We were encouraged to hear a statue would be unveiled in Central Park memorializing the racehorse Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner who remained undefeated in all of his races before tragically breaking a leg in the Preakness Stakes (video).
The sculpture by Daniel Edwards - whose Paris Hilton and Britney Spears sculptures are familiar eye-openers - is scheduled to be unveiled on April 30th to coincide with this year's Kentucky Derby. Unlike the beloved statue of Balto, the heroic sled dog who saved a town by delivering medicine through an Alaskan blizzard, parents may want to steer their kids clear of the Barbaro statue.
According to The New York Sun, "the sculpture will be located where a carriage horse was killed last year. It will depict Barbaro on his back, with his hooves in the air." And not just hooves up, Barbaro is depicted writhing in agony. And amNew York adds that Edwards hopes the sculpture will assist with efforts to ban carriage horses and would like a Congress member to "sponsor a bill that would make horseracing tracks nationwide post the injuries and fatalities that have occurred there."
So this is not exactly the novel "My Friend Flicka" material. Perhaps not so strangely, the sculpture is connected to the Death With Dignity and Right to Die movement, which is a proponent of euthanasia. The sculpture will later be shown at the Leo Kesting Gallery, whose director said, “A suffering horse cannot call Dr. Kevorkian for an assisted suicide because, like Terry Schiavo, the ailing horse cannot speak for itself."
