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When an athlete pushes himself to the limits of self-distraction, it is his decisiveness. Maybe he should be saved from himself (i.e. his imbecility), maybe not. When a racing horse breaks down, it is yet another example of (unconscious?) cruelty with which we treat the animals. The very nature of the track is to treasure these animals for their beauty, elegance and athleticism, while at the same time forcing them against their survival limits. A thoroughbred like Barbaro does not look like a fragile creature. But the power of his sleek muscled body runs to the ground through a very delicate set of leg bones, three of which fractured at the Preakness Stakes.

 

Kentucky Derby champion Barbaro, a Triple Crown contender, sustained the career-ending injury during the first quarter-mile of the Preakness at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore on Saturday, May 20, 2006. The colt suffered three fractures, one in the cannon bone above the ankle joint, a second in the long pastern bone below the ankle joint and the third within the ankle joint.

Barbaro : photos by Jonathan Newton and John McDonnell (The Washington Post)

The photograph of Barbaro holding his right hind leg up in the air while his jockey leaned against him, revoked some unpleasant memories from my childhood, the pictures which haunted me so many times in my dreams.

It was late fall of 1946, chilly morning with freezing drizzle. I was waiting for a street car at an intersection in Zagreb, Croatia when, in front of my eyes, one horse of the wagon loaded with firewood slipped on the icy road and broke his right front leg. The horse fell on his left shoulder, somewhat supported by the breast collar of the wagon’s pole; the injury was so severe that a white bone was sticking through the skin. I do not recall any sound from the horse. However, the coachman, who did not leave his seat on the wagon, was whipping the horse and swearing very loudly. I started to cry and beg, as loudly as I could in my tears, not to beat the horse because he has a broken leg. The coachman shouted at me that horse still has three legs to stand up and even threatened to whip me if I continue to interfere in his business. There were quite a few adults around but no one said a word. I ran away, crying, did not wait for a street car, and that morning I was late for the school.

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Krešimir J. Adamić