Veterinarian Says Barbaro Needs to ‘Regrow His Foot’ New York Times 7/19

By BILL FINLEY
Published: July 19, 2006
Barbaro’s chances of survival may hinge on his body’s ability to regrow the hoof on his left rear leg, his primary veterinarian, Dr. Dean Richardson, said yesterday.

Last week, Barbaro was found to have laminitis, a painful hoof disease often brought on by uneven weight distribution. Doctors at the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals in Kennett Square, Pa., where he is being treated, removed 80 percent of his left hind hoof. A cast has been placed on the left rear leg to support the area where the hoof was removed.

But Richardson said it was vital that the hoof grew to the point that it, and not a cast, could support Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner, who broke his rear right leg in the Preakness.

“He has to, basically, regrow his foot,” Richardson said. “That’s the whole issue. Can we get enough hoof growth that he will be comfortable? And that’s going to take months. If we can keep him comfortable with the various things that we are doing while this is occurring, we have a shot. Horses have regrown feet before. He wouldn’t be the first horse to do it. But his hurdles are higher than others because we still have issues with his right hind leg.”

Barbaro had appeared ready to overcome the odds and recover from his injury. But that outlook changed last week when it was announced that he had developed laminitis in the left hind leg.

Laminitis often becomes so painful that a horse must be euthanized. Richardson has said that Barbaro’s case of laminitis is “as bad as it gets.”

Horses are not able to survive standing on three healthy legs.

“You have to get the horny part, or hard part, of his hoof to grow back down on top of the bone,” Richardson said. “Then you have something for the horse to walk on. No one is claiming that the horse has a high probability of getting a normal foot. The hope is to get him something comfortable enough that he can walk on.

“Everybody has had a few successes with this. That doesn’t make it easy and it doesn’t mean that this particular horse is going to be one of the ones to make it. Anybody who does this type of work will have the occasional horse that everybody considers at the time a miracle. That’s the nature of this type of work.

“If you really stick it out, some of them make it. But the overall numbers are such that I can’t be excessively sanguine about his chances. This is a serious problem.”

Richardson said that Barbaro, with the help of painkillers, remained in a comfortable state, another key component of his recovery.

“To me and to the owners, the thing that matters is his comfort,” he said. “If he stays comfortable, we will keep on trying to get his hoof to grow and get everything to heal. As far as his long-term survival goes, he has to get a foot. He’s not going to survive if he doesn’t grow a foot.”

As part of the continuing treatment, the casts on Barbaro’s hind legs have been changed again. A new cast was placed on the right hind leg Monday and the cast on his left hind leg was replaced yesterday.

Radiographs taken on the right hind leg showed that the area was continuing to heal, Richardson said.


An excellent follow up page from the New York Times