Ashley Cecil

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8″ x 12″ oil on canvas $350
SOLD
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Having bought a horse with babysitting money at 13, I’ve learned a few things about these astounding creatures (rule #1, learned the hard way: always, ALWAYS wear shoes around your horse). I found that there is often a stark contrast in the way a “pet horse” is treated verses a racehorse. I’ve always been a firm believer that if they could chose, a horse would much prefer to be a pet over a designed machine whose worth is wed to its ability to make money. Barbaro’s owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, proved that their money-making 2006 Derby winner was also loved and respected. In a show of their commitment, the Jacksons went to exhaustive lengths to give the champion colt every possible opportunity to heal after a devastating break of his right hind leg during last year’s Preakness race. But after 8 months of surgeries, steel pins, laminitis and more, Barbaro was put down yesterday morning. It was a sad day of loss for many of his fans in the bluegrass state and elsewhere. In this press conference statement, Gretchen Jackson reminded me these thoroughbreds are sometimes just as cherished as childhood quarter-horses: “Certainly, grief is the price we all pay for love.”

Lets not linger on the somber details of the end of Barbaro’s life and instead remember his amazing success as the undefeated, 132nd Kentucky Derby winner by a rare 6 1/2 lengths, not matched since 1946 (after, I might add, 5 weeks off).

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