Barbaro Suffers New Setback in Recovery

Posted on Monday, January 29th, 2007

(AFP) - Veterinarians made a risky move by inserting weight-bearing steel pins into Barbaro’s right hind leg but admitted the Kentucky Derby champion has suffered another major setback.

Barbaro broke his right hind leg in the early moments of the Preakness Stakes last May while trying to capture the second jewel of US horse racing’s Triple Crown and has been treated here for life-threatening health woes for eight months.

“This is another significant setback that exemplifies how complex his medical situation remains because both hind limbs have major problems,” said physician Dean Richardson, leading the treatment team for the horse.

In an update, Richardson detailed surgery undertaken Saturday because the medical team was unable to keep the horse comfortable on his right foot. While not the prior problem of laminitis, the trouble was just as serious.

“That foot developed a deep subsolar abscess secondary to bruising when he went through a period of discomfort on the left hind foot,” Richardson said.

“It is not laminitis but the undermining of the sole and part of the lateral heel region are potentially just as serious.”

After a brace failed to allow proper treatment and weight support from the leg, the decision was made to put the right hind foot in an outer brace with the pins for support to give the foot the best chance of healing.

“Two steel pins have been placed transversely through his right hind cannon bone. These pins are connected to external sidebars that in turn are connected to a lightweight alloy foot plate,” Richardson said.

“This results in the horse eliminating all weight bearing from the foot. The horse’s weight is borne through the pins across his cannon bone.

“There is significant risk in this approach but we believed it was our only option given the worsening of the right hind foot problem.

“The major risk of the external skeletal fixation device is that the bone bearing the weight can fracture.

“Unfortunately, we felt we needed to take this risk because this approach offered our only hope of keeping Barbaro acceptably comfortable.”

While the left hind foot remains stable, Richardson was concerned about problems that could develop in both

front feet and noted that treatment will continue only so long as Barbaro is not pained or diminished in other ways.

“Remarkably, his attitude and appetite were excellent overnight,” Richardson said. “We will continue to treat Barbaro aggressively as long as he remains bright, alert and eating.”

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"Barbaro Suffers New Setback in Recovery" was posted on Monday, January 29th, 2007 at 9:48 am and is filed under Horse Racing Industry, Horses, Kentucky Derby, Owners & Breeders. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Leave a response, or trackback from your own site.