Barbaro Doing 'Much Better'

Protesters hold up an effigy of Spain's Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy holding a large pair of scissors during a demonstration against education cuts in Madrid Tuesday May 22, 2012. Teachers and students from every level of Spain's education system went on strike Tuesday to protest wide-ranging government spending cuts. The impact of the budget cuts has been brutal, however, and unemployment has swelled to nearly 25 percent. Among people under age 25 it is a staggering 52 percent. The situation is likely to get worse before it improves, with the economy in its second recession in three years and the full impact of new austerity measures yet to hit the country. Spanish words on effigy read ' Teachers eliminated'. (AP Photo/Paul White) (Paul White)

Barbaro was doing "much better" Friday morning, a day after his veterinarian said the Kentucky Derby winner was a "long shot" to survive a potentially fatal hoof disease.

"He had a good night last night, and even slept on his side," Dr. Dean Richardson told The Associated Press early Friday before re-entering the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals to check again on the 3-year-colt. "He's doing much better."

Richardson appeared a bit more upbeat than he was Thursday, when he told a packed news conference that Barbaro has a severe case of the disease laminitis in his left hind leg, and termed his condition "poor."

Laminitis is a potentially fatal condition that causes the tissues that connect the hoof to the foot to swell and separate, says The Early Show's resident veterinarian, Dr. Debbye Turner.

Doctors have removed much of the affected hoof and must now wait until it regrows. As long as painkillers keep Barbaro comfortable, Richardson says they won't give up.

"If he starts acting like he doesn't want to stand on the leg, that's it — that will be when we call it quits," a blunt Richardson said Thursday during a news conference at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center.

"It could happen within 24 hours," he added.

The vet, who has been treating Barbaro since the colt's breakdown, said Thursday that Barbaro looks fine — "his ears are up, he's bright, he's looking around." But that doesn't reflect the true nature of his condition.

"I'd be lying if I said anything other than poor," he said. "As long as the horse is not suffering, we are going to continue to try to save him. If we can keep him comfortable, we think it's worth the effort."

Barbaro is being treated aggressively with pain medication and remains in the same stall he's been in since being brought to the intensive care unit.

Only the sight of fiberglass casts on both hind legs — a longer cast is on the right leg — gives any indication that something is terribly wrong with Barbaro.

"If you look at this horse, it'd be hard to put him down," Richardson said.

That precisely is the awful task that could be imminent because of a disease that has no cure.

"It's a devastating problem in horses that nobody has a solution to," Richardson said.

Until his misstep at the Preakness, Barbaro's career was nothing short of brilliant.

He won his first five starts, including the Florida Derby. His 6½-length victory at the Derby was so convincing he was being hailed as the next likely Triple Crown champion — and first since Affirmed since 1978.

But seconds after the gates swung open at Pimlico, that career was cut short when the colt broke down, his right hind leg flaring out awkwardly because of three broken bones.