Barbaro is in dire straits after developing laminitis

SI.com caught up with Sports Illustrated horse racing writer-reporter Mark Beech to get the latest news about the condition of Barbaro.

SI.com: What is the latest on Barbaro?

Mark Beech: According to Dr. Dean Richardson at the New Bolton Center [at the University of Pennsylvania], Barbaro has developed a severe case of laminitis in the left hind hoof. Right now they're not ready to discontinue treatment; he said doctors and everyone involved are willing to keep going as long as the horse is still comfortable. As soon as that is not the case or the laminitis develops in another foot, Dr. Richardson said he would end treatment. That would be the end for Barbaro. Up to now, no news has been good news with this horse. As soon as you start to hear news, then you start to have problems.

SI.com: What exactly is laminitis?

Beech: Laminitis has to do with blood flow in the foot. If anything interrupts the blood flow in that area around the foot, the horse's hoof wall will begin to separate from the coffin bone, the bone inside the foot. It's like getting your fingernail pulled out -- it'll have to grow back. The problem is that it is excruciatingly painful. People don't understand that horses are extremely fragile, in a way; if blood flow is any way interrupted by putting more weight on a certain foot, than complications with that foot will then follow. And it is then likely that they would develop complications in the other feet as well [due to yet another redistribution of weight]. It's why a horse can't survive a broken leg. Horses are balanced on four legs, and the way Dr. Richardson explained it today, they basically stand on the nail of their middle finger, which is a fragile thing. Their bones are harder than people's, but they can't stand on three legs like a dog can, for example.

SI.com: Such leg injuries are certainly painful. But how are they deadly in and of themselves? A dog or a human, as you said, can survive the loss of a limb.

Beech: In horses, there can be fatal digestive complications from lying down. If they can't stand, they can't live. They can literally die from intense pain; they will fight it, they will thrash around, and just by fighting or trashing they can twist a gut. Fighting the pain means they twist it even more. Horses are sturdy animals, but than can be so fragile physiologically.

SI.com: What are the odds that Barbaro will fight through this?

Beech: Horses with laminitis have been saved. But I think the likelihood that he'll recover is less than 50 percent. Barbaro has very good doctors doing all they can, but they're facing a very serious and long road back. They've had to cut away 80 percent of the hoof to the bone. It would take months to grow back, and as with the original injury, anything can happen in that time. Any disruption to [the horse's] routine and the way it stands causes that imbalance. They're taking precautions to prevent that, but there's only so much they can do. Barbaro's such a good patient. He eats well and still nickers at them. And to some extent, it's hard for them to know when something is wrong. Horses can be stoic or hyperactive, just like people.

SI.com: So is his friendly personality actually acting as an obstacle in determining treatment?

Beech: Maybe. But we cannot believe the horse is not suffering now. The doctors say he responds well, but they also say it's exquisitely painful, indicating it won't take much more for them to decide he's suffering too much. So I would say maybe [Barbaro's personality] is why the doctors thought things were going better than they actually were. But I am not second-guessing them.

SI.com: What is the status of Barbaro's original injury right now?

Beech: Well, Barbaro broke his right hind leg in three different places during the Preakness. That has healed much better, in fact remarkably well. The problem with that has been the pastern, the area below the ankle. It was shattered, and they've been fusing that together. But it's proving to be tough. It's part of the reason for the recent surgery; the area they've been operating on also just became infected. Barbaro nearly made the two-month window for recovery, but at the one-and-a-half mark they discovered that infection. They've been cleaning it, replacing the 27 screws in his leg, taking out the metal plates.

SI.com: But it is not a concern today?

Beech: No, it is not laminitic. It's something they're monitoring, and they're going back for surgeries and cleaning it up, but it's not that which they're worried about now.

SI.com: But the left hoof's laminitis actually originated because of that original injury, correct? Barbaro's broken right leg caused him to lean more on his left hind hoof as a result, leading to the interruption of blood flow and the tearing of the lamina there?

Beech: Yes. With laminitis in one hoof, a horse begins to founder where his feet begin to go bad underneath him. Secretariat, actually, was euthanized as a stallion due to the effects of laminitis. And 10-15 years ago, doctors tried to save Alydar, whose leg was broken, but they couldn't. He would thrash. People can lie in bed and keep their legs up, but horses can't really do that. As a result, it's very common to develop injuries in other legs.

SI.com: According to Barbaro's doctors, what's the prognosis?

Beech: They're very guarded. I wouldn't describe anyone as optimistic. Treatment is going to continue, and Dr. Richardson very specifically said it's not over. They are all still in the mode of doing everything they can. Comfort of the horse is what they're concerned about, not something like breeding interest.

SI.com: So if this is the end for Barbaro, will it also be the end of his lineage?

Beech: I have heard about horses who lived with injuries and were aroused only to breed, but I have no confirmation on those. If Barbaro recovers, if he lives, then there will probably be interest in him as a breeding stallion. Really, it's all up to [his owners] Roy and Gretchen Jackson. I also don't know if he has any siblings or not. But still, those horses would have to produce on the racetrack before their value would even begin to approach Barbaro's. Barbaro is unique in every respect. His mother and father, you could breed those two animals one million times and not produce something like him.

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