Barbaro takes a walk outside

[MsSage]

Associated Press
Posted: 45 minutes ago



PHILADELPHIA (AP) - 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."

[Curly]

Anybody know how he's doing now?

[kolanuraven]

Kentucky Derby winner Barbaro continues to improve a week after his right hind leg cast change. "Barbaro is wearing his new cast comfortably and his vital signs and appetite remain excellent," said Dean W. Richardson, DVM, Dipl. ACVS, chief of surgery at Penn’s George D. Widener Hospital.

Barbaro's left hind foot, which had a large portion of the hoof wall and sole removed because of severe laminitis, is gradually improving. "The hoof is growing slowly, but he has a long way to go, especially along the front of the hoof," said Richardson. "We still have many months of healing ahead of us. The foot will require meticulous care for a long time."

Barbaro remains in the intensive care unit of the University of Pennsylvania's George D. Widener Hospital, where he is recovering from injuries suffered at the Preakness on May 20.

The next update will be posted on Tuesday, Oct. 24, unless there is a significant change in Barbaro's condition.

He's in the best place he can be right now. We've sent bulls to this same hospital for foot surgery...I mean bulls weighing 2500+ and they've come home in excellent shape. There are some great Dr's there.

[IL Rancher]

They had something on the front page of the USA today within the last week.. Didn't pick it up or anything but it was there.. Good to hear that he is progressing for him.. Still a long road ahead it seams..

[Faster horses]

That horse just has a big, big heart and the will to survive.

The New Bolten Center is one of the very best in the United States,
if not THE best.
I'm sure that's why he is there.

I wasn't aware of this veterinary hospital until a veterinarian from there
retired up by Kalispell. He's a real decent and super knowledgeable
fellow. He works with the vets up there and they've done some
amazing things, right here in Montana.

[PPRM]

He is an amazing and beautiful creature.....In a way, we may never have known how much heart he had if he hadn't been through this...

I have had discussions with several friends..Would you breed to a horse that broke his leg like this? Does that show a genetic weakness? Or did this show ho much heart he has?

PPRM

[peg4x4]

I'm on record here as thinking it's a genetic weakness...still do,tho wish the horse nothing but the best .

[Faster horses]

I guess unless it was proven to be genetic, I wouldn't hesitate to
breed mares to him. Lots of things can happen and it might well have
been just a freak thing.

[PPRM]

It is an interesting arguement......When it first happened, I was in the "Strike that one off my shrt list" camp.....Now I find myself leaning the other way,

PPRM

[katrina]

First of all, I'd be tickled to have a mare that was good enough to breed to a fine stallion like Barbaro... Secondly I'f be tickled to have the money to breed to Barbaro.. Thirdly..... I would in a heart beat.....