Horse Doc: Barbaro Doing Very Well

Barbaro has been such a model patient the surgeon caring for the Kentucky Derby winner said the colt could be released from the hospital "in the not so distant future."

But Dean Richardson, chief surgeon at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center, declined on Wednesday to offer a timetable for the horse's release.

"His departure from here depends on many things. In my mind's eye, he can leave in the not so distant future," Richardson said.

Richardson, who has been cautious in his updates since Barbaro was admitted for what doctors described as "life-threatening injuries," continued to sound optimistic, saying the horse is still making good progress.

He said Barbaro's weight fluctuates, but that is common with hospitalized horses. He said the colt's appetite, vital signs and blood work are good and that the horse's coat "looks beautiful."

"As soon as we believe he can be managed as well somewhere else, he will go somewhere else," Richardson said.

The surgeon spoke as the center accepted a $114,710 check from a company that makes model plastic horses and was unveiling a 1/9-scale model of Barbaro. The horse has been at New Bolton since breaking down at the Preakness in May. He also later developed a severe case of laminitis in his left hind foot.

"Right now, things are going really well and he's a happy horse," Richardson said, adding that the horse's left hind foot remains in a bandage and the fracture in his right hind foot has healed but needs a special shoe. "He will not be allowed any kind of free exercise for a long time."

Doctors have said that Barbaro will never race again, but that they are working to save his life and possibly preserve him as a stallion. His breeding future, however, remains uncertain.

"We haven't asked him at this point to jump a mare. We don't even know yet if the horse is fertile," Richardson said Wednesday. "That's great if he ends up being a breeding stallion. ... That's icing on the cake if we get that far."

Breyer, a New Jersey-based company that makes figurine horses, announced Wednesday that it had made and sold 11,471 models of Barbaro and was donating more than $114,000 of the proceeds to the New Bolton Center, a large animal hospital in suburban Philadelphia.

The models, about a foot long and 8 inches high, were sold directly off the company's Web site and to retailers, said Anthony Fleischmann, president of Reeves International Inc., Breyer's parent company. They sell for $40 to $50 at retail.

The company, which also has made models of other famous horses including Seabiscuit, Seattle Slew and Misty, first started talking about making a Barbaro model after he won the Kentucky Derby. Officials then decided to continue with the plans after the colt broke down at the Preakness, Fleischmann said.

Gretchen Jackson, one of Barbaro's owners, said she hopes the donation helps lead to advances that may lead to cures for conditions like laminitis.

"Hopefully there will be an answer to what causes laminitis and how to prevent it and how to cure it," Jackson said.
By Patrick Walters