Barbaro Laid To Rest

Now people always swear you can learn things from what happens to you in life, and yet sometimes all you can do is put your head down into the wind and endure. And sometimes you just don't make it. At 3PM last Monday, my beloved racehorse Barbaro and fellow invalid was euthanized, following a resurgent infection in his injured legs. Barbaro seemed bound for recovery after 8 long months cooped up in a stall and in casts and a sling, enjoying even winter holiday gifts made of carrots. And then things just went down hill, his days blurred into suffering, they had to cut off parts of his hoof, and finally it was time for his owners to do the right thing. I know that no matter how hard it gets and how bad the days can be, my mother never thinks about doing the right thing for me. Yet it's like reading about a cancer patient who has died when you are a cancer patient. Even if Barbaro was just a horse.