery even more so. Ruffian, Holy Bull and Event of the Year found similar fates. All were put down after breaking legs.
Ruffian was an undefeated racehorse bred in Kentucky who was beat out of the gates for the first time on July 7, 1975, by a Kentucky Derby Winner named Foolish Pleasure.
The two horses were neck-and neck the whole race until Ruffian?s leg broke and her jockey, Jacinto Vasquez, had to pull her off the track, according to Equine Rescue Network Inc. After a team of four veterinarians and an orthopedic surgeon operated to save her leg, Ruffian awoke disoriented and thrashing. The wild reaction refractured her leg and broke the other hind leg. Veterinarians knew further surgery would be unsuccessful and had to euthanize her. Racehorse Holy Bull?s career also ended much the same way, with a close competition in the 1995 Donn Handicap at Gulfstream Park in Florida, according to the Thoroughbred Greats Web site.
Holy Bull and competitor Cigar were racing for the finish line when Holy Bull ruptured a tendon in an irreparable end to his racing days.
Event of the Year was a race fan favorite whose career came to a halt. He was the second top Derby contender and promising racehorse, but he suffered an injury at Churchill Downs and was scratched from the Kentucky Derby in 2003 just days before the event, according to Hammond.
Horse riding instructor Joanna Engstrom-Brown said racehorses often suffer this tragic fate.
“Their legs are so strong, but at the same time they are the most fragile part of their body,” Engstrom-Brown said.
