Last Updated on January 23, 2023 by Teri Rehkopf
Panimetro aka Metro was a rescued Thoroughbred ex-racehorse from St. Thomas, Virgin Islands I got in 2008. Metro had broken his right front leg in a race. He was such a good boy and was smart enough to lie down for most of a year for it to heal.
Panimetro was a companion horse for my mare, Glenord’s Rocket Dancer aka Rocki. Before I got him, he was cared for by VICCTRE – Virgin Islands Community Cooperative Thoroughbred Retirement Effort. He was adopted from Habitat for Horses in a cooperative with VICCTRE in March of 2007 just after he was brought here from the Virgin Islands.
Metro was such a character and loved people! He would run around, buck and play, and would jump over a water puddle in front of his paddock that would fill up when it rained a lot. Both Rocki and Metro had wonderful stalls with fans and open access to paddocks. Each had their own pasture that the paddock gate opened into. They got fed 3 times a day plus a lot of loving and TLC, so they were in “horse heaven.”
Metro’s Injury
During a race, he suffered four major fractures in his left front ankle, an injury similar to Barbaro’s — the Kentucky Derby winner that was euthanized due to complications in the healing of his leg. Metro could have met the same sad fate, but he was able to heal himself by lying down for long periods over a year and a half and allowing caretakers to attend to him. There was some calcification in the fetlock, but it had healed enough for him to be a horse.
Metro was on the cover, inside, and as the December horse on the 2009 VICCTRE calendar. You’ll see him running around still like a racehorse, even with his injured left front leg! Sadly, Metro passed in the Fall of 2011. His leg finally gave away. He is buried in my back pasture. I cried so much over this…
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