Before his career as a champion racehorse, and his death following a devastating injury, Barbaro was a colt like any other. In her traditional poetic style, Lifshin outlines the life of the champion horse before his fame, highlighting the beauty and grace of the young colt from his birth, through his youth, and finally to his time as a champion on the track. The artistic rendering of Barbaro’s life from his early years to his first races culminate in the celebration of his life after his death in this poetry collection.

from “Those Nights in the Stall”
did Barbaro dream
horses galloping?
In the dark, starless,
did he feel the
ground shaking?
Imagine the sound
of hooves on turf?
Was there some
thing in the wind?
The scent of horses
thundering past the
barn, of flying
manes, the beating
of his own heart,
louder than hooves?