Horse of the Heart

Today someone important in horse racing and perhaps eventually in veterinary medicine had a front page story in USA Today. I of course am talking about Barbaro who is a gorgeous horse battling so many odds to be strong and healthy again. But he seems to be doing much better.



In the article, there was a comment that so many people have gotten behind Barbaro's healing because today's professional athletes lack that something that children can really look up to.

You know, I'm not really sure of that. I think there are many great role models out there for kids, but our society doesn't really dwell on the good in people so much as the bad. We do not look at people we attribute celebrity status to as whole balanced people, but perhaps someone we own in a very superficial way.

But Barbaro and other race horses give us athletes we can respect and admire, yet they still retain that mystery that others lack. The athlete himself cannot tell us about "the zone" they were in or the mental thought processes that went into a particular decision on a play, but we are given this magical look into their soul anyhow.

Racehorses are like watching poetry. It's as simple and complex as that all at once.

Alright. So this isn't where I was planning on going with this. I just wanted to comment on how well he's doing and then point out the link on the side. That's it. I swear. I didn't mean to go all...whatever.