Barbaro Recovering

[Lois Lane]

Yes, I think those horses weigh about 1,200 pounds...and they can't sustain those injuries very well. I was actually surprised at how well Barbaro healed. I was dreading hearing that he was going to have to be put down.

Originally Posted by Stargazer

ETA: Lois, I read your post wrong and see now that you were talking about "shooting" a horse. It is correct that they usually use lethal injection nowadays. However, shooting is still acceptable in extreme circumstances when other means aren't immediately available.

Not a problem. I just didn't want people to think that they would've shot a horse (with a gun and a bullet) at the Preakness. They're pretty high tech at those high-stakes races.

[Google]

 

[rt1ky]

I think this is so sad. When I saw him pulling his injured leg up on Saturday I almost cried. If he dies, I probably will cry. I KNOW it's just a horse, but to see any animal in pain hurts me. I'm gald the jockey knew to pull him out of the race. Here's to many green pastures and willing mares Barbaro.

[Lois Lane]

Originally Posted by rt1ky

I think this is so sad. When I saw him pulling his injured leg up on Saturday I almost cried. If he dies, I probably will cry. I KNOW it's just a horse, but to see any animal in pain hurts me. I'm gald the jockey knew to pull him out of the race. Here's to many green pastures and willing mares Barbaro.

Prado did an excellent job. A less experienced jockey may have tried to ride him too hard before realizing what had happened.

[misskitty]

I know Barbaro is not out of the woods yet, but just to have survived the surgery is amazing. I sure hope he does ok. He seems to have the absolute best of care which may just swing things in his favor.

I'm glad to hear that they now use injections to put down horses. Whether they're racers or not. They are such wonderful creatures, it's a shame that we haven't come up with a simpler and not-so-expensive way to help them heal from leg injuries.

[misskitty]

Barbaro is 'stable and happy'

Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro is listed in excellent condition as he recovers from life-threatening injuries sustained during this past Saturday's Preakness Stakes.

Dr. Dean Richardson confirmed Wednesday that Barbaro is "stable and happy" but remains in intensive care.

The three-year-old colt is recovering at the George D. Widener Equine Hospital for Large Animals on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania, where Richardson is chief of surgery at the New Bolton Center.

"I happened to peek in the ICU this morning and it was early and quiet and the light was dim and [Barbaro] was laying down, very peacefully, sleeping in his stall," said Corinne Sweeney, executive director of the equine hospital.

Richardson spent six hours operating on Barbaro, who shattered three bones in his right rear leg as he left the starting gate at Pimlico Racetrack in Baltimore.

Richardson later revealed that he used 27 screws to fix the fractures.

"He's feeling very good," Richardson said, noting that Barbaro is walking well on the leg.

"If we can keep him comfortable on his right hind limb," he continued. "That is the most important thing in a horse, in terms of healing a catastrophic fracture.

"If he is doing well, it's conceivable he could possibly be breeding mares next year, but that's way ahead of it. He's just a few days into post-op."

Barbaro was an unblemished 6-0 and won the Kentucky Derby by 6½ lengths, the largest margin of victory in 60 years.

He was bidding to become horse racing's first Triple Crown winner since Affirmed in 1978 and the 12th overall.

"Every time he ran, he was getting better," Prado said. "He was more mature, getting more experience."

http://www.cbc.ca/story/sports/natio...g-barbaro.html

[katkitty]

Miss Kitty, Thank you for the updates on Barbaro. I must admit I've been keeping track of his recovery daily on my own so I usually see your updates "after the fact". I just wanted to let you know you have a kindred spirit on this board who is tracking his progress. Watching that big, beautiful Bay break down was so very heartbreaking to me.

Did you catch the report on the CBS morning show Saturday morning? It was about the climate of a country who could pour out so much of their love to an animal (specifically Barbaro) when people are in such pain around them. I really didn't see such a deep correlation like they did, but thought the answer was rather simple. Who wants to see an animal break down and in pain?

I haven't sent him flowers, carrots, apples or even a free e-mail but the horse is in my heart. Call me strange...

[misskitty]

Thanks katkitty! I'm sorry if I'm late in posting news. I'm in Canada and sometimes I don't check the USA medialinks every day. But if no-one has posted an update, then I just go ahead anyway. I'd like to send some carrots and cubes of sugar.

My aunt and uncle used to own a couple of race horses, not thoroughbreds but the ones who pulled with the buggies (sulkies?). We have a very successful racetrack here at Northlands, and the Spruce Meadows Nationals are held further south from me and they are always incredible. So there are many horse-people around, not to mention all them rodeos!

[misskitty]

Another great step for Barbaro: cast replaced

KENNETT SQUARE, Pa. - Barbaro had the cast replaced on his shattered right hind leg Tuesday, another huge stride in the recovery of the Kentucky Derby winner who suffered a life-threatening injury at the Preakness.

Barbaro’s cast was replaced under general anesthesia, and the 3-year-old bay colt had a very smooth pool recovery, the University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine’s New Bolton Center said in a statement.

Dean Richardson, the chief of surgery at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals, replaced the cast he first put on Barbaro’s leg during surgery May 21.

“His leg looks excellent,” Richardson said in the statement. “The incision has healed well and judging by the radiographs, the graft is opacifying (taking). Callus is forming nicely, and all of the implants look unchanged.”

Barbaro remains in intensive care at the New Bolton Center, where he underwent five hours of surgery one day after he broke a few hundred yards from the starting gate at Pimlico Race Course.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/13301651/

[misskitty]

I pray that all that can be done will be done as this incredible horse fights for his life
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Infection leaves Barbaro's Life in Jeopardy
Attachment 17750

KENNETT SQUARE, Pa., July 11 -- An infection in Barbaro's right rear pastern joint has reduced the chance the Kentucky Derby winner will survive, Dean Richardson, the chief of surgery at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center, said Tuesday.

While the majority of bones fractured have healed in the seven weeks since Barbaro's catastrophic breakdown at the start of the Preakness Stakes on May 20 at Pimlico Race Course, problems in the joint that connects the long and short pastern bones in the ankle region are putting the horse's life in jeopardy.

Barbaro is held by jockey Edgar Prado after injuring his leg at the start of the 131st running of the Preakness Stakes at Pimlico Race Course in Baltimore in this May 20, 2006, file photo. Barbaro developed "potentially serious" complications to his injured right hind leg, and underwent surgery to replace hardware and treat a new infection, doctors said Sunday, July 9.
The chances for survival of Derby winner Barbaro have dropped below 50 percent, says his doctor Tuesday.

"There's so much concern. It's significant," Richardson said from the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals on the New Bolton campus. "It worries me. I have a hard time sleeping at night. So many people want to see this horse survive. He is stable today, and he's got a great appetite, but he's not as good as he was two weeks ago.

"Two weeks ago we were at 50-50 [for survival]. With this new problem, we're less than that."

On Saturday, Richardson performed extensive surgery on Barbaro, changing six screws and applying two new titanium plates in the pastern joint area. Richardson also attempted to clean out and treat an infection that had developed in the joint. Under anesthesia, and with a long cast placed on his leg, Barbaro did not recover enough to stand on his own until 15 hours after the operation began. On Monday, Richardson replaced the long cast with a shorter one to give the colt more mobility.

Barbaro maintains a hearty appetite and his vital signs were stable Tuesday. Richardson continued to treat an abscess on the left hoof, changing the bandage. Richardson stressed that the pastern infection, which is being treated with antibiotics, needs to be controlled before healing in the joint will resume.

The infection in the pastern joint developed despite extensive precautions. For example, the orthopedic surgery suite at the hospital is a completely sterile room with special filters to keep sterilized air flowing in. On the floor at the entrance of each room in the hospital, including the intensive care unit where Barbaro resides, are mats soaked in a powerful disinfectant to cleanse the soles of shoes.

"Parts of the recovery have gone better than average, but the infection now is a complication we'd rather not have," Richardson said. "Do we always succeed in dealing with infection? No, we do not."

There are no medical benchmarks or thresholds to consider when deciding whether to continue trying to save Barbaro, Richardson said.

"When it gets to the point where he's inhumanely uncomfortable, there's no strict, objective measure you have to quote," he said. "It requires experience with consultation among many people. We're not at the point where we're going to pull the plug."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...071100067.html
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More on his condition here: http://msn.foxsports.com/horseracing...5782512....The disease, called laminitis or founder, involves inflammation and structural damage to tissue that bonds the horse's bone to the inner wall of the hoof. In severe cases, this connection can be so damaged that a horse literally can walk out of its foot, said Rob Sigafoos, a horse expert at the University of Pennsylvania..../more

[Unklescott]

It appears he is doing much better.
From Yahoo.

By DAN GELSTON, AP Sports WriterMon Aug 14, 5:21 PM ET

How's this for a breath of fresh air? Barbaro is enjoying daily outings outside his intensive care stall to pick his own grass, enjoy the warm weather and stretch his recovering legs.

Barbaro stepped outside his ICU stall and started daily walks on a grassy area near the unit last week for the first time since having catastrophic injuries in the Preakness nearly three months ago. The Kentucky Derby winner, also recovering from a severe case of laminitis on his left hoof, continues to show signs he's on the road to recovery.

"It's a big step just to know he feels good enough that you can take him out of the stall and walk him around like a normal horse and he eats grass like a normal horse," Dean Richardson, chief surgeon at the New Bolton Center, said Monday. "That doesn't mean he's healed. It just means things are going well right now."

The 3-year-old had made only a couple of brief walks back and forth from his stall to the surgery room at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center until last week. Now Barbaro is walked daily for about 15 to 20 minutes in a secluded area not far from the George D. Widener Hospital ICU.

"I thought he was thrilled the first time he went out," Richardson said in a telephone interview from New Bolton. "He just seemed very happy to be out. You can tell he's looking forward to it every day. It's absolutely normal. Horses love to be outside, obviously, and he's pretty excited about it."

Barbaro is shown on video released by the University of Pennsylvania grazing on grass, with Richardson walking him around.

Barbaro has a cast on his right hind leg that encloses the foot and extends up to just below the hock. There's a bandage on the laminitis-stricken left hind foot, and support wraps on Barbaro's front legs.

The colt's comfort level has taken a surprising turn since Richardson said in early July the prognosis for a full recovery was "poor."

"I think we're lucky his tissues are fairly healthy," Richardson said. "I don't know why he's more comfortable than some horses with the same condition."

Barbaro had the cast on his injured right hind leg changed last Tuesday and Richardson said it might not need to be changed for about another three weeks. The left hoof, which needs to completely regrow if the colt is to have any shot of walking, remains the biggest concern.

"He's got to get this left hind foot to the point where it's a solid structure that can sustain long-term weight bearing," Richardson said. "Could there still be some major things resulting in him having to be put down? Yeah. He's absolutely not out of the woods yet."