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By DAN GELSTON, AP Sports Writer
August 15, 2006
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Barbaro is enjoying his change of scenery.
For almost a week, the Kentucky Derby winner has been allowed daily outings outside his intensive care stall to pick his own grass, enjoy the warm weather and stretch his recovering legs.
"I thought he was thrilled the first time he went out," Dean Richardson, chief surgeon at the New Bolton Center, said Monday. "He just seemed very happy to be out. You can tell he's looking forward to it every day. It's absolutely normal. Horses love to be outside, obviously, and he's pretty excited about it."
Barbaro stepped outside his ICU stall and started daily walks on a grassy area near the unit last Wednesday for the first time since having catastrophic injuries in the Preakness nearly three months ago. The Kentucky Derby winner, also recovering from a severe case of laminitis on his left hoof, continues to show signs he's on the road to recovery.
"It's a big step just to know he feels good enough that you can take him out of the stall and walk him around like a normal horse and he eats grass like a normal horse," Richardson said in a telephone interview from New Bolton. "That doesn't mean he's healed. It just means things are going well right now."
The 3-year-old had made only a couple of brief walks back and forth from his stall to the surgery room at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center until last week. Now Barbaro is walked daily for about 15 to 20 minutes in a secluded area not far from the George D. Widener Hospital ICU.
Richardson said if Barbaro remains this comfortable, he'll be hand-grazed daily.
Of course, not even the simplest tasks are easy for the colt.
"He doesn't like the flies," Richardson said with a chuckle. "He lost a lot of the tail and it's short, so it's hard for him to swish flies."
Barbaro was shown on video released by the University of Pennsylvania grazing on grass, with Richardson walking him around.
Barbaro has a cast on his right hind leg that encloses the foot and extends up to just below the hock. There's a bandage on the laminitis-stricken left hind foot, and support wraps on Barbaro's front legs.
The colt's comfort level has taken a surprising turn since Richardson said in early July the prognosis for a full recovery was "poor."
"He is more comfortable in his left hind than I thought he would be," Richardson said. "I am very happy with his progression. The right hind is about where I thought it would be."
Barbaro had the cast on his injured right hind leg changed last Tuesday and Richardson said it might not need to be changed for about another three weeks. The left hoof, which needs to completely regrow if the colt is to have any shot of walking, remains the biggest concern.
"He's got to get this left hind foot to the point where it's a solid structure that can sustain long-term weight bearing," Richardson said. "Could there still be some major things resulting in him having to be put down? Yeah. He's absolutely not out of the woods yet."
August 15, 2006
PHILADELPHIA (AP) -- Barbaro is enjoying his change of scenery.
For almost a week, the Kentucky Derby winner has been allowed daily outings outside his intensive care stall to pick his own grass, enjoy the warm weather and stretch his recovering legs.
"I thought he was thrilled the first time he went out," Dean Richardson, chief surgeon at the New Bolton Center, said Monday. "He just seemed very happy to be out. You can tell he's looking forward to it every day. It's absolutely normal. Horses love to be outside, obviously, and he's pretty excited about it."
Barbaro stepped outside his ICU stall and started daily walks on a grassy area near the unit last Wednesday for the first time since having catastrophic injuries in the Preakness nearly three months ago. The Kentucky Derby winner, also recovering from a severe case of laminitis on his left hoof, continues to show signs he's on the road to recovery.
"It's a big step just to know he feels good enough that you can take him out of the stall and walk him around like a normal horse and he eats grass like a normal horse," Richardson said in a telephone interview from New Bolton. "That doesn't mean he's healed. It just means things are going well right now."
The 3-year-old had made only a couple of brief walks back and forth from his stall to the surgery room at the University of Pennsylvania's New Bolton Center until last week. Now Barbaro is walked daily for about 15 to 20 minutes in a secluded area not far from the George D. Widener Hospital ICU.
Richardson said if Barbaro remains this comfortable, he'll be hand-grazed daily.
Of course, not even the simplest tasks are easy for the colt.
"He doesn't like the flies," Richardson said with a chuckle. "He lost a lot of the tail and it's short, so it's hard for him to swish flies."
Barbaro was shown on video released by the University of Pennsylvania grazing on grass, with Richardson walking him around.
Barbaro has a cast on his right hind leg that encloses the foot and extends up to just below the hock. There's a bandage on the laminitis-stricken left hind foot, and support wraps on Barbaro's front legs.
The colt's comfort level has taken a surprising turn since Richardson said in early July the prognosis for a full recovery was "poor."
"He is more comfortable in his left hind than I thought he would be," Richardson said. "I am very happy with his progression. The right hind is about where I thought it would be."
Barbaro had the cast on his injured right hind leg changed last Tuesday and Richardson said it might not need to be changed for about another three weeks. The left hoof, which needs to completely regrow if the colt is to have any shot of walking, remains the biggest concern.
"He's got to get this left hind foot to the point where it's a solid structure that can sustain long-term weight bearing," Richardson said. "Could there still be some major things resulting in him having to be put down? Yeah. He's absolutely not out of the woods yet."
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