Seven weeks after having a life-saving operation to repair a right hind leg that was shattered in a catastrophic misstep in the opening yards of the Preakness Stakes, Barbaro has had a setback in his recovery. His surgeon, Dr. Dean Richardson, said that meant “tough days” were ahead for Barbaro, the Kentucky Derby winner.
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Richardson changed Barbaro’s cast yesterday for the fourth time in the past week. The colt had a fever over the weekend, and on Saturday, Richardson changed the titanium plate and many of the 27 screws that had been inserted into Barbaro’s injured leg on May 21. After the three-hour operation Saturday, Barbaro needed 12 more hours to come out of anesthesia and become comfortable enough to return to his stall in the intensive care unit of the George D. Widener Hospital for Large Animals in Kennett Square, Pa.
“He’s definitely had a setback,” Richardson said yesterday in a telephone interview. “We’re definitely more concerned about him now than we were two weeks ago.”
The chief concern among veterinarians at the University of Pennsylvania’s New Bolton Center is that Barbaro may develop laminitis, a painful condition for horses that is caused by excessive weight bearing on one limb — in this instance, Barbaro’s healthy left hind leg.
While horses with laminitis can be saved, and there was no evidence that Barbaro had developed the condition, the prospect of him having to battle the condition could be devastating, Richardson said. The potentially excruciating pain could put stress on Barbaro and impede his healing process, leaving little choice for his owners, Roy and Gretchen Jackson, but to ask the veterinarians to euthanize Barbaro. Richardson said that option had not been discussed.
Richardson, the Jacksons and Barbaro’s trainer, Michael Matz, remained hopeful that Barbaro could fully recover. But they said yesterday that Barbaro’s current complications reminded them of the extraordinary measures that had been taken to save the colt and how daunting the coming challenges were.
Richardson said Barbaro’s fever had subsided yesterday, that his vital signs were normal and that he had eaten well throughout the day. “I’d say he’s doing all right, but he’s not back to where I’d like him to be,” he said.
Before Richardson performed the original five-hour operation, he calculated the chances of Barbaro’s survival at 50-50; and he upped them only slightly to 51-49 in the days after the procedure, when the colt’s convalescence was proceeding smoothly. He warned then and reiterated yesterday that a full recovery would take many months.
In 2000, for example, a filly named Dancinginmydreams sustained a similar injury in the Frizette Stakes at Belmont Park. She had her ankle joint fused and spent 13 months at the same hospital as Barbaro. She recovered and is a broodmare.
While the Jacksons have been buoyed by Barbaro’s six weeks with virtually no complications, they have prepared themselves for potential downward turns.
“We’ve known all along that this was a serious injury and there were possibilities of things like this cropping up,” said Roy Jackson in a phone interview yesterday. “This is not a normal situation, and we’ve braced ourselves for the ups and downs.”
Before Barbaro’s bad turn over the weekend, there was plenty to feel good about. X-rays last week showed the colt’s main fracture was healing well. It was the pastern joint, which is above the hoof, that had veterinarians worried. On Friday and Saturday, however, it was clear Barbaro was uncomfortable. The colt had been treated topically for an abscess found on his left foot, had a fever and struggled to put weight on his right foot.
“He was sore in both hinds,” said Richardson, who decided to perform the operation late Saturday. “We figured he had an infection, and he did in the pastern joint. We cleaned it out — in both feet — and replaced the plate and performed a more definitive procedure on the pastern.”
Unlike the initial operation, when Barbaro recovered energetically, the colt struggled this time to shake off the anesthesia.
“He was very difficult to wake up this time,” said Richardson, whose team hoisted Barbaro’s raft out of the recovery pool three separate times.
The colt also struggled with the full-length cast Richardson opted to put on his right hind leg as further protection from Barbaro banging it. The post-operative difficulties took a toll on the colt.
“He didn’t look good Sunday morning because he was exhausted,” said Matz, who like the Jacksons, has visited Barbaro daily. “He was struggling to get around with the full cast. But he did start looking better as the day went on.”
Yesterday morning, Richardson replaced the full cast with a short one and saw much improvement. It was encouraging, but he said it was a small step in the process.
“The best-case scenario is he comes through this complication,” Richardson said,, “and then we will have many, many more weeks of anguish and worry for the Jacksons, Michael Matz, myself and anyone who cares about this horse. If we get that, that means Barbaro will spend more time healing.”
