Racing museum to showcase vet care

Jockey Edgar Prado touches Barbaro’s neck during the post parade for the 2006 Kentucky Derby. Barbaro won the Derby but then broke his leg in the Preakness.

A major new exhibit on the advances in the veterinary care of racehorses is being created at the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame.

At first, more than a year ago, discussion focused on doing an exhibit just on the racehorse Barbaro.

Barbaro is the speedy thoroughbred who won the 2006 Kentucky Derby but broke his right hind leg in the Preakness of that year.

“We discussed it just before he passed away,” said the museum’s new curator, Beth Sheffer. “Then we expanded it.”

Instead of focusing only on the treatment Barbaro received, the new exhibit at the Union Avenue museum will also be about the veterinary care that such great racehorses as Triple Crown winner Secretariat received.

“We will focus on what is being done now and what was done in the past to heal thoroughbred racehorses, as well as the challenges involved with dealing with a horse,” Sheffer said Friday.

Barbaro holds a special spot in the hearts of many racing fans and will be a central theme of the exhibit.

Thousands of get-well cards and other loving tributes were sent to the horse as equine veterinarians attempted to save Barbaro’s leg and life over a six-month period.

A shattered right hind leg, which Barbaro suffered in the Preakness, is often a life-ending event for a racehorse.

But the owners of Barbaro, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, wanted to save their colt. So they turned to the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center and Dr. Dean Richardson, chief of surgery at the equine veterinary facility located west of Philadelphia.

The veterinarians were able to successfully set the broken hind leg but, just when the horse looked like it would fully recover, it came down with a severe case of laminitis in the left hind hoof. Barbaro was euthanized in late January 2007.

Laminitis, Sheffer said, is a major cause of death in racehorses. The inflammation in the horse’s hoof prevents the horse from standing and walking and the animal must be euthanized.

“There’s a point where it becomes chronic,” Sheffer said. “The bones in the hoof rotate and the laminate [hard surface around the hoof bones] separates.”

Sheffer said that even though Barbaro’s death was a tragedy, the popularity of the horse turned into numerous generous donations toward finding a cure for laminitis.

Since the museum announced it will create the new 4,000-square-foot exhibit in its Peter McBean Gallery earlier this week, it has already received the loan of artifacts for it.

Mike Kane, the museum’s communications director, said the large volume of fan mail sent to Triple Crown winner Secretariat (1973) when he developed laminitis in the late 1980s has been donated by museum board member Ken Grayson.

Sheffer said she is actively gathering and seeking artifacts related to Barbaro and other horses.

“I’ve been in contact with the Jackson family,” Sheffer said of Barbaro’s owners.

She has also obtained artifacts from the great racehorse, Ruffian, who broke a leg in a 1975 match race against Foolish Pleasure.

Ruffian was operated on to save her leg and the surgery was successful. However, when the anesthesia wore off, the filly started thrashing around and re-injured the leg, Sheffer said. She was euthanized.

Helping Sheffer, 31, who was just recently promoted to the museum collections curator, will be Adirondack Scenic, a Washington County design company.

“We hope to have a 3-D model to show the anatomy of the horse,” Sheffer said.

“I will gather all the objects, do the research and write all the text,” Sheffer said.

She said the museum IT manager, Sean Pickard, will develop interactive computer features for the exhibit.

The exhibit is scheduled to open July 20 and will remain in the McBean Gallery for two summers, a total of 11⁄2 years.

Sheffer is seeking additional materials, including fan mail to ailing horses, memorabilia, videos, movies and promotional information supporting equine medical research. She can be contacted on the Web via e-mail at [email protected]