Ride On!

For those of you who are planning a trip to Saratoga in the near future, be sure to check out the exhibit at the National Museum of Racing on equine medicine. "Ride On!" is currently on display through December 2009.

This exhibit marks the curatorial debut of Beth Sheffer who has worked at the museum since 2002 and it takes up the entire Peter McBean Gallery, which is usually divided into three separate exhibits. The focus of the exhibit is the progress of equine medicine and as you might have guessed, all the big name horses who suffered injuries are represented, including Ruffian, Barbaro and even Big Brown.

Memorabilia includes a special adhesive shoe that Big Brown wore in this year's Kentucky Derby and a boot that was used on Barbaro to stabilize his injured leg. There is also the infamous sling, complete with life size horse mannequin resting in it. Apparently the sling, which costs $5000, is on loan to the museum for the duration of the exhibit.

Sabina Pierce, Barbaro's official photographer, is represented in the exhibit. One of her pictures of Dr. Richardson examining one of Barbaro's radiographs has been enlarged to six feet by four feet. The plan is for the exhibit to add more items as they become available and it is expected that Barbaro memorabilia will increase over time.

Certainly the overall message of the exhibit is that equine medicine has made remarkable progress over time. Such perspective is helpful especially when it comes to evaluating the status of such current challenges as eradicating laminitis. The fact remains that veterinary medicine has come a long way!