By Pete Denk

Dean Richardson, D.V.M., chief of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center, said that in the past he has waited too long to euthanize a horse. However, he does not think that was the case for Barbaro, who was euthanized Monday morning due to the effects of laminitis.

“I’m as comfortable as I’m likely to get with the decision,” Richardson said. “I feel it was the right thing to do now.”

Sunday night was the first in the eight months that Barbaro refused to lie down," Richardson said.

“Last night was the first night ever that he clearly was distressed by his condition,” Richardson said. “We intensified all his pain medications pretty dramatically last night trying to get him to go down. We stated, and we meant what we said, if we couldn’t control his comfort, we wouldn’t go on, and that’s why the decision was made.”

The discovery that Barbaro was beginning to show sign of laminitis in his previously healthy front legs was the final development. Roy and Gretchen Jackson were present when Barbaro was euthanized.

“We were all there. Barbaro was in the sling, and he was comfortable, in the sense he was under a lot of medication,” Richardson said. “He ate his grass this morning. He was alert and aware. He knew the Jacksons.

“He was given a very heavy dose of tranquilizer first and then an overdose of an anesthetic. That’s the mechanics of it. He had a catheter in already. He was already on intravenous medication, so it could not have been any more peaceful in that sense.”

Pete Denk is a Thoroughbred Times staff writer