'Thrilled' At Barbaro's Progress

Exclusive: Dr. Debbye Turner Visits Kentucky Derby Winner, Surgeon

(CBS)  Barbaro gets daily half-hour walks for a little exercise and some fresh air.

"He likes looking at the cows," Richardson says. "He likes looking at the bicyclists who go by."

His treatment has a hefty price tag, Richardson noted: "For what this horse has had done to him and the type of care that he's had, if this were in a human, we'd probably be up to a half a million (dollars) or $1 million, at least. We're nowhere close to that, as you know; in veterinary medicine, nothing even remotely approximating that."

Tens of thousands of dollars have been spent to save Barbaro, Turner said, but no amount of money guarantees his survival.

"No," Richardson said, "he's not out of the woods. But at the moment, he has a clearer path through the woods."

Before Barbaro can be considered safe, Turner explained, he has to completely re-grow the left hoof, which will take about a year. Doctors also won't know if he will completely recover from his injury on the right, the broken one, until they take the cast off and see him walk.

What was Turner's assessment, as a veterinarian herself?

"I think he looked great," she said. "When I saw him, his attitude is bright, his eyes are bright. He's very alert. He's a sassy little horse. I held my hands out thinking he'd sniff me. He tried to bite me! He's got a little spunk."

What's the best case scenario for Barbaro?

"Of course," Turner told co-anchor Julie Chen, "they're looking for survival. Secondly, they're hoping he can stud, that he'll be able to mount a mare and breed. Dr. Richardson says he thinks that's possible by 2008. He hasn't given up hope on that."

Turner added that Barbaro is "in a minimal amount of pain," according to Dr. Richardson. "He's on the equivalent of a couple of aspirins a day. They say it was the pain management that really was the key that got him over the terrible hump."